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PREFACE This book has been long in coming. The job of Christian theologians is an arduous and often dispiriting one today, unless they are blissfully unaware of either the checkered history of the theological tradition to which they are committed or the confusing and even perilous cultural and religious landscapes, full of discordant voices and diverging paths, which they have to navigate. A case in point is a theologian from a corner of East Asia (Korea) who has been a recipient of the ambiguous legacy of missionary Christianity with all its blessings and woes, and who has migrated to the de facto center of the Western-dominated global order (the United States) and participated in its benefits and hazards, like myself. Although I do not want to be too autobiographical and present this book exclusively as a narrative of my search for religious and cultural identity, my personal background (male, heterosexual, “middle-class,” Korean, Christian, postcolonial , Western-educated, diasporic, and so on) has certainly had a lot to do with—and much complicated—my preoccupation in writing this book: to reenvision the trinitarian God in a deep encounter with my East Asian and Korean heritage. If there is a single running thread—a cantus firmus—and a driving concern in this task of comparative-theological reconstruction, it is the idea of democracy and what I believe is the pressing need for its theological articulation in the contemporary global context filled with various forms of political oppression, economic exploitation, and cultural marginalization . By democracy I do not mean narrowly the well-known concept in political philosophy that has its historical provenance in the Western political tradition and serves as the animating ideal for the diverse forms of government by the elected representatives of the citizens of the modern xii Preface nation-states today. I am using the term more broadly as a cipher for the notion that people and ultimately all creatures have the power to rule and to create themselves. My comparative-theological reflection on such a notion of democracy draws its inspiration and impetus primarily from the biblical narrative of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost on the one hand and the Donghak (Eastern Learning) account of the descent of Ultimate Gi (Qi) on the other. In my assessment, both signal the advent of a new age in which all of the creaturely multitude are empowered to release their spontaneous capacity for self-creativity, self-determination, and self-rule. That is why my focus is on a pneumatocentric or Spiritcentered reconstruction of the Trinity that attempts to follow the wild wind of the Spirit, which truly “blows where it will”—East and West, North and South. In this book, I track its movement East and West first. I bring together the Western, Christian theological concept of Spirit (or its philosophical analogues) and the East Asian, Daoist, and Confucian notion of qi (which is better known in the West as ch’i and read as gi in Korean) in order to construct theological and philosophical underpinnings for the idea of democracy—that is, what may be called a metaphysics of democracy. In that sense, this book is not a full-blown eco-political theology that would trace the movement of the Spirit North and South, but rather the metaphysical prolegomenon to such a work. It is a truism to say that writing is never the work of a solitary individual . I have been supported and nurtured along the way by many who put faith in me as a theologian and scholar. I am especially indebted to Peter C. Hodgson, Catherine Keller, and Heup Young Kim—Peter for my continuing fascination with the liberating “winds of the Spirit” and my study of Hegel; Catherine for sparking my interest in Whitehead and Deleuze, not to mention her own tehomic theology; and Heup Young Kim for being a model for my comparative-theological engagement of the East Asian traditions, especially Confucianism and Donghak, with his theology of tao. I also extend my sincere appreciation to my colleagues at Drew University Theological School, especially Robert Corrington, Wesley Ariarajah, and Christopher Boesel, and my students. Their encouragement, support, and thought-provoking questions have been invaluable, particularly when my thinking hit roadblocks. I am genuinely grateful to Fordham University Press and its editorial staff for their adventurous spirit, excellent leadership, and impeccable attention to detail in publishing this book. My special thanks go to Helen [18.219.86.155] Project MUSE (2024-04-18...

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