Wednesday, June 17, 2020
How to interpret parables
- As a story about life
- As a metaphor about the rule/reign of God
- As Jesus's story
Monday, June 15, 2020
Messiah in weakness
What is weakness (astheneia)? How can we see ourselves differently with this lens of weakness? How can we understand Jesus differently with this lens?
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Resurrecting Jesus
Jesus cannot be domesticated! In Resurrecting Jesus, Kim asks the fundamental two-prong question, "What, then, can we learn from Jesus, and how can we build on the significance of his life and work as we do theology for our day in the here and now?" Kim abandons the traditional divide between criticism and theology and argues that a solid New Testament theology can be reconstructed from a critical study of the historical Jesus. Jesus is put back into the context of first-century Judaism in Palestine. Resurrecting Jesus reexamines Jesus' life, work, death, and resurrection, giving readers a better, clearer understanding about the historical Jesus and the New Testament writings that refer to him; an exploration into the significance of Jesus' life, teaching, and death, based not on doctrine but on his work of God in first-century Judaism and Palestine; and a redefinition of New Testament theology that is a process of discerning and engaging the historical Jesus and the New Testament writings.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Is John 14:6 an exclusive statement or an invitation to engage in the world?
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
Is this an exclusive statement? Or, is this a metaphorical statement that asks people to follow the way he lived discerning God’s will, the truth he testified, and the life he exemplified teaching God’s word? Those who follow Jesus may experience the love of God, and then they are truly disciples of Jesus. Likewise, the Johannine community is given a new mission of love for the world. As Jesus was sent by God for that purpose, now this community is also given the same mission. In John 17 when Jesus prepares his departure to God, he prays to God and sends his disciples into the world to do this job. The implication: John’s gospel is not a triumphant gospel but an invitation to love and engage in the world. Pilate asked Jesus: ”So you are a king?” Jesus answered: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (18:37). TRUTH is “the truth of God” … which is God’s love of the world and people. Jesus came for the truth of God, and testified to it, and transformed the world.
Saturday, June 6, 2020
New video: How can we read the Bible transformatively?
In A Transformative Reading of the Bible, Yung Suk Kim raises critical questions about human transformation in biblical studies. What is transformation? How are we transformed when we read biblical stories? Are all transformative aspects equally valid? What kind of relationships exists between self, neighbor, and God if transformation is involved in these three? Who or what is being changed, or who or what are we changing? What degree of change might be considered "transformative"? Kim explores a dynamic, cyclical process of human transformation and argues that healthy transformation involves three kinds of transformation: psycho-theological, ontological-theological, and political-theological transformation. With insights gained from phenomenological studies, political theology, and psychotheology, Kim proposes a new model for how to read the Bible transformatively, as he dares to read Hannah, Psalm 13, the Gospel of Mark, and Paul as stories of transformation. The author invites Christian readers, theological educators, and scholars to reexamine the idea of transformation and to engage biblical stories from the perspective of holistic human transformation.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
My translation of the Dao De Jing
Dao De Jing is a classical wisdom book rooted in Laozi. It is one of the most-read books in the world today. It comprises 81 short poems. In some sense, it is close to Jesus's parables. My translation is for you for free and in the public domain.
"To return is the movement of the Way." Daodejing 40
"To be weak is the function of the Way." Daodejing 40
Sunday, May 31, 2020
From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education and Public Ministry
A brief review of this book by me:
From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education and Public Ministry is an edited volume by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly, Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, and Nathaniel D. West, and it includes eight contributions covering a wide array of topics concerning Black religious education and public ministry. The volume's purpose is to provide a viable, timely resource for a variety of Black educators, community leaders, and all like-minded people working for the empowerment of Black people in today's hostile environments. In doing so, the contributors touch on two fronts of the urgent issues concurrently: religious education and public ministry, which are often separated from each other. As the editors note, what this volume attempts to do is to bridge the gap between these two fronts and find a way to do effective, holistic education and ministry both within and outside the Black churches and communities. This is a marvelous attempt that does not separate what is happening to the community or church from what is happening in society.
