Book Review: 'James - An honor and shame paraphrase

Once again, we have a guest post from our co-worker Kenosi Molato on some of his thoughts on the newest book in the series of honor-shame paraphrases of books of the bible - James:

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This paraphrase of the book of James is one of the honor-shame paraphrase series, which gives us a fresh perspective of honor-shame nuances within James, and also provides a tool for applying honor-shame frameworks to cultures which have strong honor-shame dynamics.  As an African living and ministering in a worldview which is predominantly honor-shame this paraphrase of the book of James aids me, and liberates the biblical text which has been enmeshed in worldviews, translations and interpretations which are guilt oriented.  Moreover it provides a fresh look at the book of James in a way which resonates with my own honor-shame oriented heart and outlook on life. 

The author views the main thrust of the book of James as persevering in loyalty to God. He asserts that the first chapter is a prologue and the rest of the book from 2:1 to 5:6 revisits the theme from chapter one and develops it more (pg. 11).

Daniel Eng knows his intended audience and the web of shame and honor, which controls their worldview.

He is to be highly commended on the narrative style of writing in this paraphrase. Like a good teacher, he does not only reveal the honor-shame dynamics but he also captures the narrative sense, which the original readers would have been most familiar with. Unlike the modern translations, which submerge the text into dynamic equivalence, Eng skillfully employs vivid pictures, which capture the scenes. For example in Chapter 2:1-4 he uses words such as "disheveled, with dirty clothes and filthy fingernails, lacking in social graces." He takes the reader by the hand and invites him/her to the historical setting and like a time machine makes the reader listen to the heartbeat of the Apostle James. However, I feel like sometimes Daniel Eng is hesitant to employ honor and shame terms to drive words into the heart of the reader. E.g. on page 16 he uses the word "rubbish" in condemning the deeds done by the recipients of the letter and I wished he could have used a phrase such as "shame on you", as it would have resonated with my heart more than "rubbish". But that might just be a personal preference based on my own cultural vocabulary.

Honor and shame cultures are community and relationship-based and this paraphrase captures these concepts well. Words such as 'family members' used in Chapter 3:1 captures this motif, therefore, the readers feel a sense of belonging and feel related to the one who is addressing them (Pg. 17,18 &19). In my African honor-shame culture, people who belong to your clan are important therefore their advice is to be fully accepted, as compared with a stranger's advice, which has to be received with a grain of salt. In page 18, Eng picks up the community-based rhetoric in relation to the concept of disputes and fights in the community structure. Living in a culture which traditionally defines sin as anything that disturbs the harmony of the community, I find Daniel Eng's paraphrase reaches to the heart, and addresses the motive of the problem just as the original author intended. Note the phrases he utilizes: "My family members, don't speak slander about each other. The person who badmouths or condemns a family member also badmouths and condemns the royal decrees of God."

Unlike many translations which insert the word 'guilt' to James 4:17, the word  "ἁμαρτία"  (harmartia - sin) is better paraphrased by Eng as 'failure in God's eyes'. The context of 'not doing something you know you should do' clearly directs the meaning as a failure to do what is required, while in contrast, guilt has to do with crossing a boundary and 'doing what you know you should not do'.

Daniel Eng has chosen that the theme of the Book of James is persevering in loyalty to God. Subsequently he then chooses to refer to God as a "benefactor" (pg. 10). Unfortunately, the cultural idea of a Benefactor in my part of Africa implies someone who dispenses some gifts 'with strings attached'. Additionally, in my context whereby there's excessive prosperity gospel which is driven by a mis-placed honor-shame ethos, it will not be wise to use Benefactor to refer to God, without significant clarification, as it will water the soil of the prosperity Gospel.

This paraphrase of the book of James will remain as a valuable tool both to the teachers and the students of the word of God in an honor-shame culture and Daniel Eng has done an honorable job in writing this valuable work.

'Highest Honour' book is now fully available

Yes.

I realised that amidst all the issues getting this book I co-wrote with our co-worker Kenosi Molato, to this stage, that we had omitted to do a post on it now being available fully, at last!

So now you can get hard copies from us or LogosLife International or Amazon, and you can get e-books from us (pdf) or from Amazon (Kindle).

We have already sold several hundred copies.

But its not just exciting that copies are selling, but that people who are buying copies are coming back to buy more to give to others.

It has led to Kenosi being sought out on facebook by people wanting to contact him and thank him for the book, as well as him being interviewed on radio by someone who had read the book and wanted to promote it further.

We are thrilled to hear where the book is going and how it is being used - from devotions in a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Bible Study Groups in Australia. One local 13 year old girl is taking it to school here to work through it with her friends at lunch times! Another church is using it for their ladies groups.

