Acknowledgement:Adapted from Crucial Dimensions in World Evangelization, by Arthur F . G lasser, et al. ,1976. ww w .us cw m .o rg "

Cultural Differences andthe Communication

of the GospelPaul G. Hiebert

TimeCulture shock is a sense of cultural disorientation in a different society.

YOU were excited. You were accepted as a missionary.The church held a big farewell in which you werecenter stage when all your life you had sat only in the

pews. There was the thrilling. sorrowful parting at the -airport,the flight in the giant 747.and a little uneasiness as you landedin a strange country. But friends were there to meet you. Youcouldn't read the menu at the restaurant so you pointed know­ingly at something you didn't recognize and took yourchances. You recognized half the food on the plate. The otherhalf looked inedible-was it roasted insects or goat' s entrails?Later you went to the market to buy oranges but the womancouldn't understand a word you said. Youpointed to yourmouth and rubbed your stomach like a little child. You had topay her. but all you could do was hold out a handful of thestrange coins for her to take what she wanted. You were sureyou were cheated. You got on a bus to go across town . and gotlost You imagined yourself spending the next ten years ridingthe bus trying to get home. Yougot sick and you were sure thelocal doctor didn't know how to treat American diseases . Nowyou are silting on your bed. wanting togo back where youcame from. How did you get yourself Into this anyway. andwhat do you say to your church after a few weeks of 'missions'abroad? "The job is done"? "I can' t take it"?

Your reaction is perfectly normal.

;'g

Paul G. Hiebert

is Chairman of

the Department

of Mission and

Evangelism and

Profe~sor of Mission and Anthro­

pologyatTrinityEvangelical Divin­

ity School. He previously taught

Anthropology and South Asian

Studies at Full er Theologica l

Seminary's School of World Mis­

sion . Hiebert served as a mission­

ary in Indi a with the Mennonite

Brethren Board. He is the author

of Cullural Anthropology, Anrhro­

pologicallnsight5forMissionaries.

and Case Studies in Mission with

his wife . Frances H. Hiebert .

Adapted from Crucial D imen­

sions in World Evangelization, by

Arthur F. Grasser, et at. . ' 976.

Used by permission of W illi am

Carey li brary, Pasadena. CA.

level of Satisfaction

Tourist

w ant to

stay

w ant to

go home

CultureShock

Acljusted BiculturalPerson

Chapter 54

Chapte r 54 CULTURAL DIFFEREN CES

It is the culture shock everyone experi­ences when they enter a new culture. Touri stsdo not really experience it because they re­turn to the ir American-style hotels afterriding around looking at the native sce nery.Cu lture shock is not a reaction to poverty orto the lack of sanitatio n. For foreigners com ­ing to the U.S. the experience is same. It is theshock in d iscoverin g that all the cultural pat­terns we have learned are now meaningless .We know less about living here than the chil­dren. and we must begin aga in to learn theelementary things of life-how to speak.greet one anot her. eat, market, travel. and athousand other things. Culture shock reallysets in w hen we reali ze that this now is goingto beour lifeand home.

THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE

To understand culture shock and th e prob­lem s of intercultural communication. we

need to first understand the concep t of "cul­ture." We will begin with a simple defini­tion th at we can modify late r. as our under­sta nd ing of the concept grows . Culture is

M the more or less integrated systems of be­liefs. feelin gs and val ues . and their associ­ated sy mbols. patterns of behavior andproducts sha red by a group of people." Letus unpack this definition.

Patterns of Behavior and ProductsMost peo ple begin learning a cu lture by ob­servi ng the behavior of the people and look­ing for patterns in their behav ior. We see twoAmerica ns grasp eac h other's hand andshaking them. In Mexico we see them em­brace. In India each pu ts his hands togetherand raises them toward his forehead with aslight bow of the head -a gesture of greetingthat is efficient, for it perm its a person togreet a great many others in a single motion .and clean , for peop le need not tou ch each

2.

PAUL G. HIEBERT

other. The latter is particularly important in asociety where the touch of an unt ouchabledefiles a high caste person and forces him totake a purification bath. Among the Sirianoof South America. people sp it on each other'schests in greeting.

Probably the strangest form of greet ingwas observe d by Jacob Loewen in Panama.Leaving the jungle on a small plane with thelocal native chief. he not iced the chief go to

all his fellow tribesmen and suck theirmouths. When Loewen inquired about thiscusto m. the chief explained that they hadlearned this custom from the white man.They had seen that every time white peoplewe nt up in planes . they sucked the mouths oftheir people as magic to insure a safe journey.Americans. in fact. have two types of greet­ing. shaking hands and sucking mouths. andwe must be careful not to use the wrong formwith the wrong peop le.

