Religious Language and Asian American Hybridity PDF
Preview Religious Language and Asian American Hybridity
asian cHRistianity in tHe diaspoRa Religious language and asian ameRican HybRidity Julius-Kei Kato Asian Christianity in the Diaspora Series Editors Grace Ji-Sun Kim Georgetown University Bethlehem , Pennsylvania , USA Joseph Cheah University of Saint Joseph West Hartford , Connecticut , USA 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-i mportant 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, gen- der, race/ethnicity, and/or cultural studies. This series also addresses Christianity from Asian perspectives. We welcome manuscripts that exam- ine the identity and internal coherence of the Christian faith in its encoun- ters 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 dis- course within Asian and Asian American theological scholarship as this will be the fi rst 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 minor- ities in the United States, it behooves us to listen to the rich, diverse and engaging voices of Asian and Asian American theologians. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14781 Julius-Kei Kato Religious Language and Asian American Hybridity Julius-Kei Kato King’s University College Western University London , Ontario, Canada Asian Christianity in the Diaspora ISBN 978-1-137-58214-0 ISBN 978-1-137-58215-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-58215-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940642 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Tetra Images / Getty Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York To my colleagues and friends at King’s University College, London, Canada, especially those in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies As always, also to Del and Keitlyn Hajime P REFACE Have you ever sat in a pew at church, read, or listened to the religious language being expressed there and thought, “This is so not acceptable anymore!”? This is a common experience for me and I have come to the conclusion that the reason why religious language sometimes seems to be inappropriate today is because many (most?) of us in this globalized and postmodern world are turning more and more into hybrids. Hybrids are people with many “worlds” within them. These “worlds” were once thought of as separate and distinct from each other, but they have now met, mixed, fused , a nd become part of the hybrid person’s inner self. In contrast to that, much of the religious language, at least in the West, was crafted in an earlier age when distinctions among worlds—national, cul- tural, and even religious—were more marked and more valued, and it has not been updated to refl ect the intermingling and fusion of once distinct worlds that have been happening extensively in our globalized and post- modern world. We have to start somewhere to break down the thick wall between “us” and “them” in religious language today, and I propose that we start with conversation. After all, as the theologian David Tracy has said, “con- versation is our only hope.” 1 Hybridity needs to converse with religious language in order to explore possibilities by which traditional religious language might become, once again, truly life-giving and empowering for a new hybridized age. This is my hope for this book. Of course, I can only deal with what I know, and hence, in this book, I try to make hybridity in an Asian North American form converse with religious language in a bibli- cal and/or Christian (oftentimes Catholic) form. Besides, I am located in vii viii PREFACE Canada and will therefore use in the text the more inclusive term, “Asian North American.” I also have to add that this work makes no pretensions of being objec- tive. The “readings” and interpretations of themes contained here are, in a profound sense, subjective and even autobiographical. This work is nothing more than the beginning of a conversation between an Asian North American hybrid and selected themes from the New Testament and the Christian theological heritage (my main fi elds of teaching and research). As a conversation starter, it aims to begin (and at times even provoke) an extended process that will involve some of these factors: respectful exchange of ideas, clarifi cation, argumentation, agreement and/ or disagreement, further addition, further nuancing, concession, revision, maybe even a future change of opinion, ( most probably) the pointing out of the weaknesses and naiveté of ideas contained in this work , and so on—all of which are part of the process of conversation. Above all, I hope that this work would be a step toward a more pro- found embrace of hybridity in the academy and in the world at large. I am convinced that such an action will mean a further dissolution of the thick wall separating “us” and “them” because what we typically consider the “other” will become increasingly recognized within ourselves. God knows how much we need that today! London, Canada A CKNOWLEDGMENTS I turned fi fty in 2015. Family and friends told me then that turning fi fty is a signifi cant milestone in life but I tried not to be melodramatic about it, perhaps as a form of denial on my part. Since then, however, I have noticed some signifi cant changes in myself so that I have to admit: fi fty years d oes make a difference! One signifi cant change is that, now, I feel that I have a deeper existential awareness that life—my life—is no longer something that is just in front of me like a wide-open landscape. No, much ground has already been covered. The journey is more than half- way done. That heightened awareness of “limit” has in fact deepened my sense of gratitude, particularly now as I fi nish this manuscript. I also real- ize now, more than ever, how much I d o not know, how much I have yet to learn. It sometimes feels, therefore, brazen, foolhardy, and audacious that I could even propose to offer my research and thoughts on this or any given theme. And yet I purport to do so, I guess, as a way of mark- ing a half-century of living life and thinking about religion and theology as a hybrid . At the same time, I would like to honor in a special way the experiences and refl ections of so many others who are themselves living consciously and refl ecting critically as hybrids. It is with profound gratitude then that I acknowledge the many people without whom I would not have completed this book. Dr. Peter Phan, Dr. Kenan Osborne (also my D oktorvater ), and Dr. Fumitaka Matsuoka have been my mentors and friends since my PhD student days. They have always wholeheartedly supported me and my academic work. This time, special thanks go to Dr. Phan of course who is not only the subject of some topics in this book but is one of the greatest inspirations for me to ix
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