Hanglee's Weblog

week 10 – Reply to Barry Teshima’ blog

hanglee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:36:26 +0000

Barry, thank you for your comment and it would be a little helpful when you read mine on it. To help you to understand right now for the effort of the Asian immigrants to be “Americanized” is not easy or maybe impossible. The reason is because nationality is, from my experience as a Korean immigrant, heavily based on culture, which has got imbedded and formed us to be who we are. Even though we try to be Americanized, it is impossible to move until we can get rid of all the memories and ways of life that identified us with. Well, I guess that Filipino guys has to acknowledge that he is Filipino from the land of Philippines and living in America as an immigrant. I am basically saying that he does not necessarily has to be “Americanized.”

Week 10 – Rahab Says Hello to Judith: A Decolonizing Feminist Reading – Musa W. Dube – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:22:30 +0000

This article seems to find other oppressive causes for women not only from Patriarchical system in the Israelite society but also from the slavery, concubines, and captives. This multiple oppressions become more complex in a colonial period because the feminist can also be endangered to be affected by colonialism. Therefore, I agree with Dube that it is necessary to liberate the feminism itself first out of the colonialism.

Week 10 Desiring War: Apocalypse, Commodity Fetish, and the End of History – Erin Runions – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:22:02 +0000

What struck me from this article is that the relation between the freedom of Bush’s administration and the epitome of capitalist desire. In this reasoning, I realized how the rhetoric of freedom can disguise the evil side of capitalism to look apocalyptic prophecy for the world peace. I agree with Runions that we need some kind of checks and balances to correct this apocalyptic metaphors of Bush’s administration right.

Week 10 Exodus-Toward-Egypt: Filipino-Americans’ Struggle to Realize the Promised Land in America – Eleazar S. Fernandez – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:21:39 +0000

There are many parts in this article I feel sympathy for since I as an international student from Korea. Like Filipino immigrants did, many of Korean immigrants also came to America for “American Dream” and failed to achieve it with a lot of frustration and despair. However, one thing different is that ever since the Korean economy became competitive with other developed countries, Koreans who come to the States are no more longing for the “American Dreams.” The number of people is increased, who come here for education and go back to Korea. I guess this shows that the immigrants are still more engaged with financial issues to live a better life.

Week 10 Canonization and Marginalization: Mary of Magdala – Karen L. King – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:21:14 +0000

I agree with King in his saying that “[The Gospel of Mary]…argued that direct access to God was possible for all through the Spirit” (:288). God is not limited by social gender, roles, sex, and childbearing in order for his mission to be spread out, I believe. I guess I want to look up the book of the Gospel of Mary a little more carefully.

week 10 Wednesday – Class Reflection

hanglee — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:28:04 +0000

It’s been inspiring class that helped me think about the whole spectrum of the Imperialism and colonialism that affect the world and cultures. What I want to do more is to apply to my own ministry in terms of any sort of leftovers in either a good or bad way. I appreciate both the professor and the TA for their awesome guidance on the postcolonial studies along with the way of Jesus.

Week 10 Monday – Class Reflection

hanglee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:58:39 +0000

I like the lecture today. It helped me to think about one of the practices of Yoder’s Body Politics. I guess my church has a serious generational gap between old and young generations due to the several issues of immigrating settle-down from Korea. They do have different language and culture and it makes them not communicate with each other in a healthy way. They often conflicts because of the two different worldviews and Christian cultures. They really needed reconciliation and forgiveness to each other.

Week 9 Reply to Alex Lazo’s Weblog

hanglee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:24:13 +0000

I think that you are right that some American churches are trying to show off of their programs and activities. I want talk about a church that can be one of the competitive churches in Southern California. I visited Saddleback church (Rick Warren) and was so amazed at the decoration of the church building and the size of the programs. It was really spectacularly competitive with other churches. What really struck me though was the population of the church members. I heard that most of them were evangelized by this church. In a sense, I think this is good to be “seeker-sensitive,” but then the problem is that the new members do not seem to grow deeper into spirituality compared to other models such as Pentecostal or Charismatic because all of the setup is fixed for entertaining the seekers. I may be wrong at this view since I just visited only one time and heard about it from others. But I believe that there are pros and cons in this type of model.

Week 9 Cutchery Tamil Versus Pure Tamil – Hephzibah Israel – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:01:36 +0000

I think the most important thing to consider in the issue of translating the Tamil Bible is not the issue of “whose Tamil or whose translation” (:280) but the canonical matter that can deliver the message of God to the audience in the closest way that God wants to speak. This article reminds me to think about the power of language even in the translating the word of God into a colonial society. But I believe that using the native language because it is more helpful for the Tamil society to catch the closer meaning of God’s intention through the Scripture of their own language.

Week 9 How Local Divine Powers Were Suppressed: A Case of Mwari of the Shona – Dora R. Mbuwayesango – Sugirtharajah

hanglee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:18:24 +0000

This is amazing to witness from this article how European colonialism and Christianity were interwoven with each other to make the Shona to be religiously and politically suppressed to the colonial power and religion. What makes me think deeper is that God, supposed to be kept shrine, seemed used for a wrongful purpose by the colonial mission. But then, can “the God” the natives believed at that time the same God that we believe? I doubt it.