In chapter 1, “Religious Education and Lament: Inviting Cries from the Heart, Guiding the Way Forward,” Anne Wimberly articulates the importance of expressing grief and lament as part of a grieving process and argues that lament or grieving should lead to meaning-making ultimately so that the grieving may be empowered to survive and envision a God-given future. In chapter 2, “Religious Educators Public Ministry Leaders,” Nathaniel West focuses on the role of the religious educator as public theologian, who must engage with the community and society at the same time to advocate for the downtrodden and the marginalized in the community and society. He argues that public theologians must be equipped well with Afrocentric practices and justice-seeking spirits. In chapter 3, “Religious Education and Communities of Learning and Practice: Inspiring Advocacy in Public Ministry,” Mary Young zeroes in on the role of religious education and the importance of the faith community, which must be the catalyst for the lives of Black people who need empowerment. In chapter 4, “Religious Education in Response to Black Lives Matter: A Case for Critical Pedagogy,” Joseph Crockett analyzes The Black Lives Matter movement and proposes that religious education along with critical pedagogy is needed to strengthen such a social movement. In chapter 5, “Religious Education and Womanist Formation: Mothering and the Reinterpretation of Body Politics,” Nancy Westfield discusses the importance of a womanist approach to religious education and emphasizes the role of African American Christian mothers who care for their children through caring spirit. In chapter 6, “Religious Education and Prison Ministry: Where Public Theology and Public Pedagogy Meet,” Sarah Farmer proposes a way of religious education that may help to improve criminal justice for the Black community. In chapter 7, “Religious Education and the Public Role of the Sister’s Keeper: A Historical Correlational Method,” Richelle White introduces two Christian educators from the early-twentieth-century: Nannie Helen Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune, who had exemplary works on fostering the education of Black girls. Finally, in chapter 8, “Religious Education for Making It Out of ‘Da Hood’: Spiritual Retreat Encounters for Youth and Young Adult Resilience and Spiritual Formation,” Cynthia Stewart discusses her experience with youth in the inner city of Chicago and emphasizes the importance of youth advocacy.
This book is worth reading each chapter like a book since it conveys volumes of insights about religious education and public ministry, and it can be studied on its own since there are tons of issues that need further discussion and reflection. Overall, this book attempts to bridge a gap between local church and society, between religious education and public ministry, between sacred and secular, and between academia and church. The point is that the lives of the Black do not stay in one place; they got stuck everywhere, so to speak. Therefore, what is needed is a holistic, comprehensive, new approach to matters of education and advocacy in church and society. I highly recommend this book not only to those who work for justice and transformation of the Black people but also to those who wish to understand the issues of religious education and public ministry in the African American context. As an Asian American biblical scholar, I am interested in cross-cultural transformative religious education, if any, and for this purpose, scholars of color can gather together to explore ways in which we can improve our understanding of religious education and public ministry in a global context.
From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education and Public Ministry is an edited volume by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly, Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, and Nathaniel D. West, and it includes eight contributions covering a wide array of topics concerning Black religious education and public ministry. The volume's purpose is to provide a viable, timely resource for a variety of Black educators, community leaders, and all like-minded people working for the empowerment of Black people in today's hostile environments. In doing so, the contributors touch on two fronts of the urgent issues concurrently: religious education and public ministry, which are often separated from each other. As the editors note, what this volume attempts to do is to bridge the gap between these two fronts and find a way to do effective, holistic education and ministry both within and outside the Black churches and communities. This is a marvelous attempt that does not separate what is happening to the community or church from what is happening in society.
In chapter 1, “Religious Education and Lament: Inviting Cries from the Heart, Guiding the Way Forward,” Anne Wimberly articulates the importance of expressing grief and lament as part of a grieving process and argues that lament or grieving should lead to meaning-making ultimately so that the grieving may be empowered to survive and envision a God-given future. In chapter 2, “Religious Educators Public Ministry Leaders,” Nathaniel West focuses on the role of the religious educator as public theologian, who must engage with the community and society at the same time to advocate for the downtrodden and the marginalized in the community and society. He argues that public theologians must be equipped well with Afrocentric practices and justice-seeking spirits. In chapter 3, “Religious Education and Communities of Learning and Practice: Inspiring Advocacy in Public Ministry,” Mary Young zeroes in on the role of religious education and the importance of the faith community, which must be the catalyst for the lives of Black people who need empowerment. In chapter 4, “Religious Education in Response to Black Lives Matter: A Case for Critical Pedagogy,” Joseph Crockett analyzes The Black Lives Matter movement and proposes that religious education along with critical pedagogy is needed to strengthen such a social movement. In chapter 5, “Religious Education and Womanist Formation: Mothering and the Reinterpretation of Body Politics,” Nancy Westfield discusses the importance of a womanist approach to religious education and emphasizes the role of African American Christian mothers who care for their children through caring spirit. In chapter 6, “Religious Education and Prison Ministry: Where Public Theology and Public Pedagogy Meet,” Sarah Farmer proposes a way of religious education that may help to improve criminal justice for the Black community. In chapter 7, “Religious Education and the Public Role of the Sister’s Keeper: A Historical Correlational Method,” Richelle White introduces two Christian educators from the early-twentieth-century: Nannie Helen Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune, who had exemplary works on fostering the education of Black girls. Finally, in chapter 8, “Religious Education for Making It Out of ‘Da Hood’: Spiritual Retreat Encounters for Youth and Young Adult Resilience and Spiritual Formation,” Cynthia Stewart discusses her experience with youth in the inner city of Chicago and emphasizes the importance of youth advocacy.
