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The God who gives generously: honour, praise and the agony of celebrity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2018

Mark B. Stephens  and
Georgiane Deal
Mark B. Stephens
Affiliation:
Excelsia College, 69–71 Waterloo Rd, Macquarie Park, New South Wales [email protected]
Georgiane Deal
Affiliation:
Excelsia College, 69–71 Waterloo Rd, Macquarie Park, New South Wales [email protected]
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Abstract

The need for honour, meaning publicly acknowledged worth, has been a feature of social life across the ages. From the ancient world of Greece and Rome, through to the honour codes of contemporary celebrity culture, the quest for honour is often framed in agonistic terms, in that honour is a limited good that demands competitive behaviour. This article examines the way early Christianity responded to ancient honour codes, with a view to its potential relevance in contemporary culture. It demonstrates the way early Christianity retained something of the language of honour in its ecclesial communities, but redefined honour in light of its conception of grace.

Keywords

gracehonourhumilitypridespiritual gifts
Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 52 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

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3 Although not her main focus, DeYoung includes numerous examples of how contemporary celebrity exemplifies the vice of vainglory. See Vainglory, pp. 3–4, 93–4, 123.

4 Bryan, Christopher, A Preface to Romans: Notes on the Epistle in its Literary and Cultural Setting (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 72.Google Scholar Cf. Paddock, Alisha, ‘First Corinthians in a Post-Honor Culture’, Stone-Campbell Journal 16 (2013), p. 86 Google Scholar; Gosnell, Peter, ‘Honour and Shame Rhetoric as a Unifying Motif in Ephesians’, Bulletin for Biblical Research 16 (2006), p. 106;Google Scholar Malina and Neyrey, ‘Honor and Shame in Luke-Acts’, pp. 25–6. On the opposite end of the scale, shame is not simply an internal matter, but rather disgrace that is publicly known and socially reinforced; see Malina, Bruce, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, 3rd edn (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001), p. 49 Google Scholar.

5 In Vainglory, pp. 17–18, DeYoung draws a conceptual distinction between honour and glory, which focuses more on the idea of honour in terms of intrinsic worth, whether people recognise it or not. Whilst this is fair enough in modern terms, it doesn't quite capture the way honour could be inextricably bound together with public recognition in the ancient world.

6 Skultety, Steven C., ‘Competition in the Best of Cities: Agonism and Aristotle's “Politics”’ Political Theory 37 (2009), p. 46;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Neyrey, Jerome H., Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1998), pp. 17–18 Google Scholar. However, J. E. Lendon argues this was not a feature of Roman conceptions of honour in ‘Roman Honor’, in Peachin, Michael (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 392 Google Scholar.

7 Barclay, John M. G., Paul and the Gift (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), pp. 433–4Google Scholar. Joseph H. Hellerman lists a range of possible honour challenges such as insults, gift-giving, invitations to dinner, debates over legal issues and arranging marriages in ‘Challenging the Authority of Jesus: Mark 11:27–33 and Mediterranean Notions of Honor and Shame’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 43 (2000), p. 219.

8 Paddock, ‘First Corinthians’, p. 86.

9 See Tacitus, Annales 4.38; Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum 85.26. See Gosnell, ‘Honour and Shame Rhetoric’, p. 107. Note also E. A. Judge's assertion that ‘self-magnification . . . became a feature of Hellenic higher education’ in ‘The Conflict of Educational Aims in the New Testament’, in Harrison, J. R. (ed.), E. A. Judge: The First Christians in the Roman World: Augustan and New Testament Essays (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), p. 701 Google Scholar. Nevertheless, such boasting and self-praise needed to be deployed with ‘great delicacy’ according to Forbes, Chris, ‘Comparison, Self-Praise, and Irony: Paul's Boasting and the Conventions of Hellenistic Rhetoric’, New Testament Studies 32 (1986), p. 10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Neyrey, Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew, p. 17. Philotimia could be regarded as both a virtue and a vice. See the varied evidence in Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.13; Demosthenes, On the crown 18.257; Aristotle, Nicomachean ethics 4.4; Dio Chrysostom Fourth discourse on kingship 84. Cf. Skulkety, ‘Competition in the Best of Cities’, pp. 47–8.

