Postcolonial Discipleship of Embodiment: An Asian and Asian American Feminist Reading of the Gospel of Mark

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus asks the disciples, 'Do you not yet understand?' Rereading the Gospel through the lens of Asian and Asian American feminist hermeneutics, Jin Young Choi interprets this 'understanding' as phronesis (embodied wisdom) rather than knowledge of Jesus' identity. Discipleship, Choi asserts, means embodying mystery. Amidst the Roman imperial construction of the colonized body, colonial subjects perceive, or are haunted by, Jesus' body as phantasmic, consumed, and passive. The mystery of Jesus' transcorporeal body disrupts the imperial presence, while conveying the subjectivity of othered bodies that are invisible, placeless, and voiceless in both ancient and contemporary postcolonial contexts. This postcolonial feminist rereading of Mark calls for an ethical relation with the single figure of the crucified for continued life-giving and meaning-making.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART I: APPROACHING MARK 1. Rereading Discipleship 2. Knowledge, Body, and Subjectivity in Theoretical Frameworks 3. Asian and Asian American Feminist Hermeneutics of Phronesis PART II: A PHRONETIC READING OF MARK 4. Empire and Body: Bodies, Territories, and Language 5. The Phantasmic Body (Mark 6:45-52) 6. The Consumed Body (Mark 7:24-30) 7. The Passive Body (Mark 7:31-37) Conclusion

About the Author :
Jin Young Choi, a native of South Korea, is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, USA, and a Louisville Institute fellow, USA.

Review :
"Hardly any issue is more central to the gospels than the understanding of the structure and vision of discipleship. Jin Young expertly approaches this central topic with a sophisticated theoretical framework of postcolonial feminist biblical criticism and a hermeneutical lens of wisdom (phronesis). This sophisticated and highly readable interpretation of discipleship in the Gospel of Mark is a must read for anyone interested in Markan scholarship and/or postcolonial feminist interpretation. I highly recommend it." - Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, USA "This study of the Gospel of Mark represents an incisive conjunction of early Christian studies with postcolonial and feminist studies. It advances a postcolonial feminist approach from the particular perspective of the Asian and Asian American context, thereby raising the problematic of ethnic-racial studies as well. The result is a different reading of the dynamics and mechanics involving the characters of Jesus and followers—one in which the presence of absence and the voice of silence are highlighted. Markan studies is much the richer for it." - Fernando F. Segovia, Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, Vanderbilt University, USA "Choi argues in this work that the appearance of incomprehension and that of silence in Mark's Gospel are not necessarily negative. She proposes that gendered subalterns and 'linguistic others' like herself, though often silenced in public, do perceive and pass on their understanding through their visceral response, embodied improvisation, and lived truth. This is an invaluable and innovative contribution by an important new voice in New Testament studies." - Tat-siong Benny Liew, Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies, College of the Holy Cross, USA "This book presents an innovative interpretation of Mark centered on discipleship, body, and mystery in the Roman Empire and draws implications for the present. Choi makes an important contribution to feminist and postcolonial scholarship on the Bible. I highly recommend it." - Kwok Pui-lan, William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality, Episcopal Divinity School, USA