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- Herausgeber: IVP Academic
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Patronage governs many relationships in Majority World cultures. But regrettably, Western theologians and missionaries rarely notice this prominent cultural reality. Patronage—a reciprocal relationship between social unequals—is a central part of global cultures and the biblical story of God's mission. Misunderstanding patronage creates problems not only for Westerners ministering in other cultures, but also for contemporary people reading the Bible. If we ignore the concepts of patronage in biblical cultures, we will misinterpret Yahweh's relationship with Israel and miss some of the meaning in Jesus' parables and Paul's letters. Understanding patronage will illuminate theological concepts such as faith, grace, and salvation. Jayson Georges, coauthor of Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures, now brings his ministry experience and biblical insights to bear on the topic of patronage. With sections on cultural issues, biblical models, theological concepts, and missional implications, this resource will serve not only ministry practitioners but also anyone who studies Scripture and worships God.
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MINISTERINGin PATRONAGE CULTURES
BIBLICAL MODELS and MISSIONAL IMPLICATIONS
To Mom and Dad,
models of generosity
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IN WRITING ABOUT RECIPROCITY AND GRATITUDE, I find myself indebted to many people. This book has benefited greatly from the contributions of other people. This section merely acknowledges my debt to them, for repayment is hardly possible. If only I could build a monument to honor their benevolence!
I’m thankful for the organizations that provided a venue to teach and discuss patronage around the world—Frontiers, EthneCity, VisionSynergy, World Team, YWAM, Encompass World Partners, and Eternity Bible College. I learned a great deal from those conversations.
I also wish to thank the people who read the manuscript and provided instructive feedback. This includes Mark Baker, Jackson W., Jon Marshall, David Briones, Duke Dillard, David deSilva, Robert and Anne Theissen, and my editor, Anna Gissing.
The Patronage Symposium hosted in Beirut, Lebanon (2018) generated three days of rich discussions and insights. A special thanks to all the presenters and participants—our time together helped me clarify and sharpen many aspects of my final draft.
I am also thankful for amazing ministry teammates. Your lives modeled for me the nature of biblical relationships. And thanks to my wife and girls, who are always abounding in generosity. I thank God for you, the most precious of gifts.
INTRODUCTION
The Problems of Patronage
I ALWAYS DREADED SEEING ALISHER ON THE STREET. He was a great guy, but he always did something that made me feel awkward. Alisher was the government official who oversaw our neighborhood in Central Asia. With an entrepreneurial personality, he assumed responsibility to help meet needs in the community. So Alisher often asked our family for help, and we gave whenever possible. But over time, our interactions became awkward. Whenever I encountered Alisher on the street, he eagerly found a bystander to whom he could boast of my contributions. “When the children have needs,” he proclaimed, “Jayson always helps! He gave computers to our office. His business employs many people! His organization pays for a basketball league!” For me as a Westerner, his incessant praise felt uncomfortable, even embarrassing. Why was Alisher publicizing my contributions to other people? What did that accomplish in his mind?
Ted and Vicky were American Christians who served in Afghanistan. They found it difficult to give money to people in a helpful manner. Giving charity to a beggar sometimes led to a mob of people demanding money. But giving a loan often broke the relationship because the borrower would disappear to avoid the shame of being unable to repay. One day Ted and Vicky received money from American friends to help their poor neighbor Hamida. They considered the best way to help and decided to anonymously pay off her family’s large debt at the local market. Ted asked the shopkeeper, a good friend, not to share with anyone what they were doing. But the next day, Hamida burst into their house and demanded they get the money back from the shopkeeper. She feared the neighbors would find out and call her family “beggars,” thus ruining their reputation. After that incident, neighbors approached Ted and Vicky on the street with honey-sweet greetings, asking them to come visit their homes. For Westerners and Afghanis, finances play a very different role in relationships. But why? What are the unmentioned expectations?
