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Asian Christianity in Diaspora, book series, gangnam style, Joseph Cheah, palgrave macmillan, preaching, Rebecca Yeong, Theological Reflection on Gangnam Style
I am happy to announce a new book: Preaching to Korean Immigrants: A Psalmic-Theological Homiletic in the Asian Christianity in the Diaspora (Palgrave Macmillan) has been published. Congratulations Dr. Rebecca Jeong, we are so thrilled to include your important book in our series.
by Rebecca Seungyoun Jeong (Author)
Book Description
In terms of practical-theology’s critical reflection on marginalized people’s wounds in a wider society, this book investigates the question, “How to proclaim the good news in response to first-generation Korean immigrants’ contextual suffering in the United Sates?” To answer the question, the book starts with investigating Korean immigrant hearers’ contextual predicaments in a new land to point out emerging practical-theological issues in relation to the practice of preaching. In this book, the primary subjects are first-generation Korean immigrants, especially those who have relatively low socio-economic status and struggle with the purpose of their lives as immigrants, particularly those whose material dreams have been shattered.
In order to proclaim the good news, this book proposes a more appropriate immigrant theology for/in the practice of preaching by reclaiming the priorities of God’s future in our lives and confirming God’s active identification with Korean immigrant congregations in the depths of their predicament. Such reconstructive work for immigrant theology arises in response to their existential hardships, marginality, ethnic discrimination, and relative powerlessness in life.
While acknowledging both the possibilities and limits of the diverse forms of current Korean immigrant preaching, the book then offers a strategic proposal for a new homiletic theory, namely “a psalmic-theological homiletic.” This proposed homiletic is deeply rooted in the theology of the Psalms and their rhetorical movement. This re-envisioned mode of eschatological and prophetic preaching in times of difficulty recovers ancient Israel’s psalmic, rhetorical tradition that aims toward faith. Its theological-rhetorical strategy intends to both transform hearers’ habitus of living in faith and enhance their hope-filled life through communal anticipation of God’s coming future on the margins. Specifically, this proposed homiletic critically adopts key features from psalms of lament and their typical, fourfold theological-rhetorical movement (i.e., lament, retelling a story, confessional doxology, and obedient vow) as now core elements of a revised Korean-immigrant preaching practice.
Review
“Rebecca Jeong finds important spiritual resources for preaching in the experiences of first generation Korean immigrants and in psalms of lament. She reimagines preaching to Korean immigrants as a “place-making” practice where stories of grief and loss are shared, compassion and mutual care are nurtured, prosperity-thinking is resisted, and vows to live boldly into God’s promised future of justice are performed. Preaching for the Marginalized is an elegant, heart-felt invitation to a new and deeply prophetic form of preaching.”
-John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School
“This book is tremendous resource for preachers who seek to develop a wider inclusiveness in their sermons. Dr. Jeong appropriately contextualizes preaching within Korean immigrant experiences into a new homiletic centered on the Psalms. It is an exemplar for congregational leaders to develop better capacities for hospitality in all aspects of pastoral care.”
-Roger S. Nam, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Emory University
Dr. Rebecca S. Jeong has written a remarkable book that moves beyond the kinds of binaries that too often haunt works that hold together gospel and context. In her close reading of the Korean immigrant context and its sense of gospel, Jeong finds both challenge and possibility for faithful preaching beyond the American Dream and the tendencies toward the prosperity gospel. Drawing on the deep wells of Korean-immigrant ecclesial life and the rhetoric of the psalms that move from lament to a vow of obedience, Jeong discerns the possibility of “prophetic ecclesiocentric preaching.” Her contextual/theological vision is remarkable and her vision for preaching in a context of White racism and diasporic life is promising indeed.-David Schnasa Jacobsen, Bishops Scholar in Homiletics and Preaching, Boston University School of Theology
–This text refers to the hardcover edition.
From the Back Cover
In terms of practical-theology’s critical reflection on marginalized people’s wounds in a wider society, this book investigates the question, “How to proclaim the good news in response to first-generation Korean immigrants’ contextual suffering in the United Sates?” To answer the question, the book starts with investigating Korean immigrant hearers’ contextual predicaments in a new land to point out emerging practical-theological issues in relation to the practice of preaching. In this book, the primary subjects are first-generation Korean immigrants, especially those who have relatively low socio-economic status and struggle with the purpose of their lives as immigrants, particularly those whose material dreams have been shattered.
