Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters
Overview
Our culture often views shame in a negative light. However, Paul’s use of shame, when properly understood and applied, has much to teach the contemporary church. Filling a lacuna in Pauline scholarship, this book shows how Paul uses shame to admonish and to transform the minds of his readers into the mind of Christ. The author examines Paul’s use of shame for moral formation within his Jewish and Greco-Roman context, compares and contrasts Paul’s use of shame with other cultural voices, and offers a corrective understanding for today’s church. Foreword by Luke Timothy Johnson.
- Examines Paul’s use of shame for moral formation within his Jewish and Greco-Roman context
- Offers a corrective understanding for today’s church
- Analyzes how Paul uses shame to admonish and to transform the minds of his readers into the mind of Christ
Part 1: Framework
- Definitional Background
- Greco-Roman Backgrounds
- Jewish Backgrounds
Part 2: Exegesis
- Paul’s Use of Retrospective Shame
- Paul’s Use of Prospective Shame
- Constructing Paul’s Use of Shame
Part 3: Cultural Engagement
- Contemporary Contribution
- Contemporary Challenges
Simultaneously immersed in the biblical milieu and relevant to our world today, this valuable work displays concrete facility in an astonishing range of disciplines and is in turn relevant to various disciplines. Although its most novel and distinctive contributions are for Pauline ethics and theology, it provides considerations relevant to pastoral counseling, pedagogy, intercultural studies, and even social communications and public policy.
—Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary
Te-Li Lau displays command of Pauline studies, expertise in both Hellenistic and Jewish backgrounds, and intercultural sagacity. How many Pauline scholars can draw on comparisons with writings in Chinese, where some 113 terms for shame are found? Lau can and does. The result is a book that arrives at practical wisdom worked out in shrewd dialogue with the West's 'fractured understanding of shame.' Lau makes possible not only a better understanding of the apostle Paul's letters but a better application of those letters in personal life, teaching and preaching, and the public sphere. This is a book of rare wisdom and high importance.
—Robert W. Yarbrough, professor of New Testament, Covenant Theological Seminary
Shame in our day is pervasive, powerful, and painful. Lau shows that in Paul's hands certain forms of shame--though many acts of shaming are prohibited--can be necessary in moral formation and used in positive ways to build Christian character. A remarkably comprehensive, insightful, and timely exploration of the meaning and function of shame.
—Brian S. Rosner, principal, Ridley College
- Title: Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters
- Author: Te-Li Lau
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2020
- Pages: 288
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Pauline Studies