Not all beha vior is culturally shaped. Informal situations. behavior and speech arecarefully circumscribed by the culture. Ev­eryday life is usually less formal : we are al­lowed to choose from a range of permiss iblebehaviors . OUf cho ices reflect the occasion(swimming suits are out of place in theclassroom) and our personalities . OUf cul­ture is the se ts of rules that govern thega mes of life that we play in our society.Like players in most games. we often try to"bend the rul es" a littl e and get away withit. If we are caug ht. we are punished: but ifno t. we gai n some adva ntage or sense ofachiev em ent. All cultures have ways to en­force their rules . such as gossip. os tracismand force. but not all vio lators are punished .A soc iety may ignore so me transgressors.particularly those who are impor tant andpowerful. Or it may be unab le to enforce aspecific rule. particularly w hen a greatmany people break it. In those cases cul­tural ord inances may d ie. and the culturechanges accordingly.

Culture also includes material objects­houses. baskets. canoes. masks. carts. com­puters. and the like. People live in nature andmust adapt or mold it for their own pur­poses . Most traditional soc ieties live in an en­vironment largely formed by nature. In corn­plex industrial societies. much of the human

environment is culturally molded. Electricityblurs the distinction between day and night .and planes and phones break the barriers ofgeographic distance.

Human behavior and material objects arereadily observable. Consequently. they are im­portant entry poin ts in our study of a culture.

THE HEART OF CULTURE:

BELIEFS, FEELINGS AND VALUES

At the heart of a culture is the shared be­liefs. feelings and values of a community ofpeople. Throu gh their experiences. peopleform mental pictures or maps of their world.For instance. a person liv ing in Chicago has amental image of the streets around her home.those she uses to go to church and work. andthe major arteries she uses to ge t aroundtown . Obviously. there are a great manystreets not on her map and as long as shedoes not go to these areas. she has no needfor knowing them .

Not all our ideas retlect the realiti es of theexterna l world. Many are the creations ofour minds. used to bring orde r and meaningto our exp eriences. For example. we see agreat many trees in our lifetim e. and each isdifferent from all others. But it would be im­possibl e for us to g ive a se parate name foreach of them. or to eac h bush . each house.each car- in short, to eve ry experience wehave. In orde r to think and speak we mustredu ce this infinit e variety of ex periencesinto a man ageable nu mber of concepts bygeneralizations. We call these shades ofcolor "red: those "ora nge: an d the thirdset "yellow." These categories are the cre­ations of our minds. Other people in otherlangu ages lump them toge the r into a singlecolor. or divide them into two or more co l­ors. Do these people see as many colors aswe? Certainly. The fact is . we can create asmany categories in our minds as we want.and we can organ ize them into larger sys­tems for describing and explaining humanexperiences. Culture is a people's ment almap of their wo rld. This is not only a map oftheir physical world . but also a map for de­terminin g action . It provid es them w ith aguide for their decisions and behavior.

3

Cha pter 54 CULTURAL DIFFEREN CES

Bel iefsShared beliefs about the na tu re of rea lityma kes com munica tion and com munity lifepossible. They provide people with the cat ­egories and logic they use to experience thewo rld .. Be liefs also tells peopl e what existsand what does not. For instance. most West­erners believe in atoms, electrons. gravityand DNA. although they have never seenthem . Sout h Ind ian villagers believe in fiercerakshasas-spirits w ith big heads. bulgingeyes. fangs and long w ild hair. w hich inh abittrees a nd rocky places. and jump on unwarytravelers at night. No t all Ind ians believe inrakshasas. just as not all Ame ricans believe inGod . But all mu st take into account the cat­egories that exist in their culture.

FeelingsCu lture a lso has to do w ith the feelingspeopl e have- w ith their notions of beauty.tastes in food and dress . likes and di slikes.and ways of enjoy ing themselves or express ­ing sorrow. People in one cu lture like theirfood hot. in another. sweet or bland . In somecultures people ar e encouraged to s ing insha rp. piercing voices. in others to s ing indeep. mellow tones. Members of so me societ­ies learn to express their emotions a nd maybe aggress ive and bell icose; in others theylearn to be se lf-controlled and calm. Some re­ligion s encourage the use of med itation . mys·ticism and drugs to achieve inn er peace and

The Dimensions of Culture

tra nquility. Others stress ecstasy thro ug hFrenz ied so ngs . dances and se lf-torture.