In order to proclaim the good news, this book proposes a more appropriate immigrant theology for/in the practice of preaching by reclaiming the priorities of God’s future in our lives and confirming God’s active identification with Korean immigrant congregations in the depths of their predicament. Such reconstructive work for immigrant theology arises in response to their existential hardships, marginality, ethnic discrimination, and relative powerlessness in life.
While acknowledging both the possibilities and limits of the diverse forms of current Korean immigrant preaching, the book then offers a strategic proposal for a new homiletic theory, namely “a psalmic-theological homiletic.” This proposed homiletic is deeply rooted in the theology of the Psalms and their rhetorical movement. This re-envisioned mode of eschatological and prophetic preaching in times of difficulty recovers ancient Israel’s psalmic, rhetorical tradition that aims toward faith. Its theological-rhetorical strategy intends to both transform hearers’ habitus of living in faith and enhance their hope-filled life through communal anticipation of God’s coming future on the margins. Specifically, this proposed homiletic critically adopts key features from psalms of lament and their typical, fourfold theological-rhetorical movement (i.e., lament, retelling a story, confessional doxology, and obedient vow) as now core elements of a revised Korean-immigrant preaching practice. –This text refers to the hardcover edition.
About the Author
Rebecca Seungyoun Jeong is Assistant Professor of Preaching and Intercultural Studies at Portland Seminary, George Fox University, USA.
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About this book series: Asian Christianity in the Diaspora
Co-editors: Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Joseph Cheah
Asian American theology is still at its nascent stage. It began in the 1980’s with just a handful of scholars who were recent immigrants to the United States. Now with the rise in Asian American population and the rise of Asian American theologians, this new community
is an ever-important voice within theological discourse and Asian American cultural studies. This new series seeks to bring to the forefront some of the important, provocative new voices within Asian American Theology. The series aims to provide Asian American theological responses to the complex process of migration and resettlement process of Asian immigrants and refugees. We will address theoretical works on the meaning of diaspora, exile, and social memory, and the foundational works concerning the ways in which displaced communities remember and narrate their experiences. Such an interdisciplinary approach entails intersectional analysis between Asian American contextual theology and one other factor; be it sexuality, gender, race/ethnicity, and/or cultural studies. This series also addresses Christianity from Asian perspectives. We welcome manuscripts that examine the identity and internal coherence of the Christian faith in its encounters with different Asian cultures, with Asian people, the majority of whom are poor, and with non-Christian religions that predominate the landscape of the Asian continent. Palgrave is embarking on a transformation of discourse within Asian and Asian American theological scholarship as this will be the first of its kind. As we live in a global world in which Christianity has re-centered itself in the Global South and among the racialized minorities in the United States, it behooves us to listen to the rich, diverse and engaging voices of Asian and Asian American theologians.
Theological Reflections on “Gangnam Style”: A Racial, Sexual, and Cultural Critique
Read the coeditors’ book, Theological Reflections on “Gangnam Style”: A Racial, Sexual, and Cultural Critique, which is the first book in the series.
Review
“Theological Reflections on ‘Gangnam Style’’s subtitle is probably a better description of Cheah and Kim’s task: an attempt to present the racial, sexual, and cultural critique of the field broadly conceived as ‘Asian American theology’ directed at a world under American neocolonial imperialist hegemony.” (Justin K. H. Tse, Reading Religion, readingreligion.org, March, 2017)
“The authors’ insight on the difference between ‘laughing at Psy’ and ‘laughing with Psy’ in the concluding chapter helps Asian Americans realize that now is a poignant time to think over sexual stereotypes of Asian Americans in the racialized U.S. society. This book is a good resource book for theologians and teachers of culture who are at the racial margins and want to perform their own innovative work in racial relations, conflict, and prejudice in the pop-cultural realm.” – Seungyoun Jeong, Asian American Theological Forum
Grace Ji-Sun Kim 