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BEYOND LITERATE WESTERN CONTEXTS: Honor & Shame and Assessment of Orality Preference

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BEYOND LITERATE WESTERN CONTEXTS: Honor & Shame and Assessment of Orality Preference BEYOND LITERATE WESTERN CONTEXTS: Honor & Shame and Assessment of Orality Preference Edited by Samuel E. Chiang and Grant Lovejoy Endorsements “I am impressed! Honor and Shame has often been researched and reported on in culture studies and other disciplines. Orality of course is a growing movement and a focus of continuing study. Now comes this unique book, full of subject matter from scholars and practitioners combining these two areas of study. They connect the dots of the biblical world of honor and shame with the honor and shame cultures of today and tomorrow, treating both the content and the practice of orality related to these topics. Additionally, the chapters on current case studies and approaches to oral assessment are certainly worth our attention. I am honored to be one to recommend this book!” - Dr. Freddy Boswell, Executive Director, SIL International “In the last decade, a revolution has occurred in mission strategies among oral preference cultures as traditional literate methods have been replaced by oral story methods. Likewise, a growing understanding of honor and shame has contributed to reshaping ministry methods for greater effectiveness. The result has been significant spiritual breakthroughs among some of the least reached peoples of the world. Drawing from the rich experience of practitioners and the scholarly research of academics, Beyond Literate Western Contexts provides valuable insights into the best practices emerging from the orality movement and the critical ministry implications of honor and shame-based cultures. Anyone with a passion for advancing the Gospel among oral cultures will benefit from this excellent source of stories, case studies, research, and theological insights.” - Kärin Primuth, President/CEO, VisionSynergy “Beyond Literate Western Contexts helpfully explores how presenting the gospel through honor and shame lenses in a context of orality and story enhances our understanding of the gospel. Giving a global perspective on how to teach and preach the kingdom message is always of value. This book utilizes the experience of teachers from around the world and gives an important glimpse of how this can and should be done.” - Dr. Darrell Bock, Executive Director for Cultural Engagement, Howard G. Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership and Cultural Engagement, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary “This is another milestone in the effort of International Orality Network. This is very helpful in exploring how presenting the gospel through honor and shame lenses in a context of orality and story will enhance our understanding of the gospel. Honor is a dynamic and relational concept. On the one hand, an individual can think of himself or herself as honorable based on his or her conviction that he or she has embodied those actions and qualities that the group values as honorable, as the marks of a valuable person. This aspect of honor is really self-respect. On the other hand, honor is also the esteem in which a person is held by the person’s group that he or she is a valuable member of. In this regard, it is having the respect of others. It is a problematic experience when one’s self-respect is not matched by corresponding respect from others, but strategies can be developed to cope with the discrepancy here. When the powerful and the masses, the philosophers and the Jews, the pagans and the Christians all regard honor and dishonor as their primary axis of value, each group fills out the picture of what constituted honorable behavior or character in terms of its own distinctive sets of beliefs and values, and evaluates people both inside and outside that group accordingly. “The meaning of shame is somewhat more complicated. If honor signifies respect for being the kind of person and doing the kinds of things the group values, shame signifies—in the first instance—being seen as less than valuable because one has behaved in ways that run contrary to the values of the group. The person who puts personal safety above the city’s well-being loses the respect of society. His worth is impugned; he loses face; he is disgraced and viewed as a disgrace. In another sense, however, shame can signify a positive character trait, namely, a sensitivity to the opinion of the group such that one avoids those actions that bring disgrace. Out of this kind of shame, a woman refuses an adulterous invitation; a soldier refuses to flee from battle. “If humanity is to evolve beyond the propensity toward violence that now threatens our very survival as humans, then it can only do so by recognizing the extent to which the code of honor and shame generates and obligates religious and socio-political violence. If we wish to bring this violence under control, we need to begin by reconstituting new moral codes involving an honor and shame mindset.” Rev. Bauta D. Motty, PhD Provost, ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos, Nigeria “This insightful book combines and commends two effective communicators of the