Honor and Shame in Paul's Message and Mission

IVP Academic, 2019

What does it mean to “read Romans with Eastern eyes”? Combining research from Asian scholars with his many years of experience living and working in East Asia, Jackson directs our attention to Paul's letter to the Romans. He argues that some traditional East Asian cultural values are closer to those of the first-century biblical world than common Western cultural values. In addition, he adds his voice to the scholarship engaging the values of honor and shame in particular and their influence on biblical interpretation. As readers, we bring our own cultural fluencies and values to the text. Our biases and backgrounds influence what we observe―and what we overlook. This book helps us consider ways we sometimes miss valuable insights because of widespread cultural blind spots. In Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes, Jackson demonstrates how paying attention to East Asian culture provides a helpful lens for interpreting Paul's most complex letter. When read this way, we see how honor and shame shape so much of Paul's message and mission.

Bulletin for Biblical Research, 2021

2013

Review of Biblical Literature (RBL), 2021

Mission One This book breaks new ground while integrating insights from across academic disciplines. Te-Li Lau, a New Testament scholar at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, draws from history, psychology, and theology to fill a substantial lacuna in Pauline studies. Lau first contextualizes shame within Paul's Jewish and Greco-Roman milieu (part 1). He then argues in part 2 that "Paul uses shame as a pedagogical tool to admonish and transform the minds of his readers into the mind of Christ and that his rationale can be grasped through comparison with analogous perspectives, both within and without his cultural context" (10). The final section brings Paul into conversation with voices, past and present, that either complement Lau's conclusions or challenge them.

Great Commission Research Journal, 2022

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Honor, Shame, and the Gospel-Reframing Our Message and Ministry, 2020

When I was in seminary, learning about honor, shame, and the impact of social values on culture and religion was transformative for my understanding of Scripture, theology, and the world. I am delighted to see this interdisciplinary contribution to honor-shame studies bring together influential scholars and practitioners from many backgrounds and contexts. I highly recommend for pastors and students, but also for all who care about the whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world.

Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture, 1993

After establishing a definition of the honor and shame conceptual framework, this study goes on to examine the sense in which that framework can be said to characterize Mediterranean culture (past and present). The framework's relevance to biblical studies is clarified, and the specifically gender and sex-related aspects are explored. Then the framework's prominent place in (1) Hellenistic, and (2) Roman civilization is discussed, before—finally—conclusions are drawn with regard to the relevance of the conceptual framework to the early Christian communities.

2011

This paper will examine the Pauline restrictions on women within the context of the honor–shame culture prevalent in the first century, with a particular focus on 1 Cor 11, 14, 7. Suggestions will then be made about Paul’s possible theological-cultural agenda. Some concluding observations will also be made in terms of the relevance of these issues for the church today. One of the features of Paul’s churches, and indeed Paul’s understanding of the gospel, was its universalism, not in the sense of universal salvation, but in the sense of its inclusiveness. One senses that there is at least an element of truth to French philosopher Alain Badiou’s claim that the “sheer radicality” of Paul’s universalism has been underestimated in the ongoing intense scholarly debate that tries to situate Paul in his Jewish and Gentile contexts. Paul does not start with what divides us. Indeed, for Paul, all of humanity starts from a point of commonality, in the experience of being under sin. Similarly, ...

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 2011

This paper will examine the Pauline restrictions on women within the context of the honor-shame culture prevalent in the first century, with a particular focus on 1 Cor 11, 14, 7. Suggestions will then be made about Paul's possible theological-cultural agenda. Some concluding observations will also be made in terms of the relevance of these issues for the church today. One of the features of Paul's churches, and indeed Paul's understanding of the gospel, was its universalism, not in the sense of universal salvation, but in the sense of its inclusiveness. One senses that there is at least an element of truth to French philosopher Alain Badiou's claim that the "sheer radicality" of Paul's universalism has been underestimated in the ongoing intense scholarly debate that tries to situate Paul in his Jewish and Gentile contexts. 1 Paul does not start with what divides us. Indeed, for Paul, all of humanity starts from a point of commonality, in the experience of being under sin. Similarly, humanity can enter into a common experience in the new community in Jesus, so that Paul can say: "[t]here is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). As Bassler comments,