The singular issue which this book addresses may be defined by posing this question:

How can the honor/shame dynamics common to the Bible and many Majority World societies be used to contextualize the gospel of Christ in order to make it more widely understood and accepted?

Or, to sum it up by quoting Jackson Wu:

“The gospel is already contextualized for honor/shame cultures” and, “honor and shame are built into the framework of the gospel itself” (p. 278, The Global Gospel).

Fresh thinking from The Global Gospel:

1. Thoroughly explains why understanding honor and shame is a strategic issue for world evangelization—across the street and around the world.
2. Demonstrates that honor and shame is the pivotal cultural value of the Bible.
3. Explains the blind spot about honor/shame in Western theology—why we have it, why it matters for world evangelization, and what to do about it.
4. Organizes nine dynamics of honor/shame in the Bible into a cohesive whole.
5. Uses more than 85 diagrams, charts and graphic aids to make concepts more easily understood by Christian leaders, pastors, mission practitioners, cross-cultural workers, and lay persons.
6. Presents honor-status reversal as a Bible motif—from Genesis to Revelation.
7. Describes how honor/shame dynamics in the Bible can make the gospel more resonant among Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu peoples—as well as the post-modern generation.
8. Shows how the Bible’s various dynamics of honor and shame are contained in a multitude of Scripture passages about salvation and the atonement of Christ.
9. Reveals ten Scripturally-rooted ways to freshly articulate the gospel of Christ—in ways that may better resonate with Majority World peoples.
10. Explains the pathological dark side of honor/shame, but also reveals the Bible’s amazing, surprising bright side of honor/shame.
11. Presents the five levels of awareness of honor/shame dynamics and what this means for cross-cultural ministry.
12. Demonstrates how honor/shame dynamics are key to understanding the meaning of the kingdom of God.
13. Reveals from Scripture how the legal framework for the gospel can be balanced by a regal framework.
14. Explains from Scripture how God actually shares his honor and glory with persons and people groups—fresh thinking about our motive and purpose for missions.
15. Offers a rationale to train cross-cultural workers in the Bible’s honor/shame dynamics and reinforces Scripture as the beginning point of the contextualization process.
16. Demonstrates the value of using an “honor factor” in developing mission strategy—with three recommendations related to cross-cultural collaboration and ministry to the unreached and unengaged peoples.