The physical punishment of young boys proposed with approval by Sirach
and Proverbs opens a window on the culture of the traditional Mediterranean
world for non-Mediterranean readers and presses the issue of how United
States biblical theologians must deal with such a culturally-conditioned
mandate. A model constructed from empirical research by Peter S. Cook helps
a non-Mediterranean reader to interpret this data and to gather and further
interpret additional data in biblical texts about rearing boys and girls.
This information in turn is crucial for constructing culturally appropriate
scenarios that are indispensable to non-Mediterranean readers interested
in respectful and culturally plausible interpretations of the Bible. The
suffering of biblical heroes takes on new meaning when read in this context.
Western readers of the attempted sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22) often wonder why the lad did not try to overpower his father or run for his life when his father's intentions became clear. What western son would allow a parent to tie him up even in jest? Equally puzzling is the New Testament scene in which the adult son, Jesus, begs his Father to remove the imminent, tragic destiny he senses for himself but concludes his prayer by resigning himself to his Father's will (Mark 14:36). What western male adult would yield unquestioningly to his father's will for him, particularly when the will involves a shameful, painful death?
In this article, I show that the submissive and accepting behavior of
the adolescent son Isaac and the adult son Jesus in their respective life-threatening
experiences at the hand of the male parent are quite intelligible within
the context of traditional Mediterranean culture and its values. (The phrase
"traditional Mediterranean culture" refers to the practices of antiquity
as contrasted with contemporary Mediterranean culture which has been affected
by industrialization.) McClelland (1981) points out that it is not physical
discipline as such but rather the ideology, values and social structure
of society which are far more decisive determinants of adult personality
and of child-rearing practices. The honorably obedient behavior of Isaac
and Jesus marks them as representative models of their culture, its goals,
and its the strategies for rearing boys and girls so strongly encouraged
and highly praised in Proverbs and Sirach. Since traditional Mediterranean
culture is rooted in and characterized by strong gender differentiation,
it is preferable to speak of boys and girls rather than children (Malina
1989b). The gender-specific verb system of the Hebrew language reflects
this understanding.
In contrast, the first century Mediterranean assessment of human nature is that it is a mixture of good and evil propensities (Pilch 1991b, 229-242; see the discussion of Italian rural families in Papajohn and Spiegel, 97-110 for validation of the insights; and Malina 1991a and 1991b and Foster, 30 explaining and illustrating the basic anthropological method of using contemporary data to understand historical reports). Paul, for example, uses the words "flesh" and "spirit" to describe two different "drives" a human being experiences in nature and activity, reflecting the tradition of the good and bad yeserim (Moore, I, 483-485). To the Galatians, he writes that "...the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. ... but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:19-20, emphasis added; see Neyrey 1990). Jesus is even more to the point in private discussions with his disciples after his confrontation with the Pharisees regarding support of one's parents in Mark 7 (Pilch 1988). "What comes out of a person is what defiles a person. For from within, out of the heart of the human person, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, the evil eye or envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person" (Mark 7:21-22). Here Jesus describes the wicked propensities of a human being.
Recall also Jesus' retort to the magistrate who addresses him as "good" Teacher: "No one is good but God alone" (Luke 18:19). Does Jesus imply that humankind is evil? Not at all. On the one hand, this response manifests the cultural humility expected from anyone who is paid a compliment (Malina 1985; 1993). After all, given the pivotal belief in evil eye in this culture, a malevolent spirit might hear this compliment and tempt or persuade a good person like Jesus to do something evil (Elliott 1988). Evil is expected in this world. So the common and predictable strategy is to deny the compliment as a means of avoiding evil.
Jesus' statement actually reflects the first-century belief that since human nature is a mixture of good and evil propensities, each case must be judged accordingly. Notice how Jesus continues his sentence. He rehearses the commandments which prescribe good behavior (Luke 18:20). They who have kept them can be called "good." Indeed, in the Great Sermon in 6:26--49, Jesus urges followers to "do good"; and he acknowledges that good people will be able to do good, while bad people will not (vv. 43--45).
