Description
Book SynopsisWas Paul a middleman for God’s new creation? In Paul’s New Creation: Vision for a New World and Community, Sejong Chun suggests a surprising answer to this question through inter(con)textual readings of Paul’s (new) creation passages from the perspective of the Korean immigrant church in America. Sejong points out that scholars have regarded Paul’s new creation as if it were an abstract concept. The author focuses on its real character by proposing the ekklēsia as a tangible embodiment of God’s new creation, emphasizing its cosmic dimension and ecclesiastical meaning. Sejong suggests Paul as a middleman with his Gentile churches who delivered God’s super-abundant grace to the marginalized urban poor in the Jerusalem church. Paul and the early Christians in central cities around the Mediterranean basin fulfilled the collective project of the Jerusalem collection. Paul’s collection was an ultimate sign of independence from the Jerusalem church authority and a manifestation of a new and alternative economy against the exploitative and hierarchical structure of the Roman Empire.
Trade ReviewSejong Chun’s new book, Paul’s New Creation: Vision for a New World and Community, tackles one of the most palpable themes in Paul’s vocabulary, “new creation.” Chun elaborates on this theme critically and contextually, placing the new creation in the lives of Korean immigrants in America, elucidating it in a world full of dangers and uncertainties. This topic is timely, and readers may benefit from this book because it takes new creation seriously and connects it to our lives. This book is an essential guide to “new creation theology” by Paul.
-- Yung Suk Kim, Virginia Union University
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter One: Methodology: Inter(con)textual Dialogue
Chapter Two: Life Context for Reading: The Situations of Korean Immigrants in The United States
Chapter Three: (New) Creation in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 5
Chapter Four: New Creation in Galatians
Chapter Five: New Creation and Power Dynamics
Chapter Six: New Creation and God’s New Economy
Conclusion
Bibliography
About the Author
