Cultural Dynamics: Why They Matter

The woman’s eyes mirrored the pain from her soul; her hunched shoulders shouted the shame she carried. I was in Malawi leading a Bible study with pastor’s wives. We were examining the story of Hannah and Peninnah (1 Samuel 1). As we discussed Hannah’s pain of barrenness and Peninnah’s taunting, one of the women shared her story. She was the daughter of the second wife, a disgraceful position in the eyes of her society. As a result, she had faced contempt and mocking all her life. I’d been teaching 30 years but never seen this kind of response to the story of Hannah and Peninnah. The shame that haunted this pastor’s wife alerted me to a culture I hadn’t known. Then, three years later, I moved to Hong Kong and discovered many of the same cultural dynamics.

Cultural dynamics are those underlying forces that drive a society. They are the values, traditions, beliefs, and attitudes that cause people to do what they do. They’re the hidden assumptions we make about life and the lens through which we interpret our world. Although from above ground we can’t see what causes volcanoes to erupt, a pressure change forces the magma to break out of the chamber that holds it. Cultural dynamics are also unseen but affect our behavior in powerful ways. They shape our worldview and our behavior even though we don’t recognize their presence. They seem so obvious and universal that we seldom question them until they conflict with the dynamics of another culture.

Cultural Dynamics in the West

In the West, we are individualists, assuming self-sufficiency is the goal. We rear our children to be independent and encourage them to stand out from the crowd. We’re egalitarian, believing everyone is equal and should have equal rights and opportunities. Since we suppose the world’s resources are unlimited, we presume there’s enough for everyone. People in the West predominantly view the world through a guilt/innocence lens and often imagine everyone sees as we do. But worldwide, we’re in the minority.

Today 70-80% of the world is collectivist, and most of them have distinctly different cultural worldviews from ours. What a mistake to assume everyone views the world as we do! Many people see life through an honor/shame or fear/power lens. In reality, every person and culture is a mixture of perspectives, but one dominates. 

In the Majority World

Jayson Georges served as a missionary in Central Asia for nine years before becoming Missiologist in Residence at an evangelical organization in the US. In an article for Mission Frontiers’ The Power of Honor, he wrote:

Most people in collectivistic societies structure their life to avoid shame and maintain honor. This influences where they sit at a meal, how they introduce themselves, who they marry, where they work, and how they receive the message of Jesus. All of these behaviors are influenced by concern for maintaining a positive reputation and harmonious relationships in the community.

Why do the cultural dynamics of the Majority World matter? First, because God calls us to share his love, and we can’t do that effectively if we don’t understand people’s culture. Second, because we grow from learning about other parts of the world. Third, as believers, we claim we want to understand God’s Word. Since biblical society was more like the culture of the Majority World than Western culture, we can discover hidden truths in Scripture as we study Majority World cultures. 

In Biblical Times

Before the rise of individualism in modern times, society was collectivist, hierarchal, and patriarchal. The prevailing cultural worldview was honor/shame with varying amounts of fear/power. God spoke at the time of his choosing to communicate his message. Biblical authors wrote in the cultural milieu in which they lived. Consequently, we cannot separate their words from their culture and context. To understand what God is saying to us, we must understand what he was saying to them. As Lesslie Newbigin says, “Every interpretation of the gospel is embodied in some cultural form.” I would add, “including ours.” Proper interpretation requires us to examine the context and culture of the biblical world. Otherwise, we’re in danger of misreading scripture by substituting our cultural assumptions for theirs. 

The cultural dynamics of both the Ancient Near East and the Roman Empire were similar to those of the Majority World today.

1. Pursuit of honor
2. Importance of face
3. Assumption of limited good
4. Honor games
5. System of patronage
6. Emphasis on purity

We’ll explore each of these in upcoming posts. Also, we’ll discover an overriding motif of honor-status reversal. Many stories in Scripture describe the characters’ reversed status–from shame to honor or vice versa. I hope you’ll join me as we remove our shoes and try to put ourselves in the sandals of the people in the Bible.

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