T&T Clark Handbook of Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics - (T&t Clark Handbooks) by Uriah Y Kim & Seung Ai Yang (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The first reference resource on how Asian Americans are currently reading and interpreting the Bible, this volume also serves a valuable role in both developing and disseminating what can be termed as Asian American biblical hermeneutics. The volume works from the important background that Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic/racial minority population in the USA, and that 42% of this group identifies as Christian. This provides a useful starting point from which to examine what may be distinctive about Asian American approaches to the Bible.

Part 1 of the Handbook describes six major ethic groups that make up 85% of Asian population (by country of origin: China, Philippines, Indian Subcontinent, Vietnam, Korea, Japan) and outlines the specific concerns each group has when its members read the Bible. Part 2 of the Handbook examines major critical methods in biblical interpretation and suggests adjustments that may be helpful for Asian Americans to make when they are interpreting the Bible. Finally, Part 3 provides 25 interpretations by Asian American biblical scholars on specific texts in the Bible, using what they consider to be Asian American hermeneutics. Taken together the Handbook interprets the Bible both with and for the Asian American communities.

Review Quotes

In this valuable compendium, some of the most important Asian American scholars have answers for all parties interested in the hows and whys of interpretation; by their very presence, they show the falsehood of the myth that interpretive truth was discovered beginning with Schleiermacher and proceeding through a succession of white European and American scholars. With so intense a pitch of hermeneutical insight and so broad a range of front-line scholars, this handbook demonstrates that any account of hermeneutics that does not acknowledge the work of the many Asian American interpreters who contribute - both to this volume and to the biblical academy - is but the ghost of a fuller, richer, more candid and deeper hermeneutical discourse.
Andrew Adam, University of Oxford, UK

This volume persuasively captures the complex histories, interpretative strategies and methodological approaches of Asian American hermeneutics, a late but creative and compelling entrant to biblical studies. The range and breadth of the essays are extremely diverse, detailed and authoritative, filled with revealing exegetical observations based on the profoundly complicated contexts of the essayists. This enthralling compilation simultaneously urges mainstream scholars to look closely and appreciate what they have often overlooked, and compatriots in Asia to take notice of the convoluted negotiating process that those who leave the continent and settle away from home must endure. A significant addition to, and a shining example of, the already spectacular canon of minority hermeneutics.
R.S.Sugirtharajah, University of Birmingham, UK

Uriah Kim and Seung Ai Yang have made a very significant contribution to the field of Asian American biblical hermeneutics through the publication of this volume, which represents the diversity of contexts and methods in the reading of texts. The diverse, rich, and sophisticated essays in the volume seek to showcase the field coming to maturity. It is a more than worthy sequel to Ways of Being, Ways of Reading: Asian American Biblical Interpretation!
Jeffrey Kuan, Claremont School of Theology, USA

About the Author

Uriah Y. Kim is Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs and John Dillenberger Professor of Biblical Studies, at Graduate Theological Union, USA.

Seung Ai Yang is Associate Professor of New Testament, Chicago Theological Seminary, USA.