Thursday, August 24, 2023
Love builds up
What makes us whole or holistic is not knowledge but love. Love empowers others and ourselves. It never brings us down but lifts us up. Paul says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Cor 8:1). Love is neither like engulfing waters nor like dreadful lightning. It is like the streams of water, which look weak but strong. It nourishes life without roaring or striving. Love is life. No love, no life. Those who seek more knowledge, wealth, and power without love will crush into their vanity like moths flying toward the light.
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Saturday, August 19, 2023
Five religious responses
There were five religious responses to anomalies in the first century Palestine under the Roman imperial world.
2. Jewish aristocrats (Sadducees and Jewish elite) accommodated foreign domination and maintained their prerogatives. They sought their prerogatives and kept their status by cooperating with the imperial power.
3. Pharisees emphasized Torah observance with a coexistence mode with the power. They were moderate reformers who did not directly oppose the imperial government.
4. Militant opposition groups such as Zealots formed armed resistance against the empire and took revolutionary action.
5. Jesus (also John) focused on the moral and spiritual transformation of people.
The above types of reaction are not limited to first-century Palestine. In different ways, they may be seen in other cultures throughout history: 1) an apocalyptic-emphasis group denying this world and leadership; 2) local leaders and elites seeking to maintain their status; 3) educated middle-class people seeking to reform society with co-existence with the power; 4) radical activists and reformers; 5) those who seek non-violent transformation of people and society.
Thursday, August 17, 2023
new interest
I am reading this book now. Someday, I will forge a new book on the topic of mental health and the Bible.
Sunday, July 30, 2023
A brief analysis of Gal 2:20 translations
According to the Bible Gateway, there are sixty-two English translations of Gal 2:20, and 49 out of them show the objective genitive translation of the Pistis phrase: "by faith in the Son of God." Only 13 of them, as in the table below, have the subjective genitive translation: "by the faith of the Son of God." Among these 13, two of them (see "red" color below in the table) translate the preposition "en" as "in or within." The other noticeable thing is the NEB translates the preposition as "because of." Some translations emphasize the adjectival form of the noun "faithfulness" in place of the simple noun "faith." What do you think is the best translation?
For more about translation matters in the New Testament, see Chapter 8 in Toward Decentering the New Testament.
Monday, July 24, 2023
Resurrecting Jesus: Mock Interview
I was quoted in someone's blog post. Below is an excerpt from it.
Today, as Christianity stagnates in Europe and North America, the most vibrant expressions of faith are to be found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The Korean New Testament scholar Yung Suk Kim was asked what he thought was the primary work of Jesus. Here is how he replied. I love how he translates the two verses from Mark. Below is Kim's reply:I believe that Jesus’ primary message is well summarized in Mark 1:14-15: “After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and God’s rule has come near; change your heart and believe in the good news.” As we see here, Jesus proclaims the good news of God; it is God’s good news. Good news is about God. God’s time and God’s rule has come in the here and now (perfect tense). For God’s time and rule to be effective, people have to accept it by changing their minds, which is what metanoia means.Note the differences between his translation of Mark 1:14-15 from the more conventional translation in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible: "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” Note how Kim renders the words in the RSV which I have italicized.
*Note: My reply quoted above is not in a book. It is part of a book promotion mock interview.
For more about that idea of mine, see Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology.
FULL CONTENTS OF THE MOCK INTERVIEW
I wrote this book to emphasize the importance of bringing the historical Jesus back into our discussions of New Testament theology. Traditional New Testament theology needs to take the work of the historical Jesus seriously. For example, people often overlook the question of what led to his death. His crucifixion was the result of his actions. We need to understand what he preached and why he was willing to die. After all, he was not born just to die. Jesus is a historical figure who should not be confined or misrepresented by anyone.
2. What do you think is the primary work of Jesus?
I believe that Jesus' primary message or teaching is well summarized in Mark 1:14-15: "After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and God's rule has come near; change your heart and believe in the good news." As we see here, Jesus proclaims the good news of God; it is God's good news. The good news is about God: God's time and God's rule have come in the here and now (perfect tense). For this God's radical time and rule to be effective, people have to accept it by changing their minds, which is what metanoia means. So it is impossible to talk about Jesus without God-talk in first-century Judaism. New Testament theology would be misleading if we do not look at God to whom Jesus points his finger. Jesus does the works of God, not his own.
3. As you know, there is a big divide between history and theology, or between the historical Jesus and New Testament theology. For example, some historians say that the New Testament is not based on the historical Jesus. How is it possible for you to do theology by drawing attention to both of these seemingly irreconcilable areas of study?
