Honor and Shame

1. Honor and Shame The New Testament World by Bruce J. Malina

2. Honor • Honor = claim to one’s own worth + social acknowledgement of that worth • Gained in two ways: • Ascribed • birth to honorable parents • recognition by an honorable person • Acquired • Public challenge and response • Between social equals • Zero-sum: what one person gains (x), another person loses (y) (x+y = 0)

3. Men and women • Male honor: manliness, courage, authority • Authority over women in his household • Protection of women in his household • Female: sexual exclusiveness, purity, modesty • Embedded in her male authority’s honor • Requires male support and protection

4. Shame • Positive meaning: sensitivity about one’s reputation • Shame is symbolized by the female • Sensitivity to humiliation, being “stripped” or exposed publicly • The woman who is sensitive to these things is, ironically, honorable • Shameless = not sensitive about one’s reputation or rules of social interaction • The shameless woman, who has lost her shame, is dishonorable • She makes her male authority dishonorable, because his honor involves protecting her shame