Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS
Cross-cultural Christian Theology and Ethics
Caitlin J. Trainer
Huntington University
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CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 2
Cross-cultural Christian Theology and Ethics
According to western culture, domestic violence is generally seen as unethical and even considered a crime. A man hitting his wife is unacceptable to society and usually results in punishment if reported. Arguments occur between individuals of most marriages in western culture, but once physical violence becomes a matter, the situation becomes an issue of morality. As a westerner, I have always seen this issue as black and white. Domestic violence is unethical. Not only have I always believed this, but I also assumed it was a universal belief. That is until I was informed of another culture’s perspective.
During “Go Week” at Huntington University, which is a week specifically focused on missions, Heather Webb was part of a panel in my Intercultural
Communications class. She is a graduate of Huntington University and a former missionary to Tanzania East Africa from 2007-2012. While in Tanzania, she and her husband worked with the Church of God of Tanzania and were sent by Global Missions, the outreach arm of the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana. As a couple, they served as the directors of the Theological Education by Extension program, which is a theological training ministry, and they were also the directors of a Tailoring School designed to be vocational training to empower Tanzanian women. Currently, Webb is the Public
Relations Coordinator at H.E.A.R.T. Institute, a missionary training program in Lake
Wales, Florida. During her time with my class, Webb shared some insight into the
Tanzanian culture, with which I was unfamiliar at the time.
Webb introduced me to the Tanzanian cultural norm of domestic violence between a husband and wife. She explained it casually, as if it was something normal in

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 3 which every Tanzanian couple takes part. I asked if even Christian husbands hit their wives, and she nodded yes. Though her ministry in Tanzania was not to “fix” this issue necessarily, she did attempt to understand their view of this behavior. From her observations, she was able to confidently state her understanding of the cultural norm.
She said: “When I say domestic violence referring to Tanzania, I'm not talking about husbands beating their wives until they are black and blue and bloody… What happens in
Tanzania is more like what happened in the U.S. 30, 40, 50 years ago—teachers hitting students with a paddle or a switch, children getting spanked for disobedience. That kind of thing.” 1
The husbands essentially punish their wives.
According to Webb, domestic violence occurs within Tanzanian homes on an average of once a month. Bruises are never physically noticeable, and the occurrences of the beatings are hardly ever discussed. Webb noticed that not all Tanzanian men beat their wives, and especially not all Christian Tanzanian men. However, men within her church in Tanzania did hit their wives on occasion. Commonly, hands or wooden spoons were used. Some common reasons for the hitting include, “the tea is late, dinner isn’t ready, [or] the wife isn’t obeying or respecting her husband.”
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This Tanzanian cultural norm is seen as normal to most Tanzanian people, but to westerners, physical violence of this nature is generally intolerable, subject to litigation and punishment by law.
The issue with physical violence in Tanzania raises a few very important theological and ethical questions. What is the extent of universal ethics, and what role does the all-knowing God play in these different Christian perspectives on ethics based
1 2 Webb, Heather. Interview with Caitlin Trainer. E-mail and personal interview.
Huntington, March 3, 2013.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 4 on culture? Domestic violence is not the only cultural norm that creates controversy in theology. There are multiple cultural practices in countries around the world that, to the host culture, are not even questionable, but to outsiders looking in, the practices are considered unethical. If we, as God’s children, who make up the body of Christ, have different views on human rights, are we even worshipping the same God? These questions will never be answered fully until we are made perfect in Christ in His fulfilled
Kingdom, but I would like to suggest some thoughts on the subject in light of our culturally diverse world, as well as some other examples in addition to physical violence in Tanzania. Humans may be bound by culture, but our heavenly Father is not.
Theology is a process, and as Christians, we must seek to understand God’s perspective of His children by seeking to understand the reasons behind certain cultural practices that do not seem to line up with our own theology.
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Another cultural practice that is seen as unethical in the eyes of westerners is the rite of female circumcision in many African Islamic countries. To begin understanding this rite, one must know that there are many types of female circumcision (FC). Two of the most dramatic forms are sunna circumcision and pharaonic circumcision. Sunna circumcision is the procedure of removing the female clitoris entirely. Pharaonic is an even more dramatic procedure, in which all parts of the external genitalia are removed.
The issue is humanistic as well as scientific in that the rite is medical and physical.
Westerners, especially women, have the tendency to hear of practices such as FC and immediately feel sorry for the women who go through these procedures. Not only do western women feel sympathy towards them, but they also develop the mindset that these
3 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical Theologizing in
Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980), 290-360.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 5
Islamic Africans need their western salvation and that without them they are helpless.
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Eric K. Silverman enlightens westerners by introducing the fact that the Islamic
African women actually find a sense of dignity in practicing this rite. In their culture, they are seen as established women if they go through this practice. From a western standpoint, Silverman states, “… many African and Muslim women are appalled at our standards of beauty, honor, and dignity.” 5
These women are not naïve as some may assume. “Rites we see as horribly demeaning are a form of symbolic capital to alleged victims, gaining them access to custom, community, virtue, and morality. FC even allows some women to contest, not accede to, patriarchy, and to define, not erode, their selfworth.” 6
It is crucial that if Christians attempt to understand theology on a world-wide scale, they must seek to understand the reasoning behind these issues seen as unethical.
There is also another viewpoint from alleged victims of FC. Some girls do not view the rite as a means of finding self-worth, and they want to be rescued from the practice. Karen Musalo, a United States attorney, shares her experience with rescuing an
African teenage girl from the tribal rite of female genital mutilation (FGM). The girl’s name was Fauziya Kasinga, and with Musalo’s help, her plea for political asylum in the
United States was granted in 1996, which set a precedent for future women refugees fleeing the same practice. There is now an internationally proclaimed human right that prohibits distinctions based on gender, but many countries ignore this and continue to
4 5 6 Eric K. Silverman. “Anthropology and Circumcision”, Annual Review of
Anthropology, 2004, vol. 33, 428-431, http://web.ebscohost.com.elibrary.huntington.edu/ehost