This book is worth reading each chapter like a book since it conveys volumes of insights about religious education and public ministry, and it can be studied on its own since there are tons of issues that need further discussion and reflection. Overall, this book attempts to bridge a gap between local church and society, between religious education and public ministry, between sacred and secular, and between academia and church. The point is that the lives of the Black do not stay in one place; they got stuck everywhere, so to speak. Therefore, what is needed is a holistic, comprehensive, new approach to matters of education and advocacy in church and society. I highly recommend this book not only to those who work for justice and transformation of the Black people but also to those who wish to understand the issues of religious education and public ministry in the African American context. As an Asian American biblical scholar, I am interested in cross-cultural transformative religious education, if any, and for this purpose, scholars of color can gather together to explore ways in which we can improve our understanding of religious education and public ministry in a global context.
The cross of Jesus is not itself good news
[Courtesy of FreeBibleImages.org]
Jesus did not volunteer to die on the cross. He was arrested, tortured, and crucified as a criminal because of his words and deeds. His death itself is never good news. In fact, there is no word of "the gospel (good news) of the cross" in the New Testament. But the message about the cross is the power of God, as Paul says in 1 Cor 1:18: "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." What is the power of God working through the cross of Jesus?
The cross of Jesus is a symbol of love for the oppressed and the marginalized (1 Cor 1:17-31). That is, Jesus did not spare his life to advocate for them. Jesus' death is not a substitutionary sacrifice that one can say: "Thank you for dying instead of me." On the contrary, Paul's logic is that because Christ died for all, all have died with him (2 Cor 5:14). His death alone is not enough. Dying with Christ means to live by his faith and to be led by the Spirit (Rom 8:13; Gal 2:20).
The good news is that God raised Jesus from the dead and vindicated him.
- The good news is that justice reigns.
- The good news is that God is faithful to humanity.
- The good news is that Christ proved God's love through his faith.
- "The good news is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith" (Rom 1:16).
- The good news is that the Spirit is with the children of God.
- The good news is that all may live by the power of God.
The good news becomes powerful and effective to those who accept the rule of God and change their mind to seek the way of God (Mark 1:15).
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Atonement Theories and Jesus
Traditional Atonement Theories
Penal-substitutionary theory (including the concept of propitiation and expiation): God's wrath is dealt with by propitiation; sins are cleansed.
Ransom theory deals with one's bondage to sin or evil. Jesus's death is a ransom, and the price is paid to the devil. As a result, sinners are released from bondage.
Satisfaction theory: Jesus's death is a sinless sacrifice that satisfies God's justice.
But the traditional atonement theories do not consider seriously the question of why Jesus was put to death in a historical, political sense. According to the Gospels and Paul's major letters, Jesus's death has to do with his radical message of God's rule in the here and now.
The challenge for us is interpreting various passages regarding Jesus's death in the New Testament. The following translations are from the NRSVue.
Mark 14:24: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
1 Cor 5:7: "Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed."
Matt 26:28: "for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
c.f. Matt 8:17: "This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.'"
2 Cor 5:21: "For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Rom 3:25: "whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement (hilasterion) by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;"
*Note: Hilasterion may be translated or interpreted variously; it may be a propitiation, sacrifice of atonement, or mercy seat. In the Septuagint, hilasterion is the translation of the Hebrew Kaporet, which means the cover of the ark of the covenant on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Rom 5:6-10: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life."
Gal 1:4: "Who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,"
Heb 10:12: "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, 'he sat down at the right hand of God,'"
1 John 2:2: "And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." *atoning sacrifice (hilasmos)
1 John 4:10: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." *atoning sacrifice (hilasmos)
1 Pet 2:23-24: "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
Penal-substitutionary theory (including the concept of propitiation and expiation): God's wrath is dealt with by propitiation; sins are cleansed.
Ransom theory deals with one's bondage to sin or evil. Jesus's death is a ransom, and the price is paid to the devil. As a result, sinners are released from bondage.
Satisfaction theory: Jesus's death is a sinless sacrifice that satisfies God's justice.
But the traditional atonement theories do not consider seriously the question of why Jesus was put to death in a historical, political sense. According to the Gospels and Paul's major letters, Jesus's death has to do with his radical message of God's rule in the here and now.
The challenge for us is interpreting various passages regarding Jesus's death in the New Testament. The following translations are from the NRSVue.
Mark 14:24: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
1 Cor 5:7: "Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed."
Matt 26:28: "for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
c.f. Matt 8:17: "This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.'"
2 Cor 5:21: "For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Rom 3:25: "whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement (hilasterion) by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;"
*Note: Hilasterion may be translated or interpreted variously; it may be a propitiation, sacrifice of atonement, or mercy seat. In the Septuagint, hilasterion is the translation of the Hebrew Kaporet, which means the cover of the ark of the covenant on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Rom 5:6-10: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life."
Gal 1:4: "Who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,"
Heb 10:12: "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, 'he sat down at the right hand of God,'"
1 John 2:2: "And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." *atoning sacrifice (hilasmos)
1 John 4:10: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." *atoning sacrifice (hilasmos)
1 Pet 2:23-24: "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
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