A Great New Book..... Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures: Biblical Foundations and Practical Essentials

Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures is an awesome book! 

Authors Mark Baker and Jayson Georges have tied together both the basic needed foundations and practical examples/applications for understanding and ministering the gospel in cultures where honour-shame dynamics are dominant.

I have greatly appreciated interacting with Jayson Georges via the internet over the past few years from when I found him at honorshame.com and as we have shared (along with a growing number of others around the world) a common desire to see honour-shame dynamics play a greater part in reaching the Majority world with the gospel.  I was thrilled to discover he was writing a book with Mark Baker and reading the finished product was exciting!

The Authors

Both Mark and Jayson bring the 'best of both worlds' to their book.  They both have theological grounding as well as practical intercultural experiences to draw on.  The reader really gains a ' ourfold' benefit from the book - 2 scholars and 2 mission practicioners.  And while the 'home' culture of both authors is the USA, they served in different mission contexts, one in Central America and one in Central Asia.  This brings breadth as well as depth to the book, as examples are not from only one honour-shame cultural setting.  

The Book Structure

The book has been structured into three parts with three appendicies. 

Part 1 deals with the 'cultural' side of honour-shame.

Part 2 deals with the 'theologial' side.  

Part 3 builds on both the first two parts, to give 6 sub-sections of practical ministry application: Spirituality; Relationships; Evangelism; Conversion; Ethics; Community.  Each topic is examined as to how honour-shame as a dynamic effects the understanding and outworking of those aspects in a life and society which is rooted and directed by the governing social requirements of honour-shame.

The appendicies list for the reader: 1- Key Scriptures on Honour-Shame; 2-Biblical Stories Addressing Honour-Shame and 3-Recommended Resources

It is assumed the reader is a Westerner who has a guilt-innocence emphasis worldview and is having cross-cultural ministry into honour-shame emphasis contexts.

The Strengths of the Book

There is so much 'good stuff' in the book, it is hard to separate out particular points.  So much of the book reflects my own observations, analysis and conclusions that I often felt like the authors had somehow read my mind and beat me to writing my own book! But here are some highlights:

1. The book is the permeation of practical field examples of honour-shame dynamics working out in the real lives of real people. It not only connects the theory to the practical, but it helps build a pattern of how to look more deeply at what you might be observing.  One of the key issues in ministering in honour-shame dominant cultures is learning to identify and understand what is going on in front of you and to have a collection of examples will be beneficial to any reader.

While I am a very 'practical ministry' oriented person, I am also take a scholarly approach to ministry.  I want to be thorougly biblical and a student of the Word, for the purpose of bringing truth to the hearts of people for very grass-roots practical life transformation.  This book hits the mark.

It is a book of good balance - not too long, not too short, not too academic, but deep enough to warrant some serious thinking.  It is well rounded, keeps the reader interested with its balance of 'theory' and 'practical' and is a great place to start on a journey of effective ministry in honour-shame cultures.  

2. The book does well at 'debunking' various myths about honour-shame.  It is not always done in an obvious way, but I was impressed with how many myths they dealt with over the course of the book.

Just one example occurs on p37 - where they deal with how honour-shame cultures are often contrasted with 'right-wrong' cultures, inferring that honour-shame cultures don't have 'right-wrong' morality. This is pointed out as a wrong understanding, rather that honour-shame cultures just define right and wrong differently - according to community expectations and relationships.

3. I was impressed with the Biblical Theology section where they give the 'Baker-Georges Amplified Version' of the Beatitudes (p93).  My ministry and practical theology 'hobby-horse' is Deliberate Discipleship.  The foundation of such intentional discipleship is that we have to teach God's word and we must do it in such a way so that the hearer 'takes in' the word.  It has to resonate with them. It has to connect with their heart and thinking. Helping folk understand the realities of honour/shame in God's word through clearer translation/paraphrasing is vital.

Just as Westerners need the practical examples of honour-shame functioning in society to help us 'see' it better, we also need practical examples of how Scripture is soaked in honour-shame dynamics, so we can 'see' it more clearly.