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 6 deny equal rights to women. Musalo restates the underlying question: “What is to be done when generally accepted international human rights standards conflict with longstanding cultural practices?” Musalo suggests that the answer lies within the conflict between universality and cultural relativism.
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Universality proponents believe that human rights are universal. All countries should have the same rights for humans, and they should prevail over long-standing cultural or religious traditions. The universal rights have been guaranteed through international treaties. Cultural relativism, however, says that cultural and religious traditions should be set at a higher value than universal rights, so the practices should be allowed to continue in those certain countries.
Universal human rights became a discussion point due to the failure of countries to stop the tragedies of the Holocaust after World War II. In response, the United
Nations was formed in 1945. Through the United Nations, the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women was formed, which “condemns FGM [Female
Genital Mutilation] as an act of violence against women and states that countries ‘should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination.’” 8
Countries such as Afghanistan, China, India, the West Bank, and Gaza continue to keep such practices. For example, in Afghanistan, women are prohibited from getting an education, and in India, a bride may be burned to death if the dowry she brings to her
7 8 9 Karen Musalo, “When Rights and Cultures Collide”, Markula Center for Applied
Ethics, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v8n3/rightsandcultures.html

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 7 husband’s family is too small. 9
People who lean towards cultural relativism believe that
“culture is an essential attribute of self-determination and of a people’s sovereignty.” 10
Musalo claims to lean towards universality. She believes that there is significance in the fact that if cultural traditions are created by the most powerful, then the less powerful of that culture are disenfranchised. In essence, the international human rights standards were created not by a few powerful nations but by representatives from diverse nations. Cultural traditions and practices within countries, however, were created by the powerful within that culture. Musalo states, “Proponents of universality argue that international human rights norms have moral authority because they constitute the world community’s consensus regarding ethical behavior between governments and their citizens.”
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Musalo leaves us with some food for thought concerning ethics, but what about the theological side of the issue?
In Charles H. Kraft’s Christianity in Culture , he reminds us that we are Christ’s ambassadors and heralds, and we participate in God’s communication. As we read in 2
Corinthians 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
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God speaks through us as believers, and we are called to witness for others’ sake. 13
According to Kraft, theologizing should be a process. A theology that is set in
10 11 Karen Musalo, “When Rights and Cultures Collide”, Markula Center for Applied
Ethics, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v8n3/rightsandcultures.html
12 The Holy Bible, NIV
13 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical Theologizing in
Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980), 277-278.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 8 stone is dead. Our example of theologizing should come from the apostle Paul. Kraft terms this “dynamic-equivalence theologizing”. “Dynamic-equivalence theologizing is the reproducing in contemporary cultural contexts of the theologizing process that Paul and other scriptural authors exemplify.” 14
Kraft is clear about the fact that western theology is not applicable to all cultures.
He explains:
If we are tempted to absolutize the perceptions of our cultural-bound understandings of the revelation of God, we are culturally taking a position equivalent to that of individuals who regard none but their own understanding of truth to be absolutely correct, and we accuse such individuals of egocentrism… any monocultural perspective on truth is no more complete than the single perspective of any given individual.
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Furthermore, Kraft brings into account Christian linguist Kenneth Pike’s original findings on emic and etic perspectives. Emic perspective is the viewpoint from those within a specific culture. Etic perspective is the viewpoint from those on the outside looking in to many cultures, not just one. An emic perspective to Christian theology basically says that it is okay for every culture to have its own Christian theology even if it does not apply to any other culture. An etic perspective to Christian theology attempts to make theology transculturally applicable. Kraft suggests that Christians should have an etic approach to theologizing. He is also careful to remind us that we will never be able to reach total
14 15 16 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical
Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980),
291-294.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 9 divine truth in this life.
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In the process of explaining dynamic-equivalence theologizing, Kraft mentions
Robert McAfee Brown’s ten propositions that affirm the “value of experimentalcontextual theologies.” Here are Brown’s ten points, provided by Kraft, which are helpful in understanding how to go about theologizing with an etic mindset:
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‘All theologies are contextually conditioned’; (2) ‘there is nothing wrong with theology being contextually conditioned’; (3) ‘it may take others to show us how conditioned, parochial or ideologically captive our own theology is’; (4) we should be excited rather than upset when we hear such alternative theological perspectives, for they expand our understandings; (5) even if we could once ignore such voices, we can no longer; (6) contemporary alternative theologies are reminiscent of certain theological innovations in western cultures; (7) the point of contact between our traditions and these new theologies is Scripture;
(8) we should ‘take the same kind of critical look at our own traditions’ that we take at those of others; (9) ‘only in creative tension with the widest possible perspective can we develop theologies appropriate to our own particular situations’; and (10) since within the church the ultimate loyalty is not simply to nation, class, or culture, the church is uniquely suited to provide the context within which the task of creative theologizing can take place.
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17 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical

