Reimagining Spirit: Wind, Breath, and Vibration

by Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2019

Overview

The Spirit presents itself to many as an enigma. Its existence is mysterious and complex, generating misunderstandings and unawareness of its true purpose. The Spirit's ambiguous nature opens the opportunity for study to unearth the exciting truths that it holds. The Spirit is present in our world in various forms. This book aims to examine the Spirit as experienced in light, wind, breath, and vibration to help us uncover some of its aspects that invite us to work for climate justice, racial justice, and gender justice. The Holy Spirit has always been a mover and shaker of ideas and action. The Spirit's presence moves, stirs, and changes us to become aware of the social ills in our world. The different ways in which we reimagine the Holy Spirit can challenge some traditional assumptions in Christianity and provide a liberative vision that allows us to work for social justice. The work of the Holy Spirit stirs us to work toward new kinships with God that are sustainable, just, and whole.

Praise for Reimagining Spirit

“For too long, a narrow Euro-American Christian vision of the Spirit has prevented people from seeing and experiencing the fullness of the Spirit. Grace Ji-Sun Kim invites us to imagine the Spirit anew. Kim inspires us to see how the Spirit moves us to offer loving, healing, and prophetic expressions of racial, environmental, and gender justice. This is one of the most important books on the Spirit I have ever read.”

—Graham Joseph Hill, Stirling Theological College



“With her book Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim seals her reputation as an authority on pneumatology. Here she goes further than two previous books by offering us a profound theology of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit under three images, namely—light, wind, and vibration. Dr. Kim succeeds splendidly in making the Holy Spirit real to Christian life, no longer an ethereal and abstract entity but the powerful and personal divine force moving and shaking us to work for climate, gender, and racial justice. I strongly recommend this book not only for theology courses but also for spiritual reading.”

—Peter C. Phan, Georgetown University



“Grace Ji-Sun Kim has written an engaging text that considers how to address important contemporary issues in light of an evolving, hybrid Christian pneumatology. . . . By emphasizing the worldwide nature of Christianity alongside an exploration of spirit’s presence across religions, Kim pushes against an understanding of cultures as absolutely distinct. Noting both the permeability and interrelationship of cultures and the reality of a worldwide Christianity manifested in diverse geographies through diverse cultures, Kim challenges Christianity to embrace the reinvigoration that is available through the multiplicity within itself. As an exemplar of this reinvigoration, Kim discusses the Korean concept jeong, a sticky kind of love, which pushes against the transactional nature in many understandings of love in the United States.”

—Rosetta E. Ross, Spelman College

Product Details

• Title : Reimagining Spirit: Wind, Breath, and Vibration
• Author: Kim, Grace Ji-Sun
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Publication Date: 2019
• ISBN: 9781532689260

About Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Grace Ji-Sun Kim (PhD, St. Michael's College, University of Toronto) is associate professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is author or editor of fifteen books, including Embracing the Other, Christian Doctrines for Global Gender Justice, and Intercultural Ministry. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).