I received an email just a few days back from a mum of three teenagers saying:

I have been reading your highest honour book and am so impressed and really enjoying it actually. Besides the odd reference to "ancestral worship" I feel it could be a wonderful book for any new Christian of any culture and even for teenagers as it speaks simply but very clearly. Praise God for this and please that it may spread far and wide in Africa. I love that it advises on other books to read for each topic and all the biblical references, it is truly God inspired.  Thank you.

Here are the recommendations from the back cover of the book:

This book calls the Christian, particularly African Christians for whom it is primarily written, to give God the place of highest honour in their lives. In the form of a 60 day 'devotional', it gives the reader a foundational understanding of who God is and then explains what giving God honour looks like in the practicalities of everyday life, whether it be in the family, at work, at church, in the area of finances, of how we should treat the environment, how we speak, how we set life goals and priorities, in our motives and attitudes, the difficult situation we face, times of temptations and more. It also addresses in a practical way, the many issues that emerge in a cultural context where seeking and maintaining honour and harmony in relationships and avoiding shame are prominent.

 "It calls all of us to our most satisfying duty - to give God the highest honour in our lives." 
Dr Conrad Mbewe, Pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church and Chancellor of the African Christian University, Lusaka, Zambia

"The authors have given the African Christian a tremendous treasure in this book. While an excellent source for family devotions and individual discipleship, this book is convicting, rich in content, and addresses critical questions on dealing with the shame culture. Reading this has been a delight"
Andrew Isiaho, MA in Biblical Counseling, Lecturer in Missions and Biblical Counseling, Christ Seminary, South Africa

"This book promotes God's highest honour, and does so in a lucid, refreshing, comprehensive an devotional manner. In relationship based cultures, people tend to live their lives based on cultural expectations and the desire to please people. Tis book effectively redirects our whole motivation towards honouring God who in turn rewards us with real honour. "
Rev Dr R Musasiwa, Principal: Domboshawa Theological College, Harare, Zimbabwe

"Much of the lack of Christian witness in our societies today can be attributed to this missing element in our discipleship. We do not understand what it truly means to honour God in the diverse spheres of our lives. This timely book provides a clear, practical and biblical path to help the earnest believer align every aspect of life in a way that brings glory and honour to God"
Dr Joshua Bogunjoko, SIM International Director

We look forward to how the Lord will continue to use this book to his glory and honour.

Book Review: 'An Honor-Shame Paraphrase of 15 Psalms by Jayson Georges

We don't have too many guest blog posts, but today we have one by our African co-worker, Kenosi Molato. He does a review of another book in the series by Jayson Georges, of paraphrased books of the Bible drawing the reader to the honor-shame dynamics present in the biblical portion.  This one, paraphrasing 15 Psalms, follows on from two others in the series: 1 Peter, and Esther.

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I have been preaching through the book of Psalms for close to three years now. Jayson George's book covers those crucial issues which I have grappled with in my sermon preparation. Furthermore, as an African living and ministering in a cosmology which is predominantly honor-shame focused, the book has aided me in the struggle of liberating the biblical text which has been enmeshed in the guilt-oriented worldview in previous translations and interpretations. Moreover it provides a fresh look at the book of Psalms in a way which resonates with my honor-shame oriented heart and outlook on life.

Though Jayson's aim is to provide a paraphrase of the Psalms, I find his explanations of the socio-theological context and the theological motif (Honor of God, the shamefulness of people of God, honoring the faithful, honoring the king, shaming the enemies), as one of the main contributions he makes to the interpretation of the book of Psalms (pg. 13-28). These theological motifs provide a reader of the Psalms with tools to deal with the difficulties, which are associated with interpreting different and difficult liturgy, such as the imprecatory Psalms, in the context of honor and shame societies.  

One of the key concepts which Jayson highlights, is one that I have grappled with. It is the issue of the covenant. I have mentioned to my co-worker that it is the basis one has to use in the interpretation of the book of Psalms. But I lament that there has been a lack of emphasis and also literature in the honor and shame discussion concerning the topic. I wished that Jayson could have labored more on this concept but he just spent a page and half on the topic (pg. 13-14).

The paraphrase itself highlights the honor and shame cultural dynamics, which influences the Psalmist's writings style and also captures their rhetoric styles. With this in view, Jayson gets between the exegete and the reader by providing the reader with lenses to see the scripture from the social setting, which had been hidden or veiled by the translation. 

Moreover, Jayson does not only use the words 'honor-shame' but uses the synonyms such as humiliation, status and demotion. These synonyms give the paraphrase a touch, taste and vivid expression of honor-shame dynamics in the text, consequently making it to come alive. 

