Mapping Korean Biblical Interpretation in the Shadow of Powers

Abstract

Abstract In geopolitical terms, the Korean peninsula is surrounded by great powers, such as China, Russia, Japan, and the United States. Accordingly, realpolitik affects biblical interpretation. Anticolonial, liberationist, and postcolonial reading strategies respond to the colonial, military, and neoliberal powers that have shaped modern Korean history. Specifically, in the colonial era, Kim Gyo-Shin, Ham Seok-Heon, and Gil Seon-Ju provided an anticolonial reading strategy grounded in both biblical authority and religious imagination to inspire a population to oppose foreign imperialism. In the Cold War domestic face-off of South Korean military oppression and democracy movements, Ahn Byung-Mu and Cyris H. S. Moon conducted a liberationist reading strategy using minjung theology and biblical narratives to confront military regimes. Now amidst neoliberal globalization, Korean and Korean American biblical scholars, such as Seong Hee Kim and Uriah Y. Kim, employ a postcolonial reading strategy that empowers gendered and ethnic minorities to restore their agency and identity through critical engagement with biblical narratives. Across these three eras, Korean biblical interpretation has disrupted the exercise of unjust power, revealing the liberative power of the Bible in pursuit of divine justice.