The affective dimension of cu lture is re­flected in standards of bea uty. and taste inclothes . hou ses and food. It a lso plays an im­portant part in human relationships- in ournot ions of etiquette and fellowsh ip. We com­municate love. ha te. sco rn and a hundredother attitudes. by our Facial expressions. •tones of voice an d gestures.

Values and AllegiancesCu ltu re includes the val ues by which peopleju dge the experiences of their lives. Theseva lues determine w hat is right and wrong.what is good and w hat is ev il. in the culture.For exa mple. in ancient Jap an it was a sin tobea t a horse while it is lying on its back. andto sow seed wh ere someon e else has alreadydone so. In parts of India. losing one's tem peris a greater sin than sexua l immorali ty.

More or less IntegratedA culture is made up of a great many pat­tern s of behavior, ideas and products. But itis more than the sum of them. Th ese patt ernsare integrated . more or less. into larger cul­tural com plexes and total cultural sys tems bya wo rld view w hich forms the core of the cul­ture . This wo rldv iew is made up by the fun ­dam en tal cog nit ive. affective and eva lua tiveass umptions the peopl e make about reality.Becau se these assumptions are taken For

I EXPERIENCES)

I EXPERIENCES)Feelings

BEHAVIORPRODUCTS

PAU L G . HI EBERT

granted, they are generally unexamined andtherefore largely im plicit. They are whatpeople 'think w ith ,' not what they ' thinkabout.' People believe that the wo rld really isthe way they see it. Those who d isagree arewrong or crazy.

To see this integration of cultural patternswe need only observe the ave rage America n.On entering an auditorium to listen to a mU 4

s ical performance, she looks unt il he finds achai r-a platform on which to perch him self,If all these platforms are occu pied. he leavesbeca use the aud ito rium is "full." Obviou sly.there are a great many places on the floorwhere he can sit . but this is not cu ltura lly ac­ceptable. at least not at the perfo rmance of asymphony orchestra,

At home Americans have different kindsof platforms for sitting in the living room, atthe dining tabl e. at a desk and on the lawn.They have large plat forms on whic h theysleep at night. Wh en they travel abroad ,thei r greatest fear is bei ng caug ht at nightw itho ut a platform in a private room, sothey make hotel reservati ons we ll ah ead oftim e a nd pay hundreds of dollars for asingle night' s sleep. People from many partsof the world know that a ll one need s atnight is a blanket to keep clean and warm.and a flat space-and the world is fu ll of flatplaces . At the airport. at three in the morn ­ing . American travelers are draped uncom­fortably over chairs because they wouldrather be d ignified tha n comfortab le. Travel­ers from ot her par ts of the wo rld sleepso und ly stretched out on the floor,

Not only do Ame ricans s it and sleep onplatforms, they build their hou ses on them,hang them on their walls, and put fencesaro und them to ho ld their children. Why thisobsession wilh platforms? Beh ind all thesebehavior patterns is a basic wo rldview as­sumption that floors are dirty. Th is explainstheir obsession for get ting off the floor. It a lsoexplains why they keep the ir shoes on whenthey enter the house, and why the motherscolds the child w hen it picks a potato chipoff the floor and eats it. even though the floorhas just been washed.

In Japan the people believe floors areclean, They take their shoes off at the door.and sleep and sit on mats on the floor. Wh en

we walk into their home with our shoes on,they feel much like we do when someonewalks on our cou ch with their shoes on ,

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ANDTHE MESSENGER

So long as we live in our own culture, we arelargely una ware of it. Wh en we enter new cul­tures, however, we become keenly awa re ofthe fact tha t other people live differently. Atfirst we see the differences in dress, food, lan­guage and behavior. Then we learn that thereare profou nd diffe rences in beliefs . feelingsand values . Finally, we begin to realize thatthere are fundamental differences inworldviews. Peop le in different cultures donot live in the same world wit h different labelsattac hed to it, but in radically d ifferent wo rlds.

Cultural di fferences are at the center of themiss ionary task w hich is to minister to 'oth­ers.' How can we communicate the Gospel inother languages, and plant vita l churches incultures which differ marked ly from ou r own?