11 deSilva, David A., Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), pp. 44–5Google Scholar, 51. Cf. Heb 10:32–4; 1 Pet 2:12; 3:16; 4:12–16.

12 DeSilva, Honor, Patronage, pp. 61–5; Paddock, ‘First Corinthians’, p. 90.

13 DeSilva, Honor, Patronage, p. 51.

14 Matt 5:11; 6:2; Acts 24:13; Rom 2:29; John 7:24; 2 Cor 5:12; 1 Pet 2:12; 3:16.

15 Matt 15:4//Mark 7:10; Mark 10:19//Luke 18.20; Eph 6:2; 1 Tim 3:8, 11; 5:3–6, 17; Tit 2:2; 1 Pet 3:7.

16 Precisely what this entailed is debated. See Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1996), p. 188.

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21 ESV, hereafter all English translations will come from the ESV; Cf. Smith's, James K. A. comments on how Augustine used 1 Cor 4:7 as a favourite text in Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2010), p. 14 Google Scholar.

22 There is some conjecture over precisely how to translate the verb προηγέομαι used here. It can be taken to mean to prefer or esteem another more highly, or it could be taken to mean that one should lead the way in offering honour to others. Liddell-Scott generally defines it in terms of taking the lead or going before, whilst Bauer/Arndt/Gingrich/Danker suggests a closer tie to ἡγεῖσθαι (consider); and Blass/Debrunner/Funk is adamant in its preference for the translation ‘esteem more highly’ (cf. Phil 2:3). Modern translations are evenly divided: ‘Outdo one another’ (HCSB; ESV; NRSV); ‘be the best at showing honor’ (CEB); ‘give preference to one another’ (NASB); ‘honour one another above yourselves’ (NIV). With Moo, we prefer the idea of ‘leading’ or ‘outdoing’, because the meaning ‘consider/esteem’ is otherwise unattested. See Moo, Douglas, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), p. 777 Google Scholar.

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24 Cf. also Paul's introduction in terms of speaking to them ‘by the grace given to me’ (διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι, Rom 12:3).

25 For an account how the practice of honouring all was counter-cultural, see Oakes, Peter, Reading Romans in Pompeii: Paul's Letter at Ground Level (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2009), pp. 110–11Google Scholar; cf. Harrison, Paul's Language of Grace, pp. 281–2.

26 τὸ. . .αὐτὸ πνεῦμα (v. 4); ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος (v. 5); ὁ. . .αὐτὸς θεὸς (v. 6), τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα (v. 11).

27 Cf. 1 Cor 12:24b: ‘But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it . . .’.

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29 At other points in the New Testament, we see calls to steward a gift (οἰκονόμοι; 1 Pet 4:10), to fan it into flame (ἀναζωπυρέω; 2 Tim 1:6), and to avoid neglecting it (μὴ ἀμέλει, 1 Tim 4:14). To develop in these abilities is not regarded as a means of self-advertisement, instead it naturally morphs into praise towards a gracious God (cf. 1 Pet 4:11).

30 Griffiths, Paul, The Vice of Curiosity: An Essay on Intellectual Appetite (Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2006), p. 66 Google Scholar.

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32 Gen 1:26–7; 5:3; 9:6; 1 Cor 11:7; Jas 3:9 (although in this last case the language of ‘likeness’ is used). See also DeYoung, Vainglory, pp. 19–20, 30, 39.

33 Griffiths, Vice of Curiosity, p. 76. εἰκών is the Greek translation of the Heb. . The language of human beings as ‘eikons’ plays a pivotal role in McKnight's, Scot work, Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2005)Google Scholar.