However, when reading this paraphrase of Psalms, I came to realize that Honor and Shame cultures differ with the usage of terms. E.g. Jayson uses the terms 'patron' and 'client' in most of his paraphrase depicting the relationship between Yahweh and his people (Pg. 37). While the concept may be present in my African context I don't feel the terms would carry the weight or the intended meaning in a helpful way. I wouldn't go so far as to replace "Shepherd" with "Patron" as Jayson does in Psalm 23:1. If there was a need to bring in the concept of patronage I would have preferred to see something like "Yahweh is my shepherd who is my perfect patron" rather than reduce and replace the concept of shepherd totally with only patron. 

Jayson Georges often goes beyond normal paraphrases and moves to the explanatory sense such as in Psalm 15 (pg. 35-36). Though this is helpful and Jayson desires to illuminate the text's honor-shame rhetoric, some might see this as an interpretation of Psalms rather than a paraphrase, consequently making the book to lose its main goal and purpose.

I was let down by the fact that I felt the author left out the most crucial aspects of honor and shame culture in relation to sin, forgiveness and repentance, which appear in Psalms, especially in Psalm 32 whereby the issue of covering is used. Consequently this could have led to the discussion of how shame is dealt with in relation to sin.

Most of all Jayson must be honored and appreciated for such a great work and I hope that the next paraphrase of the Psalms is on the way because the book has left me longing for more.   

By Kenosi Molato

3 different 'Unashamed' books released by Christian Publishers

No denying it - Shame is well and truly a growing part of the landscape of the 21st Century whether we recognise it or not - and its not a bad thing.

This past week Tim Challies had a great post on 'Shame, Fear and Guilt' and The Gospel Coalition featured the topic (although check the comments on honorshame.com re the TGC comments as to why in some ways, it was a bit disappointing).

In addition in the space of just over a month, three books have been released by three different Christian publishers with the same title of 'Unashamed'

1. Unashamed by Lecrae published by B&H on May 3rd

- the statement from his book that appears on reviews is : If you live for people's acceptance you will die from their rejection.  How true!

2. Unashamed by Christine Caine (An Aussie!)   published by Zondervan  on May 10th

3. Unashamed by  Heather Davis Nelson published by Crossway due for release on June 30

These are not books by Missionaries or Missiologists talking about the major issue of shame in far away lands.  These are three books emerging from the Western Christian world.

The issue of shame is universal.  It impacts individuals and societies to differing degrees and in various forms.  But wherever we go, its there.  And its permeating life in the Western World more and more.  In fact it has been impacting lives since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden.  

We may not have talked much about it in the past, but it didn't disappear just because we didn't talk about it.  In fact, like so many things, when its not talked about and 'submerged', it doesn't weaken its grip, but instead it increases its power.

And now, it seems the lid has been lifted on what has been hidden, and people are feeling more free to talk about it.

The world has recognised that hiding shame isn't helpful, but it seems to think that to eliminate shame we should make what was shameful into what is shameless or blame others for shame - that's the only way those without any gospel light have with dealing with shame.

But the gospel brings good news for shame.  As Ed Welch said in his book, it 'interupts shame'. 

As Christians we have the opportunity to overcome shame.  

In Christ we can share in the victory over shame and the controlling fear it can bring to our lives. In dealing with eternal shame in the eyes of God, Christ has also freed us from earthly shame's power to keep us held hostage.

Christ who bore our shame, covers our eternal shame.  He became sin for us so that we could be declared righteous. He shamed (despised) the power of shame and became the means of restored honour as we stand 'in Him' before the Father, now as part of the Father's family.

These authors above have come to experience this victory in Christ over shame and its desire to destroy us, and now want to share their discoveries with others.

We would probably do well to read all the above books…..both for our own understanding of what it means to be freed from shame, but also as we desire to share the life-liberating gospel with those around us who are increasingly seeing life through the lens of shame.

Note: we are yet to read any of the above titles, so cannot categorically endorse all their content.  Due to prior reading and other endorsements, our first pick would probably be the release from Crossway due at the end of June followed by the others.

Embracing Obscurity by Anonymous

It's not everyday an author doesn't want any recognition or applause or acknowledgement.....

But its not everyday a book is written that calls people to embrace the idea that Obscurity is something to be set as a goal!

That is because, everyday, every human being faces their biggest area of vulnerability when it comes to temptation.....pride!

Pride is the core of every sin, because it sets 'me' as the No. 1 priority and authority when God should be my No. 1 priority and authority.

