Cultural Humility

Phil 2:1-11

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit,if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I recently spoke in a large Southern Baptist church in the New Orleans area. The topic, which was assigned to me by the organizers of the event, was “Dominant, Minority, and Kingdom Cultural Lenses.” This is a talk I give frequently, one where I address several societal expectations from a white, middle-class perspective, from an African American inner city perspective, and then from scripture.

Our tendency, sometimes, is to conflate our cultural expectations with Kingdom expectations. Although scripture was written in an Asian/African context, the Reformation happened in Europe. Our protestant “Talmud” tends to reflect Reformation thinking, which was tried in the crucibles of Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, and England. Thus, lenses through which we view Protestant Theology tend to be uniquely European.

As I talked about how the differences between the ways white, middle-class people view the world versus my inner city friends, one man in the audience became agitated and hostile. Now, this is not uncommon in my experience. Whenever we challenge the perspectives of others, whether in a counseling session, in the political arena, or in a neighborhood meeting, there exists the very real potential for someone to become angry. This happens whenever our core beliefs are poked or prodded. This guy became really angry; in his hostility he attacked, defended, and attempted to show me the error of my message. And I was an invited guest.

There exists in sociology a concept that has come to be known as cultural humility. To fully understand others, we need to be able to step outside of our own personal viewpoints and see things from their perspective. The trouble is, when it comes to cultural lenses, we have a strong tendency to not only believe we are right, but to also believe we are superior. When we view the “other,” suggests Edward Said, it is through our own cultural lenses, and with a condescending perspective toward the other.

Our missiologist compatriots will be quick to tell us that this can be the kiss of death for missional effectiveness in a foreign culture. Living together in a missionary compound, separate from those we want to reach with the Gospel, while maintain our own cultural folkways and even expecting indigenous peoples to adopt them, has long been a discarded missiological tactic. And yet, we have a tendency to do this in our own country, often looking at the “other” as inferior. They are “fatherless,” “lazy “dependent on the government for their well-being,” “don’t take care of their things,” etc. Those that approach the world differently from us, whose cultural perspective is remote and difficult to understand, can be objects of our curiosity and sometimes our condescension.

Paul called the Philippians, and I might suggest he would say the same to us, to “humbly consider others better than ourselves.” To fully understand the “other” requires that we understand that their perspective, their view of the world that may be quite different from ours. This also means that we suspend our own cultural expectations, recognizing that they may be steeped in an American Puritan Ethic rather than an unadulterated Gospel-oriented lens.

I challenge us to practice “cultural humility” considering others’ cultural perspectives as being at least equal to, if not superior to, our own. As Paul suggests, in humility, consider others better than yourselves.