Mary, too, shared the traditional Mediterranean belief that human nature is a mixture of good and bad, the desirable and undesirable. Believing she had reared an obedient and respectful son, she learns during the family's return to Nazareth from Jerusalem that the adolescent Jesus acts on his own initiative to stay behind at Jerusalem without informing his parents (Luke 2:41-51). Then to her expression of parental concern and suffering Jesus responds with a rude question to both of his parents that reflects a number of less-than-respectful sentiments. This good lad--like all Mediterranean boys growing to manliness--is sometimes capable of some distressing behavior (Campbell, 169).
In summary, different cultures take a different view of human nature.
Generally speaking, mainstream United States citizens take a benign view
of human beings as basically neutral and often good. The Mediterranean
world of the past, in contrast, views human beings as a mixture of good
and evil propensities, with the evil ever capable erupting and therefore
calling for vigilance and restraint by oneself and by others. (On the validity
of referring to Mediterranean or Circum-Mediterranean culture in global
fashion, see Foster, 30; Rohrbaugh, 28). These attitudes and values influence
the styles of raising boys and girls preferred and adopted by each
culture. (Strictly speaking, the word parenting should be specified rather
as fathering and mothering. I retain the word parenting with this understanding
in mind).
In contrast, cultures like that of the first century Mediterranean world which view human nature as a blend of good and evil tendencies favor a parenting style based on lack of trust in the youngster. One never knows when the evil tendencies will erupt into evil deeds. For this reason the parenting style is highly directive and relies on physical punishment as a major strategy both for controlling the youngster and teaching the youngster self-control.
The following figure illustrates these contrasting cultural approaches
to raising boys and girls (Cook, 8; Pilch 1991a, 75-76):
Figure 1: Comparison of Parenting Styles
| TRUSTING, COOPERATIVE STYLE OF PARENTING | DISTRUSTFUL AND DIRECTIVE STYLE OF PARENTING |
| *Basic attitude::
trust and acceptance of child and its biological needs |
*Basic attitude:
distrust and non-acceptance toward child and its biological needs |
| *Parents' Perception:
child is immature and dependent: wants as much satisfaction and gratification as it needs ("an adequate supply") |
*Parents' Perception:
child is selfish and demanding: wants as much satisfaction and gratification as it can get ("probably too much") |
| *To obtain this gratification or satisfaction
child responds to its mechanisms which assures its needs will be met |
*To obtain this gratification or satisfaction
child becomes manipulative, cunning, demanding, and self willed; |
| *gratification leads to satisfaction and contentment;
no worry about "spoiling; |
*gratification leads to
"spoiling" if more than enough is given; |
| *Parent seeks a good relationship with the child | *Parent seeks to control and direct the child |
| *parents and child develop together | *child must conform to a predetermined pattern |
| *child's capacity for self-regulation is developed | *child must learn to accept authority and discipline |
| *teach child to avoid common dangers | *teach child right from wrong |
| *Parents seek to understand
child's point of view; in their requests, they consider child's feelings and capacities; child's feelings are accepted
|
*Parents often ignore child's point of view;
in their requests, they
hostility and negativity are aggravated, and unless repressed, they require force to control |
| *Result: mutually satisfying interpersonal relationships between parents
and children;
joy and delight; emotional maturation facilitated. |
*Result: increased risk of conflict, frustration and stress in unsatisfying
relationships;
emotional development at risk |
Though they are not exclusively responsible, the patterns of raising boys and girls are nevertheless decisive in producing the kind of person that might be considered typical or representative of a given society (McClelland 1981; Whiting and Child; Jahoda and Lewis, especially the annotated bibliography by C. Toren, 307-333; Barry, Bacon, and Child). Understanding the model (for a definition of model, see Elliott 1986, 5) of raising boys and girls peculiar to a society is one key to understanding the attitudinal and behavior patterns of adult members of that society (Sharabi and Ani).
