Saving God's Face: A Chinese Contextualization of Salvation through Honor and Shame (EMS Dissertation Series) by Wu Jackson

Author:Wu, Jackson [Wu, Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Carey International University Press
Published: 2013-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5: A SOTERIOLOGY OF HONOR AND SHAME

This chapter uses an honor-shame (HS) perspective to explain Christ’s atonement and the doctrine of justification. The interpretation offered does not presume to exhaust the meaning of these two concepts. However, a few observations give reason to expect Chinese cultural categories may contribute significantly towards a more comprehensive soteriology. First, the Bible has transcultural relevance. Second, no single culture represents the totality of human existence. Third, many features of Chinese culture greatly overlap with the contexts of biblical writers. To say this does not infer that Chinese culture is equivalent to the Ancient Near East (ANE). Neither does it infer that Chinese culture is equivalent to the culture of the God’s consummated kingdom. All cultures fall short of God’s kingdom. Nevertheless, many categories are not simply cultural but human. Some aspects of human life are more prominent in one place and time than in others. The interpretations offered here neither exclude nor absolutize any one culture over another. The goal of this chapter is to find how Chinese culture adds to an understanding of salvation. Accordingly, the interpretations affirmed here do not necessarily deny views held by non-Chinese writers throughout history. In the process, the insights from previous chapters will come into dialogue with theological scholarship .

The Gospel of the King of Glory: The Story of Salvation

Theology depends on the metaphors of Scripture. They frame the way one reads and applies the Bible. [832] They regulate the interpretive process such that readers, when studying a particular metaphor, tend to use one set of texts rather than others. Interpreters who recognize potential limitations with any metaphor will seek ways to relate the manifold ways Scripture talks about salvation. Each metaphor tends to emphasize aspects of salvation not stressed as strongly, if at all, in other figures of speech.

Naturally, people from different cultures have varied understandings about the significance of particular metaphors, resulting in all sorts of contextual theologies. Interpreting Scripture often comes down to differing opinions about emphasis. Matters of emphasis can easily solidify into controversies with dichotomized options. In that case, it is quite difficult to argue that one option is a major emphasis and not merely a minor point. Thus, one can easily sacrifice truth in battles over emphasis. Readers may confuse a renewed stress on the one idea as an attack on their own preferred emphasis.

One task of contextualization is to sort through different themes and, if needed, oppose popular readings that minimize or deny the importance of a particular motif. Defending an “emphasis” is harder than defending a truth. To do so, interpreters must do four things: (a) demonstrate the theme’s presence , (b) argue for the probability the writer does emphasize that motif, (c) discuss its priority relative to other emphases, (d) and attempt to placate fears the interpretation is not denying some other important idea.

Theological conclusions should explicitly be grounded in exegesis. Any insights gained from cultural anthropology do not trump the words and context of a biblical author.

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