“Forever Strangers at the Margin” in the Context of the United States

Abstract

This chapter reads the Abraham story from the perspective of Korean American immigrants. Attending to select plots and motifs, as well as addressing sociological and historical relocation, trauma, minority identity, and interethnic relations, this hermeneutic compares and contrasts the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and others in Genesis 12–25 with the experience of Korean Americans. It illustrates parallel narratives—one ancient, another current. The Abrahamic and Korean American stories share the intersectional characteristics of life at the margin. They contrast experiences of hostility and hospitality. They struggle to survive and build solidarity in the complex milieu of new multiethnic societies.