{"title":"Confucian Readings on Abraham","authors":"M. Suh","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.13","url":null,"abstract":"The Hebrew Bible is the foundation of the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. In these religious traditions, Abraham is an archetypal figure of their faith and traditions. Similarly, Confucius is most highly regarded in the religion, thought, and culture of Northeast Asia. This chapter compares the ideal human virtues of Abraham and Confucius through the image of a Gunja, who is an ideal human figure presented by Confucius. How thoroughly do the life and faith of Abraham exemplify the words and deeds of a Gunja? Do proximities of interreligious virtues positively reinforce Korean textual interpretations and normative behavior?","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130159167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"United yet Divided","authors":"K. Hong","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.24","url":null,"abstract":"Context matters. The Korean reading of the Bible must be different from others in that their lived experiences pose new questions to the text. Unique to the Korean context is the division of North and South. A people united for more than a millennium have been severed into two independent, hostile, political entities. The people of two Koreas continue to live through a complexity of division in unity. How does this Korean context help us better understand the complexity of the north-south relations in the Hebrew Bible? Informed by the Korean context, this chapter stresses the duality inherent in Judah’s relations with Israel. It is critical to distinguish the ideal of unity from the reality of division.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"72 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126298149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Post-Korean War Era (1945–1970)","authors":"Samuel Cheon","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.19","url":null,"abstract":"The two mainstreams of Korean biblical interpretation, fundamentalism and neo-Orthodoxy, continued even after the liberation of Korea from Japanese Imperialism. In South Korea, most churches and seminaries accepted the former, while a few Christian groups and theological institutes spread the latter. A continuing conflict arose, causing church splits and sectarian movements in the 1950s. Sectarians interpreted the Bible for their laity, an indigenous theology, and the secularization of the 1960s. All these movements responded to contemporary social change and a fluid ecclesial situation. These movements laid the foundation for the beginning of Minjung theology in the 1970s.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124438747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minjung Biblical Hermeneutics","authors":"Jae won Lee","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.20","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter addresses the seminal minjung aspect of Korean biblical interpretation through the work of Ahn Byung-Mu’s reading of the Gospel of Mark. The three core themes integral to Ahn’s biblical hermeneutics are reviewed. First, Ahn articulates the “Jesus Event” as a political hermeneutic for interpreting the historical Jesus and the Galilean minjung. Second, he reads Mark as a story of the minjung with emphasis on their social memory of suffering, resistance, and liberation. Third, he identifies Mark’s unique option for ochlos (the multitudes) as a reference to the Galilean minjung. Significantly, Ahn’s interpretation anticipates recent attention to these issues by other global New Testament scholars. Korean biblical scholarship may seize upon Ahn’s hermeneutics not only to build on his legacy but also for transformative purposes in engaging the complex context of the Korean minjung today.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123524839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scripture-logy and Scriptural Performance in Canonical Criticism and the Theistic Confucian Thought","authors":"Tai-il Wang","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.11","url":null,"abstract":"Canonical understanding of Scripture has been the focus of recent scholarship in the West. Korean biblical scholars welcome this development for it saves the scriptural Bible from the distressing outcome of the academic Bible. It reminded us of scriptural studies of Dasan Jeong Yak-Yong (1762–1836), a scholar in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, whose literary output was a theistic, exegetical, and hermeneutical consideration of the Confucian classics. Dasan was a keen observer of details in the scriptural texts. He assumed that the art of scriptural reading is an encounter that brings to life the scripture in the community. Dasan pondered Confucian scriptures through the lens of theistic Confucianism. He laid a foundation for hermeneutics called Scripture-logy. His work sheds lights on the gateway to Korean Christianity and the core principle of Korean biblical interpretation.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127112221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biblical Readings on a Theology of Dao","authors":"Heup-Young Kim","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.9","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter highlights that the do (dao/tao, the way), a crucial and common concept in East Asian thought (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism), is a more appropriate interpretative lens for Koreans and East Asians to read the Bible than that of the historically dominant logos of Christian theology. It is useful not only for contextual theology but also for autogenous Korean Christian thought. Further, the do is biblically more appropriate than logos as the root metaphor. Jesus never identified himself as the logos but rather as the hodos, a homologous term to the do. The hermeneutical key of do (dao), which means the unity of knowing and acting, overcomes a dilemma in Western theology, namely, the dichotomy between the conventional theo-logos and the liberational theo-praxis. Here, from the third perspective of theo-dao, the Bible may be read from the interpretative metaphor of do.