In Luke 16, Jesus tells a strange story to his disciples. A man was dishonest at work, so his boss fired him from the job. Before word spread about his misdeeds throughout the community, he cut secret deals with all the people who owed his boss money—“Just give me half of what you owe, and I will give you a receipt showing you paid in full.” When the boss found out about these secret deals, he commended his dishonest employee! Why would Jesus tell a story that praises someone for financial deceit? How should we understand Jesus’ ethic of money and relationships?
These three stories portray a stark reality—cultures approach money and relationships very differently. In many cultures of the world, patronage functions as the social “operating system” that shapes relationships. In the paradigm of patronage, rich people are expected to help meet material needs, and the receiver is obligated to repay with honor. These expectations of patronage are culturally hardwired into the societies in which Alisher, Hamida, and Jesus lived. But unfortunately, Westerners are hardly aware of this cultural reality, and this creates problems at various levels. Since patronage is how collectivistic societies operate, understanding patron-client relationships helps unlock the nuances of global cultures and biblical texts.
An American missionary in Southeast Asia commented to me, “I feel like everyone sees a big P [for patron] stamped on my forehead!” The problem though is that most Westerners are unaware of the big “P.” An Asian American missiologist notes,
In many cases, Westerners who have been taught equality, and the virtues of independence in their culture, are not prepared to understand the intricate rules and expectations of Patron-Client relationships. They are not conscious of their expected role as patrons.1
Western missionaries are unprepared, both culturally and biblically, to handle issues related to patronage in their relationships. They misjudge relationships and stumble through financial situations. Patronage causes confusion and frustration. The dynamics of patronage have strained the joy out of their relationships and have even caused missionaries to prematurely leave their field of ministry.
Patronage creates problems not only for Westerners ministering in other cultures but also for any modern person who reads the Bible. Reading Scripture means entering a different culture and social world. If we ignore the pivotal values of patronage in biblical cultures, we will misinterpret Yahweh’s relationship with Israel, Jesus’ parables, and Paul’s letters. The concept of patronage, as this book explains, is an essential construct for interpreting biblical stories, developing a robust theology, and even worshiping God. Patronage is not just a cultural or missiological issue but also a profoundly biblical and theological one. For me personally, learning about patronage in the Bible and writing this book has significantly reshaped my own theology and spirituality. My heart has grown more inclined to thanking God as my benevolent Patron. A biblical perspective on patronage reframes our relationship with God and adds depth to theological concepts such as faith, grace, and salvation.
Here is our roadmap toward developing a biblical perspective on patronage.
Chapters 1–3 address cultural issues regarding patronage. What is patronage and how does it work? How is patronage expressed in relationships? Why exactly is patronage so frustrating for Westerners? These chapters develop a general cultural model of patronage while also observing some ways patronage can vary across cultures. This framework helps us understand the primary socioeconomic system of Majority World and biblical cultures.
Chapters 4–6 examine biblical models of patronage. How did biblical figures engage relationships in a patronage culture? Yahweh, Jesus, and Paul did not reject the cultural system. They adopted and transformed patronage for kingdom purposes. Biblical patronage, as we see in their examples, is God-centered and life-giving.
Chapters 7–9 articulate theological concepts in light of patronage. How does patronage illuminate our theology of God, salvation, and sin? Since patronage dominated the social world of first-century Christians, it significantly shapes New Testament theology. Patronage helps explain the very nature of the gospel and our relationship with God.
Chapters 10–12 unpack the missional applications of biblical patronage. How and when should Christians engage in patron-client relationships? Which positive elements can be adopted? How should negative elements be transformed? How can we make our patronage relationships more God-centered and life-giving? How does patronage apply to our personal lives and ministries? A biblical paradigm of patronage has profound implications for relationships today.
SOME EXPLANATIONS
In writing this book about patronage, I repeatedly faced three challenges: relationships are complex, cultures are unique, and English is inadequate. I explain these challenges and my provisional solutions because readers will face similar obstacles as they think about patronage.