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In order to come to a better-balanced understanding of truth, we must learn to understand the insight of every cultural group. For example, African culture may help people of western culture recognize that illness is a theological matter, not just a medical matter. Africans are able to make the connection between the fact that we live in a cursed world and we are now subject to illness. To them, sickness is not just a medical thing that happens to the body. They see sickness as a spiritual issue. This African insight gives us westerners a wider cultural perspective of theology. Westerners tend to narrowly view sickness strictly as a medical problem that can be solved with the proper medicine and care. We put ourselves in danger of heresies if we cut off insights of Christians from other cultures.
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In his attempt to provide a plan for how to go about “transforming culture with
God”, Kraft uses the case study of infanticide in northern Nigeria. In this Nigerian culture, young girls are forced to prove their fertility if they want to get married. In doing so, they give birth to one or more children before marriage just to show the men in the tribe that she is fertile. Since a human life is defined as being part of a social group or family in this culture, the young infants are not considered persons. These test-run babies are neglected and left to die after birth. The Nigerian culture would view this practice similar to the way westerners view the use of contraceptives. Viewing this practice as morally wrong and theologically out of line, how should the western culture go about promoting a transformation within the Nigerian culture? Kraft suggests that the first
Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980),
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295.
Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical
Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980),
303-361.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 11 thing is to seek to fully understand the practice from the Nigerian tribal perspective.
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We are not required to approve of the custom, but we must seek to understand their worldview, for their traditions were just as deeply implanted into their minds as were ours. Using yet another example, Christians who plan to witness to a polygamous society, should not go into it with the purpose of telling the people they are wrong for doing their practice. The focus must be to bring the good news of Christ, and in turn,
God will slowly reveal His truth to the polygamous society. “Without the interference of the static caused by outside pressure to change such a peripheral custom, then, the message of God will be heard as good news concerning salvation rather than bad news concerning polygamy.” 20
Christians should strive to stay away from giving the polygamous society a reason to write off Christianity.
Kraft has offered his thoughts on Christianity in culture, and Andy Crouch brings us even further into understanding the eternal purpose of various cultures as Christians in
Culture Making . Crouch explains that when Jesus comes to build a New Jerusalem, in which Christians will spend eternity, we will no longer be culturally bound. Neither will there be pain or suffering. There will be human-made cultural goods from every culture, but they must be transformed in some way so that they can be made perfect. Crouch offers the example of a sword. A sword created by human hands on earth was meant for death, but in the New Jerusalem, perhaps the swords will be turned into plowshares. The same is for humans. We will also be transformed. Eternal life will be the fulfillment of
20 Charles H. Kraft, Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical
Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perspective (New York: Orbis Books, 1980),
362-364.

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS 12 what God originally created us to do—cultivate and create.
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Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
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Not only is God not culturally bound, neither is His Word, and perhaps, “it’s the impossibility of the gospel that makes it so culturally potent and perennially relevant.” 23
Crouch says that pure joy that comes when “Jesus takes the most basic stuff in the world, breaks it, blesses it and offers it back to us, made whole and made new.” 24 We get little tastes of this joy here on earth.
Sometimes the taste is fleeting and only makes us more hungry; sometimes it is overwhelming and spoils us for anything less lovely. Only when culture gives us that kind of joy will it fully be transformed—and when it is transformed that way, in fulfillment of the whole sweep of the story from beginning to end, it will indeed be Christ who deserves the glory, honor and praise.
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One of Steven Covey’s seven habits of highly effective people is “seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
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Applying this axiom would have us seeking to
21 Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (Downers Grove:
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Intervarsity Press, 2008), 168-174.
The Holy Bible, NIV
23 24 25 Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (Downers
Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2008), 176- 183.
26 Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character
Ethic, (Melbourne: Business Library, 1989)

CROSS-CULTURAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS understand Christian culture and theological differences with eternal eyes, for we are all to be transformed.
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