The "basic distrust" model of parenting is called such because it stems from a basic attitude of distrust toward the youngster and its essential biological needs combined with a correlative belief in the necessity of directive parenting techniques (Cook, 5). It must be emphasized at the outset that model constructs such as this one illustrating two styles of parenting are never found in actuality in a pure state. Reality offers us many intermediate types which share in one or the other parenting style to differing degrees (Bouhdiba, 128). Even so, the basic distrust model does help to illuminate fresh meaning in familiar biblical texts.
Sirach's familiar poem on raising boys (30:1-13) advises a father to chastise and discipline the youngster often in order to raise up a well-behaved and respectful son. "Bow down his neck in his youth and beat his ribs while he is young, lest he become stubborn and disobey you and you have sorrow of soul from him" (v. 12). DiLella comments: "The physical punishment of children was taken for granted in Israelite society" (Skehan and DiLella, 376. The translation and philological notes are very helpful, the commentary less so because it is often ethnocentric and unaware of Middle Eastern cultural values). Thus Sirach reflects his culture perfectly when he confidently affirms: "lashes and discipline are at all times wisdom" (22:6).
The Sage records similar sentiments in Proverbs. The rod is an acceptable and recommended instrument for disciplining children (Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15.19). At the same time, the parent is cautioned about the risk of killing the child with extreme physical punishment (Prov 19:18; 23:13-14). Particularly noteworthy is the Sage's expression of a peculiar combination of values to which contemporary western anthropologists call special attention: the cultural fusion of love with physical punishment and the infliction of pain (see Straus 1980b for extensive documentation on this topic). "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." The cultural consequences of this latter conviction are far-reaching and will be examined later in this article (see also Patai, 25-27; D.D. Gilmore 1987; Straus 1980a).
In summary, these texts selected from Proverbs and Sirach offer evidence
that (1) physical punishment is a normal style of raising boys in Mediterranean
culture (Sharabi, 250); and (2) sometimes it is severe. It is legitimate
to conclude that the distrustful and directive parenting style, or more
precisely, "fathering" style is a key value in Mediterranean culture. One
can anticipate that a son who grows up in a family context featuring such
physical discipline will feel unloved, smothered, and oppressed. Assurances
to the contrary, however, will convince the son that physical discipline
is a legitimate expression of parental love. Obedient submission to physical
punishment is a legitimate expression of filial love.
Since the cornerstone of Mediterranean families is the father, boys and girls are taught at an early age to submit their wills to the authority of the father and/or the actual male head of the family (Campbell, 155). "Whoever fears the LORD honors his father, and serves his parents as his masters" (Sirach 3:7). The author of 1 Timothy exhorts: "if anyone aspires to the office of elder... he must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way" (1 Tim 3:2,4).
These biblical exhortations are representative of traditional Mediterranean culture. Bouhdiba (132) notes: "The relation of authority extends its roots deep into our traditional society. Authority links not only a man to his wife, or parents to their children, but also the teacher to the student, the master to the disciple, the boss to the worker, the governing to the governed, the dead to the living, and even man to God."
At the very minimum, a child must respect such authority by at least feigning obedience. Berger (179) circulated the Matthean parable of the two sons whom the father sent to work into his vineyard (minus Jesus' question, see Matt 21:28-32) among contemporary Bedouin and asked them assess the sons' behavior. They unanimously applauded the son who said yes to his father but did not actually go into the vineyard because he gave the "respectful and honorable" answer. In this case, the honorable answer sufficiently acknowledges the father's authority and displays family loyalty. The son who said no, very publicly as is customary in the Middle East, was disrespectful and gave public evidence that family cohesion was weak. This is very shameful behavior (Malina and Rohrbaugh).
