Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes: Patronage, Honor, and Shame in the Biblical World

by E Randolph Richards

Tammy, my actual sister. Recently, we were both visiting my folks. I was sleeping late, and she needed to dash over to the grocery store to buy some milk. She took my car without asking me. She knows me and knew I wouldn’t want her waking me up to ask. She can borrow my stuff, and I can borrow hers—because we’re siblings. While my sister is my blood sister, my Indonesian Christian brothers and sisters saw our relationship just the same way. One morning in Indonesia, I woke up and walked into our living room, and all our furniture was gone. I walked into the kitchen, where my wife, Stacia, was cooking, and said, “Our furniture is gone.” Without even looking up from cooking, she said, “Yeah, I noticed that, too.” I went off to teach class at the seminary where I was serving. When I got home for lunch, the living room was still empty. Later that afternoon, a truck pulled up with all our furniture. People unloaded it, put it back, and started to leave. “Wait a minute,” I said, coming in from the kitchen. “Where has our furniture been?” One of the men on the way back to the truck, said over his shoulder, “At a wedding.” When I still looked confused, he added, “It was early this morning, and you were still asleep. We knew you wouldn’t mind.” Christians are family, and families loan things. Perhaps churches in the individualist West have forgotten how to be family. One church owns a church bus. If another church needs it, are we family? “Our insurance policy won’t allow it,” my d...