Messiah in Weakness

Yung Suk Kim raises a perennial question about Jesus: How can we approach the historical Jesus? Kim proposes to interpret him from the perspective of the dispossessed--through the eyes of weakness. Exploring Jesus's experience, interpretation, and enactment of weakness, understanding weakness as both human condition and virtue, Kim offers a new portrait of Jesus who is weak and strong, and empowered to bring God's rule, replete with mercy, in the here and now. Arguing against the grain of tradition that the strong Jesus identifies with the weak, Kim demonstrates that it is the weak Jesus who identifies with the weak. The paradoxical truth with Jesus is: ""Because he is weak, he is strong."" In the end, Jesus dies a death of paradox that reveals both his ultimate weakness that demands divine justice, and his unyielding spirit of love for the world and truth of God. ""A timely intervention of public biblical interpretation. Yung Suk Kim's interpretation of Jesus provides a much-needed intervention in our current cultural moment. A society determined to assert its power naturally seeks a Jesus who affirms its striving; Kim names such theologies idolatrous and demonstrates how Jesus brought transformation out of his own weakness. Acknowledging that we are all weak, he reasons, we can live in solidarity with the rest of humanity."" --Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament, Lancaster Theological Seminary ""In Messiah in Weakness, Dr. Kim presents the intriguing and engaging contextualized proposition that Jesus of Nazareth embodied both weakness and strength. Expanding the conceptualization of weakness, Kim convincingly demonstrates how Jesus, through his ministry of teaching and healing and his suffering/crucifixion, enacted weakness, advocating for the weak. Reading through the decolonizing lens of weakness, Kim guides readers along a path paved with history of interpretation, adept literary analysis, contextual theology, and cultural and contemporary relevance."" --Mitzi J. Smith, Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies, Ashland Theological Seminary/Detroit Center Yung Suk Kim is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University. He is the author of seven books, including Christ's Body in Corinth (2008) and Resurrecting Jesus (Cascade, 2015). He has edited two volumes: 1-2 Corinthians (2013) and Reading Minjung Theology in the Twenty-First Century (Pickwick, 2013). He is the editor of the Journal of Bible and Human Transformation and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion.