Jayson Georges, author of The 3D Gospel, is a missiologist who has also served as a missionary in Central Asia, working in development, discipleship, and church planting. During that time, he became more attuned to the issues of shame and fear and developed a greater desire for the honor of God. Out of that new awareness, Georges pursued this dimension of culture and theology in new ways. He has developed TheCultureTest.com, an online test that allows one to identify personal or more broad cultural orientation toward guilt, shame, and fear. He also blogs at HonorShame.com, which he founded in 2013. This blog, Honorshame.com,
The 3D Gospel: Ministry In Guilt, Shame, And Fear Cultures Book Pdf
distorts the human family by causing guilt, shame, and fear. Consequently, the cultures of the world chase after innocence, honor, and power apart from God. But the God of the Bible desires to bless all peoples with the fullness of salvation in Christ. The calling of the Church is to meaningfully introduce the nations to the God who addresses our deepest cultural and spiritual longings. (p. 73)
Chapter Three, using this tripartite framework of guilt-shame-fear, elaborates on the story of salvation viewed through each of these cultural lenses. This brief but very helpful chapter provides nuanced descriptions about how the gospel story can be heard with strong resonances for guilt-innocence, shame-honor, and fear-power. Georges fills his discussion with key scriptural texts that connect to each particular dimension. This chapter contains a brief survey of three major theories of atonement (ransom, satisfaction, and penal substitution). Each theory speaks powerfully and particularly to guilt, shame, or fear as each image speaks to different human needs.
Though missiological in focus, this book would be beneficial for any who wish to understand better the gospel in all its fullness. This book would be an excellent resource for all who work to frame the Christian message in any culture. It could function in introductory courses on missions or courses that deal specifically with the gospel. Also, since the book is relatively short and written at a popular level, it is ideal for church classes or discussions about missions and culture. In short, The 3D Gospel is a perfect introduction into the critical issues of honor-shame, innocence-guilt, and power-fear.
Culture: In the first part of the book, cultural paradigms are simplified into a guilt-fear-shame trichotomy. This trichotomy serves as a framework in understanding orientations underlying every cultural context. Why do such cultural orientations exist? It is based on how resources are attained and how a particular group rewards (innocence, honor, and power) or punishes (guilt, shame, fear) (27). In such systems there are three primary gatekeepers controlling resources: formal institutions, human communities, and unseen spirits. This is further illustrated with a chart (30, 31) that shows several human needs and how each culture meets them or responds to them. 2ff7e9595c
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