Authors Bob Elder
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A lot of folks who know my first book have emailed me about this insightful piece by @DavidAFrench on how the fusion of southern honor culture and evangelicalism explains our current moment. Some thoughts.
French does a great job describing honor as an ethical system in which your worth and identity depends on how others see you. If your claims about yourself are challenged, violence (or rhetorical violence) is an ethically "righteous" response in an honor culture.
French writes, "This approach represents a dramatic contrast with biblical commands to “turn the other cheek” or to “bless those who persecute.” Instead, the shame/honor imperative is to punch back, hard. Any other approach...risks the well-being of the community." Exactly.
I saw this tension between honor and Christianity all the time in 19th c. church disciplinary records where men explained to fellow church members how they had to fight somebody who insulted them (or their mother, wife, family, etc.) even though they knew it was sinful.
I began calling it the "I know it was wrong, but I still had to do it" defense. If you live in the South, you've heard a version of it.
As America secularizes, Evangelicalism is increasingly southern Evangelicalism. It\u2019s the population center. The power center. The culture center. And it helps explain some of the ungodly rage we see. It\u2019s the southern culture leaking out. My Sunday essay: https://t.co/ezkdtmRcP1
— David French (@DavidAFrench) January 17, 2021
French does a great job describing honor as an ethical system in which your worth and identity depends on how others see you. If your claims about yourself are challenged, violence (or rhetorical violence) is an ethically "righteous" response in an honor culture.
French writes, "This approach represents a dramatic contrast with biblical commands to “turn the other cheek” or to “bless those who persecute.” Instead, the shame/honor imperative is to punch back, hard. Any other approach...risks the well-being of the community." Exactly.
I saw this tension between honor and Christianity all the time in 19th c. church disciplinary records where men explained to fellow church members how they had to fight somebody who insulted them (or their mother, wife, family, etc.) even though they knew it was sinful.
I began calling it the "I know it was wrong, but I still had to do it" defense. If you live in the South, you've heard a version of it.