4. On page 50 there is a diagram of several flowering plants growing in a garden to demonstrates that so many 'cross-cultural' observed differences ('plants') are the product of a soil type called 'honor-shame'.  Understanding the deeper root and soil issues overcomes the tendency to focus on the list of 'plants' - ie the neat sets of inter-cultural characteristic categories. When we focus on the plants and not the soil, we actually miss recognising the other 'plants' that maybe aren't 'on the list' and we also miss the opportunity to link the ' plants' together. We end up dealing with separated superficial behaviours rather than common root heart motivations.  If we are going to understand and deal properly with the 'plants' we have to know the soil they are in.  

5. Another strength of the book is the chapter on Ethics.  It deals with the 'good and the bad' so to speak of honour-shame emphasis cultures.  It helps the reader to see good where they might normally only see bad, as well as alert a reader to understand the areas that might need particular biblical attention for God-honouring change.  The need for teaching and showing a new honour code is emphasised, and I couldn't agree more!

6. Finally I want to list some 'quotables' which are great in themselves, but will also give you a further 'feel' of the book:

..patronage is the de-facto economic system. Honor, not money,, serves as the primary currency facilitating the tansaction of goods and services. p52

...truth in communication is defined relationally not logically p53

...Western communication is like a dowload that efficiently transfers information, Majority world communication is more of a dance where you avoid stepping on toes p53

...people determine status and identity by who they gather with not by the tasks they accomplish p54

…humans base their perceptions of other cultures more on emotional responses than cognitive reflection p61

...to only view the concept of honor-shame as an exegetical tool for reading biblical texts misses the forest for the trees. Honor and shame are foundational realities in God's mission and salvation that flow through the entire bible. p67

…sin breaks relationships (not just laws) p70

…any Christian theology of sin devoid of the theme of shame is clearly sub-biblical p73

...Jesus taught that honorable behaviour in God's eyes comes from things most often associated with cultural disgrace p95

..Shame is not an Asian or Arab issue; shame is an Adam and Eve issue p118

...our hearts fear what shame might do. Shame controls and defines us only when we live in fear of it p127

...Observing social rules all the time is never an obligation, but honoring people is a commandment from God, and that must be done in a way that makes sense to people. p160

...the church functions as a surrogate family whose gracious welcome frees people to unmask their shame p185

...Shame, not just guilt, is God's piercing voice, making people aware of their need for salvation p196

…Christians should not abandon the pursuit of honor. Rather they should passionately pursue the right kind of honor. p211

Other Comments

I hesitate to criticize but I do want to comment on something that I am glad to say in my own ministry, I am seeing is being 'proved wrong'…..

On page p35 the comment is made: "No group of people would self-identify as an honor-shame culture."

- in our corner of the world, we are actually beginning to see Africans (particularly on the academic end, but not only) understanding and describing their own culture as honour-shame. This is not so different from we as Westerners coming to understand our own cultures as 'guilt-innocence' and talking and writing in such a way so as to mention or reflect that.  I think when they come to understand that this is not a derogatory term but simply an observation and reality, and that guilt-innocence is no better or worse than honour-shame but both can be sinfully misplaced, then there is no need for hesitancy.  And as they come to realise that their honour-shame culture is just like the biblical world, they will come to see there is 'no shame' in being like people and society in bible times.  We certainly aim to not infer any inferiority when we talk to locals about it, but we do desire that they begin to understand it.  It actually helps them a lot to understand the basic anthropological differences as they also begin to understand why so much 'Westernism' seems to bring tension to their societies but they don't know why.  When we explain to them these dynamics, suddenly life around them starts to make sense. 

Who is the book for?

This book is rich from cover to cover and a 'must-have' for every missionary, every cross-cultural worker, every missiologist, every intercultural studies faculty member or student, every pastor, and dare I say, every Christian who wishes to reach out to his/her neighbour according to the great commission in our multi-cultural world.  I don't say this in a trite way, but because I truly believe it. 

This is an excellent book I hope will have wide readership and deep impact.

I received this book for free from the publisher, IVP Academic, in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.