MisunderstandingsAfter we ge t beyond our ini tial culture shock,we are faced wi th three lifelon g problems.The first has to do with cognitive misunder­standings. Some missionaries in Congo hadtrouble in bu ilding rapport with the people.Fina lly, one old man explained the people'shesitancy to befriend the missionaries."When yo u came. you brought your strangeways: he sa id . "You broug ht tins of food . Onthe outside of one was a picture of corn.When yo u op ened it, insid e was corn andyo u ate it. Outsid e another was a picture ofmeat, and insid e was meat. and you ate it.An d then w hen yo u had your baby. youbroug ht in small tins . On the outside wa s apictu re of babi es, and yo u opened it and fedthe inside to yo ur child!" To us, the people'sconfusion sounds foolis h. bu t it is all too logi­cal. In the absence of other information, thepeople must draw their own conclusionsabout our actions. We do the same abouttheirs. We think they have no sense of timew hen. by our culture. they show up late . Weaccuse them of lyi ng. when they tell us thingsto please us rather than as they really are

Cha pte r 54 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

(althoug h we have no troubl e saying "Justfine!" when so meone asks "How are yo u?").The resu lt is cultural misunderst andin g. andthis leads to poor communicatio n and poorrelationships .

Edward Hall points out how differentviews of time can lead to confus ion (1959).When , for example, two Am ericans ag ree tomeet at ten o'clock , they are "on time" ifthey show up from fiv e minutes before tofive minutes after ten . If on e shows up at fifoteen after, he is "late" and mumbles an un­finished excuse. He must simply acknowl­edge that he is late. If he shows up at halfpast. he sho uld have a good apo logy. and byeleven he may as we ll not show up . His of­fense is unpardonable.

In parts of Arab ia. the people have a d if­ferent concept or map of time. If the meetingtime is ten o'clock, only a serva nt shows upat ten-in obedience to his master. Theproper time for others is from ten forty-fiveto eleve n fifteen. just long enough after theset time to show their ind ependence andequality. This arrangement works well. forwhen two equals ag ree to meet at ten . eachshows up . and expec ts the other to show up .at about ten forty-five.

The problem arises when an Americanmeets an Arab and arranges a meeting for teno'clock. The American shows up at ten, the"right time' according to him. The Arabshows up at ten forty-five, the "right time" ac­cording to him. The American feels the Arabhas no sense oft ime at all (which is false). andthe Arab is tempted to think Americans actlike servants (which is also false).

Misunderstandings are based o n ignoranceof the beliefs. feelings and values of anotherculture . The solution is to learn how the otherculture w orks. Our first task in entering a newcultu re is to be a student of its ways. When­ever a culture 'makes no se nse ' to us, we mustassume that the problem is ours. because thepeople's behavior makes sense to them.

EthnocentrismMost Americans shudder whe n they enter anInd ian restaurant and see peop le eating curryand rice w ith their fingers. Imagin e divinginto the mashed potatoes and gravy w ith yourhand at a Thanksgiving dinner. Our response

seems natural. to us. Early in life each of usgrows up at the center of our own world. Inother words. we are egocentric . Only with agreat deal of difficulty do we learn to breakdown the circle we draw between me andYou , and learn to look at things from the v iew ­point of others in our group . Similarly. whenw e first encounter other cultures , we find i~

hard to see the world through other culturaleyes. We are ethnocentric.

The root of ethnocentrism is our humantendency to respond to other peopl e' s waysby using our ow n affective ass umptions. andto reinforce these responses wit h deep feel­ings of approva l or disapproval. When weare confronted by anothe r culture. our own iscalled into question. Our de fense is to avoidthe issue by conclud ing that our culture isbetter and other people are less civilized .

But ethnocentrism is a two-way street.We feel tha t people in other cu ltures areprimit ive. and they judge us to be uncivi­lized . So me North Am ericans were hosting avisiting Indian scholar at a restaurant. wh enone o f them who had nev er been abroadasked the inevitable qu estion . "Do you re­ally eat w ith your fingers in Indi a?" Implici tin his question, of co urse . was his culturalatt itude that eating w ith o ne's fingers iscrude and dirty. North A mericans may usefinge rs for carrot sticks , potato chips, andsandwiches, but never for mashed potatoesand gravy or T-bon e steaks. The Indi anscholar replied . "You know. in India we lookat it differently than yo u do. I always was hmy hands carefully before I ea t. and I onlyuse my right hand . And besides. my fingershave not been in anyone else's mouth. Whe nI look at a fork or spoon. I often wonderhow many other strange rs have alread y hadthem in their mouths!"

