Mind the Gap

Christian people who come to work in Australian Indigenous communities have expectations about what the Indigenous Christians are like. Most likely this will be based on what Christian fellowship was like at home. However, many find what they see and experience unexpected and puzzling.
The primary reason for this is that our Western culture views the world in a completely different way from Indigenous culture.
The beliefs which underlie our cultures affect every aspect of our lives. The major difference between them is in how control is maintained in the society.
Cultural anthropologists and missiologists have begun to describe three different types of cultures. These are guilt-based (guilt-innocence), shame-based (shame-honour) and fear-based (fear-power) cultures. The majority of cultures fit into these three classifications, but many draw equally from two or even all three types of culture.
In a guilt-based culture, control is maintained by creating and continually reinforcing the feeling of guilt (and the expectation of punishment now or in the afterlife) for certain condemned behaviours. The guilt-innocence world view focuses on law and punishment. As Westerners this is how we understand the world. There is an elevation of law over family and a preeminence of individual values and rights over community concerns or family ties. We see the Gospel primarily as Christ paying the penalty for our sin so that we are declared innocent in the sight of God.
In a shame-based culture, the means of control is the inculcation of shame and the complementary threat of ostracism. The shame-honour culture seeks an "honour balance" and can lead to revenge dynamics. Such cultures focus on the group rather than the individual. Concerns, honour and needs of the group take precedence over those of the individual. The organisational basis is the tribe and the family, with the focus on connection and contribution to the group. If an individual achieves something, it serves to contribute to group honour. Honour is enhanced by successes and accomplishments. It is also adversely affected by trespass and failures. The aim of any given action is to bring maximum honour and minimum shame.
Thus right and wrong are viewed according to whether they bring or take away honour. The bringing of honour takes precedence over any moral considerations.
Family members in a community-minded culture think and act alike. The goal is to share beliefs rather than be different, individual or independent. Individualistic cultures focus on being different and innovative, while communal cultures focus on maintaining harmony and blending in.
In a fear-based culture, control is kept by fear of retribution. Animistic cultures view the world as both physical and spiritual, with the spiritual having power over the physical world. Offering sacrifices to spirits buys protection and prosperity. Charms, curses and spirit worship are parts of everyday life, as people seek to find the powers that can best protect them. Spirits can be angered for unknown reasons and so people continually work to remain in their good graces. There is often a lot of superstition that regulates how people can remain on the good side of the spirits. Also there may be rituals that are performed to prevent harm from these spiritual forces.
The author believes that central Australian Indigenous culture exhibits many features of a fear-based culture, as well as some aspects of a shame-based culture. She gives a range of examples showing how fear- and shame-based thinking makes an impact on Indigenous Christianity, and explores the conflicts with Christianity that may arise.
The author encourages non-Indigenous Christians consider the information she has provided as they seek to relate to Indigenous people. She concludes by offering suggestions as to how Christian truth might be presented by visitors to remote communities, in order to address the fear- and shame-base of central Australian culture.