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116207334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minjung and Han","authors":"Y. Yoo","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.15","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter applies the concept of han in and through exilic prophetic literature and contemporary Korean challenges. Traditionally, han has been treated as inseparable from the suffering of Korean minjung. Now, however, han bears universal meaning. It expresses the internalized pain in individual hearts as well as the collective struggle of people, spanning the time of ancient Israel to modern Korea. The Bible is replete with stories of minjung having han, the deep anger and sadness stoked by oppression and exploitation. The most severe suffering stories are attested to in exilic prophetic literature of the golah community that endured forced migration and spiritual and psychological pain. With transformative energy from internalized han, the golah community overcame imperial oppression by confessing monotheism and realizing their identity as a light to the nations. Returning to Judah, the exilic situation continued under the Persian Empire. An exilic spirit arose from han and created ethnonationalism, transformative power, and a diaspora identity. Similarly, in Korean history, the minjung’s han originated from internal exploitation and oppression by the upper class and sparked transformative resistance against Japanese colonization. In today’s divided Korean peninsula, the minjung still bear han that needs healing.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"302 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130272917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minjung in Global Context","authors":"J. Kwon","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.35","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars in Korea have compared Job’s suffering to that of minjung, but they are less concerned with the drastic change of Job’s character in his final speech (Job 29–31). Although Job, as a righteous sufferer, most likely causes readers to acknowledge him as a representative of minjung who knows trauma, a careful reading of Job’s heartless speech toward the social underclass in Job 30:1–8 identifies him as an oppressor advocating bias and injustice. Acknowledging Job’s character variation, this chapter underscores the difficulty of designating simple categories of minjung in Korean history and twenty-first-century society. Furthermore, responses to minjung concerns raise self-critical examination. For instance, what support do democratic forces and Protestant churches render the marginalized in Korean society? The fresh discernment of minjung suggested by Ahn Byung-Mu mirrors the complex character of Job in the poetic dialogue (Job 3–31). Is Job a new model of minjung? Finally, an example of newly emergent minjung comparable to those treated as abandoned animals (Job 30:1), this chapter lifts up migrant workers as people oppressed by the liberal ruling party and the Moon Jae-In’s administration, though they supposedly count upon the absolute support of the minjung of Korea.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128424613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Double Marginality in the Context of the Southern Hemisphere","authors":"Ho-dong Kim","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.32","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.32","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter applies postcolonial and locality methodologies to a biblical interpretation of the Jacob narrative. First, building on the work of David J. A. Clines and Fernando F. Segovia, “locality” here is that of immigrants to the southern hemisphere. Their perspectives contrast with those of northern Euro-Americans who have dominated the field of biblical interpretation. Second, a localized Australian perspective decolonizes the conventional reading of the Jacob narrative. In so doing, it contends that the narrative of Jacob was written under the influence of the imperialistic viewpoint, picturing vividly the life of immigrants who cannot fully assert and claim their personal rights. More important, it argues for a God who hates the misuse of worldly power, not just by the corrupt kings of the empire but also by his chosen people.","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134059776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Diversity within the Korean Diaspora","authors":"Boyung Lee","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190916916.013.29","url":null,"abstract":"Utilizing Rita Nakashima Brock’s notion of interstitial integrity, this chapter names Korean American women’s social and reading location interstitial spaces—worlds between Asia and America, centers and margins, home and foreign land, and multiple spaces in between. A Korean American woman’s reading of the Bible from an interstitial space refuses to disconnect from any multiple and in-between locations and borders wherein she resides. While not pledging allegiance to a singular space, one may pursue solidarity with others who also live in various interstices for the wholeness of all. Using such principles, this chapter reads the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard as God’s invitation to solidarity for justice across various borders. The parable teaches the danger of the demanding equal rights without first fighting for equity and the liberation of the most marginalized. The parable calls for solidarity of all people to bring forth the reign of God, a community of “WEs.”","PeriodicalId":265282,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Korea","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131051804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}