{"title":"From the Yellow Peril to the Model Minority and Back Again: Unraveling the Orientalist Representations of Asian Americans in the Age of Covid-19","authors":"E. Cho","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1929711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1929711","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Anti-Asian xenophobia and discriminatory acts against Asian Americans have increased significantly as the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread across the US. But connections between diseases, racism, and xenophobia are not new in the history of Asian America. While from the 1890s to the 1950s, Asian Americans were primarily stigmatized with the label ‘Yellow Peril,’ from the 1960s to the present, they have been simplistically cast as the ‘model minority.’ However, with the outbreak of COVID-19, misinformation about the virus also spread, and the public perception of Asian Americans has shifted once again from their being the ‘model minority’ to being the ‘Yellow Peril.’ By looking at intellectual and cultural history, I argue that ‘Yellow Peril’ and ‘model minority’ are Orientalist representations of Asian Americans that have been used as hegemonic devices. Orientalism as a relationship of unequal power has structured the obstacles that Asian Americans have struggled against as they try to find a sense of belonging in the US.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"175 - 192"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1929711","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43671915","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":"Wired for Fear: Recognizing and Countering Implicit Bias in the Brain","authors":"W. D. Roozeboom","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1929710","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1929710","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay explores the connections between fear, implicit bias, and injustice, noting how the brain’s deeply embedded structures and processes for survival predispose us to detect threat. It further illustrates how the brain’s categorization processes collude with bias to favor ‘in-group’ members and ‘other’ ‘out-group’ members. Taken together, these factors limit the brain’s mirror neural network’s capacities to empathize across lines of difference. While this sounds reductionistic and pessimistic, the good news is that, just like the brain is generally malleable, implicit biases can be modified through debiasing practices. In exploring these concepts, the essay examines the contributions from intercultural and postcolonial pastoral and practical theology to provide constructive frameworks for facing one another, enhancing recognition, and developing neighbor-love.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"110 - 127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1929710","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44830763","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":"Even More Tenuous Connections: A Pastoral Theological Analysis of Foster Care During COVID-19","authors":"D. Hansen","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1921403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1921403","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes the experience of foster children through the lens of four frameworks: attachment theory, systemic intersectional oppression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and silencing. These frameworks all illustrate the way in which foster children live in an environment of ‘tenuous connections.’ This article also proposes that COVID-19 has further exacerbated these tenuous connections and that while pastoral caregivers are capable of playing an essential role in providing stability and safety to foster children, it may be difficult for them to do so, due to the inherent instability of foster children's lives.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"207 - 223"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1921403","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46881784","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":"When Xenophobia Spreads Like a Plague: A Critical Pastoral Theological Reflection on Anti-Asian Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"J. Chung","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1919843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1919843","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As the coronavirus pandemic exponentially mushrooms across the globe, xenophobia comes after it almost immediately. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 began, Asians and Asian Americans have been subject to various types of anti-Asian violence. From a pastoral theological perspective, this social phenomenon is deeply troubling because Asians and Asian Americans continue to be victimized by racial biases and social prejudices. How should we then address this communal crisis theologically? I answer this question by uncovering the hidden stereotypical, sociocultural narratives that have historically contributed to scapegoating people of Asian descent. In doing so, I critically appropriate René Girard’s social analytic framework and theological insights, especially engaging in his ideas such as mimetic desires, the scapegoat mechanism, and the sacralizing of violence. I argue that to dismantle and shift the scapegoating narrative, it is imperative for the racially victimized and socially marginalized to resist the toxic mechanism of victimization in solidarity.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"159 - 174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1919843","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47022626","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":"The ‘Reopen Churches’ Conversation: Disabilities and the Margins","authors":"Topher Endress","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1922825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1922825","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The continued presence of COVID-19 has significantly disrupted most church practices, including the ability to gather in person for worship. This has greatly altered church life, and with no clear timeline established yet on if-and-when churches will be able to operate in ways similar to before, the calls for reopening churches began well in advance of any evidence of decreasing infection rates. While within this conversation are discussions to be had concerning the relationship between Church and State, as well as an acknowledgement of the privileging of economic systems over relational systems, this article responds to the lack of disability awareness within the mainstream conversation as an act of pastoral justice. A history of how the church has engaged with disability is used to provide context otherwise missing from these accounts, and a critique of their argumentation is offered.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"193 - 206"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1922825","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44556056","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":"Christianity and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pastoral and Theological Reflection from the Ghanaian Context","authors":"I. Boaheng","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1908726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1908726","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ghana has since March 2020 experienced the COVID-19 pandemic with its diverse effects the lives of the populace. In spite of various attempts by religious leaders to explain the origin of the pandemic and its remedy, there is still an urgent need for a theological and pastoral guidance for Christians in Ghana. This brief literature-based study was therefore conducted based on historical and biblical data on the COVID-19 pandemic, the main argument being that the COVID-19 pandemic is neither a divine punishment to end the world nor a tool of the Antichrist to suppress Christianity. Though a serious crisis, the historical data available indicate that the current pandemic is not the worse the world has experienced. Therefore, like other pandemics that the world has experienced, the remedy to the present crisis involves primarily calling upon God as Christians and taking responsible actions as responsible citizens.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"224 - 237"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1908726","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49089405","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":"Can America be Saved? A Pastoral Response to Racism and Covid-19 and an Appeal for Dreams, Visions, and Imagination","authors":"Lahronda Welch Little","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1902109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1902109","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article focuses on the possibility of salvation for the United States of America in light of COVID-19 and systemic racism through the practice of dreams, vision and imagination. I begin with an exploration of visions, dreams, and imagination as a gateway to holistic ways of knowing, being, and doing. Then, through a biblical analysis of apocalyptic texts from the books of Daniel and Revelation, I ground concepts of dreams, visions and imagination as ways through which salvation is realized. Finally, drawing on Wesleyan theology, womanist theological analyses, Jungian thought and practical theological resources, I discuss theological and practical means of salvation which underscore the need for continuous social and theological engagement and creative expression.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"145 - 158"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1902109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44965308","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":"A Pastoral Theology of Dwelling: Political Belonging in the Face of a Pandemic, Racism, and the Anthropocene Age","authors":"R. Lamothe","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1896194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1896194","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The recent pandemic has accompanied a surge of protests against racial injustice in the United States and around the world, which together are occurring during a growing recognition that the world is in the midst of a sixth extinction event. These three events (and others) have in common the question of how we (human and other-than-human beings) shall live or dwell together on this one earth. In this article, I first sketch out the various existential features of dwelling. This sets the foundation for moving to a pastoral theological perspective on dwelling and its relation to the pandemic, racism/classism, and the Anthropocene Age.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"89 - 109"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1896194","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45360185","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":"A Radical Pastoral Theology for the Anthropocene Era: Thinking and Being Otherwise","authors":"R. Lamothe","doi":"10.1080/10649867.2021.1887993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10649867.2021.1887993","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Anthropocene Age will usher in more frequent natural and political disasters. These looming catastrophes invite critically reimaging our theologies. This article sketches out a radical pastoral theology for the Anthropocene Era by first addressing and illustrating the existential dynamics of care. Here it is claimed that care is radical because it founds agency, as well as subjectivity and intersubjectivity. This sets the stage to demonstrate the connection to the political reality of care and its connection to other species and nature. The concluding section builds on the previous sections, while shifting to the theological rendering of radical care as the indeterminate, infinite care of a non-sovereign God revealed in creation and in the ministry of Jesus Christ.","PeriodicalId":29885,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pastoral Theology","volume":"31 1","pages":"54 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10649867.2021.1887993","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48188473","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}