The honor of a father, elder, patriarch depends to a very great extent on his being able to impose his will upon the members of the entire family. This kind of loyal and obedient family is strong and united when the challenge arises to defend family interests against other competing families. In the village, such a family can be counted on to represent the larger community in external relationships. Clearly a patriarch must use strong discipline to insure such intense loyalty.
The women also taught young girls compensating strategies for living within these harsh expectations. Mediterranean women of the past and present exert considerable influence in the family and possess a real power which is quite different but no less effective than the power men wield (Altorki, 63-68). This would explain why Sirach is concerned with how much time a young girl spends among married women. He believes (and perhaps knows from experience) that "just as moths come from garments, so a woman's wickedness comes from a woman" (42:11).
Girls were treated by their mothers harshly in their youth and socialized as soon as possible to adopt the life-long female-roles expected of them. In actuality Mediterranean girls have no childhood. They must assume domestic and other feminine tasks as soon as they are capable. The customary tasks of women in this culture are difficult and physically demanding.
In addition, they are taught to be subordinate (Campbell, 158-159). "An unruly child is a disgrace to its father; if it be a daughter, she brings him to poverty" (Sir 22:3). An unruly daughter is one who is disobedient and insubordinate to males: father, brothers, husband. The husband could legitimately send an insubordinate wife back to her father who would then be expected to return the bride-price, the money a husband's family paid to the bride's family for removing an economic asset from their household. Given the subsistence economy in which peasants lived, unruly and insubordinate daughters could thus ruin a father and the family (Hanson 1990).
A young girl who is not appropriately disciplined becomes an unruly and shameless hussy who disgraces both father and husband and is consequently despised by both (Sir 22:3-5). For this reason, Sirach further advises: "Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, lest she make you a laughingstock to your enemies, a byword in the city, and object of scorn in public meetings" (42:11). This concern lies behind the New Testament instruction: "let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness" (1 Tim 2:11).
The young girl is explicitly taught that a woman is of little value. "From a woman sin came into the world, and because of her we all die" is Sirach's version of how it all began (25:24). In the final analysis, a woman is expected to remain always subservient to men: "give no woman power over you to trample upon your dignity" (Sir 9:2) or "wives be subject to your husbands as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22).
Fathers in Mediterranean antiquity had no role in parenting any children until puberty. Yet even at that time, the father's chief focus is the sons. Daughters, raised exclusively by the women, are viewed as posing life-long problems. Sirach's list of concerns about a daughter that keep a Mediterranean father awake nights describe the variations on this endless worry (42:9-10). Culturally sensitive readers notice that this entire passage reflects a Mediterranean father's concern for his honor which is directly affected by the behavior of his daughters who in the ways listed here are culturally perceived as shaming the father and family.
In summary, the parenting of Mediterranean girls is done by the women who see their task as preparing a young girl to assume the proper honorable status of an adult woman in that society. Their chief concern will be not to shame the key men in their lives: father, brothers, husband.
The result of such a child-rearing practice is to develop an over-dependent person who often feels helpless and powerless. Some youngsters become self-centered, others develop a sense of social timidity or other forms of asocial behavior (Bouhdiba, 246).
Nevertheless, at puberty, that is sometime after the age of seven or eight, the boy must move from the warm and comfortable world of the women into the harsh, authoritarian, strictly hierarchically ordered male world (Campbell, 159; Patai, 34). The boy must now scorn childhood and repudiate femininity in order to become an adult male. Barth describes the boy's resultant confusion; Whiting details the boy's need now for demonstrated physiological hypermasculinity (see also Gilmore and Gilmore; Gilmore 1987, 126-153; Gilmore 1990; and Hofstede, 176-210). Physical punishment by the father is expected to help make a man of the boy (Berger, 118-119; Hobbs).
