Everyone agrees that shame is a terrible feeling. So isn’t it logical that we should avoid feeling shame? And doesn’t that also mean that it’s bad to make other people feel shame? Well, maybe not! In fact, in his new book Defending Shame, Te-Li Lau shows not only that shame is a vital part of our moral psychology, but also that appeals to shame are one of the Apostle Paul’s common ways to call his audience to repentance and holiness.
In this episode of Christian Humanist Profiles, David Grubbs interviews Dr. Te-Li Lau, Associate Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and author of Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters (Baker Academic, 2020).