Holy Spirit and Ch'i (Qi)

Description: This book articulates a contextual pneumatology from a perspective of the Eastern idea of ch'i (ki in Korean). Rather than understanding the Spirit from a Westernized philosophical perspective, this book utilizes East Asian categories rooted in the I Ching and Asian religions in dialogue with such prominent Western theologians as Barth, Pannenberg, Moltmann and Harvey Cox. The result is an exciting interaction between the Bible, traditions of the West, and experiences of the Spirit rooted in East Asia. Yun argues that the formal dimension of the Spirit (sangjeok) is present and active in all cultures and religions while the material dimension of the Spirit (muljeok) is categorically revealed and embodied through the life of Jesus Christ, the event of Pentecost, and Charisms given to the church. In making his case, he mediates a creative balance between countercultural and exclusivist models on the one hand, and pluralistic and anthropocentric models on the other. Endorsements: ""Koo Dong Yun's work is simply brilliant and beautiful! It is written by an author who accurately knows both Western and Eastern theology and philosophy. I applaud it sincerely. Yun's work escaped many perils of 'post-colonial' theology and has opened a promising new way to move ahead with a genuinely Korean Christian theological vision. This is an authentic contextual theology rooted in the East Asian soil. Instead of trying to write something 'universal' and 'totalitarian' that stands against the post-modern era, Yun has created something that is really 'chiological' and original. If I teach my seminar here on Asian theology or Pentecostalism again, I will surely make use of this book."" -Harvey Cox Hollis Research Professor of Divinity Harvard University ""Although numbers of different kinds of 'contextual' approaches to the theology of the Holy Spirit are emerging at the beginning of the third millennium, Professor Koo D. Yun's constructive 'chiological' pneumatology stands out as distinctive and has the capacity to give leadership and inspiration to many such explorations to come. In this highly creative and constructive work, ancient and contemporary Chinese, Korean, and other East Asian philosophico-religious resources are put into a mutual dialogue with biblical, historical, and systematic Christian theological voices. The end result is a feast of theological, philosophical, and religious insights highlighting the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit through the lens of Ch'i and related Asian ways of conceiving the 'divine spirit/essence.'"" -Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen Professor of Systematic Theology Fuller Theological Seminary ""Constructing a transcultural theology of the third article based on the Spirit and Ch'i (Qi), Dr. Yun's book is a truly astonishing and groundbreaking work, which will establish him as one of his generation's leading Asian theologians. Dr. Yun paves a new way toward hermeneutically configuring an intersection of the Holy Spirit in Judeo-Christian tradition with East Asian philosophy of Taoism and Confucianism through his astute interpretation and extensive knowledge. This book is an original, creative, and extraordinary attempt to conceptualize a new pneumatology in intercultural studies of the Spirit in parallel with my construction of irregular-minjung theology. This is the first full monograph dealing solely with the Holy Spirit and Ch'i written in English by an author who accurately grasps three horizons: 1) the Bible, 2) traditional Western theologies (especially in regard to Karl Barth and Wolfhart Pannenberg), and 3) East Asian philosophy of Ch'i in classic Taoism and Confucianism. Finally, the contextual, irregular pneumatology rooted in the East Asian soil for which we have been waiting with excitement has emerged in this book.""