Evidence from contemporary studies of neo-natal separation of a child from a parent indicate that that parent is quite likely to engage subsequently in some form of violence toward the child (Cook, 5; Weil, 16-27). The exclusion of the father from child rearing and contact with the children until puberty has an adverse effect on the development of feeling, attachment, and even behavior as a parent (Klaus and Kennell). The recommendation of physical punishment of sons by Sirach 30:1-13 not only displays the distrustful and directive style of parenting, but its seeming severity may reasonably be viewed --though only from a western perspective -- as child abuse (Levinson, 12).
1. The father will find joy when his well-disciplined son grows up. Such a son will provide material support and assistance in conflict with other families ("benefit"), allowing the patriarch of a victorious family to "boast" among his intimates, perhaps among the very ones his son has helped to best in the never-ending cultural game of augmenting family honor and shaming those outside the family.
2. Education in the biblical world was hands-on and practical in nature. The son was expected to take up his father's trade or profession. The father's enemy mentioned by Sirach may well have been an occupational competitor whose son did not dutifully take up his father's profession. Clearly such an enemy would feel shame; the friends with whom the father shares his delight in his son are likely themselves fathers of similarly dutifully obedient sons. Those who admire yet are puzzled by Jesus' teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum may be wondering why this artisan's son is preaching rather than following in his father's occupational footsteps as a dutiful son ought (Mark 6:3; Matt 13:55).
3. Even death does not sadden a father who has successfully parented an obedient and respectful son. Such a son will be in modern terms "a spitting image" of the father. When he sees Tobit's son Tobiah to whom he returns the father's money held in trust, Gabael comments: "O noble and good child, son of a noble and good, upright and charitable man... Blessed be God, because I have seen the very image of my cousin Tobit!" (Tob 9:6). The honor vocabulary (noble, good, upright, charitable) in this passage makes it evident that Gabael is referring to more than physical resemblance.
4. In the traditional Mediterranean world where strong governmental authority was frequently lacking, wronged persons relied on the male-next-of-kin to punish or extract satisfaction from wrongdoers. Since the wrong shamed a person or more correctly that person's group, that person's male-next-of-kin was obliged to restore lost honor. The psalmist describes such an avenging son like an "arrow in the hand of a warrior" (Psalm 127:5). David's son Absalom avenged his sister Tamar's shame when the weak father, King David, failed to discipline his incestuous son Amnon (2 Samuel 13). Numbers 25 describes and prescribes cities of refuge from the "avenger of blood" for those who killed someone unintentionally and needed a place to escape the inevitable wrath of one of these "arrow-like sons."
Viewed from the perspective of these three passages (Psalm 127; Numbers 25; and 2 Sam 13), Sirach's comments take on fresh meaning: even if a father should die, his well-disciplined son will avenge him against foes. In like fashion, a well-disciplined son will also repay friends with generous kindness, as the story of Tobit illustrates well.
The sad results of failing to discipline one's son in the second poem (vv. 7-13) are the "bad news" counter-part to the "good news" of the first poem (vv. 1-6).
1. The worst result of inadequate discipline is a stubborn son (vv. 8, 12) who will be disobedient and impudent, or worse yet, who may even kill his father! Absalom (2 Sam 17) demonstrates the real possibility of such impudence. The Mediterranean core cultural values of honor and shame require the suppression of such culturally inappropriate behavior of son toward father. Suppressed behavior, however, can burst out unexpectedly and uncontrollably, a common occurrence in Middle-eastern cultures, but strong physical discipline throughout life reinforces in each male the necessity of suppressing undesirable behavior. The Deuteronomist spells out severe penalties to be levied against a stubborn, unruly, and disobedient son (Deut 21:18-21).
2. Sirach cautions against pampering, indulging or sharing in the son's frivolity (vv. 9-11). This advice pertains to post-pubescent boys because pampering and indulgence are normal parenting strategies for infant and pre-pubescent boys. The Hebrew translated in Prov 22:6 as "train up" derives from the word for "palate." The Hebrew dictionary suggests that this meaning is related to the Arabic word which reflects the practice of rubbing a youngster's palate with chewed dates. Other cultures have similar practices intending that a child associate a sweet or bitter taste with a sweet or bitter experience. In the case of pre-pubescent boys, this practice fits well into the overall pattern of pampering reserved for male children.