But as we have studied more and more on the issues that are the fabric of what is known as an 'honour/shame' society or culture, the issue of "Misplaced Shame" (as author John Piper terms it), has at its core, our own pride.  Misplaced Shame or Honour can only have influence because of the sinful pride of the 'fallen' human heart.

That is why I was so interested to find the book "Embracing Obscurity" by an author who was only willing to be known as 'Anonymous'!

When our (African) Motswana research assistant/consultant joined us in ministry this year, it was one of the first books off the 'research material shelf' he wanted to read and it challenged him deeply.  He would desire for many to understand the truths conveyed in this book and because of that wrote a bit of a 'review' of the book from the perspective of someone who is part of the African honour/shame context and culture.

We would like to recommend the book because:

1. it will challenge you to the depth of your heart and lead you further in your walk with Christ, so as to glorify God even more day by day

2. it will enable you to see a little more of the even greater challenges of a Christian in a culture where personal honour in the eyes of one's community by conforming to its mores is the ultimate goal of life

3. it will help you share our burden to allow the Lord to use us to share truth such as "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" in a cultural setting where to be "last" or 'least' is shameful and to be avoided and escaped from if at all possible

4. it will hopefully provide additional context for your prayers for us here, and for African Christians and for God to help them to be more true, strong and faithful witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ

Here are some excerpts from his review of the book.............

In this Book the author points out that we are all drunk. He writes "in our defense the epidemic is so common that most of us don't even know that we are under the influence". This intoxication and influence is driving our attention away from the kingdom and we end up undermining the gospel of Christ. The question then is, "what is this influence and this intoxication?" The author answers this question by saying the following: "we're intoxicated with a desire to be known, recognized, appreciated, and respected."

We live in a culture that bases significance on how celebrated, or common, we are. And now the church also has bought this lie. The author points out this lie is very serious because of its source. It's just the sort of lie that Satan, the father of lies, has manufactured and sells very well. Therefore this lie, or this virus, has to be addressed radically. Just as David cut the head off Goliath, so must we deal with this virus of popularity and fame.

In chapter 2 the author talks about 'embracing the definition'. He quotes Cicero when he said "we are all motivated by a keen desire for praise". This desire for praise is 

manifested in different forms.

The author does not hesitate to state that this desire for pre-eminence is sin. It is only when our eyes are opened to see this as sin that we will be able to deal with it seriously. The first test that Satan tested Eve with was his tried and tested old trick of pride. He did that by appealing to Eve's pride and eventually Eve gave heed to the lie. Since then all mankind has been struggling with this old trick. He writes: "the depth of my own pride is seemingly infinite". (pg 32).  

The honor and shame culture bases its dynamics on the performance level. The performance levels are done with a view of gaining recognition and acceptance and honor from those I respect. Therefore a person living in this culture is influenced more by this cancer than a person living in guilt based culture. So the topic of embracing obscurity will not be allowed, for it is seen as something that brings shame and dishonor, for this is a culture that strives for acceptance.....

The question then comes how do I deal with pride? Is there a solution for this? The author, in chapter 3 leads us to the above question. He states that the answer to the above question is two-fold. First we have to admit that we cannot do this on our own. Second we have to follow God's instruction. He then leads us in chapter 3 to the solution of overcoming pride. The perfect model to follow to overcome our cancer is embracing the humble King (Jesus Christ). Christ laid down his rights and took on the nature of a servant/slave. He goes on to say "the supreme Being; the one who spoke our entire universe into being with a word, yet cannot be bound by human language; the namer of stars and the crusher of the mountains; the God whose face necessitates veiling to preserve a man's life; the one responsible for each breath you've taken while reading this paragraph; the only omniscient reality - yeah, this God became a roughly eight pound mass of created cells". Christ's humility and service makes any other so called great leader to disappear into the background. To overcome our cancer we must take a closer look at Christ....

After pointing out the vanity and the empty pursuit of that which is temporal, Mr Anonymous leads us to the pursuit of that which is significant and eternal.

.......our union with God clearly shows is that we are dependant creatures. This union is maintained by prayer. J I Packer defines prayer as a point of whereby we show that we are helpless to do what we do, and therefore we call the Almighty God to act on our behalf. .... It is in this union that we find our significance.

The person in this culture wants significance so that he will be able to fit in the community and be able to be noticed. The only proper way of dealing with this is to show the people living in this culture that what you are doing violates the principles of the big family community in which God is the Father, therefore this brings shame and dishonor to his name and who he is. 

It also has to be noted that if this culture is not studied properly it leads to the fact that what the members of the society condone is not what God allows. So God's approval is secondary to the principle that runs the community.