Book Description

We have here nothing less than a theology of life-life in the intensity of its postcolonial ecology, rippling through the creaturely interconnections of our planetary process, yet at the same time grounded in the beautiful local metaphors of an Asian counter-history. Jea Sophia Oh's luminous book is a must-read for all who care about the global socio-ecology, about process theology, about eco-femnism, about comparative theology-singly and together. -Catherine Keller, author of On the Mystery and Face of the Deep This exciting book begs classification as a second-generation exercise in postcolonial theology. It exceeds first-generation exercises in the sheer audacity of its eclecticism. Postcolonial theology fuses with ecotheology, and that amalgam combines in turn with comparative theology, transnational feminism, and contextual theology. It's enough to make one believe that theology may have a future after all in the twenty-first century. -Stephen D. Moore, author of Empire and Apocalypse and co-editor of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism and Planetary Loves: Spivak, Postcoloniality, and Theology Jea Sophia Oh promises and delivers a book on a multifaceted ethics that is a timely addition to the genre because it opens a scholarly space for rethinking an appropriate relationship among all living things. She bridges postcolonialism and ecotheology with the use of Salim as the philosophical underpinning for the argument that all forms of life are equal and divine. As we look at the physical and spiritual suffering and degradation caused by oppression of those that we deem to be subaltern, we say a resounding YES ! to the message of Hanul -becoming together. There is a poetic quality to the book which, like all poetry must be read carefully and thoughtfully. The reader will find that it is well worth the effort. -Melodie M. Toby, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Kean University This book is a great introduction to eco-religious becoming and a great work of comparative theology in the context of Korean religious life. It will definitely introduce many readers to such concepts/terms as Donghak, salim, bab, hanul, and teum, which are not only contextually relevant for Korean theology but conceptually heavy-lifting in terms of "postcolonial eco-theology." Such a post-colonial hybrid ecotheology calls out for what the author describes as an ecocracy in place of the andro/anthropocentric notion of democracy and "globalization as usual." -Whitney A. Bauman, author of Theology, Creation, and Environmental Ethics: From Creatio ex Nihilo to Terra Nullius