Abstract
The author has presented a hermeneutics of hunger in 10 chapters. First of all, I would like to congratulate her warmly on having undertaken as a theologian to address hunger. From this rich, 747 pages book, I learned to think about material hunger in a spiritual way. I am pleased with how the author connects the New Testament texts with the current global dialogue. She deliberately refrains from using exegesis, but shows in a comprehensible, well-founded manner and working with many questions how one can think about today’s situation while reading the Bible and find liberating reading from this dialogue.
When I was doing my doctorate at the University of Basel, a seminar was about the Lord’s Prayer. My special part for presentation on a specific day was the daily bread of this prayer. I wanted to express a relationship between the suffering of the divided country of Korea and suffering in a world of structural sin, because we are consciously or unconsciously connected to it. I wanted to say that we share responsibility for the suffering of others. A student replied to my statement about why I wanted to express the suffering in Korea in a Swiss seminar at all. I was speechless and could hardly react to this ignorance. I believe in a beautiful environment like Switzerland it is not easy to think about the suffering outside of Switzerland or the hunger of others and to take part, not like alms, but to ask serious systemic questions. But the author has mastered this and has shown that it is possible to contradict my previous experience.
During my time in Europe I learned how the word ‘feminist’ is coined. If I were to define feminist theology in a certain sense as resistance to traditional school theology, the author has offered creative resistance to a status-quo school theology. Because she designs new exegeses that have not yet been thought of. So the book is concrete, sensual and informative.
The division into 10 chapters makes it easy to follow the content systematically. The author begins by familiarizing herself with the question of how difficult it is to speak of hunger. It is about the mercy of Jesus as a starting point to connect with the hungry who live in ‘bad times’ (Mk 6:31). It is important to be aware of the tough times regarding food and to identify the contexts of poverty in order to provide orientation for the learning process. The second step is about the perception of the poor. They are visible and audible in many biblical texts. The author lets Subalterne speak for herself instead of speaking for her. The third part is about looking hunger in the face and perceiving the anger resulting from this encounter. Up until now, anger has hardly been considered theologically. The author succeeds in extracting constructive elements from anger and making it strong as a transforming force. In the fourth step, she shows how socio-historical exegesis can avoid the blind spot of theological anti-Judaism, and how anger can be read as a critical-visionary force in the context of hunger. In the fifth chapter, she outlines a ‘geography of hunger’, showing how hunger had spread in the east of the Mediterranean in the 1940s and 1950s. Some chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, read in the hermeneutics of hunger, reflect this time of need, which leads to the theodicy question, but also to strategies to counteract hunger. In the sixth step, the Jewish tradition of the righteous is discussed and the good works in the name of Christ contrasted with Roman Euergetism. The seventh step reveals the positive dimensions of the food, laughter at the table, which is a very central factor for the community and its resistance to injustice. The eighth chapter deals with the thirst for life and belonging in the Corinthian church. Sharing the food creates community, protection and hope. Paul speaks of a communal body, which is also reflected in the ninth step in the discussion of Luke 24. A new body rises before the eyes of the reader, eyes and heart, flesh and bones, hands and feet come together and form a body of hope in the tradition of Israel. Following Christ has to do with this body of hope. The last step consequently leads to an examination of the Lord’s Supper. From this new dimension of a theology of the Lord’s Supper can be formulated in relation to reformed identity, whereby participation, belonging, life and future play an important role.
I would like to close with a comment from my context: The words for peace, reconciliation and harmony in North Asian languages always include rice or grain. This means that where you share rice or grain with each other, this dimension of peace, reconciliation and harmony arises. The Asian languages thus reflect that the eating community is about more than a physical, human basic need: the hunger for justice should grow in those who have to eat.
I am very glad that this book is translated by Monica Buckland who makes possible to reach more readers among English speaking people. I wish this book a large readership and a lot of inspiration!