Dumitrescu: Shame and Honor: Biblical Understandings and Islamic Cultural Ref Shame and Honor: Biblical Understandings and Islamic Cultural Reflections the implications of such radical change for a Muslim? These are by Cristian Dumitrescu only a few of the questions that need to be answered if the gos- pel is to become relevant to people raised or living in a Medi- East and West have long been terranean Muslim culture. used as symbols of different cul- tural and religious perspectives. Cultural Differences between Christianity, associated with the East and West West, would like to communicate Western societies have be- its tenets to the Islamic world. come obsessed with guilt and But is Christianity prepared to justice. Western Christians read speak in intelligible terms to the biblical account through people in a different culture? their cultural glasses and West- What are the unspoken episte- ern biblical scholarship has built mological assumptions that lay a whole theological interpreta- behind language and behavior? tion of Scripture that frequently What process does a Muslim misses the intent of the original have to pass through in order to writers as well as the historical become a Christian? What are and cultural background of the writing. Basic values of Islamic Cristian cultures, such as shame and Dumitrescu, a honor, are almost unknown in Romanian na- the West or have a different tive, is a PhD meaning. Shame is translated as candidate in embarrassment and honor is Mission studies equated with pride. Yet shame at Andrews and honor have different conno- University, tations that are similar to mean- Michigan. ings in the biblical text. Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 1 14 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 4 Missionaries try to convince most Muslims also permeate the Muslims to become Christians us- Bible, since it too was written in ing a guilt-based approach. Fre- the Mediterranean milieu. But in quently Muslims are puzzled by order to be able to read the Bible such a twisted reading of the Scrip- from such a perspective, one has tures that otherwise sound so fa- to understand the social context miliar to them. This may partially implied in the text and by the explain why Christianity is not very various themes, motifs, and successful in Muslim cultures. characters associated with bib- Muslim behavior is not defined in lical stories. Reading Scripture terms of guilt, but it is judged by from such a perspective could whether it brings honor or shame provide opportunities to commu- to the family, country, or Islam. nicate Christianity to Muslims. In order to become a Christian, a Muslim has traditionally been Definitions required to adopt a new lifestyle Shame and honor are complex that is foreign to the local culture concepts that require a detailed or mentality. When converted, and careful explanation. They Muslims find it difficult to adapt form the basis for behavior in so- to the new value system which is cieties where external factors play so distant from their own. There an important role. Shame, the is no question about their serious- response to the disapproval of oth- ness or sincerity. However, in the ers who define morality and eth- world of Islam, cultural and fam- ics, is expressed by the feeling of ily ties are stronger than the ones anxiety, embarrassment, or fear offered by the new religion, and for what others may say or see. It the end result is often a return to is a personal concern for repute the family religion. and also for the public recogni- Surveying the causes for tion of it. Public opinion exerts shame in Muslim societies, Elmer pressure on the individual, but states that also recognizes the reputation earned as a consequence of mea- to become a Christian is to shame suring up to expectations. the family and the Islamic religion. The shamed family tries to restore Shame and honor play on the honor and face by excommunicat- same continuum, shamelessness ing the Christian convert and treat- being dishonorable. Peristiany ing the person as though he/she (1966) considers that a person of were dead or never existed. If the good repute has both shame and family wishes to restore itself from honor, while a person of evil re- extreme shame, it may physically pute is credited with neither (42). punish the departed member, some- However, there is a difference be- times threatening or even taking the tween “being shamed,” which is person’s life (1993, 55). always negative, and “having The same values of shame shame,” which means to be con- and honor that are important to cerned about one’s honor. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/jams/vol1/iss1/4 2 1/2005 15 Dumitrescu: Shame and Honor: Biblical Understandings and Islamic Cultural Ref For Pitt-Rivers (1977), honor Islamic cultures, prestige has to matches shame as the value of a do with wealth, numbers of men, person in one’s own eyes, but also and numbers of sheep. On the in the eyes of society. It is an in- other hand, honor has to do with dicator of a person’s worth, a ba- integrity, nobility of spirit and sis for pride acknowledged by so- body. A man is honorable when ciety. Honor is the greatest form he meets certain exacting stan- of wealth, even more valuable dards of manliness and maintains than money. It implies an ex- his own reputation or his women. pected mode of conduct that un- Honor is also intimately related to conditionally requires a certain wealth (95-96). treatment in return. Pride be- Psychologists describe shame comes the right to status, and sta- as a very heavy feeling. Smedes tus is marked by the recognition (1993) considers that shame ap- of a certain social identity (1). pears when “we do not measure Public opinion plays a funda- up and maybe never will mea- mental role in the dynamics of sure up to the sorts of persons honor and shame. Even the pres- we are meant to be. The feeling, ence of an affronted person is when we are conscious of it, gives highly relevant to one’s honor. us a vague disgust with our- When converted, Muslims find it diffi- cult to adapt to the new value system which is so distant from their own. Strange as it seems, a statement selves, which in turn feels like a offensive if said to the person’s hunk of lead on our hearts” (5). face may not bring dishonor if said In the same line, Fossum and behind the person’s back. Pitt- Mason (1989) describe shame as Rivers considers that the offense an inner sense of being completely “is not the action in itself but the diminished or insufficient as a per- act of obliging the offended one to son. It is the self, judging the self. A witness it” (5). A person’s honor moment of shame may be humilia- depends on how an action is in- tion so painful or an indignity so terpreted. Certain actions have a profound that one feels one has been clear agreed meaning, while oth- robbed of her or his dignity or ex- ers are interpreted according to posed as basically inadequate, bad, the nuances or interplay of the or worthy of rejection. A pervasive manners (6-7). sense of shame is the ongoing premise that one is fundamentally Trying to define honor, J. Davis bad, inadequate, defective, unwor- (1977) delineates the difference thy, or not fully valid as a human between prestige and honor. In being (5). Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 3 16 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 4 Elmer points to the fact that lical events from a psychological guilt is the equivalent of shame perspective, they should not for- in cultures where internal factors get that “Western psychology is shape behavior and lifestyle. Guilt a monocultural science. It is so becomes self-condemnation for rooted in Western values as to violating our acquired definition be misleading and often useless of right and wrong (2002, 173). for understanding other cul- Thomas believes that, on the other tures.” When cultural psychology hand, “guilt is a feeling and/or a is employed instead, “it is so dis- condition occurring when one has tinctly different that in this per- broken or not kept a divine or spective one meets these ances- human law, while shame is a feel- tors in the faith again, as if for ing and/or a condition stemming the first time” (1999, 13). from a shortcoming in one’s state of being either before God or peers Collective Shame and Honor in (1994, 288). Mediterranean Cultures In comparing guilt to shame, The Arab Muslim lives in a Smedes considers that guilt is a group-oriented context in which more mature feeling, although vio- the emphasis is on hierarchical The most cherished cultural value is honor. No effort and care is spared in order to avoid shame. For a Muslim, life consists of the intricate dynamics that take place between honor and shame. lating a personal value brings a relationships. The most cher- painful feeling of regret and re- ished cultural value is honor. No sponsibility for one’s actions. effort and care is spared in or- Shame is an equally painful feel- der to avoid shame. For a Mus- ing about oneself as a person. It lim, life consists of the intricate is a sense of unworthiness: we dynamics that take place be- become unacceptable in our own tween honor and shame.