The Inaugural Session of the Asian American Biblical Interpretation research group at IBR 2020 Boston

Milton Eng

, East Coast Project Director for ISAAC, and I are delighted to announce the inaugural session of the newly constituted Asian American Biblical Interpretation research group at the annual meeting of the

Institute for Biblical Research

(#IBRAABI) and the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston, November 2020.

Our first session features plenary papers and a panel discussion with

Russell Jeung

(San Francisco State University),

Amos Yong

(Fuller Seminary), and

Janette Hur Ok

(formerly Asuza Pacific University, now Fuller Seminary). This first session focuses mostly on East AsianAm contexts but will expand in succeeding meetings to include Southeast Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islanders.

We invite all IBR members and friends to attend. The research group mission statement and the session programming is below. Many thanks to

Carmen Imes

, IBR Research Groups Coordinator, and

Lynn H Cohick

, IBR President, for their enthusiastic support.

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Inaugural Plenary Session for IBR/SBL 2020 (#IBRAABI2020) in Boston

Theme: Setting the Table: Asian American Studies, Evangelicals and Biblical Interpretation

Milton Eng, William Paterson University, Presiding

Max J. Lee, North Park Theological Seminary, Presiding

Welcome and Announcements (10 min)

Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University

Asian American Studies and the Development of Asian American Theology (30 min)

Amos Yong, Fuller Seminary

To the Seven Churches in Asia: An Asian (American) Apocalyptic Hermeneutic after Pentecost (30 min)

Janette Ok, Fuller Seminary

Asian American Biblical Interpretation: Evangelical Engagement and Critique (30 min)

Discussion (20 min)

These papers will be available on the IBR website after October 25th under the Research Groups tab at www.ibr-bbr.org (IBR Member login required). Attendees are encouraged to read the papers in advance though drop-ins are welcome. During the session, presenters will summarize their papers in ten minutes allowing for twenty minutes of discussion. Non-IBR members are welcome to attend. For further information, please contact Milton Eng (miltoneng@verizon.net) or Max Lee (mlee1@Northpark.edu)

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Research Group Description: This new research group (#IBRAABI) provides a space for Asian American evangelical scholars to engage with, critique, integrate and indeed pave new ground in current approaches in Asian American Biblical Interpretation. The fact that the majority of Asian American Protestants remain evangelical makes their voices even more imperative. “Asian American” is understood in its broadest sense to include East, Southeast, South Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Asian American biblical interpretation by its very nature is interdisciplinary. Thus, sessions will include invited guest theologians, historians, sociologists &scholars from other disciplines to inform our research.

Asian American Biblical Interpretation more broadly has come of age in recent years. Publications continue apace with works as recent as the encyclopedic T&T Clark Handbook of Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics (2019). In addition, Asian American biblical scholars have now attained the highest &most visible positions in the academy including presidents &deans of seminaries, the presidency of the Association of Theological Schools &even most recently the highest office in our premier guild, President of the SBL.

Yet, most of such scholarship &representation has come from non-evangelical or mainline theological schools. Evangelicals are less represented (see Chloe Sun, 2019). #IBRAABI hopes to fill in the gap on representation in this burgeoning field, explore how it connects with shared issues of concern with African American, Latinx American, and other ethnic American biblical intepreters, and explain why this work is relevant to the mission of the church at large. #AAPIHeritageMonth

Race and Racism: Papers from North Park's 2015 Symposium on the Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Nyvall Hall, home of North Park Theological Seminary's
Symposium on the Theological Interpretation of Scripture
Photo by Max Lee ©2014

Following the Lund Lectureship, each year, North Park Theological Seminary also hosts its Symposium on the Theological Intepretation of Scripture. This year's theme is on the important and very salient issues of race and racism, especially in a North American context (#BlackLivesMatter, #TamarRice, #FreddyGray, #MichaelBrown, #immigrantlivesmatter). Klyne Snodgrass, formerly the Paul W. Brandel Chair of New Testament Studies and now an emeritus professor, spearheads the symposium, inviting speakers from across the country and at times internationally, and edits the plenary papers which are read for publication in the journal Ex Auditu. 