I believe that it is possible by redefining New Testament theology in which we can engage the historical Jesus. I broadly redefine New Testament theology as our explorations about God, the Messiah, and the world. New Testament theology is not constructed deductively (from heavenly revelation, for example), but can be constructed by readers who critically reevaluate not only the work of the historical Jesus but also various writings in the New Testament. So in my book, I define New Testament theology as follows:
New Testament theology involves both what the New Testament says about God, the Messiah, and the world, and how the reader evaluates, engages, or interprets diverse yet divergent texts of the New Testament, including difficult, sexist, and oppressive texts. The reader's task is not merely to discern what is good and acceptable in the New Testament, but also to surface its limitations by examining early Christians' disparate positions about God, the Messiah, and the world. Consequently, New Testament theology is constructed by the reader who deals with both the divergent texts of the New Testament and the historical Jesus to whom they refer. By carefully sifting through the layers of NewTestament witnesses while acknowledging unbridgeable gaps between them and the historical Jesus, the reader, in view of all aspects of life in the first century CE and today, has to explore relevant relationships among God, the Messiah, and the world.
4. Once again, why is the historical Jesus important to your New Testament theology?
Let me use a body analogy. Just as the body without the spirit is dead, New Testament theology without the historical Jesus is dead because the former is built on the work of the latter. No matter how many gaps exist between the historical Jesus and the New Testament, New Testament theology needs a solid understanding of the historical Jesus.
5. Can you give us a few examples of your critically reconstructed contents of New Testament theology?
Yes. For example, the"righteousness of God" will be redefined as God's righteousness rather than as an individual justification. "Faith of Christ Jesus" will be also redefined as his faithfulness through which he proclaims and embodies God's rule in the here and now. Accordingly, "the kingdom of God" will be redefined as God's rule in the here and now that challenges Rome's rule or any obstacles that occlude the flow of God's justice. In the end, Christians will be redefined as Christ-followers who do the works of God.
6. What do you want to say to your readers if they ask why this book should be a must-read?
I like to list three important benefits for readers:
-Getting a better, clearer understanding of the historical Jesus and the New Testament writings that refer to him.
-Exploring the significance of Jesus' life, teaching, and death, based not on doctrine but on his work of God in first-century Judaism and Palestine.
-Redefining New Testament theology as a process of discerning and engaging the historical Jesus and the New Testament writings.
7. Do you believe your newly defined New Testament theology can help improve human conditions?
Yes, very much so. We can learn from Jesus and follow his footsteps that embody God's presence in the here and now. Jesus' death is the result of his costly proclamation of God's rule in the here and now. It is not somewhere else than here. However, there are lots of people who see Jesus' death merely as salvific, vicarious atonement that does not look into the evil hands responsible for his crucifixion. By the way, Jesus' death is the form of crucifixion, capital punishment by Rome. So when we see Jesus' crucifixion, we have to see both God's love that he embodies at the risk of his life and God's judgment that brings evil people and power to justice. Condoning evil is not the point of Jesus' crucifixion.
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Unreading the New Testament
C.H. Dodd also defines it similarly: “At its simplest the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.” [C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (New York: Scribner, 1961), 5]
We, modern readers, also must unread certain texts in the New Testament. Among others, some of the post-Pauline texts may be good cases that involve repressive social relations, which are expressed with the so-called household codes: regulating various household relationships between master and slave, between husband and wife, and between parents and children. Women’s subordinate position in 1 Tim 2:11-15 is also a good case. In all of these household codes or in women's degradation texts, one has to read, reread, and unread the texts because the ultimate meaning is not controlled by the past or by any authorities today. Interpretation is a politically self-conscious business in that one has to take a stance. Namely, abusive or sexist texts should be named and rejected. In the stages of reading and rereading, one has to ask why these seemingly unnecessary texts for today’s readers are there in the early church. This process will help readers to see what happened in the past and to engage us in critical contexts then and today.
Another text is 1 Cor 14:33b-36, which is considered “interpolation” (meaning an inserted text by the later editor of the church, possibly much time after Paul’s death, as we see similar kinds of texts in 1 Tim 2:11-15. Except for this particular passage, Paul’s overall letters (I mean his undisputed letters, a total of 7 of them) do not have women degradation passages. Rather, the opposite is the case that Paul calls a woman apostle (Rom 16:7); also Gal 3:28 is radical in terms of gender relation. So readers have to unread 1 Cor 14:33b-36 because it is not Paul’s voice or theology.
When it comes to the Gospels, I may think of one particular place; Mark 9:1 will be a different case that readers have to read, reread, unread, and tell their positions. While some consider it as Jesus’s own saying, others render it Markan addition or creation. In either case, readers have to struggle to understand what it means to hear this apocalyptic saying in the first century CE and now. Eventually, one must decide about this text and interpret it for today’s world by unreading all previous interpretations. I think this text is more technical in nature so it may not be easy to come to a conclusion.
In Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology, I attempted to show how to read the New Testament and what it means to read it today. I focused on the historical Jesus on one hand and the New Testament as a literary product on the other.
Regarding a critical understanding of biblical interpretation, my book Biblical Interpretation: Theory, Process, and Criteria will be helpful.
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Teaching the Bible in a Different Culture
I am teaching in the area of biblical studies, and New Testament in particular, at the school of theology, Virginia Union University where I am the only faculty member of Asian (Korean) heritage and my students are predominantly African-American.
Most of my students, full-time employees in the private or public sectors, come to study in the evenings during the weekdays or on weekends. In this unique environment, teaching the Bible or theology is a daunting task, partly because I am a cultural stranger to the students and partly because my students are divergent even within their African culture.
Some are more marginalized than others. There are also issues regarding gender and class. More importantly, their theological spectrum is broader than I had assumed, ranging from liberationist to fundamentalist positions. However, one thing I have discovered again and again is that I could share my own marginalized experience with them.
I also found that the students are very open to new learning and challenges in biblical studies. Over the years, I have come up with the following teaching philosophy that tells who I am or what I am doing in this vocation of theological education:
I teach to engage in the knowledge of who we are in this world where we see one another as diverse. Diversity is not taken for granted but utilized as a source of critical engagement with others. I value both a critical and self-critical stance toward any claim of knowledge, truth, and reality and emphasize the following as pedagogical goals: learning from others, challenging one another, affirming who we are, and working for common humanity through differences. All in all, the goal of my teaching is to foster critical diversity and imagination in their learning process.
Most recently, I taught Introduction to Biblical Studies to first-year students. The contents and design of the course focused on helping students to become critical contextual biblical theologians. I explained the processes and complexities of biblical interpretation in which the reader takes the center stage. I also emphasized three elements of critical contextual interpretation: how to read (the text), what to read (textual focus or theology), and why to read (contextuality of the reader), which will be the topics of my future book.
In my teaching, I reiterate the importance of the role of the reader, who has to engage not only the text but also his or her life in a particular life context. At the same time, I help students to be critical of all readings because not all are equally valid or helpful. The oft-cited verse in my classroom is: “Test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).
We not only unpack the texts from many perspectives but also deconstruct our familiar readings and reconstruct them in new life contexts. Students are refreshed because of their new learning experience in biblical studies. They also find themselves loving the scripture not simply because of what has been written there but also because they can engage it critically and faithfully in their lives. Oppressive theologies are rejected and the students are reaffirmed as the people of God. In this way, the Bible is deconstructed and reconstructed through their lives, because God is the God of all. God is not the God of the past alone, but of the present amidst their turmoil.
In one of my classes, I asked each group (made up of six or seven people) to discuss and answer this question: “Who is Jesus to you and your community? Portray him, using all kinds of methods or approaches that you have learned so far.”
Each group worked hard, and all were genuinely engaged. They used pencils, colored pens, and a poster board. Afterward, members of each group stood alongside each other and presented their works creatively and faithfully. I was very impressed by their comprehensive understanding of Jesus in context and by their skills in portraying him from their particular life contexts.
One group said Jesus is water because he is the source of life for Africans and others. After the presentation, I added one thing: Water is a great metaphor since I could relate to my experience of water in my culture. I briefly talked about the image and metaphor of water in Daoism and my cultural experience. The experience here is cross-cultural, spiritual, and contextual.
The other group said Jesus is the sun, because he shines upon all people, showing God’s love to all in the world. The idea here is that Africans need the light and that they become a light for others. I added one more thing: Jesus as the sun is like the power plant, which runs with nuclear fusion, giving energy and light to others (centrifugal). In contrast, the Empires gather power for themselves at the expense of others (centripetal). There are three more groups that presented nicely. I could see all of my students were engaged in the exercise and they were excited by what they had done. Finally, all said amen.
Most of my students, full-time employees in the private or public sectors, come to study in the evenings during the weekdays or on weekends. In this unique environment, teaching the Bible or theology is a daunting task, partly because I am a cultural stranger to the students and partly because my students are divergent even within their African culture.
Some are more marginalized than others. There are also issues regarding gender and class. More importantly, their theological spectrum is broader than I had assumed, ranging from liberationist to fundamentalist positions. However, one thing I have discovered again and again is that I could share my own marginalized experience with them.
I also found that the students are very open to new learning and challenges in biblical studies. Over the years, I have come up with the following teaching philosophy that tells who I am or what I am doing in this vocation of theological education:
I teach to engage in the knowledge of who we are in this world where we see one another as diverse. Diversity is not taken for granted but utilized as a source of critical engagement with others. I value both a critical and self-critical stance toward any claim of knowledge, truth, and reality and emphasize the following as pedagogical goals: learning from others, challenging one another, affirming who we are, and working for common humanity through differences. All in all, the goal of my teaching is to foster critical diversity and imagination in their learning process.
