There are several ways the people can confront other cultures but the best way of confronting another culture, is clearly conveyed in the novel Peace Child by Don Richardson. Through the novel, Peace Child, Don Richardson writes his history and experiences. In Peace Child, Don Richardson recounts his experiences with the Saw tribes. His first intention of traveling to New Guinea was to share the gospel and the word of God. He clearly, understood that the Sawi culture was very contrasting with ours in the fact that the Sawi culture valued treachery over friendship. Through this novel, Don Richardson reveals a reasonable way to confront other cultures.
First of all, he illustrates to the readers that violence is not necessary. Even though Don Richardson did intend to change or alter the Sawi culture, he did not change it in a violent manner. For instance, when he first arrived, he could have just shot all the Sawi people that did not cooperate with him. However, he realized that when confronting with other people’s cultures, violence or physical enforcement of another culture is not acceptable. When we react with violence with other cultures that values treachery, we are no better. Don Richardson tries to keep an open mind, in terms of understanding the other culture and then tries to suggest different values peacefully. He does not use violence to enforce change but the words from the gospel.
When we keep an open-mind when we first confront a different culture, not only will we be able to influence their culture in a greater impact, we also learn that all cultures aren’t very different. Just like the Sawi culture, there are still some people in other cultures that still value treachery as well. This is how we should confront other cultures; through peace and understanding. This thought is explicitly shown in the novel of Peace Child, where the author Don Richardson recounts his experiences with his confrontment with the Sawi Culture.
Hey Ryan!
답글삭제I agree with what you have written on this post. When we are confronted by different cultures that appear to be extrinsically strange, we must at least attempt to have open-minded attitudes in order to understand those cultures. It's true that Don Richardson could have simply shot all the Sawi people if they did not cooperate. However, the fact that he took a different approach and listened to the Sawi culture shows that he respected the culture and wanted to understand it before transforming it. As a result, Don Richardson was successful in persuading and influencing the Sawi as he integrated the similar aspects of Jesus Crist and the peace child into the Sawi people’s lives. Many Sawi individuals were then influenced by the redemptive analogy and later voluntarily accepted Jesus Christ as part of their lives. So overall, like you have said, we shouldn't neglect different cultures and instead take steps to understand and respect them.
Nice post! :)
Grace