T&T Clark Handbook of Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics (T&T Clark Handbooks)

"The first reference resource on how Asian Americans are currently reading and interpreting the Bible, this volume also serves a valuable role in both developing and disseminating what can be termed as Asian American biblical hermeneutics. The volume works from the important background that Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic/racial minority population in the USA, and that 42% of this group identifies as Christian. This provides a useful starting point from which to examine what may be distinctive about Asian American approaches to the Bible. Part 1 of the Handbook describes six major ethic groups that make up 85% of Asian population (by country of origin: China, Philippines, Indian Subcontinent, Vietnam, Korea, Japan) and outlines the specific concerns each group has when its members read the Bible. Part 2 of the Handbook examines major critical methods in biblical interpretation and suggests adjustments that may be helpful for Asian Americans to make when they are interpreting the Bible. Finally, Part 3 provides 25 interpretations by Asian American biblical scholars on specific texts in the Bible, using what they consider to be Asian American hermeneutics. Taken together the Handbook interprets the Bible both with and for the Asian American communities."-- Publisher's description Title Page Copyright Page Contents Abbreviations Contributors Introduction to the Handbook Part One: Contexts Part Two: Methods Part Three: Texts Part 1: Contexts Chapter 1: The Complex Heterogeneity of Asian American Identity Works Cited Chapter 2: Familism, Racialization, and Other Key Factors Shaping Chinese American Perspectives Introduction Examining Chinese American religious affiliations Migration Contexts The Racialization of Chinese Americans Bimodal Class Differences Generational Transitions Issues facing Chinese American communities Conclusion Works cited Chapter 3: Filipinos in America: A Cartography of Diasporic Identities Diaspora and contextualization: How we enter the conversation of Filipinos in America Filipinos in the world: Diaspora as interpretive perspective Filipinos in America: Experiences of diaspora First movement (1587–1897) Second movement (1897–1934) Third movement (1935–65) Fourth movement and beyond (1965–the present) Filipinos in America today: What official data tell us Thematizing agendas of Filipinos in America: Experiences, conditions, challenges Works cited Chapter 4: One Long Labor: Toward an Indian American Interreligious Consciousness Waves of immigration Religious roots in North America Hindus Christians Muslims Sikhs Jains Toward an interreligious response Works cited Chapter 5: Of Mythologies, Wars, Exodus, and Adaptations: A Brief Account of a People Called Việt Mỹ (Vietnamese Americans) Overview Myths of origin Con Rong Chau Tien: Children of dragons, descendants of immortals Winds of change Vietnamese in diaspora: Postwar exodus Vietnamese in America: Adaptive change Vietnamese Americans today So what for biblical interpretation? Works cited chapter 6: The Biblical Hermeneutics: A Korean American Case Who are Korean Americans? Do Korean Americans read the Bible? What does Korean American reading of the Bible say about who they are as a people and about the Bible as a book? Works cited Chapter 7: Japanese American Journeys of Remembrance, Identity, and Solidarity Early beginnings Incarceration, remembrance, redress and solidarities Concluding reflections Works cited Part 2: Methods Chapter 8: Historical Criticism An overview Asian American critique and reassessment Historical criticism in a new key Works cited Chapter 9: Social Science Criticism and Its Relevance for Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics Socio/cultural Social identity Social groups Social relations Social movements Socio/economic Production and distribution Debt slavery Geo/political Demography Systemic watersheds Religio/cultural Yahwism Family and household religion Prophecy Ideology Methodological considerations Relevance for Asian American Hermeneutics Works cited Chapter 10: Asian American Literary Criticism The broad scope of literary criticism Text-oriented literary criticism New Criticism’s influence Structural criticism Narrative criticism Reader-oriented literary criticism Reader-response criticism Cultural studies Literary criticism and Asian American interpretation Reading with Asian traditions and stories Reading with the Asian American identity Reading the Bible in Asian American literature Reading with/as theory Concluding remarks Works cited Chapter 11: Critical Methods and Critiques: Theological Interpretation Works cited Chapter 12: Feminist Critical Theory and Asian American Feminist Biblical Interpretation Feminist critical theory Feminist literary criticism Feminist biblical