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May 2026

May 12, 2026

How Western Individualism Quietly Undermines the Solas

Evangelicals love the solas. They’re short, sturdy, and hard to wiggle out of. Scripture alone....

February 2025

February 18, 2025

How to be a tribal church

Michael Morris’s Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together...

February 04, 2025

Tribal is a book worth reading!

In Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together, Michael...

January 2025

January 07, 2025

How Rousseau Steers the West Wrongly to Individualism

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is often celebrated as a champion of liberty, individualism, and natural human goodness....

March 2024

March 05, 2024

How Do Western, Individualist Churches Shape Identity?

The Western church finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. With society becoming ever more individualistic,...

February 2024

February 06, 2024

Balancing Individualism and Collectivism: Pros and Cons

Identity is an intricate mosaic, shaped by myriad influences. As we navigate our understanding of...

November 2023

November 20, 2023

Americans, not Asians, have Positive Illusions

People in the U.S. Think They Are Better Than They Actually Are. People in Asia...

September 2022

September 20, 2022

Is re-kin-ciliation a Prerequisite for Biblical Interpretation?

Today’s guest post comes from Kristin Caynor, Ph.D. student at Trinity College Bristol/University of Aberdeen,...

October 2021

October 26, 2021

Honor and Shame in Vertical-Horizontal Individualism and Collectivism

In this post, we examine possible honor and shame implications of vertical and horizontal individualism...

October 19, 2021

Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism

Not all individualist cultures are the same; neither are all collective contexts the same. We...

June 2021

June 15, 2021

Forsaking Identity is the Logical Consequence of Individualism

Individualism is not individuality. It is an ideology. Such a worldview is not only irrational;...

November 2020

November 24, 2020

Mentoring Across Individualist and Collectivist Cultures

Mentoring is a major aspect of ministry and missionary labor. In Christian parlance, people often...

November 19, 2020

Tribalism is Here to Stay

Improving people’s economic status does not undermine tribalism. In fact, our goal is not to...

October 2020

October 26, 2020

Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes

One of the book's authors, Randy Richards, has written another one and it's fantastic. I'm...

July 2020

July 07, 2020

How Individualism Spreads Racism

Individualism is a key value in American white culture. By “individualism,” I don’t merely refer...

April 2018

April 25, 2018

Unity and the Korean Language

The following comes from a BBC article "How the South Korean language was designed to...

July 2017

July 05, 2017

If only the church were like a gang….

The following is one of the most significant quotes I’ve read in a long while....

January 2017

January 31, 2017

Students “borrow points” to pass test

Here are a few noteworthy articles reflecting on contemporary Chinese culture. 1. “Teachers Loan Students Points to...

January 24, 2017

Why collectivists grow rice and individualists grow wheat

One of my favorite books is Richard Nisbitt’s Geography of Thought, where he surveys many...

March 2016

March 09, 2016

10 Characteristics of an “Individualistic Gospel”

What is an “individualistic gospel”? It's common to hear people criticize evangelistic presentations as “individualistic.”...

August 2014

August 26, 2014

The Biblical Story is Collectivistic

From beginning to end, the Bible primarily talks about groups, not individuals. This is...

August 21, 2014

How to Babel on the Gospel in China

I want to briefly illustrate the idea from my previous post. I suggested that it...

August 20, 2014

The Chase for Face: The Shame of Western Collectivism

Ever wonder what Western collectivism looks like and why it matters? My recent article attempts...

August 06, 2014

Why Not Begin with Babel?

Previously, I examined common problems that emerge when we start with the Adam story (Part...

July 2014

July 21, 2014

Leadership Lessons from the Party?

People often overlook a key feature of honor-same societies. Honor-shame cultures are inherently collectivistic in...

June 2014

June 04, 2014

The Church is a Gospel Issue

Is the church fundamentally collection of individuals OR a single entity? Another way of asking...

May 2014

May 13, 2014

Do We Need a Collectivistic Gospel?

What do you think of this graph? Scot McKnight posted this over at Jesus Creed...

September 2013

September 19, 2013

Why China Matters for Doing Theology: Biblical Truth

Why would someone need to know more about China in order to understand the Bible...

August 2013

August 08, 2013

A Theological Version of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"

When people are not against something but not necessarily "for" it, what do they do?...

June 2013

June 25, 2013

Justifying Honor and Shame in Romans

Simply put, Romans is about honor and shame. In the latter sections of Saving God's...