Ethnocentr ism occurs w hereve r culturaldifferences are found . North Am ericans areshocked when they see the poor of other cu l­tures llvlng in the streets. Peopl e in thosesa me societies would be just as appalled toobserve how we Nort h Americans surrenderour aged and sick and the bod ies of ou r de ­parted to st range rs for care .

The so lution to ethnocentrism is empathy.We need to learn to appreciate other culturesand their ways. But our feelings of superiority

PAUL G. HIEBERT

work in them.

new Christians.

We need to let

the gospel work

in the lives of

and recognize

that the same

Holy Spiri t who

leads us is at

ments w ith rega rd to ourselves . and this in­cludes judging other cultures. But these judg­ments should be well informed. We need tounderstand and appreciate other cu ltures be­forewe judge them. Our tendency to makepremature ju dgmen ts is based on ignoranceand ethnoce nt rism.

As Christia ns, we claim ano ther bas is foreva luation , namely, Biblical norms . As divinerevelation we stand in judgment of a ll cul­tures. affirming the good in human crea tiv ity

and condemning theev il. To be sure. non­Christians may re­ject these norms anduse their own. Wecan onl y present thegospel in a spirit ofredemptive love andlet it speak for itself.Truth. in the end.does not depend onwhat we think orsay. but on rea lity it­se lf. Wh en we bearw itness to the gos -pel. we do not claim

a supe riority for ourselves. but affirm thetruth of divine revelat ion .

But w hat keeps us from interpreting theScripture from our own cu ltural point ofview. and so imposing many of our own cul ­tural norms on other people? First . we needto recognize that we bring our cultural biasesw ith us w hen we inte rpret the Scriptures. Wemus t be open to recognizing these biasesw hen they are poin ted out to us. We alsoneed to let the gospel work in the lives ofnew Christia ns and recogni ze that the sameHoly Spirit w ho leads us. is at wo rk in them.We need to allow them the greatest pri vilegewe allow ourse lves, the righ t to make mis­takes and to learn from them.

Second . we need to study bot h the cu lturein which we ministe r and our own in order tocompare and evaluate the two. The process ofgenuinely seeking to understand another cul ­ture breaks down our cultu ral bia ses. and en ­ab les us to appreciate the good in other cul ­tu res. lt is important, too that Christianleaders in ot her societies learn ou r cu lture tounderstand us.

Premature JudgmentsWe have mis understandings on the cog nitivelevel an d ethnoce ntrism on the affectivelevel. On the eva lua tive level we tend toju dge anot her culture too quickly. before welearn to understand and appreciate them.OUf initi al assessm en t is often that they aresome how inferior and ign orant.

As people learn to understand and appre ­ciate ot her cu ltures. they come to respectthese cultures as viable ways of organizinghuman life. Some are stronger in one area,such as technology. and others in other areassuch as fam ily ties . But all •do the job: thatis. the y all make life possible and more or lessmeaningful. Out of this recognition of the in­tegrity of all cultures. em erged the concept ofcultural relativism : the belief that all cult uresare equally good - that no culture has theright to stand in judgm ent of others.

Th is posit ion of cultural relat ivism is veryattract ive. It shows high resp ect for oth erpeople and their cultures and avoids the er­rors of ethnocentrism and premat ure judg­me nts . The price we pay, however, in adoptingtota l cultural relativism is the loss of suchthings as truth and righteo us ness . If all expla­nations of reality are equally valid, we can nolonger speak of error. and if all behavior is jus­tified according to its cultural context, we canno longer speak of sin. There is then no needfor the gospel and no reason for miss ion.

What other alte rnative do we have? Howdo we avoid the errors of pre ma ture and eth­nocen tric judgments and still affirm tru thand righteous ness? There is a grow ingawareness that all human activities are full ofjudg ments. Scientists expec t one anot her tobe honest and ope n in repor tin g their find ­ings and care ful in the top ics of their re­search. Social scientists must respect therights of the ir clients and the people theyst udy. Businessmen. government officials.and others also have va lues by which theylive . We cannot avoid making judgments. norca n a society exist without them.

On what basis. then. can we judge othercu ltures witho ut becoming ethnoce ntric? Wehave a right as indi viduals to ma ke judg-

and our negative attitudes toward strange cus ­toms run deep and are not easily rooted out.

