Lecture on Hermeneutics and Transformation at Hanshin Church
(성서해석과 렌즈: 변화를 향한 렌즈점검과 적용)
Dec 2, 2024
Hundreds of people gathered to listen to me and my colleague. I talked about the importance of critical, contextual interpretation. Every interpretation is contextual and must be tested. Scripture involves transformative elements if engaged well. My colleague, Professor Heidi Park, talked about the power of scripture in a pastoral context.
The Bible contains ancient thoughts, cultures, and religious accounts, so it is important to interpret it carefully and critically. To some extent, we have done our jobs well, approaching the text variously and critically, analyzing the historical, social, cultural, economic, and ideological aspects of ancient people, communities, and societies. But I see great lacunae in biblical interpretation because there is a lack of focus on mental well-being in biblical interpretation. I do not mean that the Bible or biblical interpretation resolves mental health issues significantly. Mental health issues are embedded in ancient texts, and we should consider how to read and interpret them in this context. The key is what to say about mental well-being issues in the text from our context when we engage with it. For example, can we read The Lord’s Prayer from the perspective of mental well-being? The answer is vehement yes because it contains mental well-being issues at which the center is the mind—a hot issue then and now. This prayer taught by Jesus reminds us of how to deal with life’s challenges that occur every day. We can ask questions such as: What does it mean to address God as "our Father who is in heaven?" How can we pray for our daily bread when people are hungry and struggling? How can we participate in forgiveness in a complex society? And how can we experience “thy kingdom come” in the present? I am optimistic about the future of biblical interpretation because of my interest in mental well-being involving interdisciplinary studies such as cognitive science, mental health theories, psychotheology, and political theology.
Laozi, a classical philosopher from China in the sixth century BCE, is purported to have written a book called Dao De Jing—the Book of the Way and Virtue. He conveys an interesting idea that “True words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not truthful.” It is worth quoting the last chapter of his book, which shows this idea:
“The wise are not erudite. True words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not truthful. The good do not argue for their interest. Those who argue are not good. The wise are not erudite. The erudite are not wise. The wise do not hoard things. The more they give to others, the more they have. The Way of Heaven benefits, but does not harm others. The way of the wise accomplishes without striving” (Dao De Jing 81, translation is mine; from Reading Jesus' Parables with Dao De Jing, 64).
Considering early Christianity’s embrace of diversity, the ideology of one Christian race or a white-driven melting pot theory is an illusion and must melt away. Often the ideal of oneness or unity is quixotic and hides the face of hegemonic control in which some people or groups are prioritized over against others. In the end, racial identity hermeneutics aims at dismantling the hegemonic ideology of oneness/unity and fosters a culture of care, diversity, and solidarity. What follows is in this order: “Racial/Ethnic Identity from Biblical Texts” and “Interpreting Biblical Texts through the Lens of Racial/Ethnic Identity.” In the former, we will see both the importance and entanglement of race/ethnicity from biblical texts. In the latter, we will explore cases of racial identity hermeneutics with select texts from both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament (366).*Yung Suk Kim, "Racial Identity Hermeneutics," in Postconservative Theological Interpretation, edited by Ronald T. Michener and Mark A. Lamport, 365-380 (Cascade, 2024).