    One by one, I'm working my way through the videos that Cov.Tv streamed and also posted on their youtube channel. Sometimes, these videos are hard to find, so I'm organizing them here on this post, with the speaker names and paper titles. Chris Spinks, editor at Wipf and Stock, also posted on the symposium and included some very nice excerpts from each of the paper presenters. 
    Also, all the videos are unedited, so there are sometimes long gaps between start times. Be sure to look where to scroll for each video (red print) so you don't have to wonder where to begin.

    On Thurs evening Sept 24, the Symposium opened with Love Sechrest, Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, who gave the paper "Enemies, Romans, Pigs, and Dogs: Loving the Other in the Gospel of Matthew." The response was given by Rebecca Gonzales, Executive Director of Operations for the Evangelical Covenant Church. 

First Session with Love Sechrest (start at 9:18)

   On Friday Sept 25, for sessions 2-5, we had the following speakers. In the morning, Néstor Medina (previous CV), Visiting Scholar at the University of Toronto and author of Mestizaje: Remapping Race, Culture, and Faith in Latina/o Catholicism, gave the paper "What's Missing? Toward an Hermeneutics of Absence." The response was given by Bruce Fields, Associate Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical School, and in the past a plenary speaker for our lectureships. 

2nd Session with Néstor Medina (start at 37:50)

In the late morning session, Emerson Powery (our Lund lecturer) gave the paper "Lost in Translation: Ethnic Conflict in English Bibles." The response was by our own university provost, Michael Emerson, author of the award-winning and prophetically challenging book Divided by Faith.

3rd Session with Emerson Powery (start at 2:31)

In the afternoon, Raymond Aldred, Assistant Professor of Theology at Ambrose Seminary presented the paper "An Indigenous Reinterpretation of Repentance," with a response by one of our North Park alumni, Mark Tao, Pastor of Immanuel Covenant Church, here in Chicago. 

4th Session with Raymond Aldred (start at 5:05)

Friday ended with the evening paper by Kyle Small, Dean of Formation for Ministry and Associate Professor of Church Leadership at Western Theological Seminary, who presented "What Kind of Enemy Are You? Gentile Privilege in the Gospel of Matthew," with the response by Alex Gee, Pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church. 

5th Session with Kyle Small (start at 8:40)

  On Saturday, the Symposium ended with its final three sessions. In the morning, Bo Lim, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Seattle Pacific University (also a Lund lecturer), gave the provocative paper "The Lynching of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah" with the response by Evelmyn Ivens, national staff at the Christian Community Development Association, and a recent North Park alumnus. 

6th Session with Bo Lim (start at 5:56)

In late morning session, Elizabeth (Lisa) Sung, Associate Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, gave the paper "Racial Realism in Biblical Interpretation and Theological Anthropology: An Evaluation of Recent Accounts," with the response by doctoral candidate Valerie Landfair from Regent University, and adjunct instructor at North Park. 

7th Session with Lisa Sung (start at 4:00)

The last session featured the paper by Lewis Brogdon, Assistant Professor of Religion and Biblical Studies at Claflin University with the title "Reimagining Koinonia: Confronting the Legacy and Logic of Paul's Letter to Philemon." The response was given by Al Tizon, Executive Minister of Serve Globally for the Evangelical Covenant Church and soon a regular lecturer at the seminary. 

8th Session with Lewis Brogdon (start at 3:16)

Whew! That's it. Enjoy, be blessed, and be challenged by the sessions. MJL

2015 Lund Lectures at North Park Theological Seminary

Professor Nils W. Lund
Dean and Biblical Scholar at North Park (1922-54)

For many such as myself, the Nils W. Lund Memorial Lectureship held annually at North Park Theological Seminary here in Chicago is a real treat. It provides an opportunity for faculty, students, and friends of the seminary to hear first-class scholars speak on the salient cultural issues of our day and offer a theological response from, and for, the Christian church. This year, following the theme of the Symposium for the Theological Interpretation of Scripture on Race and Racism, North Park Theological Seminary has invited Associate Professor of Old Testament Bo Lim from Seattle Pacific University, and Professor of Biblical Studies Emerson Powry to be our plenary speakers. 

