China shames tourists

January 26, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

As my friend put it, you know that honor and shame are important to a culture when they decide to use shame to punish tourists who behave poorly. The Washington Post recently posted an article titled, “Beijing is embarrassed about unruly Chinese tourists and plans to ‘publicly shame’ them.” The article recounts a number of incidents where Chinese tourists have behaved, well, “uncivilized” (as China’s Vice Premiere put it). The government is tired of feeling embarrassed, so they will turn... Read more

A Simple Approach to Honor-Shame Gospel Presentations

January 22, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

A few months ago, I shared two videos that demonstrate what a gospel presentation might look like from an honor-shame perspective. 1. Do you want face? 2. How does God seek “face”? In this post, I want to discuss two questions that particularly shaped the first video (“Do you want face?”). For your convenience, I’ve reposted the video at the bottom so you can see how I used the simple approach discussed in this post. These questions address key themes... Read more

What is "The Global Gospel"?

January 20, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

Here’s a brand new book you will want to know about from my friend Werner Mischke. He serves as Executive Vice President and the Director of Training Ministries for Mission One. The Global Gospel will stretch people’s understanding of the gospel by uncovering a major blind spot in Western theology, namely, honor and shame. You’ll be led on a journey beyond a legal framework of the gospel—to one that is “legal plus regal.” How you communicate the gospel and live... Read more

Losing Face for the Gospel of Grace

January 14, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

I have always been intrigued by people’s responses to 2 Corinthians. I’ve heard comments about how “proud” Paul seems to be due to all his “boasting” (cf. 2 Cor 10). This reaction is strange because it completely misunderstands what Paul is doing in the letter. Paul wants to make a point: Christians must be willing to “lose face” for the gospel of the glory of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 4:4). Who do you want to give you “face”? 2... Read more

Global China Center Reviews "Saving God's Face"

January 13, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

Over at Global China Center, Dr. G. Wright Doyle has written a very thoughtful review of my book Saving God’s Face: A Chinese Contextualization of Salvation through Honor and Shame. His review is broken up into two parts. Dr. Doyle not only provides leadership to the Global China Center, he has written many significant books related to Christianity in China. Formerly, he taught at China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan and now leads China Institute, a ministry to educated Chinese in... Read more

Thoughts on the Paris Attack (Guest Post by Roland Muller)

January 9, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

Thoughts About The Attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris Once again the Western world has reacted with shock to Muslim violence. Those in the West believe they are protecting freedom of speech, those in the Muslim world believe they and their religion are victims of ridicule and shame. Many of you know I have written a great deal on these topics, including the book Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door, in 2001. In this book I point out... Read more

Why Chinese don’t contextualize theology

January 8, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

I often hear people say that missionaries are not the people who should be doing the contextualization for the Chinese church. Instead, they should let nationals do the contextualization. They are the ones who can contextualize best. That sounds right. Unfortunately, however, it’s merely an ideal and a half-truth at best. Read more

Honor-Shame in Mission Frontiers

January 6, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

Mission Frontiers magazine has dedicated their Jan-Feb issue to the topic of honor & shame! They graciously asked me to write an article explaining why we have such a blind spot when it comes to honor and shame. Here are some of the contributors: WHY HAS NOBODY TOLD ME THIS BEFORE? / JAYSON GEORGES WHY HAS THE CHURCH LOST “FACE”? / JACKSON WU HONOR AND SHAME IN LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE / W. PHILIP THORNTON GOD HONORS US BY ENTERING OUR... Read more

How Would Jesus Tell It? Crafting Stories for Honor-Shame Cultures

January 5, 2015 By Brad Vaughn

Want to craft a story from an honor-shame perspective? Check out the January 2015 issue of Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ). I’ve contributed an article entitled, “How Would Jesus Tell It? Crafting Stories from an Honor-Shame Perspective.” As I looked around, I found little to nothing on this specific topic. The article suggests five practical steps or stages to crafting a story for an honor-shame context. The subjects of orality, honor-shame, and story crafting are vast. There’s no way to... Read more

First class Chinese ingenuity

December 31, 2014 By Brad Vaughn

Here is a fun story that illustrates so well the ingenuity of the Chinese mind. Casey Chan blogged about a genuis man who used one first class airplane ticket to eat free for a year. Airports are often terrible places to be. There are too many people rushing somewhere combined with too many cranky folks leaving somewhere mixed with annoying obstacles in the form of TSA security and rolling luggages. But it’s just like that for us normal folk. For... Read more