Award surprises me

To my surprise, I received the 2024 President's Lifetime Achievement Award, given to those who have devoted their energy and time to community service broadly conceived. It recognized my teaching, scholarship, publications, and public/community engagement for almost 20 years. Well, I am not done yet. My journey continues. Bless me.

Bible Study on Luke 5:1-11

Finally, I made it. The following article will be available in the fall 2024 issue of Currents in Theology and Mission: "The Call Story of Peter in Luke 5:1–11: New Vocation through Transformation," which is the revised short version of my Bible Study Presentations at the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2019. I appreciate the conference team, hundreds of attendees, and especially Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi. Thanks to Dr. Troy Troftgruben, the editor of the said issue.  

Words from the Dao De Jing

I write not to forget. I wrote precious words from the Dao De Jing, which I consider the gist of the book (translation is mine). 

Knowing oneself is wisdom.

Seeing small is wisdom.

Overcoming oneself is strength.

Keeping softness is strength.

Feedback from my favorite author

I received feedback from Dr. Jaime Pineda, a neuroscientist, cognitive scientist, and the author of Controlling Mental Chaos. I am very much uplifted because of his positive feedback.

I think your TAB model for mental health and its attempt to bridge our responses to self, God, and neighbors with aspects of mind care is a fascinating idea. I’m glad to see that my ideas inspired some of those connections. I am confident that the equilibrium you speak of can provide the worldview of insights and approaches to strengthen mental health and address the crisis we are currently experiencing. I look forward to hearing more about your development of this theme vis-à-vis psychotheology, moral agency, and political theology in the lives of Jesus and Paul.

For now, I wish you the very best and ongoing success in your creative efforts.

A spacious mind

The meditation topic for today is a spacious mind. How can we cultivate such a mind? I am a bowl of water that shakes effortlessly. How can I be like the sea? I will develop theories and practices about this quality of the mind through interdisciplinary study. I take all humanities subjects seriously and embrace cross-cultural literature and philosophy. See East Asian Philosophy.

Translation of 2 Cor 13:4

2 Cor 13:4 (NA27 Greek Edition)

καὶ γὰρ ἐσταυρώθη ἐξ ἀσθενείας, ἀλλὰ ζῇ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἀσθενοῦμεν ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀλλὰ ζήσομεν σὺν αὐτῷ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς.

Translation matters. What about "eks astheneias" in 2 Cor 13:4? "In weakness" or "by or because of weakness"? In 2 Cor 13:4, usually, you would see the translation with "Jesus's crucifixion in weakness." For example, NIB and NRSVue have the following:

NIV
"4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you."

NRSVue
"4 For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God."

But the plain sense of the Greek phrase "eks astheneias" must be "out of weakness" or "because of weakness." The preposition en, which means "in," was not used there. So CEB translates the phrase as "because of weakness."

CEB
"4 Certainly he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. Certainly we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power that is directed toward you."

While CEB makes explicit that Jesus could not defeat the cross because he was weak, the NIV and NRSVue imply that Jesus suffered the cross as if he were weak. The traditional translation prefers "in weakness," which hints at his voluntary posture of taking the cross---the idea of redemptive sacrifice. He was capable of defeating the cross with his power but he took the form of weakness. Which translation do you think is close to Paul's meaning in context? 

But the CEB emphasizes Jesus's humanity. In fact, we must see the parallels in the verse between "because of weakness" and "because of God's power," as the NASB translates. Both phrases contain the Greek preposition ek or eks, which means "out of, by, because of." So, we can say that Paul juxtaposes Jesus's weakness with God's power. Paul's theology is God-centered. God vindicates Jesus. For Paul, the good news (gospel) is "God-centered, Christ-exemplified, and Christian-proclaimed," as I argued in my book How to Read Paul. We see here the threefold aspects of the gospel. This idea of the threefold gospel is the hallmark of my scholarship. 

NASB

4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we too are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

Some of my books deal with this issue.

• Messiah in Weakness: A Portrait of Jesus from the Perspective of the Dispossessed
• Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology
• How to Read Paul: A Brief Introduction to His Theology, Writings, and World

Contacting the author

I contacted Jaime Pineda, the author of Controlling Mental Chaos: Harnessing the Power of the Creative Mind (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), which I loved so much. He is a neuroscientist who wrote about mental health. He responded to me kindly and agreed to read my book proposal about mental health. Furthermore, he expressed interest in my new book "How to Read the Gospels." He said he may get some insights as he prepares his future book project about mental health, neuroscience, and spirituality. He also expects to collaborate with me in the future. I feel great because of this connection with him and future collaboration. I am curious about what the future holds for me. I love what I do. I enjoy living in the present.

I'd like to recommend the other book I have read, which was written by Arash Javanbakht, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist: Afraid: Understand the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).

Mental Health, Mental Care, the Bible, and Ethics

I am developing resources about mental health, mental care, the Bible, and ethics. Check the Mental Health Page on my blog, as I wrote there:

See the positive side of life even if negative things surround you. I do not mean we should ignore the dark side of life. We can face it with a positive attitude. We should not allow negative energy to overwhelm us, seeing shining hope amid despair, visualizing the moment that the stormy clouds will part soon, and recognizing the sun already shining above them. At a time of distress or turmoil, seek God and the Spirit. Listen to your body and attend to each breathing. Thank God for each inhale and exhale. Life is a gift. If there is night, there comes also day.

Excerpts from "How to Read the Gospels"

I finished proofreading the typeset pages of my new book, How to Read the Gospels (forthcoming July 2024). You may pre-order it through online/retailers or from the publisher. I pull the following excerpts from the conclusion chapter: 

As such, interpretation of the Gospels or the stories of Jesus cannot be dominated or domesticated by one group or school. All readers can interpret them carefully from their context and discern what is good. In doing so, we must avoid Biblicism in all our efforts. The Gospels are neither a weapon that tramples other religions or cultures nor the knowledge books that subsume all other books. The Gospels are ongoing stories inviting us to read them through our stories. (p. 244)

WHY REJOICING ALWAYS: Paul As a Deep Thinker and Mind-Healing Therapist

1 Thess 5:16-22 (NRSV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

Rejoicing is a desirable attitude toward life and this world. What we see and how we think about what we see will determine our lives. Do we see positive things and energy amid chaos and turmoil? Can we see the hidden power of the Spirit of God in the world? Can we sing the songs of the birds when we hear them? Can we be happy when we see small plants growing in the yard? Can we celebrate the source of our life, which is God? Can we rejoice always under any circumstances? The answer is yes because the source of our joy does not depend on ourselves. So, Paul asks, "Rejoice always." 

When we face the harsh realities of life, feeling sucked in the vortex of life crises, we can pray to God to deal with them wisely and patiently, letting go of groundless fear or worries. Prayer is the time that we invite God to intervene in our minds. We yield to God and realize again who we are. Then, we may navigate rough waves faithfully without being crushed. Since uncertainties and thorns fill us relentlessly, we need to pray without ceasing. That is Paul's insight. 

The last thing Paul asks for is to give thanks in all circumstances. This point of thanks goes back to the importance of rejoicing always. We must count the things we receive from God. We breathe in and out every second. We walk on trails in the park. We eat and talk. We run and rest. We have people whom we love. Most importantly, we are not alone because God is with us.

As we see above, Paul is more than a theologian. Knowing what to think of himself and how to face the world wisely, he knows how to undergo a whirlwind of emotions. He is a deep thinker and mind-healing therapist. His advice is this: "Don't focus on negative things in your life. Focus on what you have. Trust God always because God is more than you think. You are also more than what you see. Rise above from the seat of negativity. See the bright sun rising on you every day."