   CovTV, the media division of the Evangelical Covenant Church, kindly live-streamed and recorded the lectures, which are posted below. The first lecture (Wed Nov 3) by Dr. Lim is entitled: "A Tale of Romance or Spousal Abuse?: Love and Violence in the Book of Hosea" where he works through the violent sexual metaphors used by prophets to describe God's judgment on Israel and the nations.

There is a problem with the audio, so scroll for ward to 1:37

The 2nd Lecture is entitled: "Prophetic Ministry Among Exiles: The Contribution of Asian and Latino/a American Biblical Interpretation."  Concerning the latter, Bo does an excellent job surveying the history of interpretation on the problem of exile, frames exilic discourse in the Old Testament with sociological models that help us recognize different types of emmigration/exile patterns (some forced by conquest; others voluntary), and then carefully argues how modern immigration movements by Asian and Latino/a Americans parallel ancient exile patterns, when the analogues fall apart, and why exilic texts speak powerfully to immigrant communities. 

    The following day (Thu Nov 4), Dr. Powry gave his first lecture covering the New Testament canon on the topic: "The Pastor's Counsel to Enslaved Christians." Emerson focuses not only on the interpretation of biblical texts concerning ancient slavery at the advent of early Christianity but provides insights on the history of the texts' reception, especially among African American congregations, and the latter's own painful history of slavery in the United States. 

The 1st lecture begins at 14:57

Both the 1st and 2nd lectures are in the same video clip, but jump to 14:57 for the 1st lecture without the introduction, and for the 2nd lecture, scroll to 1:52:11.

This is the same video but the 2nd lecture begins at 1:52:11

Concerning the 2nd lecture entitled "'Slaves of God': Another Look at Paul's (Ironic) Identity Marker," Emerson investigates Paul's use of the self-designation "slave of [Jesus] Christ" (δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ; Rom 1:1; also Gal 1:10; Phil 1:1) and challenges the idea that Paul somehow tries to redeem the metaphorical use of the term δοῦλος by adding a measure of dignity to it since the worth of the slave is attached to the (high/glorious) stature of the Master himself (contra the classic thesis of Dale Martin's Slavery as Salvation - 1990). Provocatively, Dr. Powry argues that Paul did not remove the shame component intrinsic to ancient forms of slavery. Theologically, Paul was challenging his congregation that the cost of following Christ and declaring Christ as Lord meant, in fact, that the Christian will experience shame, suffering, and indignation. The faithful Christian is not spared from the shame associated with being a slave (of Christ) or the cross-bearing life. That was a stunning challenge!
    I hope the links above make these four lectures readily accessible to you. Enjoy and be blessed! MJL

Reading the Bible Interculturally

I wanted to give a quick post about the latest issue of the Covenant Quarterly that has, with volume 73, no. 2, officially turned digital (the last print issue was 73, no. 1). Articles are freely available on the journal website (here). This latest issue is dedicated to the task of reading the Bible interculturally. I wrote the first article, and it was not an easy one to compose. 
   Many evangelicals are wary of contextualized readings of Scripture because of the dangers of "eisegesis," or reading into the text ideas or concepts that are foreign to the Bible. But I have argued that an appreciation of how Asian American, African American, Latino/a American, and other ethnic groups interpret the biblical text actually does the opposite: it acts as a mirror to our own presuppositions and biases, and it provides needed tools for exegesis and hermeneutics. Check out the issue by following the links above to the PDF copies of the articles. Below is a snapshot of the contributors and articles titles. 

Covenant Quarterly 73, no. 2 (2015)
dedicated to the topic of Reading the Bible Interculturally (RBI)

One more note: I'm thrilled that past students of mine, Nilwona Nowlin and Erik Borggren, have authored two of the articles in this issue. It is also a thrill to have Dr. Bruce Fields from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School contribute his fine plenary paper for the journal, originally read at North Park's Eaton-Jones Memorial Lectureship last Spring 2015. Kudos also belong to Hauna Ondrey, an assistant professor of church history at North Park, for her fine editorial work. Enjoy!