In regard to post-pubescent boys, it is obviously not likely that an adult could literally rub the palates of these grown boys with chewed dates. However, the association of a pleasing, sweet taste with a word that means "train up" conditions a person to view discipline, even in severe, physical form, as a sweet experience. This may explain why Sirach compares wisdom to honey (Sir 24:20). The wise advice he offers, which strikes a non-Mediterranean reader as harsh, would be perceived by a traditional Mediterranean reader as sweetness. "Do you have boys? discipline them and make them obedient from their youth" (Sir 7:23). Phrased differently: "It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined son..." (Sir 22:2).
In actuality, such wisdom "seems very harsh to the uninstructed; a weakling will not remain with her. She will weigh him down like a heavy testing stone, and he will not be slow to cast her off" (Sir 6:20-21). This is why physical coercion in the form of physical discipline is necessary. The post-pubescent boy who refuses to learn wisdom from his father and other adult males in his world can expect severe and bitter physical punishment from them.
Initially, of course, early after the boy has been pushed out of the women's world of pleasure and pampering into the harsh and hierarchic men's world, the shock of such discipline is great. Boys run back to the women who now, however, must send them back to the men's world. The stern, severe, authoritarian ways of the older men, especially the father, leave a strong if painful impression on the young boy. And it takes years for the boy to make the transition from the women's world to the men's world.
Obviously one reason that Sirach, Proverbs, and other sections of the Mediterranean-produced Bible unhesitatingly prescribe physical discipline is to help the pubescent boy realize that he is not a girl but a boy. Having had no male role-model until now, the lad must strive to discover his masculine identity which in large measure will be proven by his ability to bear pain unflinchingly and in silence. A great deal of effort will be required to redirect the very different orientation to life begun for the young boy by the women-kin.
The corollary of such an approach to parenting is evident. The father administers physical discipline in the belief that it will not only train the youngster well to be a man but will also inure him to the pain that he can expect for the rest of his life. From the young man's perspective, it becomes clear that the men of his culture consider as authentically and unquestioningly male only such who can endure physical pain and suffering without complaining or even crying.
The consequences of this distrusting and directive style of parenting are clearly spelled out in Figure One. There is increased risk of conflict, frustration and stress in basic human relationships that are unsatisfying, unpleasant, and unfulfilling. Clearly such physical punishment excludes understanding and places exclusive emphasis upon authority and obedience. It cultivates passivity and inhibits change. The youngster is trained to accept without question the hegemony of the powerful (Sharabi, 251; Malina 1989).
The following sampling of biblical heroes seems to tally well with the information reported in the preceding section. What is presented here is not a thorough-going exegesis of these passages, nor an argument for their factual historicity. The concern rather is to assist a respectful reader of such passages to form the appropriate scenario for properly interpreting them (Malina 1991a; 1991b). I argue that the child-rearing patterns just described provide a person with exactly the kind of reading scenario which makes these heroes not exceptions but rather the norm for honorable adult male behavior in traditional Mediterranean culture (Pilch 1991b, 1-6; 1991a, 88-94).
Lamentations 3, the center of this biblical book, presents a lengthy description of suffering in images that cause a non-Mediterranean reader to shudder and feel uneasy but that stir admiration in a traditional Mediterranean male. "It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth" (Lam 3:26-27). Here is an adult who has been reared in admirable traditional fashion and who is a credit to his parents. He does not complain, he boasts. He bears his suffering, and he is proud of it.
Of special note is the poet's identification of the enemy as God himself! (Lam 3:18). This is the One ultimately responsible for this suffering. If everything human beings know and say about God is rooted in human experience, and the traditional Mediterranean human experience of parenting is accurately described above in this article, then God inevitably must be perceived in the same way. Just as human parents physically punish their children, God too physically punishes his people. Just as traditional Mediterranean human parents will not tolerate complaint or crying, God too expects those he punishes to bear their pain and suffering in silence and submission. At the same time, the poet concludes the poem by recounting deliverance provided by this same punishing God who just like human parents always has a change of heart and relents (Lam 3:55-66).