criticism Feminism First wave feminism (1848–1920) Second wave feminism (1960s–70s) Third wave feminism (1980s/1992–Today) Asian American feminist biblical interpretation Works cited Chapter 13: Toward an Asian North American Liberationist Hermeneutics Origins and development of liberation theology Key features of a liberationist hermeneutical style Context The hermeneutical key: Poverty-oppression and liberation Critical analysis Theology as a “Secondary Act” and praxis The tripartite structure of liberationist hermeneutics Preferential option for the poor and oppressed Toward an Asian North American liberationist hermeneutics The source: History and present realities of Asian North American oppressive experiences Painful Asian North American experiences in history Present realities The unseen face of Asian North American poverty A possible Asian North American liberationist hermeneutical process Asian North American liberationist approaches in action Concluding reflections Works cited Chapter 14: More Than an Interpretation from a Different Perspective: A Postcolonial Reading from a Different Epistemological (Back)Ground Establishing a different epistemological (back)ground Postcolonial studies and biblical studies My journey to postcolonial biblical hermeneutics Asian American postcolonial hermeneutics Works cited Chapter 15: Queer Hermeneutics: Queering Asian American Identities and Biblical Interpretation The Triptych Queer theory and queer(ing) biblical studies Queer diasporic body—Sexualized race, racialized sexuality Queer diasporic bodies in the Bible Conclusion—Queer diasporic reading in Trump’s America Works cited Part 3: Texts Chapter 16: The Exile of Cain and the Destiny of Humankind: Punishment and Protection Gen. 4:1-16 (NRSV) Introduction In the beginning: Sacrifice and the advent of sin Am I my brother’s keeper? Human destiny: Freedom, punishment, protection Works cited Chapter 17: Women in Exodus and Asian Immigrant Women: Asian Female Immigrants’ Bible Reading Strategy on Exodus 1–4 Asian immigrant women and the book of Exodus From the text: Text analytical question “Who They Are?” Wise women Hybrid identity Zipporah, A priestess To the Asian women reader: Contextual question “Who We Are?” Insecurity Hybridity and liminality Asian female immigrant community Conclusion Works cited Chapter 18: Zelophehad’s Daughters as Lienü (Exemplary Women): Reading Num. 27:1-11 and 36:1-12 in the Discursive Context of Confucianism The historical context of the original Lienü zhuan Dramatization, sensationalism, ambivalence, and subversion Filial piety, patrilineage, patrimony, and ancestral cult in the social worlds of Confucianism and the Hebrew Bible Reading the story of Zelophehad’s daughters through the point of convergence: Zelophehad’s daughters as Lienü Conclusion Works cited Chapter 19: Saul’s Question and the Question of Saul: A Deconstructive Reading of the Story of Endor in 1 Sam. 28:3-25 Negative interpretations of Saul and the medium Problematic visions of the medium and of Saul’s death Interpreting the interpreter Works cited Chapter 20: A Heart That Listens (1 Kings 3) Orientation The royal incubation A cognitive metaphor in Solomon’s dream 1 Kings 3 as a Fürstenspiegel An illustration of justice In the wake of the royal dream Works cited Chapter 21: Of Foreigners and Eunuchs: An Asian American Reading of Isa. 56:1-8 The sociohistorical context of Isa. 56:1-8 Foreigners Eunuchs The Asian American foreigner and eunuch Conclusion Works cited Chapter 22: Conceptual Blending in Joel 2:1-11: God’s Apocalyptic Storm-locust-warriors Conceptual blending Blending in Joel 2:1-11 Flaming storm-warriors (Joel 2:1-3) Locust-warriors advancing on the city (Joel 2:4-6) Locust-warriors inside the city (Joel 2:7-9) Veiling storm-warriors (Joel 2:10-11) Conclusion: Asian American reflections Works cited Chapter 23: Narrative of Jonah in Four Acts Of sacred animals, the fish, and plants in Hinduism Low caste revolts against high caste abuse Act One: Jonah’s call and fall Cry on behalf of them or against them? Fleeing from the face of YHWH The opposition of “arising” and “going down” Nature gods in the narrative of Jonah Act Two: Jonah’s death and lament A lament in Act Two Jonah vomited on to the dry land and the punishment of the people in Leviticus Act Three: Jonah and Ninevite resurrection Forty days in religions of the ANE and the Bible Response of the people of Nineveh God’s response to Ninevite repentance Act Four: Jonah’s response to Ninevite revival Appointments of YHWH The meaning of evil Conclusion So what? Work cited Chapter 24: Reading Job as a Chinese Diasporian Who am I? Asian American hermeneutics and the Book of Job Job as an outcast The retribution principle as a fragile foundation Personal experience as a dialectical counterpart Lament as a voice from the margin Reading creation theology through