Cultural Anthropologists often divide the world’s cultures into three social paradigms: Honor/Shame, Power/Fear, and Guilt/Innocence. They suggest that every culture has a dominant paradigm, which is used as a social control mechanism. For example, Western cultures typically are dominant Guilt/Innocence cultures, which means that the social control (or behavior control) mechanism is guilt or innocence.
In the story of the Prodigal Son, we see the Honor/Shame paradigm, which is an important building block of that culture. When the son asked his father for his inheritance, (vs. 12) he brought shame upon both himself and his father. A son essentially telling his father, “You are dead to me” dishonors the father. This resulted in the son running away, wasting his inheritance, before eventually ending up living among the pigs (vs. 15). Fewer places could be more shameful for a Jewish boy.
However, in God’s grace, the boy “came to himself” (vs. 17) and humbly returned to the father. When he arrived, the boy immediately repented before his father (vs. 21). Notice the honor/shame word the boy used in his repentance, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The son’s acknowledgement and repentance of his previous shameful behavior restored the honor of the father.
Not only did the father forgive the son, but he received and celebrated the boy as his son. And in doing this, the father restored the son’s honor in the family.
Consider the following as you think about your own culture:
- Which of the paradigms do you think is dominant? In other words, which social paradigm guides you to do the right thing and not do the wrong thing?
- Are you concerned about being guilty (Guilt/Innocence), or not wanting to be shamed (Honor/Shame), or not wanting to upset the spirits (Power/Fear).
- Consider how you learned this paradigm.
In your response, identify the dominant paradigm in your culture, including examples, and explaining how you learned the paradigm.
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