'1

Ch apte r 54 C ULTU RAL DIFFEREN CES

The dia log ue between us and our nationalco lleagues is important in build ing bridges ofcultura l underst anding. It is also importan t inhelping us develop a mo re cu lture-free un­derstand ing of God 's truth and moral stan­dards as revealed in the Bible. O ur colleaguescan detect our cultural blind spo ts bett er thanwe can, just as we often see their cultural pre­judgment s better than they. Dialogue withChristians from other cu ltures helps keep usfrom the legalism of imposing foreign beliefsand norms on a society w ithout takin g intoacco unt its speci fic s ituations. It also helpskeep us from a relativism that denies truthand reduces ethics to cultural norms.

Evaluation in theThree DimensionsAs hu mans, we pass judgments on be liefs todetermine w hether they are true or false. onfeelings to decid e likes and dislikes , and onva lues to differentiate right from wro ng . Asmissionaries w e are faced with eva luatingother cultures and ou r own alo ng each ofthese dim ensi ons .

On the cognitive level. we must deal w ithdilTerent perceptions of reality. including di ­verse ideas about hunting . farming. buildinghouses. human procreation and d iseases. Forexample, in south India villagers believe ill­nesses are caused by angry local goddesses.Consequently. sacrifices must be made to themto stop the plague. We mu st understan d thepeople's beliefs in orde r to understand theirbehav ior, bu t we may decide that moderntheories of disease are more effective in stop­ping illnesses. On the other hand, after exam­ining their knowledge of hunting w ild game,we may conclude that it is better than our own.

We need to evaluate not only the people'sfo lk sciences, but also their religious beliefs,for these a lTec t their understanding of Scrip­ture. Altho ug h they already have conce ptssuch as God, ances tors. s in and salva tion.these mayor not be adequate for an unde r­standing of the gospe l.

Becoming Global ChristiansSomething happen s to us w hen we learn tolive deeply in a new culture: we beco me glo­ba l people. O ur paroch ialism , based on ourunquestion ed feeling that th ere is really one

civilized way to live , and our way is it. isshatte red. We mus t deal with cultural va ri­ety-with the fact th at people build culturesin d ilTerent ways, an d that they believe theircultures are better than o urs . Aside fromsom e curios ity at our foreignness. they arenot interested in learning our w ays.

But to the extent we identify w ith peopleof another culture and become g lobal. w efind ourse lves alienated from our kinsmenand friends in our homeland . This is not re­ve rse culture shock. a lthoug h we will exp er t­ence that when w e return home after a lon gstay abroad . It is a bas ic d ifference in how wenow look at th ings. We have moved from aphilosophy that ass umes un ifo rmity to onethat has to co pe with variety. and our oldfriends often don't understan d us w hen wereturn. In time , we may find our closest asso­ciates a re other globa l people.

In one sense . g loba l people never fully ad ­just to one culture-the ir own or theiradopted one. Within them selves , they are partof both. When Americans are abroad, theydream of America. and need little ritual s thatreaffirm this part of th emselves-a food pack­age from home. a letter. an American visitorfrom w hom th ey can learn the latest newsfrom "home." When in America, they dreamof the ir adopted country. and need littl e rt tu ­als that reaffirm this part of themselves- avisito r from that country, a mea l with its food .Globa l peo ple see m happi est when they areflyin g from one country to th e othe r.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND

THE MESSAGE

Cultural difference s affect the messengers, butthey also affect the gospe l message, Each soc i­ety looks at the world in its own way. and thatway is encoded in its langu age and culture.No langu age is unbiased , no culture theologi­cal neutral. Consequently. the translation andcommunication of the gospel in new culturesis no easy task. If we do not un derstand th is.we are in da nger of being ineffective messen­gers at best, and . at worst. of co mmunicating agos pe l tha t is m isunderstood and d istorted.

Cultu ra l differen ces alTect the message insevera l ways. Firs t, th e messengers mu st

PAUL G . HIEBERT

com municate in the langu age the people un ­derstand. This means learning new Ian­guages and translating the Bible into theselangu ages . This involves not only using lo ­cal words that have si milar meanings to theorigina l. but also checking that the mean ­ings of those w ords in the broader context ofthat culture do not introdu ce distortion. Sec­ond, new believers mu st learn how to dealwith their old cultural ways . Can they con­tinu e to participate in local festivals , sin gold so ngs . crem ate the dead . venerate theirancestors and go to the diviner for guid­ance? Birth rites. wedd ings. funerals andother rituals must be made ind igenous, yettru ly Christian. Third. if the church is tofunction we ll. church bu ildings . forms ofwo rsh ip and leadersh ip sty les must beada pted to fit the local cultural practices.Fourth . eva nge listic method s must be cho­se n that fit the cu lture. Meth od s that wo rkin sma ll tribal societies norma lly do notwork in rural or urban settings. Nor domethods appropriate for the city. work intrib al and rural societies. Fina lly. the peop lemu st develop a th eology in which Scriptu respea ks to them in their particular historicaland cultu ral settings . These are all part ofthe contextualization of the gospel in newcultural settin gs .