Chinese Diasporian lens Who AM I? Who are you? Conclusion Works cited Chapter 25: Engaging Ecclesiastes Narrativally and Polyphonically with a Chinese Lens: Traditional Wisdom and “Collective Lived Experience under the Sun” in Dialogue Toward a reading strategy Text, culture, and contextual biblical interpretation In what ways would “a” Chinese Canadian reading shed light on the meaning-significance of the Book of Ecclesiastes to the community of (Chinese) readers? The Chinese concept of self in dialogue with Qohelet’s “I”-Voice The Chinese concept of “Emptiness/Meaninglessness” in response to the bold announcement in the summary appraisal: “Everything is utterly meaningless!” Text and lived-experience and the Chinese notion of perseverance Text and praxis: toward “a” paradigm of “How to Live” In what ways would the outcome of a Chinese Canadian culture-specific reading contribute toward “a” paradigm of “How to live”? Reading Ecclesiastes ideological-critically with a Chinese lens: Reading “Cross the Grains” i. Voice and ideology: ii. Reading “cross the grains” iii. What would a reading that is “Cross the Grains” yield? Toward “a” paradigm of “How to Live” Conclusion Afterword: mapping the term “Narratival Hermeneutics” Works cited Chapter 26: Made in Babylon: Daniel 1 Introduction A Babylonian background Problems and issues in Daniel 1 Conclusion Works cited Chapter 27: Incising, Inscribing, and Concretizing Identity: Reading 1 Maccabees and Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i 1 Maccabees Incising identity Inscribing identity Concretizing identity Gesturing forward Works cited Chapter 28: Filial Piety and Radical Discipleship in Matthew Honor your father and mother Honoring parents among the Jews and the Chinese Tension between filial piety and radical discipleship Family constituted through faith Some hermeneutical reflections Works cited Chapter 29: The Absent Body and Postcolonial Melancholia (Mk 14:3-9) Asian American interpretation of the Gospel of Mark Reading Mark, remembering the absent The body to be buried Eating the body and mourning Burying the body and remembering Theorizing Asian American experience of melancholia Rereading Mark with ghostly presences Unfinished grieving Works cited Chapter 30: Privilege and Solidarity in Asian American Context (Lk. 14:15-24) Introduction My identity and social location Skipping an exclusive banquet: Luke’s call to leverage privilege Interpreting the parable in its narrative context The parable within the larger Lukan context Interpreting Asian-American identity vis-à-vis this parable From the margins to relative privilege Marginality and privilege: Asian American complexity and third space Skipping an exclusive banquet, leveraging privilege Conclusion Works cited Chapter 31: God’s Love, Christ’s Cross, or Human Faith? Interpretations of Jn 3:16 in Ethnic Chinese American Churches Jn 3:16 in the Johannine community Jn 3:16 in the history of interpretation Jn 3:16 in ethnic Chinese American churches Conclusion Works cited Chapter 32: Lost and Silenced in Translation: Reading Pauline Discourse on Language in 1 Cor. 14 Introduction Concerning multilingualism in 1 Cor. 14 A concluding remark: Tongue(s) as a disruptive force Works Cited Chapter 33: “My Story” in Intersection with Gal. 3:26-28: An Indian-Dalit Feminist Interpretation Reader’s social and hermeneutical context and method A dalit feminist hermeneutical interaction with Gal. 3:26-28: Hopes and fears Dalit feminist hermeneutic of hope Dalit feminist hermeneutic of fear and suspicion Works cited Chapter 34: Imagined Nations, Real Women: Politics of Culture and Women’s Bodies. A Postcolonial, Feminist, and Indo-Western Interpretation of 1 Tim. 2:8-15 Historical context and social setting of 1 Timothy Saving the brown woman: The foreigner within the nation Conclusion Works cited Chapter 35: Always Ethnic, Never “American”: Reading 1 Peter through the Lens of the “Perpetual Foreigner” Stereotype Introduction Always ethnic Never American Perpetually foreign Christian identity as an ethnic identity in 1 Peter Conclusion Works cited Chapter 36: The Practice of Hospitality in Early Christianity: Reading 2 John and 3 John from a Vietnamese American Perspective Scholarly views of inhospitality in 2 John and 3 John Generalized message versus particular situation Christian hospitality in a Vietnamese religious context Concluding remarks Works cited Chapter 37: Revelation from the Margins: A Vietnamese American Perspective Literary and historical contexts John of Patmos—A prophetic voice from the margin The slaughtered lamb as the margin of marginality New heaven and new earth as “In-Beyond” Conclusion Works cited Bibliography Subject Index Ancient Index Introduction to the Handbook -- Uriah Y. Kim and Seung Ai Yang. Part one. Contexts: The complex heterogeneity of Asian American identity -- Tamara C. Ho