gospel: (1) orality, which promotes telling stories to bless the illiterate; (2) universal human realities of honor and shame, which can bridge the lost to Jesus and the gospel. Shame came with the sin of Adam and Eve. Sinful humankind has since wrongly coped with shame, including honor-killing of even loved ones. We are called to live by and teach godly honor and shame, e.g., honored by being seated with Christ in the heavenlies, we need not feel shame for having no earthly status symbols.” - Rev. Dr. Michael Shen, Principal Emeritus, Singapore Bible College “This book is a rich and stimulating contribution to an issue that concerns us all: the effective understanding and communication of the gospel for transformation and disciple making. The interwoven realities of honor/shame and orality are brought to life by experienced reflective practitioners. Each is intent on discovering how to tell the biblical story more meaningfully and faithfully. Academics, trainers and cross-cultural workers will all benefit from the story, reflection and shared learning that make up every chapter. Highly recommended.” - Dr. Paul Bendor-Samuel, International Director, Interserve “How we communicate with each other matters, and doubly so when we communicate in a cross-cultural context. The biblical worldview presented and case studies provided are of great value to both organizations and institutions.” - Rev. Dr. Lloyd Kim, Coordinator, Mission To The World “It is very important and a great blessing that Beyond Literate Western Contexts makes the papers presented at the ION Consultations available for a greater audience. It is well known that oral learning is important as a mission strategy; however this book shows the importance of orality in a much wider context and is a book of high value.” - Hjalmar Boe, International Director, Norwegian Lutheran Mission “The publication of this book with its main theme on orality comes out at a strategic time when theological scholars and mission practitioners, having recognized the significant place of oral-learning approaches for effective understanding and communication of gospel truth, are now identifying best ways and tools for accurate assessment of oral teaching and learning methods in both mission practices and theological training discourses. Further, this book reinforces the scientifically proven fact that people learn values and ideas more effectively through narratives or stories, thus reaffirming orality as an effective pedagogical tool. “The uniqueness of this book is how its diverse global authors highlight the importance of honor and shame category in understanding oral-preference learners in non-Western cultures. It shows the role of honor and shame in shaping effective communication of the gospel to oral cultural contexts that constitute the majority world. By using biblical and contemporary stories as well as theoretical and theological foundations for both shame and honor, this book examines how effective communication of the gospel can be enhanced by grasping the core dynamics of oral learning. “In light of the significance of orality for effective teaching and learning, this book challenges and inspires theological training institutions to re-evaluate their curricula towards oral-preference learners and to reconsider the assessment tools for oral learning methodologies. In this regard, the various authors use diverse case studies to invite theological training institutions and organizations to embrace the best approaches for not only incorporating oral learning techniques into their teaching, but also in assessing oral-visual learning that is the preferred learning style of the majority-world living in non-Western contexts, while also progressively becoming part and parcel of online education of our digital era. “It is on the basis of these preceding reasons that I highly recommend this book for all involved in theological training at institutional and organizational levels throughout Africa where a high percentage of its inhabitants learn and communicate effectively through oral preferences. Through the diverse new oral learning strategies and models in this book, African scholars and theological institutions are empowered to re-evaluate their learning methodologies and assessment mechanisms which have for decades been widely influenced by Western literate theological training orientations.” - Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chemengich, Executive Director, Association of Christian Theological Education in Africa “Reaching oral learners with the Gospel of Christ is one of the great missiological challenges of our time. This carefully researched and argued book will provide essential help for all those seeking to understand the scale of the challenge, as well as the approaches needed to fruitfully reach the billions who are shaped by such a mindset.” - Lindsay Brown, International Director, the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization “This excellent book addresses a serious gap in the way we think about effective communication of the Gospel. The understanding of honor and shame dynamics and the importance of an oral tradition have often been neglected in a lot of the Western paradigms of theological education.
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