Taking a Deeper Look at Shaming

It’s wrong to shame someone!” the student asserted, with clear pain in her eyes. Just to be clear, I hadn’t done anything, but she seemed to be talking about some personal experience. “Is it always wrong to shame someone?” I asked. “Absolutely,” she and some others insisted. Well, in my college student’s defense, shaming is almost universally condemned in modern Christian discussions.

Terms such as body shaming, mom shaming, pet shaming, and others leap to mind. The clear implication is that shaming others is sinful. Yet Jesus practiced shaming. Jesus shamed those who objected when he…