The suicide of a nurse who was one of the victims of a prank call to a London hospital by Sydney radio presenters has been covered in overwhelming depth in other places.
Noting the difference between a guilt/justice based culture (the West) and a shame/honour based culture (the East, sub-continent and Africa), it seems that the perception of the situation rested on the poor woman in ways that I personally can’t conceive, given her Indian nationality and my Australian one.
I think it’s safe to believe that is true, while not needing to hold that her action can be completely understood as culturally motivated.
While we were in Zimbabwe we experienced a loss of items due to theft. I haven’t spoken about it much, not because I want to hide it, but because my hosts have experienced so much shame that it should have happened while I was there as their guest. Even though everything lost has been restored through insurance (and their own generosity), they still bear that burden.
It reminds me that when we relate to, and visit, such places Australians have to be careful lest our tendency to express affection through playful (and not so playful) mockery becomes an impediment to developing relationships of respect and love.
This also makes me wonder about the notion of ‘multiculturalism’, a concept which is much more than diet or dress.
Will we ever successfully integrate these two perceptions of reality to such an extent that our thinking will give equal weight to both justice and honour? Or that we’ll intuitively think about how those of other cultures will perceive activities which we think of as puerile at worst?
The recent riots which took place after a short film about Muhammad were motivated (at least in part) because of a belief that Muhammad’s name had been dishonoured and the proper course of action to redress that insult was to make a lot of noise, not simply point out the perceived errors and let it rest at that.
But the situation also makes me wonder whether social media is giving rise to an appropriation of shame based culture in the West.
Are all those posts and tweets an expression of a thirst for justice, or to equate noise with honour?
What effect would such an assimilation have on our society?
Time will tell.
All of this is of interest to followers of Jesus because Jesus lived and ministered in a shame based culture.
That why so many of the Psalms for interest ask that the writer not be put to shame, rather than be declared just.
It’s one of the reasons why He so often challenged people about appearance and asked them to examine their thoughts and hearts instead.
Part of the scandal of Jesus’ life was that he treated those who were obviously without honour as honourable, pronouncing that their sin was forgiven and they were acceptable to God.
The Gospel was formulated and first expressed in cultural circumstances like those which we are encountering today.
I am aware of Christians who know they are redeemed, but who still struggle with shame.
Even though God has told them they are not guilty, they still feel no honour or worth before God (or themselves or others).
God addresses this by not simply wiping the slate clean (so to speak), but by making us part of the family.
A generation after Jesus inaugurated the resurrection life, the apostle John writes words that speak to the hopes and fears of every human heart: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
And He keeps treating us as His children, despite our protestations, until we simply surrender and receive His love and acceptance.
As we seek to parse the culture and bring the light of the Gospel to it, I think that it will be helpful to remember that the Gospel deals not only with unrighteousness, but shame and worthlessness.
And note that this is not the same thing as self-esteem. No-one should think the Psalmist was crying out to be delivered from a poor conception of self.
But, I think, for a growing number of people in our society, who have less of a sense that they are in the wrong, but more of a sense that they have no intrinsic value in relationships, the same Gospel which we’ve always held to will speak to them and give them hope.
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