For this Blog I have depended on writings of the Jesus Seminar and Dr John J Pilch, a medical anthropologist.
Every society in the world has conventions for social behaviour. When I was growing up, my parents were racist. They came from British stock so anyone who did not fit their white, Eurocentric mold of a “proper Canadian” was looked down upon. Professional training like medicine or law was revered. Wealth was important but it didn’t matter how you got it. Honesty and high morals were talked about, but in the end didn’t they count unless you got caught. All religious leaders were honoured and never suspected of being anything else but virtuous men. Being poor, or having a non-white skin colour, was dishonourable in their minds. In Quebec, where I grew up, if you were English you needn’t bother to learn French; the French had to learn English if they wanted part of the greater society. In the decades since, these old interpretations of honour and shame have changed. Judgements about skin colour, ethnicity and language are slowly being replaced by more tolerant and accepting views. From time-to-time white supremacy still rears its ugly head; anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim epithets are being heard less commonly. In Jesus’ time the culture of the day centred around Honour/Shame and it was practised by all societies bordering the Mediterranean Sea. In the past and presently in Canada we still have the concept of Honour/Shame and it is constantly renewing itself, hopefully with increasingly positive changes. The essential core of Honour/Shame in Jesus’ time was the need to keep a person’s good reputation intact. On the other side, one of the objectives in an Honour/Shame society was to try to erode another person’s honour. This was done in many ways but in the gospels, we see one method practised many times. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Now the expert in the law already knew the answer. Jesus answered him and said, “What is written in the law? He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” He goes to ask, “And who is my neighbour?” That last question is a “gotcha question” and Jesus avoids answering it directly by telling a parable. The whole idea of the gotcha question was to catch someone like Jesus off guard and thereby erode his honour. We see it all through the gospels. In Jesus’ day everyone was ascribed honour. The trick was to add to it and not lose any. Honour in Jesus time was also attached to his family and how they behaved. In the parable of the Prodigal Son had a father who lost much honour by giving in to his youngest son request and welcoming him home with much love. Everyone listening to the story felt the son should have received a good beating from his father. The concept of Honour/Shame was shared by all societies in the Mediterranean in early Christian times. It was also incorporated dreadfully with the Roman method of capital punishment designed to bring as much shame to the felon as possible. Crying out in pain was dishonourable and certainly crucifixion was incredibly painful. As crucifixion was done in the nude, despite the best efforts of the Renaissance painters to cover the genitalia with a convenient loin cloth, being seen nude was a major dishonour. When we read the scriptures, we need to be on the lookout for the concept of Honour Shame. It comes up many times.
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AuthorI'm Rev. Dr. Pirie Mitchell and I live in Ontario, Canada. Archives
May 2023
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