Ask questions of why or why not

Asking questions is all about interpretation. 

Human lives and realities in the world are so complex that we need to address an all-entangled web of life intersecting with personal identity, family, health, social life, economics, politics, and religion, to name a few.

Likewise, we can reread Matthew 15:21-28 ("A Canaanite woman's encounter with Jesus") and ask many varied, intersectional questions. We can explore the Canaanite woman's situation imaginatively and critically, considering her gender, ethnicity, occupation, marital status, social standing, other families, daughter's situation involving simple illness, mental illness, or any other sickness), religion, and community.

We also need to see Jesus's and the disciples' attitude toward a gentile woman either in the historical context of Jesus or in Matthean situations. What kind of ideology do they have? Why are they mean to her? Why does Matthew portray Jesus and the disciples in this way that excludes Gentiles from salvation? Why does Jesus later allow for the healing of her daughter? Did the woman impress him with her submissive faith or challenge him to extend his narrow faith?

Questions continue: Have we asked about the possible cause and situation of the woman's daughter tormented by a demon? What kind of a demon is this? Does it have to do with mental illness? What is the possible cause of it---trauma, malnutrition, or anxiety? How did the woman know about Jesus? What is her faith like? Did she give up on her Canaanite identity by meeting Jesus? Why did she seek only her daughter's healing even though she was supposed to be in ill health or extreme poverty? Her loyalty to the daughter?

Shalom

I finished reading The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health (SCM, 2020). I have a lot to digest. It is an excellent sourcebook to further engage in the intersection of the Bible and mental health issues.

While there are many good ideas, one thing that captures my mind most is shalom (שָׁל֑וֹם), which is not the absence of illness or disorder. It denotes the right relationship with God. John Swinton observes:

Shalomic mental health care has to do with helping people to hold on to God's presence at all times, even in the midst of symptoms and difficult experiences that may be interminable. The ultimate goal of mental health care is not simply the eradication of symptoms, but the facilitation of God's presence (p. 163).

This observation rings true as long as we live in this world, experiencing dark moments of life without resolutions. Job's final realization must be like this too. With his life's burdens and pains ongoing, his peace/shalom can come through the presence of God, not because anything was resolved but because there were no other options but to depend on God's presence.

[Courtesy of FreeBibleImages.org]

The Bible and God

[Courtesy of FreeBibleImages.org]

Can the Bible contain all things about God? The answer might be easily "no" because human language is imperfect. God cannot be put in a box. Moreover, some representations of God in the Bible are tendentious. Therefore, we must interpret it carefully and discern what is good. We must avoid biblicism in all our efforts. The Bible is neither a weapon that attacks innocent people nor a knowledge book that subsumes all other books.

Currents in Theology and Mission (October issue, 2023)

I am glad to be part of the current issue of the journal Currents in Theology and Mission: Vol. 50 No. 4 (2023): "Jesus, Materialism, and the Women Who Teach and Preach Mark's Gospel"

My contribution:
Yung Suk Kim, Currents Focus: “The Gospel as the Power of God for Salvation (Rom 1:16)”

Do the ends justify the means?

 

[Courtesy of FreeBibleImages.org]

Do the ends justify the means? What do you think about Naomi's plan to seduce Boaz through Ruth? Is it her faith that God provides security and the future through Ruth and Boaz? Ruth was obedient to her mother-in-law. The other day, I read a sad, weird episode about a teenage girl in the Philippines. She lived with prostitution and supported her family. She said she was a Christian. A Western journalist interviewed her: "Why do you live with prostitution while you are a Christian?" She said that Ruth also supported her family through sex. So, I support my family just like Ruth.

Why do I teach?

As a professor, I am not merely interested in knowledge of the past but in today's world. I must tackle issues and help people today. That is why I study and teach history, literature, and religion. 

Realistically speaking, biblical interpretation is about or for today's world because while we engage with the text and the past, we don't live for the past but live in the present. Likewise, it is not about the future that is yet to come because there is no future separated from the present.

Critical questions are essential to interpretation. You can ask anything. But don't forget to ask about yourself as much as you ask about others. Talk to yourself as much as you talk to others.

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

More often than not, I hear people saying, "As the Bible says." Strictly speaking, it does not say. Even if you believe that way, it speaks of multiple things with multiple meanings. Rather than saying, "The Bible says," it would be better to say: "I have read this part, and my interpretation is this." Otherwise, sometimes, people may kill or destroy others in the name of the Bible or God. We should avoid all forms of biblicism (idolatry of the Bible) and naive interpretations supporting one's ego or ideology. We should not worship the Bible but honor it by interpreting it carefully, critically, contextually, and faithfully.

Time

What is time? Are there past, present, and future, each separated from the other? But strictly speaking, time is not separated. There are no three distinct realities of time. Stephen Crites writes: "Only the present exists, but it exists only in these tensed modalities." [See Stephen Crites, "The Narrative Quality of Experience," The Journal of the American Academy of Religion 39 (1971): 291-311 (301)]. He goes on to say: "They are inseparably joined in the present itself. Only from the standpoint of the present experience could one speak of the past and future. The three modalities are correlative to one another in every moment of experience." [Ibid.] 

Jerome Bruner writes: "Narrative imitates life and life imitates narratives." [J. Bruner, "Life as Narrative," Social Research 54.1 (1987): 11-32]. Jocelyn Bryan similarly observes: "We are living narratives." [J. Bryan, Human Being: Insights from Psychology and the Christian Faith (London: SCM, 2016), 44; 51-74]. 

I agree that there is no past or future separated from the present. We only live in the moment, while reflecting on the past and the future. Namely, "our narrative of the past and our imagined future narrative impact on our every moment." [Jocelyn Bryan, "Narrative, Meaning Making, and Mental Health," in The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health, edited by Christopher C.H. Cook and Isabelle Hamley (London, SCM: 2020), 4]. 

I cannot change the past. But it affects me today. I can change the future because I can reimagine myself today. We live in the present as always.  

Language of "world"

We often talk about the "world" in an educational setting. 

Do you work for what kind of world? 

Is it for today's world or tomorrow's world? For instance, when we educate people or develop leaders, are we preparing them for today's ever-changing world or for tomorrow's world? 

I argue that it must be today's world because tomorrow is naught without today. While we may say we prepare next-generation leaders, it is odd to say we develop them for tomorrow's world because their workplace for transformation is in the here and now, which is none other than today's world.  

Trails

I love to walk in a forest. Usually, I take a paved trail when I walk and meditate. But at times, I have a tendency to deviate from the main path and walk the small, often unprepared or untrodden, trails. From a paved route, I see the tall trees and all the visible beauty displayed above the ground. But with an intentional detour, I am just surprised at the devastated fallen trees and other remnants of the dead plants. The trees and plants also die. Some trees lay down with roots up. Other trees leaned on the branches of other small trees. Storms, winds, rains, snow, and all kinds of natural forces affect the life of a forest. My ultimate question is philosophical: How can human societies live, as we think about forests? 

Stand on God's side

People say they love God but we must check whether their way of loving is truly the love of God that God affirms. We must stand on God’s side by studying what God wants. Don’t simply have God by your side to magnify yourself or your community only.

"O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Mic 6:8)

 

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