Phuc Luu - Jesus of the East: Reclaiming the Gospel for the Wounded

Phuc Luu powerfully presents a Christian foresight of holistic healing communities for the traumatized, the unanswerably suffering, and the brokenhearted from sin, sickness, racism, impoverishment, and war. Although Luu came to the United States at the age of four, he reverberates a collective memory of the effect of the Vietnam War and of unresolvable wounds of that tragedy, providing an Eastern vision of Jesus message. A moving, thought-provoking, and transformative book for all suffering people.

ANDREW SUNG PARK , professor of theology and ethics at United Theological Seminary and author of Triune Atonement

Phuc Luu writes between multiple worlds of citizenship, nationality, ethnicity, and Gods kingdom. The richness of his testimony reroots us into our bodies and reminds us of Gods incarnation. Capturing Jesus invitation to move out of othering and into presence, Luu drives home that Christianity is not meant to be a spiritual exercise alone. In Jesus of the East , Luu pulls on the strands of secular gnosticism found in Cartesian thought, and weaves the text with personal stories and holy narratives, revealing the deep woundedness in humanity and Gods intentional liberation. From the misty mountains of Vietnam to the fog of culture, we are pulled by this brilliant text to make space for our own emerging narrative of beautiful rebirth.

C. ANDREW DOYLE , Episcopal bishop of Texas and author of Citizen: Faithful Discipleship in a Partisan World

Phuc Luu has written an insightful, provocative study that challenges many of the presuppositions of dominant theology among us. Luu judges that Western theology offers a misguided, distorted vision of God and of humanity. Informed by insights from Korean Minjung theology and the powerful restorative work of han , Phuc Luu sees that the gospel is not about pardon from sin but about restoration of the wounded. This in turn leads to a focus on the human body, not the soul, and especially on the bodies of the broken and wounded, whom God restores and permits to grow fully into Gods own image. The outcome is a deeply different theology that assigns very different work to God and that affirms a very different prospect for humanity. In the grip of Constantine and Descartes, we in the West have so much to unlearn and so much to learn afresh from the Asian church. What we may learn afresh is indeed good news for us all, and for the church as a carrier of that good news.

WALTER BRUEGGEMANN , professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary

While reading Jesus of the East , I was swept away on an incredible theological journey where the author, Phuc Luu, integrated deep research and thought, woven together with his personal narrative, creating a compassionate theology as inspiring, skillful, and accessible as a great work of art or a grand poem. Such a gift is rare in the field of theology. I am thankful for the opportunity to be exposed to such a hopeful and helpful book, and you will be too!

RANDY WOODLEY , distinguished professor of faith and culture at Portland Seminary of George Fox University and author of Shalom and the Community of Creation

Herald Press

PO Box 866, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803

www.HeraldPress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Luu, Phuc, author.

Title: Jesus of the East : reclaiming the gospel for the wounded / Phuc

Luu.

Description: Harrisonburg, Virginia : Herald Press, [2020] | Includes

bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019059959 (print) | LCCN 2019059960 (ebook) | ISBN

9781513806716 (paperback) | ISBN 9781513806723 (hardcover) | ISBN

9781513806730 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Biography--History and criticism. | Jesus

Christ--Political and social views. | Christianity--Controversial

literature. | Church and social problems. | Eastern churches--Doctrines.

Classification: LCC BT301.9 .L78 2020 (print) | LCC BT301.9 (ebook) | DDC

232--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059959

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059960

JESUS OF THE EAST

2020 by Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803. 800-245-7894.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019059959

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-5138-0671-6 (paperback);

978-1-5138-0672-3 (hardcover); 978-1-5138-0673-0 (ebook)

Printed in United States of America

Cover and interior design by Reuben Graham

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright owners.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture text is quoted, with permission, from the New Revised Standard Version , 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from the Common English Bible , copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible . Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright 19962018 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

24 23 22 21 2010 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For the women in my lifetheir strength permeates this work.

FOREWORD

F or thirty-five years, it has been the privilege of my life to walk with gang members in Los Angeles at Homeboy Industries. This work of accompanying the demonized so that the demonizing will stop is a gift beyond my ability to describe.

I got a text yesterday from a homie who has struggled mightily with trauma and mental health issues. I cant decide if Im good or bad, he texted. I found myself telling him, You are unshakably good. You are my son. You just need to heal some things. There are theological notions of God and sin that have failed us and left us malnourished. They have allowed the wounded to see themselves as less than. The proliferating messages of a colonizing Christianity have not given us real food, but have left us feeling as I do when I catch a homie feeding his toddler Flamin Hot Cheetos. Dawg... dont give your kids crap.

Good theology, Annie Dillard says, removes absurdities. Jesus of the East is good theology. Phuc Luu reignites our longing to live as though the truth were true. He cuts up our meat for us, with scholarship so complete and personal reflections so tender that we feel nourished and quickened to live differently. This book is so important because it invites us to take seriously what Jesus took seriously: Inclusion. Nonviolence. Unconditional loving-kindness. Compassionate acceptance.