Familism, racialization, and other key factors shaping Chinese American perspectives -- Russell Jeung Filipinos in America : a cartography of diasporic identities -- Lester Edwin J. Ruiz One long labor : toward an Indian American interreligious consciousness -- Jaisy A. Joseph and Khyati Y. Joshi Of mythologies, wars, exodus, and adaptations : a brief account of a people called Việt Mỹ (Vietnamese Americans) -- Mai-Anh Le Tran The biblical hermeneutics : a Korean American case -- Jung Ha Kim Japanese American journeys of remembrance, identity, and solidarity -- Joanne Doi. Part two. Methods: Historical criticism -- Mary F. Foskett Social science criticism and its relevance for Asian American biblical hermeneutics -- D.N. Premnath Asian American literary criticism -- Jin Young Choi Critical methods and critiques : theological interpretation -- Bo H. Lim Feminist critical theory and Asian American feminist biblical interpretation -- Seung Ai Yang Toward an Asian North American liberationist hermeneutics -- Julius-Kei Kato More than an interpretation from a different perspective : a postcolonial reading from a different epistemological (back)ground -- Uriah Y. Kim Queer hermeneutics : queering Asian American identities and biblical interpretation -- Dong Sung Kim. Part three. Texts: The exile of Cain and the destiny of humankind : punishment and protection -- Hemchand Gossai Women in Exodus and Asian immigrant women : Asian female immigrants' Bible reading strategy on Exodus 1-4 -- Esther HaeJin Park Zelophehad's daughters as Lienü (exemplary women) : reading Num. 27:1-11 and 36:1-12 in the discursive context of Confucianism -- Sonia Kwok Wong Saul's question and the question of Saul : a deconstructive reading of the story of Endor in 1 Sam. 28:3-25 -- Suzie Park A heart that listens (1 Kings 3) -- Jin H. Han Of foreigners and eunuchs : an Asian American reading of Isa. 56:1-8 -- Gale A. Yee Conceptual blending in Joel 2:1-11 : God's apocalyptic storm-locust-warriors -- Kevin Chau Narrative of Jonah in four acts -- Rajkumar Boaz Johnson Reading Job as a Chinese diasporian -- Chloe Sun Engaging Ecclesiastes narrativally and polyphonically with a Chinese lens : traditional wisdom and "collective lived experience under the sun" in dialogue -- Barbara M. Leung Lai Made in Babylon : Daniel 1 -- John Ahn Incising, inscribing, and concretizing identity : reading 1 Maccabees and Japanese Americans in Hawaiʻi -- Henry W. Morisada Rietz Filial piety and radical discipleship in Matthew -- Diane G. Chen The absent body and postcolonial melancholia (Mk 14:3-9) -- Jin Young Choi Privilege and solidarity in Asian American context (Lk. 14:15-24) -- Raj Nadella God's love, Christ's cross, or human faith? : interpretations of Jn 3:16 in ethnic Chinese American churches -- John Y.H. Yieh Lost and silenced in translation : reading Pauline discourse on language in 1 Cor. 14 from an Asian American perspective -- Ekaputra Tupamahu "My story" in intersection with Gal. 3: 26-28 : an Indian-Dalit feminist interpretation -- Surekha Nelavala Imagined nations, real women : politics of culture and women's bodies : a postcolonial, feminist, and Indo-Western interpretation of 1 Tim. 2:8-15 -- Sharon Jacob Always ethnic, never "American" : reading 1 Peter through the lens of the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype -- Janette H. Ok The practice of hospitality in early Christianity : reading 2 John and 3 John from a Vietnamese American perspective -- Toan Do Revelation from the margins : a Vietnamese American perspective -- vănThanh Nguyễn. "The first reference resource on how Asian Americans are currently reading and interpreting the Bible, this volume also serves a valuable role in both developing and disseminating what can be termed as Asian American biblical hermeneutics. The volume works from the important background that Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic/racial minority population in the USA, and that 42% of this group identifies as Christian. This provides a useful starting point from which to examine what may be distinctive about Asian American approaches to the Bible. Part 1 of the Handbook describes six major ethic groups that make up 85% of Asian population (by country of origin: China, Philippines, Indian Subcontinent, Vietnam, Korea, Japan) and outlines the specific concerns each group has when its members read the Bible. Part 2 of the Handbook examines major critical methods in biblical interpretation and suggests adjustments that may be helpful for Asian Americans to make when they are interpreting the Bible. Finally, Part 3 provides 25 interpretations by Asian American biblical scholars on specific texts in the Bible, using what they consider to be Asian American hermeneutics. Taken together the Handbook interprets the Bible both with and for the Asian American communities."--Bloomsbury Publishing