.

1. Cultural Identity Matters
INT-525 • Worldview and Mission • Topic 5

2. Star Burst Chart

3. Self-Identity

4. In John 4,
Personal Identity was central in how Jesus reached the
Woman at the Well

5. The woman left her water jar and went into town and said to the
people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can
this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and were
coming to him.
(John 4:28–30 ESV)

6. Question:
What can you say about the identity of the woman at the well?
How did it shape the way Jesus engaged with her?

7. Self-Identity
Encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and
values that create one’s sense of self. This amalgamation
creates a steady sense of who one is over time, even as new
facets are developed and incorporated into one's identity.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/identity

8. Nature of Identity
1. Identity is Constructed

9. Constructed
Two biological twins
• Grow up to be very di
ff
erent people

10. Nature of Identity
1. Identity is Constructed
2. Identity is Socially Constructed (social interaction)

11. Socially Constructed
Someone told you,
• You’re a man/woman
• You’re pretty (you are all pretty!!)
• You’re an American
• You’re black/white

12. Internally Constructed
You chose apects of your own identity
• You chose things you believe
• You chose to come to GCU
• You chose your career

13. Nature of Identity
1. Identity is constructed
2. Identity is socially constructed
3. Identity is composed of Domains

14. Domains
• Name
• Family
• Language
• Gender

15. Domains
• Ethnicity
• Culture

16. Domains
• Religious
• Political or
• Ideological
• Vocational

17. Nature of Identity
1. Identity is constructed
2. Identity is socially constructed
3. Identity is composed of Domains
4. Identity domains develop in stages

19. Family
Gender
Toddler
Cultural
Elementary
Racial /
Ethnic
High school
Religious
College +
Vocational
20 - 30
Stages of Identity Development

20. When & how did you become
aware of your cultural identity?
TPS

21. Cultural & Ethnic Identity in the Bible

22. Theology of Cultural Identity

23. Beginning of Scripture
God created men & women to diversify and create culture

24. Command to Fill the Earth
God created man in his own image…he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply and
fi
ll the earth and subdue it,
(Gen 1:27–28 ESV)

25. Formation of Cultural & Ethnic Identity
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. Sons were born to them after the
fl
ood. The sons of
Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of
Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the
coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language,
by their clans, in their nations.
(Gen 10:1–5 ESV)

26. Formation of Cultural & Ethnic Identity
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. Sons were born to them after the
fl
ood. The sons of
Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of
Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the
coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own
language, by their clans, in their nations.
(Gen 10:1–5 ESV)

27. Formation of Cultural & Ethnic Identities
‫ארצ‬ Eretz — Their own lands
‫לשון‬ Lashon — Their own language
‫גוי‬ Goyim — Their own people-groups, Nations
‫משפחה‬ Mishpachah — Their own family groups

28. Ethnic Identity is an extension of family identity
‫ארצ‬ Eretz — Their own lands
‫לשון‬ Lashon — Their own language
‫גוי‬ Goyim — Their own people-groups, Nations
‫משפחה‬ Mishpachah — Their own family groups

29. Ethnicity seems to be an extension of family

30. Cultural-Ethnic Identity is an extension of
Family identity in the Bible

31. God honors family identity in the OT
God honors cultural ethnic identity in the OT

32. Formation of Cultural & Ethnic Identity
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. Sons were born to them after the
fl
ood. The sons of
Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of
Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the
coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own
language, by their clans, in their nations.
(Gen 10:1–5 ESV)

33. Formation of Cultural & Ethnic Identities
‫ד‬ ַ
‫ָר‬‫פּ‬ Parar To divide, separate, diversify,

34. The Cultural Mandate
From Creation, and after the
fl
ood, it seems God intended the human
race care for the earth, to spread, diversify, and create human culture

35. When people did not diversify, God intervened

36. Tower of Babel
Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only
the beginning of what they will do…let us go down and there confuse their
language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the
LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left
(Gen 11:6–8 ESV)

37. End of Scripture
God celebrates the cultural diversity of His people

38. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could
number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with
a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they
fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
(Rev 7:9–12 ESV)

39. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could
number, from every NATION, from all TRIBE and PEOPLES and
LANGUAGE, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying
out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power
and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
(Rev 7:9–12 ESV)

40. ἔ
θνος ethnos nations
φυλ
ή
phulee Tribe
λα
ό
ς Laos Peoples
γλ
ῶ
σσα glossa tongues
Genesis 10:4; Revelation 7:9-12

41. ἔ
θνος ethnos
1. A group of people united by kinship, culture, and common traditions, nation,
2. People group foreign to Israel
Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament,
ἔ
θνος.