First, the relational dynamics surrounding patronage are complex. Many missionaries have faced a situation like this: “A disciple-friend asks me for $20 to buy new shoes for his son, and I reflexively think, He spent two days helping me find a car part, so I do owe him . . . but he still owes me $50 from three months ago . . . plus I’ve been teaching him about finances to avoid this very problem . . . and I just recently declined to help another church member with a similar request . . . and the money might be to buy a gift for the dean of his son’s university . . . what should I do!?”
In reality, patronage relationships involve many factors and layers. The complexity of “financial friendships” defies simple rules for crosscultural relationships. This book incorporates biblical teaching, real stories, and practical advice to establish general principles (not rules). A better understanding of patronage in cultural contexts and Scripture allows us to better engage patronage relationships with great fruitfulness.
Second, patronage takes on a unique shape in every culture. There is not a one-size-fits-all model of patronage for every culture. My comments about patronage are simply generalizations—a description of the socioeconomic similarities that most Majority World cultures share in common, especially when compared to Western cultures.
Understanding patronage means balancing the tension between broad generalizations and particular expressions. This book presents a general model for patronage but also features case studies from many countries around the world—Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Haiti, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand, and the United States. I also discuss patronage in ancient cultures like biblical Israel, the Greco-Roman empire, and medieval Europe. The general framework for patronage describes tendencies that are generally true of collectivistic, honor-shame oriented cultures, while the case studies provide more texture and concrete nuance.
Third, the English language is a poor medium for discussing patronage. One day I went to the Department of Driver Services in Atlanta to register our family’s car. After I paid the fees, the clerk handed me my receipt, which said in large font across the top, “Thank You for Your Patronage.” In the market-based economies of the West, the word patron often refers to a customer. (Strangely, the English word client also means customer.) This popular meaning of patron in English is entirely different than the Majority World phenomenon of patronage discussed in this book.
Here is the issue. Patron-client relationships are far less prominent in the English-speaking cultures. Since words derive their meaning from social contexts, and the English language is not naturally used in contexts of patronage, English words fail to capture the nuance and depth of social dynamics related to reciprocal relationships. Discussing patronage in English is like using ancient Latin to explain the internet—the words are not meant for such a task. My solution in this book is to use a variety of terms that evoke patronage. These words at times do feel unnatural but seem to prove workable.
The system: patronage, benefaction, clientage
The giver: patron, benefactor
The motive: generosity, kindness, beneficence, benevolence
The object: gift, favor, grace, benefit, benefaction
The action: to help, to provide benefaction, to gift
The receiver: client, beneficiary
The expectation: obligation, social debt, reciprocity, loyalty, allegiance, trustworthiness, faithfulness, gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness
A discussion on patronage can open a can of worms. The topic is controversial and prompts many questions, both theoretical and practical. To make this book concise and accessible I have intentionally avoided technical conversations. Readers who want to further engage patronage should consult the bibliography of further reading in Appendix 1. Readers seeking guidance for practical ministry should realize that a short book about a broad topic cannot solve every problem related to patronage. Rather than offering a three-step process, this book introduces a new paradigm and gives some positive examples and potential applications so that we can be more confident and creative in our ministries. In a way, learning to navigate patronage is like learning a new language—we learn best through practice and experience. Reading a book does not make us proficient in a new language, but it introduces the main points to enhance the learning process. We approach the topic of patronage as a new framework or skill for deeper relationships, not as a how-to method for instant results. With those qualifications in mind, let’s discuss how patronage works.
PART ONE
CULTURAL ISSUES
2
EXPRESSIONS OF PATRONAGE
IN MANY CULTURES, patronage is the modus operandi for relationships.1 The Roman philosopher Seneca exalted benefaction as the “sacred bond” of shared humanity (cf. Ben 18.5; 19.9). The ideology of patronage is a ubiquitous framework that structures most relationships. Patronage is the grammar that people tacitly assume for social interactions.
Patronage is a default system that shapes many types of relationships, like a golden thread woven through society. As a result, patronage lends itself to many variations.2
