Money Matters

The naming ceremony for our guard's child as part of a baby
dedication during the church service, which is an
appropriate way to do this cultural tradition rather than
having a party at your house (and the church pitched in).

The tension that arose in our relationships because of the planning for our guard’s baby naming party has been one of many examples that there are so many cultural differences we are navigating. This party would naturally require more money than our guard has at his disposal, despite what we perceive as our continued generosity in employment, gifts, and loans. Sometimes it feels like we can’t be seen as honorable to another culture in just about anything we do naturally. Recently we’ve been reading a book called African Friends and Money Matters, which highlights how money and the resources your friends can give you is naturally a part of “African” friendships, even though we like to think of those in separate terms in “Western” friendships. Other key concepts the book lifts up are not “losing face,” helping someone no matter how they’ve misused money, and making peace in relationships even if it means doing something the other wants that is not just or objectively right. The book has helped us frame this in a way that is more constructive, rather than our culture being right because it feels instinctively right, it has helped us see the systems that are used here and the reasons why people believe these systems are good and helpful.

Several missionaries have commented to me that this book is insightful, but since it’s not written from a Christian perspective, not all of its guidance is ultimately helpful. On this point, I agree that Christians should be wary of one of the underlying of assumption of anthropology that no claims on truth are ultimate and so everyone’s beliefs can be equally valid. But reactions against the humility in this type of anthropological study also make me paranoid about the natural cultural superiority complex slipping into our thinking. Just because western culture has Christian influences doesn’t mean it’s morally superior in all its customs. The book in many instances describes our general western values but then mentions circumstances where we regularly go against those values without questioning our actions. Again that is not to argue that because everyone sometimes acts in selfish or hurtful ways, then it’s okay to act selfishly and hurtfully. But this can warn us that when we see things that feel wrong about other cultures it should also turn us to question whether our cultural attitudes about those things are built on just principles that are in line with Jesus’ real teachings, or rather if we do them out of habit or convenience or our “Western” instinct to “get ahead.”

--El Padre