Few things are as tragic and ironic as the church’s response to Andy Savage’s sexual assault of Jules Woodson. Read more
Few things are as tragic and ironic as the church’s response to Andy Savage’s sexual assault of Jules Woodson. Read more
Missionaries routinely distinguish training from teaching. This is a problem. This way of framing words is a rhetorical device that subtly misleads us. Read more
Today’s guest post comes from Moyra Dale, who spent over two decades in the Middle East and holds doctorates in education and theology. See her full bio below. It has been good to see further discussion in western journals and books on the subject of shame and honour in the past few years. We welcome the recognition of shame and honour as significant categories, both in the Bible and in contemporary cultures, including western society. US author Brené Brown in... Read more
Many people have the same complaint against Christianity and against theological training. They say the church is full of hypocrites. Or, some say, seminaries produce people full of head knowledge but who don’t obey. This complaint is fundamentally flawed. Knowledge produces hypocrites In any room, the biggest hypocrites always are theologians and pastors. It has always been this way and it will always be so. Why? We can only obey what we know. Someone teaches us something, then we can... Read more
Stop whatever you’re doing and watch the video below about China’s surveillance! The video was linked to an article titled “China’s CCTV Surveillance Network Took Just 7 Minutes To ‘Capture’ BBC Reporter“ A challenge experiment was just conducted in Guiyang, China to see how long it would take to locate and capture a BBC reporter who was mixed in at random with the general population of 3.5 million people. After the police snapped his picture and fed it into the... Read more
What is the most overlooked dynamic of traditional honor-shame cultures? In my opinion, it is anything related to patronage. This is why I’m excited about the upcoming meeting in Beirut (October 2018): The Patronage Symposium: Exploring the Gospel in Patron-Client Contexts In this post, I’ll explain why I think the Patronage Symposium is strategic and timely. I’m grateful to be invited as a participant and would love to meet you there What do we mean by “patronage”? One reason people... Read more
What do we gain when we forsake honorifics? Nothing. We do not gain a sense of unity and equality. What is lost when we accept this new egalitarian norm? Read more
How do Paul’s remarks about women (e.g., 1 Cor 11, 14; 1 Tim 2; Titus 1) apply to the mission field? Women are more than “missionary wives”; they are missionaries! However, a gender divide among missionaries (part 1) exists in part because of subtle assumptions that marginalize women’s roles in ministry (part 2). In short, people use the Bible’s silence to silence women. In this third and final post, we consider a few possible applications. I take a “minimalist” view... Read more
Women missionaries often feel marginalized. They are theologically equal but strategically separate in many circles. Read more
A gender divide has always existed among missionaries. We ought to understand the problem before we can address it. Read more
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