Richard Langston’s book, Bribery and the Bible, although it was published in the 1990s, brings timeless insights from a Biblical perspective into the issue of bribery around the world. The book exposits both Old Testament and New Testament teaching on bribery and extortion and then illustrates how bribery is practiced in the Philippines today, noting the cultural values that contribute to its practice. Langston concludes with “alternatives to bribery that can be modeled by missionaries and national Christians” (p. 4).
In getting at the roots of bribery’s widespread use in the Philippines, he notes that there is a “split-level Christianity, i.e, the coexistence within the same person of two or more thought-and-behavior systems which are inconsistent with one another” (p. 70).
This dichotomy is seen as the difference between “school values and home values. School values are taught in schools or church and reflect ideal behavior…they are somewhat ‘industrial, scientific and democratic; they benefit society as a whole. Home values, in the other hand, reflect the ‘prevailing social values (traditional culture values) of what people in the community actually do. When there is a conflict in values, homes values usually win out over school values in terms of actual behavior” (Langston, Bribery and the Bible, (p. 71).
In addition he notes that “in the Philippines Christianity in general and Protestant Christianity in particular has answered many of the ultimate questions in life but has often not seriously addressed many of the questions of every day…The churches do little to equip their people for life in the real world; they train their laity mainly for participation in the activities of the church.” (p. 90).
Langston provides practical examples of bribery and how to cope with these situations without giving a bribe. Since the situations in the Philippines mirror those in many other countries, the book is a welcome tool for teaching the whole counsel of God on this delicate issue and helping Christians understand the cultural values behind bribery in their context as well as knowing alternative behaviors they can adapt to their settings.