But whatever any one dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Cor 11:21-30; see similar boasts in 4:8-9; 6:4-5; 12:10; 1 Cor 4:9-13; Rom 8:35)
Western readers would respond to statements like these with comments such as "self-praise stinks" or "is this person a masochist?" Traditional Mediterranean readers can only admire and envy these numerous physical trials so heroically borne. Neyrey (1990, 177-179) correctly notes that culturally Paul perceives that he lives in a hostile world. Bearing his suffering in manly fashion is a strategy of one-upmanship in his rivalry with Judaizers (205), a mark of honor rather than shame (211). Paul is yet another adult, biblical witness to the results of the directive and distrusting Mediterranean parenting style successfully endured. He does his parents proud by these boasts.
There is no explicit evidence in the New Testament about Jesus' up-bringing. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas 5,2 reports that Joseph pulled Jesus' ear hard for blinding those who cursed him. It would, however, be plausible to conclude that his devout, observant parents would have considered Proverbs and Sirach the "Dr. Spock" of their day.
Whatever one may think about Jesus' upbringing as a youngster, the advice the adult Jesus offers to would-be adult followers fits comfortably well in this Mediterranean tradition. It is a testimony to masculinity and virtue when males bear pain and suffering without complaint. "If any one would come after me, let that one deny self and take up the cross and follow me. For whoever would save life will lose it, and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel will save it. For what profit is there in gaining the whole world but forfeiting life? What can one give in return for life?" (Mark 8:34-37)
After predicting his passion, suffering and death three times (Mark 8:31; 9:30-32; 10:33-34), Jesus senses his destiny is close at hand when he prays in the garden after the supper: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what you will" (Mark 14:36). This prayer portrays Jesus as a dutiful son who learned how to respect his parents and elders, and he displays impressive Mediterranean-style obedience and formality toward his Father in this instance.
As Barr (47) notes: "It is fair to say that abba in Jesus' time belonged to a familiar or colloquial register of language, as distinct from more formal or ceremonious usage. ... But it was not a childish expression comparable to 'Daddy.' It was more a solemn, responsible address to a father." In the face of a physically painful ordeal, Jesus the dutiful, Mediterranean son, addresses his father with the "solemn, responsible address" abba - Father as he prays to do his Father's will.
Even the ignominious death of Jesus is presented in a way that would demand respect from Mediterranean natives. Mark notes that he was crucified at the third hour, darkness covered the whole land from the sixth to ninth hour, and only at the ninth hour does he cry out in a loud voice: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Then he shrieks and dies.
The pagan centurion is definitely impressed. "Truly this man was a son of god!" (Mark 15:33-39). Beck (46) describes this remark as a "positive, Christian comment." This may well be the evangelist's intent and interpretation. For a pagan (and for traditional Mediterranean natives in general), however, the most culturally plausible interpretation of his comment is that it reflects a cultural recognition of and admiration for Jesus who faced this shameful and painful death as an exemplary traditional Mediterranean man, a person who could take his rightful place among biblical, Mediterranean heroes in the face of suffering. He did not open his mouth while he was being slaughtered.
Becoming more explicit, the author of Hebrews cites Proverbs 3:11-12 in which the Sage notes that "the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights" and then continues with this exhortation for the Christian:
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and life? For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:7-11).
Characterizing Jesus as "obedient," therefore, is one of the highest compliments that could be paid to an adult Mediterranean male. It behooves the honorable Mediterranean person who believes in God to be obedient above all to God. Jesus is clearly so portrayed in the gospels as well as in the passages cited from Hebrews. Jesus' exemplary, culturally appropriate behavior testifies that he was successfully socialized into his cultural world (Neyrey and Malina, 92-94).