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38 Weinstein, Deena and Weinstein, Michael, ‘Celebrity Worship as Weak Religion’, Word and World 23 (2000), p. 297 Google Scholar. Ward suggests that we ‘worship versions of our sacred selves reflected through the lens of media-generated images’ (Gods Behaving Badly, 7).

39 Weinstein and Weinstein, ‘Celebrity Worship’, p. 297.

40 Ibid., p. 298.

41 Rossman, Gabriel, Esparza, Nicole and Bonacich, Phillip, ‘I'd Like to Thank the Academy, Team Spillovers, and Network Centrality’, American Sociological Review 75 (2010), p. 33 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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43 Rossman, Esparza and Bonacich, ‘I'd Like to Thank the Academy’, p. 32.

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45 See Dickson, John, Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), pp. 97–112 Google Scholar.

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47 Using ‘good’ here in the sense of artistic quality, rather than in an ethical or moral sense.

48 ‘Our culture forms us to crave recognition . . .The more opportunities for publicity we have, the more problems with vainglory we potentially face.’ DeYoung, Vainglory, p. 117.

49 Ibid.

50 Quotation in heading is from Kanye West as cited in R. J. Cubarrubia, ‘Kanye West: 'I'm the Number One Living and Breathing Rock Star’, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kanye-west-im-the-number-one-living-and-breathing-rock-star-20130624.

51 From his six albums, West has won a total of twenty-one Grammy awards. As Samuels, David of The Atlantic affirms: ‘West is at least some kind of a musical genius . . .’ ‘American Mozart’, Atlantic Monthly 309 (2012), p. 74 Google Scholar. Before going out as a rapper, West achieved considerable critical success as a producer of hip-hop albums. See Peterson, James Braxton, ‘The Revenge of Emmett Till: Impudent Aesthetics and the Swagger Narratives of Hip Hop Culture’, African American Review 45 (2012), p. 627 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 Cf. President Barack Obama's comment that Kanye can act like a ‘jackass’ (Samuels, ‘American Mozart’, p. 83).

53 Cf. Ward, Gods Behaving Badly, pp. 91–2, on celebrity narcissism.

54 Best, ‘Prize Proliferation’, p. 15.

55 Rossman, Esparza and Bonacich, ‘I'd Like to Thank the Academy’, p. 33. See also Anand, N. and Watson, Mary R., ‘Tournament Rituals in the Evolution of Fields: The Case of the Grammy Awards’, Academy of Management Journal 47 (2004), pp. 61–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 68.

56 It began early. In 2004, at the advent of his career, the rapper stalked out of the auditorium after being trumped by a little-known country singer in the category of Best New Artist at the American Music Awards, later claiming ‘I felt like I was definitely robbed . . . I was the best new artist this year.’ Cf. Brown, Jake, Kanye West in the Studio: Beats Down! Money Up! [2000–2006] (Phoenix, AZ: Colossus, 2006), p. 47 Google Scholar.

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58 His argument advanced, and his scope broadened to incriminate the ceremony itself: ‘what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you're disrespectful to inspiration’. Rachel Brodsky, ‘Kanye West Says Beck Should've “Given His Award to Beyonce” at the Grammys’, http://www.spin.com/2015/02/kanye-west-beck-interruption-grammys.

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63 To be fair, the ancient world contains its own peculiar examples of fame and stardom, be it from the worlds of politics (Themistocles, Augustus), art (Quintus Roscius Gallus) or even gladiatorial combat. But the ease of access to celebrity, particularly outside of elite circles, is a marked difference between the two eras. For more see Robert Garland, ‘Celebrity in the Ancient World’, History Today (2005), pp. 24–30.

64 DeYoung, Vainglory, p. 130.

65 Note in 1 Cor 15:43 how Paul uses the pairing of dishonour (ἀτιμίᾳ)/glory (δόξα) to describe the eschatological transformation of the believer's resurrected body.

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