Contextua lization raises difficult quest ionsthat mu st be addressed . We will examinethree of them.

Gospel and CultureWhat is the relati onship between the gos peland culture? We must distin gu ish betweenthem. for if we do not, we w ill be in dang erof making our culture the message. The gos­pel then becomes de mo cracy, capitalism ,pews and pulpits, Robert 's Rules of Ord er,and suits and ties on Sunday. One of the pri ­mary hindrances to co mmunication is theforeignness of the message and. to a greatextent, the foreignn ess of Christianity hasbeen th e cultura l load we have placed up onit. As Mr. Murth i. an Ind ian eva ngelist. putit. MOD not bring us the gospel as a pottedplant. Bring us the seed of the gos pel andplant it in our soil."

It is not always easy to distinguish be­tween the gospel and human cultures for the

gos pel. like any message. mu st be put intocultural forms to be und erstood and co mmu ­nicated by peopl e. We cannot thin k wit hou tconceptual categories and symbo ls to ex ­press them . But we can be careful to let thebiblical message shape not only our beliefs.but also the categories and assumptions ofour culture.

A failure to differentiate between the bib­lical message and oth er messages leads toconfus ion between cultural relativism andBiblical absolutes. For example. in manychurches w he re it was once considered si n­ful for women to cut the ir hair or wear lip­stic k. or for people to attend movies , theseare now acceptable. Some. therefore. arguethat today. prem arital sex and adu ltery aretho ug ht to be sinfu l. but that in time they.too. will be accepted.

It is true that many things we co nsideredsin are now accepted in the church. Arethere. th erefore. no moral abso lutes? Wemust recognize that each culture defin escertain behaviors as "sinful." and that. asthe culture chan ges . its definition of w hat issin also changes. Th ere are. on the othe rhand. moral princip les in Scripture that wehold to be absolute. Even here we mu st becareful. however, for some bibli cal norms.such as leaving th e land fallow every sev­enth year and not reaping the harvest (Lev25) or greeting one ano ther with a holy kiss(I Th 5:26) seem to apply to spec ific cu lturalsituat ions.

Contextualization VersusNoncontextualizationCultures are made up of systems of beliefsand practices that are built upon impli cit as­sumptions that peop le make about them ­selves. about the wo rld around them. andabout ultimat e realities . How can Christianscommunicate and embody the gospel interms of these worldviews and the beliefsand practices associated with them , w henmany of these are unb iblical?

One resp on se has been to reject most ofthe o ld beliefs and customs as ..pagan. ~Drums. songs. d ramas. dances. body decora­tion. marriage customs and funeral rites arefrequ ently conde mned because they arethought to be directly or indirectly related to

Cha pter 5 4 CU LTU RAL DIFFEREN CES

trad itiona l reli g ions , hen ce unaccept able forChr istia ns . This w ho lesale rejection of oldcu ltura l w ays creates problem s. First, itleaves a cultural vacuum that need s to befilled. and this is often done by importingthe cus toms o f the missionary. Drums. cy m­bals . and oth er traditional instrument s arereplaced by orga ns and pian os. Instead ofcreating new lyrics that fit native music,Western hymns and melodies are lntro­duced . Pews replace mats on floors , andwestern sty le churches are built. altho ughthey appear incongruous alongside mudhuts and thatch ga thering hall s. It is no sur­prise. then. that Christianity is o ften see n asa foreig n reli g ion. and Chris tian converts asaliens in the ir own land.

A second problem arises w hen missionar­ies attempt to suppress o ld cultural ways.These simply go underground . New convertscome to church for worship . but during theweek turn to shamans and magicians for an­swers to the everyday problem s of their lives .

A third problem with the wh olesale con ­demnation of traditional cultures is that it notonly turns missionaries and church leadersinto police. but keep s conve rts from growingby denying them the right to make their owndecisions. A church only grows spi ritually ifits me mbers learn to apply the teachin gs ofthe gospel to thei r own lives .

A second response to traditiona l ways isto see them as basically good, and to acceptthem uncritically into the church. Few. ifany. changes are seen as necessary w he npeo ple becom e Christians. Those w ho advo­cate this a pproach have a deep respect foroth ers and thei r cultures , and recognize thehigh value peopl e place on their own cul ­tural heritage. They also recognize that the"foreignness" of the gospel has been one ofthe major barriers to its acceptance in man ypar ts of the world .