Particularly noteworthy is this author's explicit declaration of traditional Mediterranean culture's fusion of love with the application of physical punishment and suffering. It stands in jarring contrast with contemporary western culture which considers parental behavior of this type as deserving punishment such as imprisonment, loss of parental rights, and in extreme cases even death. At the same time, the western preference for a trusting and collaborative style of parenting is also rooted in love.
While some have attempted to identify this Mediterranean stoic endurance of physical punishment and physical pain as "machismo," or a form of "protest masculinity," it is probably more correct to view this behavior as a predictable result of the ambivalence in the value structure of a society: ambivalence between an emphasis on nurturing -- a female quality; and assertiveness -- a male quality (McClelland 1981, 82-83; 1975). The traditional Mediterranean male learns nurturing values in early childhood and assertiveness values in later childhood and adult life. He is torn between both. This value conflict remains throughout the life of a Mediterranean male and regularly evokes conflict-ridden behavior in adulthood. Thus Jesus [often] yearns to "mother hen" Jerusalem (Matt 23:37) even though he did not hesitate to do violence to the merchants in the Jerusalem Temple (Matt 21:12-13).
This misunderstanding arises from the determination to ignore differences in behavior, thinking, assumptions and values between Americans and Middle-Easterners of antiquity. Mistaken American assessments of contemporary Middle Eastern personalities and events tend to reflect the same determination.
Stewart and Bennett (16) suggest that an American visiting another country should neither act American nor "go native," but adopt a third culture rooted in expanded cross-cultural understanding. The process of developing a third culture entails first knowing one's own culture well, then recognizing the differences of the other culture. After learning to empathize with those differences, the visitor and the native work together at creating the common ground necessary for intercultural communication.
The challenge is similar for biblical theologians. Biblical theology is neither an Americanization of Middle Eastern values nor a wholesale importation of those same values unchanged. If Christian theology is viewed as reflection upon common human experience in the light of the Jesus-event, theologians must seek out that common experience or that common ground which emerges from recognizing and respecting cultural differences.
In the Middle Eastern world that produced the Bible, bearing physical suffering without flinching characterized the cultural hero and physical punishment of boys tended to produce such heroes. Contemporary Americans define and identify their cultural heroes in a very different way and rely upon a different strategy of disciplining young boys to produce that kind of hero. U.S. Biblical theologians realize that this was not always the case in America's brief history as a country. What is the common ground in this matter that has served the differing Biblical theologians of this country throughout its history?
2. The physical punishment that characterizes the distrusting and directive style of parenting also produces as a by-product the virtue of being able to tolerate painful doses of physical punishment without flinching or complaining.
3. This virtue is sometimes identified as "machismo" understood as a form of "defensive masculinity" or "protest masculinity" because it derives from a value-conflict experienced by males in their youth: a conflict between nurturance and assertiveness.
4. While early childhood experiences such as physical discipline do play some role in molding adult personality, McClelland (1981) echoes a generally accepted opinion when he says it is not physical discipline as such but rather the ideology, values and social structure of society which are far more decisive. Thus norms and values are the central determinant of adult personality and also of child rearing practices.
5. In the traditional Mediterranean world in which Jesus lived, physical discipline was an acceptable strategy for raising boys as Proverbs and Sirach testify. Yet this did not make tolerance of pain a virtue. Rather, this specific strategy of raising boys (physical discipline) was the most suited to the values and social structure of the Mediterranean society in which Jesus lived as a [n adult] male. This once more highlights the pivotal importance of the Mediterranean core values: honor and shame; family honor; male honor; family structure; village structure; and many others.
6. Contemporary US theologians must adopt cross-cultural methods and models for interpreting texts from the Bible which originated in and reflects traditional Mediterranean culture. Only in this way can they develop a biblical theology that is true to the Bible and relevant to contemporary life in America.
This is genuine intercultural communication.
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