Most recently, I taught Introduction to Biblical Studies to first-year students. The contents and design of the course focused on helping students to become critical contextual biblical theologians. I explained the processes and complexities of biblical interpretation in which the reader takes the center stage. I also emphasized three elements of critical contextual interpretation: how to read (the text), what to read (textual focus or theology), and why to read (contextuality of the reader), which will be the topics of my future book.
In my teaching, I reiterate the importance of the role of the reader, who has to engage not only the text but also his or her life in a particular life context. At the same time, I help students to be critical of all readings because not all are equally valid or helpful. The oft-cited verse in my classroom is: “Test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).
We not only unpack the texts from many perspectives but also deconstruct our familiar readings and reconstruct them in new life contexts. Students are refreshed because of their new learning experience in biblical studies. They also find themselves loving the scripture not simply because of what has been written there but also because they can engage it critically and faithfully in their lives. Oppressive theologies are rejected and the students are reaffirmed as the people of God. In this way, the Bible is deconstructed and reconstructed through their lives, because God is the God of all. God is not the God of the past alone, but of the present amidst their turmoil.
In one of my classes, I asked each group (made up of six or seven people) to discuss and answer this question: “Who is Jesus to you and your community? Portray him, using all kinds of methods or approaches that you have learned so far.”
Each group worked hard, and all were genuinely engaged. They used pencils, colored pens, and a poster board. Afterward, members of each group stood alongside each other and presented their works creatively and faithfully. I was very impressed by their comprehensive understanding of Jesus in context and by their skills in portraying him from their particular life contexts.
One group said Jesus is water because he is the source of life for Africans and others. After the presentation, I added one thing: Water is a great metaphor since I could relate to my experience of water in my culture. I briefly talked about the image and metaphor of water in Daoism and my cultural experience. The experience here is cross-cultural, spiritual, and contextual.
The other group said Jesus is the sun, because he shines upon all people, showing God’s love to all in the world. The idea here is that Africans need the light and that they become a light for others. I added one more thing: Jesus as the sun is like the power plant, which runs with nuclear fusion, giving energy and light to others (centrifugal). In contrast, the Empires gather power for themselves at the expense of others (centripetal). There are three more groups that presented nicely. I could see all of my students were engaged in the exercise and they were excited by what they had done. Finally, all said amen.
Saturday, July 8, 2023
Poem
Grass Flowers
by Na Taeju
trans. Yung Suk Kim
See things closely
to see pretties.
See things long
to feel love.
It is with you too.
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Letter to President Trump (2017)
Yung Suk Kim
Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology
Virginia Union University, in Richmond, Virginia
March 14, 2017
Dear President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members of the Trump Administration, and the 115th
Congress,
As a biblical scholar, author, and professor teaching at a graduate theological school, in Richmond, Virginia, my vocation is to communicate the love of God to all, advocating diversity in our lives. Diversity is the way that the world exists and prospers. Differences, whether personal or cultural, are not wrong by themselves but can be a moment of engagement with one another through the love of God. In God’s creation, there are many colors, many races, many cultures, many stories, and many histories. One cannot represent all. It is the imperial culture that does not embrace diversity.
Sincerely,
Yung Suk Kim
Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology
Virginia Union University, in Richmond, Virginia
March 14, 2017
Dear President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members of the Trump Administration, and the 115th
Congress,
I love this country, my new home, and about a year ago all my family members became US citizens. That was our glad choice to join millions of immigrants who already become citizens of this great country—a place of opportunities, cultural diversity, and high moral values embodying more justice and freedom for all people. But recently, I and others have felt uncertain about this joyful expectation about our country’s ideals and achievements. I hear that diversity and otherness are seen as suspicious and checked at many corners of this country. Though there is a long way to go, our country has made conscious efforts to embrace more diversity, free thought, and human dignity. There are many colors on earth, named or unnamed; but all of them are beautiful. There are many flowers in the world, named or unnamed; no question that all are splendid. All of them are flowers, small or big, short or tall. The flower is the flower. There are many people of color on our globe, documented or undocumented; all of them are God’s masterpieces. Yellow is color, black is color, and white is also color. All races are colored and cultured. Some are more distinctive than others. Yet all represent a colorful representation of God’s world where different thoughts and lifestyles coexist.
As a biblical scholar, author, and professor teaching at a graduate theological school, in Richmond, Virginia, my vocation is to communicate the love of God to all, advocating diversity in our lives. Diversity is the way that the world exists and prospers. Differences, whether personal or cultural, are not wrong by themselves but can be a moment of engagement with one another through the love of God. In God’s creation, there are many colors, many races, many cultures, many stories, and many histories. One cannot represent all. It is the imperial culture that does not embrace diversity.
Sincerely,
Yung Suk Kim
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