This app roach has se rious weaknesses.It overloo ks the fact that there are corporateand cultural sins as well as pe rsonal trans­gressions. Sin is found in cultura l beliefs andexhibited as group prid e, segregation againstothers and idolat ry. The gos pe l calls no t onlyindiv idu als, but soc ieties and cultures to

change. ContextuaJization mu st mean thecom munication of the gospel not only in

ways the peopl e understand . but in ways thatalso cha llenge them indi vid ually and cor po ­rately to turn from their ev il ways.

Anot her weakness in uncriticalcontextualization is that it o pens the doors tosyncretisms of all kinds. If Christia ns con­tinue in beliefs and practices that stand in op­position to the gospel, these in time w ill mixwith their newfound faith and produce va·ri ­ous forms of neopaganism .

If bo th uncritical rejection and un criticalacceptance o f old ways undermine the mis­sion task. w hat should we and Christianconverts do w ith the people 's cu ltura l heri­tage? A third ap proac h is to evaluate it inthe ligh t of biblical teachings. The first stepis to study the old ways in o rder to under­stand them. The missionary and chu rchleaders sho u ld help new converts to exa m­ine their traditional practices . The next stepis to lead the church in a Bible study relatedto the question under co ns ide ration. For ex ­ample, the leaders can use the occ as io ns ofweddings and funerals to teach Christianbeliefs about marriage a nd d eath. This is acritical step. for if th e peopl e d o not clearlyunderstand the bibli cal teach ings. they w illbe un abl e to deal w ith their cu ltu ra l ways.Th e third ste p is for the cong rega tio n toevaluate critica lly their own past cus toms inthe ligh t of their new biblical understand­ings. and to make decisions regardi ng theiruse. They w ill keep many of their old ways.because these do not d istort the gospel.They wi ll reject other ways as unchristi an .They will reint erpret othe r ways to conveythe Christia n message. For exa m ple. th eyw ill g ive Christian w o rds to their native lyr­ics . Th ey w ill develop new sy mbols andritual s to communicate the gospe l in waysth ey understand . And out of the processthey w ill create beliefs and practices that ar eboth biblical and context ua lly ap propriate.

Conversion and UnforeseenSide EffectsSince cultural traits are linked together intolarger w holes . changes in one or more of themoften lead to unforeseen changes in other ar ­eas ofthe cu lture . For example. in one part ofAfrica. when the people became Christians .their villages also becam e dirty. The reason for

10

PAUL G. HIEBERT

th is was that they were now not afraid of ev ilspirits which they believed hid in refuse. Sothey no longer had to clean it up.

Many cultural traits serve import ant func ­tions in the lives of the people. If we removethese without providing a substitute. the con­seq uences can be tragic. In some places hu s­bands with more than one wife had to g iveup all but one when they became Christian.But no arrangements were made for thew ives w ho were pu t way. Many of themended up in prostitution or slavery.

What implications does an understa nd ingof culture and cultural differences have for uswhen we minister in ano ther culture? Weneed to recogni ze that the effective communi­cation of the gos pe l is central to our task.There is little po int going ten thou sand milesto give ou r lives if we cannot bridge the finalfive feet. Inter-cultural communication is acom plex process. If we do not understand it,

we w ill be unabl e to communicate the gospelto the people.

As we learn to effective ly co mmunicatethe gospe l interculturally. how ever. we mustnever ove rlook the fact that God is at workthrough his Spirit in the hearts of the people,prepa ring them for the Good News. Withoutthis . true conversion and Chr lstian maturityis impossible . God uses the imperfect meansof human beings to make his message knownto us and thro ug h us , to ot hers . And evenw hen we are unskill ed in transmitting themessage. he ofte n uses it to transform thelives of peopl e. This is not to justify our ne­g lect of understanding intercul tural co mmu­nication . but to say that. in the end . the com­munication of the gospe l dep ends on thework of God in the hearts of peopl e w hom hehas prepared. Christian communication musta lways be accompani ed by prayer and obed i­ence to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Study Questions1. What integrates beliefs, values, and feel ings w ithin a given culture?

2. Distinguish the errors of ethnocentrism and what Hi ebert calls "prematurej Udgmen ts."

3. How is it possible to become what Hi ebert calls "global people?"

4. Of wha t use for cross-cultural communication is identifying bel iefs, feelin gs and values?