Korean Resources For Pastoral Theology

In a time of life-and-death challenges to the human spirit--global economics, nuclear dangers, environmental threats, and religious polarization and war--Christians must look for resources that provide new insights of God's power and care for all people. What are the forms of suffering and hope in the world today, and how can Christians respond with healing resources? Korean Christians have unique contributions to make to our understanding of pastoral theology and counseling. Pastoral counselors and theologians from the United States should look to the South Korean Christian churches and other Asian churches for conversation partners about the nature of care and healing in today's world. In this book, the authors explore important ideas--such as han, jeong, and salim--from Korean history and culture that can inform the healing ministries of the churches.

In a time of life-and-death challenges to the human spirit--global economics, nuclear dangers, environmental threats, and religious polarization and war--Christians must look for resources that provide new insights of God's power and care for all people. What are the forms of suffering and hope in the world today, and how can Christians respond with healing resources? Korean Christians have unique contributions to make to our understanding of pastoral theology and counseling. Pastoral counselors and theologians from the United States should look to the South Korean Christian churches and other Asian churches for conversation partners about the nature of care and healing in today's world. In this book, the authors explore important ideas--such as han, jeong, and salim--from Korean history and culture that can inform the healing ministries of the churches.

This book provides theoretical background and pastoral strategies for pastors, lay leaders, and congregation members to foster a restoration of the human dignity imputed by God and the good community God desires. It addresses issues in pastoral care and pays particular attention to Korean and Korean American contexts. Some of the specific issues addressed include wisdom for common life (Chung Yong) as a theological and pastoral task, tension between Confucianism and feminism, care of the abused and abusers in intimate violence, ageism and elderly care, racism and cultural identity of Korean youth, sexual ethics among Korean young adults, and depression and addiction among Korean American youth and young adults. All of the contributors have a strong background in clinical and/or pastoral practices in addition to theoretical expertise.

In this book, Jeremy Kim criticizes current Korean and Asian American homiletical strategies for their lack of a theological point of view on social suffering. He argues that preachers must develop an alternative theological-homiletical viewpoint on social suffering, one that has pastoral and prophetic approaches. These two approaches offer people a refuge and a voice, not only in the church community but also in the larger social community. Thus, the author suggests that preachers adopt the biblical lament, highlighting its dual tasks of compassion (the pastoral dimension) and resistance (the prophetic dimension). The author, who is a non-Western Asian American preacher, also incorporates East Asian philosophical and hermeneutical research on ren, a positive element of Confucianism, into his argument. He applies this core concept of Confucianism to the preacher’s homiletical strategy toward social suffering. Thus, the author proposes that Korean preachers should recover ren, which contains sincere compassion for others as well as a voice of resistance that reveals unjust social structures as the cause of social suffering and expresses both within Uri (we), the community.

With the extraordinary growth of Christianity in the global south has come the rise of "reverse missions," in which countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America send missionaries to re-evangelize the West. In The Spirit Moves West, Rebecca Kim uses South Korea as a case study of how non-Western missionaries target Americans, particularly white Americans. She draws on four years of interviews, participant observation, and surveys of South Korea's largest non-denominational missionary-sending agency, University Bible Fellowship, in order to provide an inside look at this growing phenomenon. Known as the "Asian Protestant Superpower," South Korea is second only to the United States in the number of missionaries it sends abroad: approximately 22,000 in over 160 countries. Conducting her research both in the US and in South Korea, Kim studies the motivations and methods of these Korean evangelicals who have, since the 1970s, sought to "bring the gospel back" to America. By offering the first empirically-grounded examination of this much-discussed phenomenon, Kim explores what non-Western missions will mean to the future of Christianity in America and around the world.

To deny water is to deny life. "Gonna Trouble the Water" considers the sacred nature of water and the ways in which it is weaponized against non-white communities. With compelling contributions from scholars and activists, politicians and theologians, "Gonna Trouble the Water" de-centers the concept of water as a commodity in order to center the dignity of water and its life-giving character. Firmly grounded at the intersection of environmentalism and racism, "Gonna Trouble the Water" makes clear the message: to deny water is to deny life. With compelling contributions from scholars and activists, politicians and theologians—including former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, global academic law professor Ved P. Nanda, Detroit-based activist Michelle Andrea Martinez, and many more—Gonna Trouble the Water de-centers the concept of water as a commodity in order to center the dignity of water and its life-giving character.

Leading pastoral theologians explore a wide variety of themes related to pastoral practice. Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice offers a collection of essays by leading pastoral theologians that represent emerging trajectories in the fields of pastoral theology and care. The topics explored include: qualitative research and ethnography, advances in neuroscience, care across pluralities and intersections in religion and spiritualties, the influence of neoliberal economics in socio-economic vulnerabilities, postcolonial theory and its implications, the intersections of race and religion in caring for black women, and the usefulness of intersectionality for pastoral practice. Each of the essays offers a richly illustrated review of a practice of pastoral care relationally and in the public domain. The contributions to this volume engage seven critical directions emerging in the literature of pastoral theology in the United States and internationally among pastoral and practical theologians. While coverage of these topics does not exhaust important points of activity in the field, it does represent especially promising resources for theory and practice. This important work: Offers unique coverage of new directions in the field Includes contributions from an exceptional group of experts who are noted leaders in their areas of study Introduces the newest perspectives on pastoral care and offers constructive proposals Filled with case illustrations that make chapters pedagogically useful, Pastoral Theology and Care is essential reading for faculty, seminarians and students in advanced degree programs, and pastors.

This collection of scholarly essays offers a new understanding of local and global myths that have been constructed around Shakespeare in theatre, cinema, and television from the nineteenth century to the present. Drawing on a definition of myth as a powerful ideological narrative, Local and Global Myths in Shakespearean Performance examines historical, political, and cultural conditions of Shakespearean performances in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The first part of this volume offers a theoretical introduction to Shakespeare as myth from a twenty-first century perspective. The second part critically evaluates myths of linguistic transcendence, authenticity, and universality within broader European, neo-liberal, and post-colonial contexts. The study of local identities and global icons in the third part uncovers dynamic relationships between regional, national, and transnational myths of Shakespeare. The fourth part revises persistent narratives concerning a political potential of Shakespeare’s plays in communist and post-communist countries. Finally, part five explores the influence of commercial and popular culture on Shakespeare myths. Michael Dobson’s Afterword concludes the volume by locating Shakespeare within classical mythology and contemporary concerns.