42. φυλ
ή
phulee
1. Subgroup of a nation characterized by a distinctive blood line
Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, φυλ
ή
.

43. λα
ό
ς Laos
1. People Group, a distributed population,
2. A community,
3. body of people with common cultural bonds and ties to a speci
fi
c territory,
Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, λα
ό
ς.

44. γλ
ῶ
σσα glossa
1. Tongue
2. System of words that compose a distinctive language.
Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, γλ
ῶ
σσα.

45. Biblical Theology of Cultural Identity
From Beginning of Scripture to its End

46. Theology of Cultural & Ethnic Identity
1. At the beginning of Scripture — God created men & women with the purpose of
fi
lling the
earth, creating culture, with the idea of cultural identity
2. At the end of Scripture — God celebrates diversity, and the cultural identity of men & women
3. God honors cultural identity — Respecting the way people identify themselves
4. Paul honored cultural identity — in the course of his ministry (see Acts 17)

47. Theology of Cultural & Ethnic Identity
1. At the beginning of Scripture — God created men & women with the purpose of
fi
lling the earth, creating
culture, with the idea of cultural identity
2. At the end of Scripture — God celebrates diversity, and the cultural identity of men & women
3. God honors cultural identity — Respecting the way people identify themselves
4. Paul honored cultural identity — in the course of his ministry (see Acts 17)
5. RACE — as a modern concept, is nowhere found in Scripture

48. Nature of Cultural Identity

49. Elements of Ethnic Identity
1. Shared Name
2. Shared sense of place
3. Shared history or memories
4. Shared sense of belonging or kinship
5. Shared sense of values or beliefs
Steve Bryan, Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God, 45

50. Nature of Ethnicity
1. Social Construction
2. People-Groups establish boundaries (in-group / out-group)
3. Dominant cultures establish boundaries (Otherness)
4. Ethnicity is constantly changing
5. Ethnic identity is associated with cultural identity
Steve Bryan, Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God, 45

51. Nature of Ethnicity
6. We seek to understand “Lived Experiences”
Culture changes, and ethnicity is a social construct, but in a multicultural
ministry, we seek to understand people’s “lived experiences”
Steve Bryan, Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God, 45

52. Nature of Ethnicity
7. Culture & Ethnicity are rooted in Scripture, but Biological Race is a
modern category with shady history
Steve Bryan, Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God, 45

53. Race as a Social Construction

54. Race in the New Testament

55. γ
έ
νος (Genos) in NT ESV = Race
Bauer, Daner, Arndt, & Gingrich, γ
έ
νος

56. γ
έ
νος (genos)
1. Ancestry, descendant, seed, (ex. Priestly descent)
2. Small group of people with common family ancestry
3. Large people-group with common family lineage, ex. Nation
Bauer, Daner, Arndt, & Gingrich, γ
έ
νος

57. Genos describes groups of people from same ancestor
Genos does not di
ff
erentiate people by physical characteristics

58. The Bible does not categorize people by physical features

59. Modern Category of Race

60. English Occupation
of Ireland
16th Century
Depiction of Irish as a savage race
Inferior to the British
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, April 29). race summary. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/summary/race-human

61. Categorization of
Labor by Race
White Indentured servants
Irish Workers
American Indian slaves
African Slaves
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, April 29). race summary. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/summary/race-human

62. Scientific Category
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
• Swedish Botanist
• Classi
fi
ed plants and animals
• Classi
fi
ed humans by physical feature
Müller-Wille, S.. "Carolus Linnaeus." Encyclopedia Britannica, March 31, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus.

63. Scientific Category
Johann Blumenbach (1752-1840)
German Anthropologist
Categorized humans into 5 races
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, January 18). Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach

64. Since then, “Race” is constantly
changing

67. Race is a social construct
But in ministry we engage people’s lived experiences

68. What are the implications of cultural and
ethnic identity in a multicultural ministry?
TPS

69. Application—Topic Parts 2b, 3a
Part 2 - Describe the people-group
Part 3a - Describe challenges

70. Student Presentations

71. Exercise:
Describe the cultural identity
Explain the implications for multicultural ministry

72. “Tradition”, Fiddler on the Roof, 1971

73. “Stand Up”, Cynthia Erivo, 2021