Just published: Paul S. Chung, "The Cave and the Butterfly: An Intercultural Theory of Interpretation and Religion in the Public Sphere" (Wipf & Stock, January 2011):
http://wipfandstock.com/store/The_Cave_and_the_Butterfly_An_Intercultural_Theory_of_Interpretation_and_Religion_in_the_Public_Sphere
Publisher's description: "This study offers an intercultural theory of interpretation and religion. It does so by bringing Western and East Asian traditions into dialogue regarding the nature of interpretation. The result of this innovative study is a theory of interpretation which integrates the socially embodied dimension of human life with the study of hermeneutics and religion in post-foundational and cross-cultural perspective. Toward this end, Paul Chung offers a constructive theology of divine speech-acts in a manner more amenable to the social-public sphere than other proposals. In all of this he deeply considers intercultural horizon of interpretation between West and East [sic] and its implications for a theology of interpretation. The result is a truly theological theory of interpretation that takes seriously the issues of intercultural studies and their intersection with Christian doctrine."
Endorsements: "Public Theology has become an extraordinarily challenging task that few can attain today. Paul Chung, who already has demonstrated sensitive and comprehensive readings of theology and philosophy through a Barthian/Bonhoefferian proficiency contributes a compelling approach in this volume. The public of theology is no longer mono-centric but multi-centric and Chung masterfully links the Western and Asian polarities. The coherency of his account does the reader great dialogical benefit. This volume is indeed a real achievement of East/West theology as it masterfully maintains the centrality of revelation through Jesus Christ. Public culture is rife with conflict and as such is reflective of its all-too-human condition as the massa perditionis. Chung shows how this condition of the human can be redemptively transformed through taking the Word of God with utmost hermeneutical seriousness." (Kurt Anders Richardson, McMaster University)
"This book transcends hermeneutics in any conventional sense. In response to the crisis of modern technological existence and the contradictions of global capitalism, Chung guides the reader on an intercultural quest for authentic and responsible humanity. The wisdom of the East reorients us to our place in the natural world, and the truth of the incarnate Word sends us into the public sphere to encounter God in the face of the least (Minjung). We are invited to open ourselves to the way of embodied emancipatory praxis." (Craig L. Nessan, Wartburg Theological Seminary)
"Paul Chung [...] joins contemporaries of antiquity: Plato (the Greek from the Western world and his metaphor of the cave) and Laozi (the Chinese from the Eastern world and his metaphor of the butterfly), and interprets them through the eyes of each other." (H. Martin Rumscheidt, Atlantic School of Theology)
Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Luther Seminary.
Showing posts with label East Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label East Asia. Show all posts
31 January 2011
20 August 2010
Report on the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010: Political theology goes East and South
The first event held by the Geneva-based Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS) in conjunction with its "Political Theology Agenda" blog, the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010, was a full success.
It took place on 18 and 19 August 2010 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Bossey doubles as an institute of the University of Geneva since all degrees awarded there (Masters and PhD degrees in Ecumenical Studies) are granted by the University of Geneva.
Keynote speakers were Professor Aliakbar Alikhani, Head of the Institute for Social and Cultural Studies at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Tehran, Iran, and Professor Galip Veliu from the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Tetovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010 attracted seventeen papers submitted by participants from institutions such as University College London, the University of Birmingham (both UK), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), the University of Tehran (Iran), the University of the Punjab (Pakistan), the University of South Africa, the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Malaysia, Universitas Nasional at Jakarta (Indonesia), and San Beda College in Manila (the Philippines). Other countries represented include Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Nigeria.
Speakers – from doctoral candidates to full professors – came from the disciplines of Political Science, Philosophy, Political Theory, Theology, Church History, and Islamic Studies, giving theoretical as well as empirical presentations on subjects including secularization and religious pluralism, political theology, black theology, liberation theology, and radical Islam.
After Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and Paris, France, in 2008, this was the third symposium on political theology organized by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and, once more, it opened up new frontiers for political theology. It was by far the most international event we ever organized (and quite possibly the most international event on political theology to take place anywhere as yet) with five participants from Iran alone and scores of submissions (not all accepted) from the Middle East and East Asia as well as Africa. Taken together with a high number of submissions from (South-)Eastern Europe, there is a significant trend to be observed: after gaining momentum in the Anglophone countries over the past few years, the study of political theology now goes East and South, spreading to Asia and Africa.
The Political Theology Agenda blog and the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.
(On the downside, all prospective American and Israeli participants withdrew, one by one, from the symposium once they knew that there would be Iranians present. Way to encourage dialogue.)
It took place on 18 and 19 August 2010 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Bossey doubles as an institute of the University of Geneva since all degrees awarded there (Masters and PhD degrees in Ecumenical Studies) are granted by the University of Geneva.
Keynote speakers were Professor Aliakbar Alikhani, Head of the Institute for Social and Cultural Studies at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Tehran, Iran, and Professor Galip Veliu from the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Tetovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010 attracted seventeen papers submitted by participants from institutions such as University College London, the University of Birmingham (both UK), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), the University of Tehran (Iran), the University of the Punjab (Pakistan), the University of South Africa, the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Malaysia, Universitas Nasional at Jakarta (Indonesia), and San Beda College in Manila (the Philippines). Other countries represented include Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Nigeria.
Speakers – from doctoral candidates to full professors – came from the disciplines of Political Science, Philosophy, Political Theory, Theology, Church History, and Islamic Studies, giving theoretical as well as empirical presentations on subjects including secularization and religious pluralism, political theology, black theology, liberation theology, and radical Islam.
After Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and Paris, France, in 2008, this was the third symposium on political theology organized by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and, once more, it opened up new frontiers for political theology. It was by far the most international event we ever organized (and quite possibly the most international event on political theology to take place anywhere as yet) with five participants from Iran alone and scores of submissions (not all accepted) from the Middle East and East Asia as well as Africa. Taken together with a high number of submissions from (South-)Eastern Europe, there is a significant trend to be observed: after gaining momentum in the Anglophone countries over the past few years, the study of political theology now goes East and South, spreading to Asia and Africa.
The Political Theology Agenda blog and the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.
(On the downside, all prospective American and Israeli participants withdrew, one by one, from the symposium once they knew that there would be Iranians present. Way to encourage dialogue.)
09 March 2010
Book: Constructing Irregular Theology: Bamboo and Minjung in East Asian Perspective
Quite pricey: Paul S. Chung, "Constructing Irregular Theology: Bamboo and Minjung in East Asian Perspective" (Brill, October 2009):
www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=210&pid=31367
Publisher's description: "The project of constructing Asian irregular theology in East Asian perspective, based on life-word of Bamboo and social political reality of minjung, embraces Dr. Chung's cross-cultural existence as he develops his long-standing interest and expertise in Christian minjung theology in new ways with the image of bamboo as a symbol for the theological perspective of grass roots marginality. Using the ancient Chinese story 'The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove,' Dr. Chung engages with Christian eschatological discourse to support an aesthetical-utopian theological ethics that is opposed to an ethics concerned with legitimation of a socio-economic status quo. In addition, Dr. Chung's develops [sic] his deep commitment to the Lutheran theology of the cross and the suffering Christ through the Buddhist concept of dukkha (suffering) to create, in the end, a genuinely East Asian contextual theology".
Endorsements: "Paul Chung once described himself as having a Confucian mind, Taoist guts, Buddhist heart, and Christian body. This book embraces Chung's whole being as he appropriates and develops the ancient Chinese story [...] of scholars who fled the accommodation of Confucian ethics in support of the tyranny and political chaos of the third century. Asian irregular theology, built on the image of bamboo and minjung, marks a new model in constructing Asian contextual theology in light of the irregularity of God's speech event and from the perspective of grass roots marginality." (Elizabeth A. Leeper, Wartburg Theological Seminary)
"Chung constructs an interpretive and irregular theology provocatively in a global context. He is a creative, original, and thought-provoking pioneer [...], making a great contribution for a contemporary discussion of inculturation and emancipation." (Wang Zhicheng, Zhejiang University)
"One of the major issues facing the Christian Church today has to do with a right understanding of the relationship between Christ and Christian faith on the one hand, and the other great world religions on the other. The tired trilogy of exclusivist, inclusivist, and pluralist is woefully inadequate, but nothing has come along to replace it. In our multi-cultural and postmodern world of many religions and worldviews, the gospel itself calls us to imagine creative, new theological proposals. The Korean-American theologian Paul S. Chung has developed such a creative theological proposal which he calls 'irregular theology,' that is, a theology of God's irregular grace which moves beyond the walls of Christendom to speak a fresh word to us in the religious wisdom of other cultures (especially Asian). This book explores and develops his proposal in several important directions. The resulting synthesis of many voices and traditions is bracing, controversial, and rewarding. The careful reader will come away with new insights and new questions." (Alan G. Padgett, Luther Seminary; all endorsements originally in italics)
Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Luther Seminary.
www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=210&pid=31367
Publisher's description: "The project of constructing Asian irregular theology in East Asian perspective, based on life-word of Bamboo and social political reality of minjung, embraces Dr. Chung's cross-cultural existence as he develops his long-standing interest and expertise in Christian minjung theology in new ways with the image of bamboo as a symbol for the theological perspective of grass roots marginality. Using the ancient Chinese story 'The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove,' Dr. Chung engages with Christian eschatological discourse to support an aesthetical-utopian theological ethics that is opposed to an ethics concerned with legitimation of a socio-economic status quo. In addition, Dr. Chung's develops [sic] his deep commitment to the Lutheran theology of the cross and the suffering Christ through the Buddhist concept of dukkha (suffering) to create, in the end, a genuinely East Asian contextual theology".
Endorsements: "Paul Chung once described himself as having a Confucian mind, Taoist guts, Buddhist heart, and Christian body. This book embraces Chung's whole being as he appropriates and develops the ancient Chinese story [...] of scholars who fled the accommodation of Confucian ethics in support of the tyranny and political chaos of the third century. Asian irregular theology, built on the image of bamboo and minjung, marks a new model in constructing Asian contextual theology in light of the irregularity of God's speech event and from the perspective of grass roots marginality." (Elizabeth A. Leeper, Wartburg Theological Seminary)
"Chung constructs an interpretive and irregular theology provocatively in a global context. He is a creative, original, and thought-provoking pioneer [...], making a great contribution for a contemporary discussion of inculturation and emancipation." (Wang Zhicheng, Zhejiang University)
"One of the major issues facing the Christian Church today has to do with a right understanding of the relationship between Christ and Christian faith on the one hand, and the other great world religions on the other. The tired trilogy of exclusivist, inclusivist, and pluralist is woefully inadequate, but nothing has come along to replace it. In our multi-cultural and postmodern world of many religions and worldviews, the gospel itself calls us to imagine creative, new theological proposals. The Korean-American theologian Paul S. Chung has developed such a creative theological proposal which he calls 'irregular theology,' that is, a theology of God's irregular grace which moves beyond the walls of Christendom to speak a fresh word to us in the religious wisdom of other cultures (especially Asian). This book explores and develops his proposal in several important directions. The resulting synthesis of many voices and traditions is bracing, controversial, and rewarding. The careful reader will come away with new insights and new questions." (Alan G. Padgett, Luther Seminary; all endorsements originally in italics)
Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Luther Seminary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
