Tags
church, Englewood Review of Books, Graham Hill, Healing Our Broken Humanity, InterVarsity Press, lament, reconciliation
It was a joy to be interviewed by Englewood Review of Books on my latest book Healing Our Broken Humanity co-written with Dr. Graham Hill for the Fall 2018 Magazine.
Below are a few paragraphs of the interview. To read the entire interview please subscribe for the magazine here.
Studying, Reflecting, and Taking Action: An Interview with Grace Ji-Sun Kim co-author (with Graham Hill) of Healing Our Broken Humanity
Healing Our Broken Humanity is one of the most unique and compelling books that I have read this year. I was delighted to chat briefly about it with one of its co-authors. Grace Ji-Sun Kim is associate professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is also the author or editor of fifteen books, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Englewood Review of Books: Many books on Christian practices have been published over the last two or three decades. How is your book different from these older books on Christian practices?
Grace Ji-Sun Kim: Yes, many books have been published over the last two or three decades, but ours is different from these earlier books on Christian practices in several ways. As Willie Jennings notes in the foreword of our book, “The crucial matter today for Christian discipleship is not what you practice but who you practice with.” And this focus is the one we have chosen for our book. Many other books of the past and present focus on what we practice, but these books consistently fail to emphasize who you practice it with.
This focus is highlighted through our co-writing as a white male and an Asian American woman, which adds new perspectives and richness to our book. The co-authors’ different ethnic, geographical, and social locations stress the need for diversity and the awareness of inclusion in our churches and in our communities. Also, one of us teaches in Australia and the other teaches in the United States, so these different locations have an impact on our understandings of oppression, suffering, and healing. Our distinct locations add richness to our various examples—sin, lament, reconciliation, ministry, etc.— as they are drawn from two different global locations and thus bring together differing perspectives and understandings. Furthermore, our co-authorship joins together both an academic perspective and an activist/ practitioner perspective which broadens the book’s readership and interest.
**To read the entire interview please subscribe for the magazine here.
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Grace Ji-Sun Kim 