Racial Conflict and Healing

by Park, Andrew Sung

• ISBN13: 9781570750786
• ISBN10: 1570750785
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: Orbis Books

Summary

A Korean theologian approaches the issue of racial conflict - including discrimination between minority communities - and constructs a "theology of seeing" that aims to heal the ruptures of racism. As ethnic tensions continue to simmer and occasionally erupt, immigration and affirmative action laws are hotly debated in legislatures and newspapers nationwide. Discrimination and oppression afflict every ethnic minority: African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native Americans - even Asian-Americans (the so-called "model minority") struggle in the racially-charged atmosphere of contemporary America. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the ensuing violence against Korean-Americans, Andrew Sung Park seeks a theological model that will help transform a society of oppression, injustice, and violence into a community of equity, fairness, and mutual consideration. Park emphasizes that such a transformation does not and cannot begin only with good intentions, but must be grounded in an understanding of all the socio-economic and cultural issues that lead to oppression and tension. Using the Korean term han to describe the deep-seated suffering of racial oppression, he then suggests resources for understanding and healing in both Christian and Asian traditions.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
INTRODUCTION	1	(8)
PART I PROBLEMS IN THE KOREAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY	9	(42)
1. HAN-TALK	9	(17)
The Portrait of Han	9	(3)
The Han of War and the Divided Korea	12	(2)
"Comfort Women"	14	(2)
Vincent Chin	16	(2)
The Abandoned Woman	18	(1)
Biased Writer for Film Production	19	(1)
White Christianity	20	(1)
Police Discrimination	21	(1)
Victims of Media Racism	22	(4)
2. THE HAN OF THE KOREAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY	26	(15)
Racial Conflict	26	(3)
Structural Problems	29	(11)
Results of Structural Problems	40	(1)
3. THE SIN OF KOREAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES	41	(10)
Racism	41	(2)
Sexism	43	(2)
Labor Exploitation	45	(6)
PART II TOWARDS SOLUTIONS	51	(34)
4. A VISION FOR SOCIETY	51	(16)
A Common Vision	52	(1)
An Indispensable Vision	52	(4)
An Inmost Vision	56	(3)
A Vision of Eco--social Justice	59	(3)
Mass Media	62	(5)
5. A VISION FOR THE CHURCH Parousia	67	(5)
The First Coming	68	(1)
The Second Coming	69	(3)
6. A VISION FOR THE SELF	72	(13)
The Western Concept of the Self	73	(2)
The Eastern Nation of the Self	75	(10)
PART III METHODOLOGY	85	(44)
7. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES	85	(8)
The Assimilation Model	85	(2)
The Amalgamation Model	87	(1)
The Cultural Pluralism Model	88	(2)
The Triple Melting Pot Theory	90	(1)
A New Ethnic Identity: A Synthesis	91	(2)
8. CURRENT KOREAN-AMERICAN MODELS Church and Culture	93	(6)
The Withdrawal Model	94	(1)
The Assimilation Model	95	(1)
The Paradoxical Model	96	(3)
9. EMBODYING THE COMMUNITY OF GOD A Transcendent, Transmutational Model	99	(8)
Transmutation	99	(1)
Inward and Outward Aspects of Transmutation	100	(1)
The Fourfold Task of Korean-American Christians	101	(1)
Transcendence	102	(1)
Theological Cross--culturalism	103	(1)
The Cross: Symbol of Transmutation	103	(2)
Radical Openness	105	(1)
Authentic Vision	105	(2)
10. KOREANNESS Towards a Christic Community	107	(11)
Hahn (Paradoxical Inclusiveness)	107	(3)
Jung (Affectionate Attachment)	110	(2)
Mut (Graceful Gusto)	112	(2)
Koreanness and Christianity	114	(1)
Contributions of Hahn, Jung, and Mut to Society	115	(3)
11. THE EXTENDED FAMILY	118	(11)
The Korean-American Family	119	(1)
The Modified Extended Family and the Extended Conjugal Family	120	(2)
Family Decline	122	(2)
Two Views	124	(1)
The Extended Family and Christian Faith	125	(4)
PART IV AN EMERGING THEOLOGY	129	(32)
12. THEOLOGY OF SEEING Biblical Insights for Racial Healing	129	(9)
Pentecost	130	(2)
The Road of Emmaus	132	(2)
The Lawyer's Question	135	(3)
13. SEEING OTHERS WELL Dissolving the Han of Group Conflict	138	(7)
The Story of the King and the Monk	138	(1)
Seeing Others	139	(1)
A Culture of Seeing	139	(2)
Seeing in Eastern Religious Traditions	141	(1)
Seeing and Transmuting	142	(2)
Seeing and Understanding	144	(1)
14. BALM FOR HEALING	145	(16)
Visual Seeing: A Hermeneutics of Questioning	146	(2)
Intellectual Seeing: A Hermeneutics of Construction	148	(3)
Spiritual Seeing: A Hermeneutics of Affection	151	(3)
Soul-Seeing: A Hermeneutics of Celebration	154	(7)
NOTES	161	(22)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	183	(12)
INDEX	195