Dr. Sam Tsang to deliver lecture on Galatians on June 6 (Campbell, CA)

Free Summer Lecture on Galatians (Cantonese Only). Paul’s Gospel for the North American Chinese Evangelical Church by Dr. Sam Tsang. June 6, 2009. West Valley Alliance Church, Campbell, CA

Sam writes:

I am pleased to announce another FREE lecture on 6/6/2009.  Not so coincidentally, the publication of my revised and updated dissertation “From Slaves to Sons” in Chinese by Tien Dao will happen soon after this event.  Please join me in celebration of my publication.  This lecture will show some of the parallels between the Galatian problem and the some of the issues facing North American Chinese churches.  Galatians was my PhD dissertation.  I hope to show relevance between scholarly study and application in this lecture.  I believe Paul’s gospel still speaks to us today.  There is plenty of seating.  Feel free to grab your Cantonese Christian friends.

For more information, to register, and get directions, go to:

http://www.sacredsaga.org/sam-tsangs-blog/2009/3/27/free-bay-area-summer-lecture-on-galatians.html#comments

Upcoming Lectures in the Bay Area (Apr. 22 and 27, 2009)

SANACS presents the following ISAAC lectures/panels in the Bay Area for April 2009:

April 22 | 4 p.m. | UC Berkeley, Moses Hall, 223, IIS Conference Room

“Christianity and Political Culture in North Korea: Challenges for Reunification”
Prof. Jong Sun Noh, Professor of Christian Social Ethics and Peace Studies
at Yonsei University, South Korea

Professor Noh is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on Korean reunification. In this lecture, he will detail the ideology of “Juche” that lies behind North Korea’s “collective solidarity” and will go on to argue that Korean reunification could lead to economic prosperity. From a theological perspective, he will explore how Christianity could play a role in establishing peace on the Korean peninsula.

Trained as a theologian, he received his MDiv from Harvard, his PhD from Union Theological Seminary, and has taught at Yale. His most recent book was titled, “A Paradigm Shift for Peace in North East Asia.”

Event Contact: 510-642-2474

Co-sponsors with: Religion, Politics and Globalization Program (RPGP) and Center for Korean Studies (CKS) at UC Berkeley

* * * *

Apr. 27 | 5-7 PM | University of San Francisco, Fromm Hall

Panel: “Christian Faith and Asian American Activism”
This panel will invite local religious leaders in the Asian American Christian community to discuss the role of their religious organizations in the early beginnings of the Asian American Movement.  Additionally, these leaders will discuss the current role of Asian American Christian faith and religion in shaping current discourse in the Asian American Movement and in Asian American Studies.

Panelists:
Rev. Lloyd Wake, retired United Methodist minister and Asian American community activist.
Russell Jeung, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies, SFSU
Fr. Dennis Recio, S.J., Asian American Studies faculty member, University of San Francisco
Nhuanh Ly, Health Educator & Youth Activist, Banteay Srei

Moderator:
Timothy Tseng, Executive Director of Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies

For more information about this event series or USF Asian American Studies, please contact Prof. Kevin Chun, Program Director (415.422.2418, email Kevin), or Andrea Wise, Program Assistant (415.422.5983, email Andrea). For more information about this particular panel, go to the ISAAC blog.

Co-sponsors with: USF Asian American Studies, USF Theology and Religious Studies Department, USF Center for the Pacific Rim

Exploring the Post-Secular Conference (Yale University, Apr. 3-4, 2009)

Dear colleagues,

Please circulate widely.
Many thanks,
David

DAVID KYUMAN KIM [email David]
Senior Advisor & Acting Program Director
Social Science Research Council
Editor-at-Large, The Immanent Frame
One Pierrepont Plaza, 15th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/
and
Visiting Associate Professor in the Humanities
Cogut Center for the Humanities
Brown University
Box 1983
Providence, RI 02912
401-863-6118

* * * *
Exploring the Post-Secular
April 3-4, 2009
Yale University

There has been a great deal of talk in recent years suggesting that we have entered a “post-secular” age. Much of this is a response to the resurgence of politicized religion on the world scene. But what, if anything, does the term “post-secular” even mean? Have we really entered into a post-secular age? And if so, what implications, if any, does this have for the social sciences? Do these developments imply a new approach to the study of religion? A wholesale reconstruction of social science? A shift towards social philosophy?  Is there such a thing as “post-secular social science”?

This conference brings together a number of analysts of religion and its entanglements with the world in an attempt to assess these questions. We will address the possible meanings of religion and of the various terms with roots in the term “secular”: secularism, secularity, secularization. Without some grappling with the question of what religion is, it is very difficult to say what secularity or secularization might entail. We will explore the extent to which the “return of religion” is a product of an actual upsurge of religiosity around the world as opposed to greater scholarly attention to religion. We will also examine the ways in which the global religious situation may compel us to reconsider how we think about both religion and social science.

Friday, April 3 – Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, rooms 202 & 203

8:50 A.M.    Introductory remarks
Philip Gorski, David Kyuman Kim, John Torpey

9:00 A.M.    Richard Madsen, University of California at San Diego
“What is Religion? Categorical Re-configurations in a Global Horizon”
discussant: Deborah Davis, Yale University

10:00 A.M.   Aditya Nigam, Center for the Study of Developing Societies
“What Comes After the Secular?”
discussant: Arvind Rajagopal, New York University

11:15 A.M.  Courtney Bender, Columbia University
“Things in their Entanglements”
discussant: Paul Lichterman, University of Southern California

1:00 P.M.     Philip Gorski, Yale University
“Recovered Goods: The Moral Underpinnings of Durkheimian Sociology”
discussant: Steven Lukes, New York University

2:00 P.M.    Hent de Vries, Johns Hopkins University
“Obama’s Deep Pragmatism”

3:15 P.M.     Bryan S. Turner, Wellesley College
“On Doing Religion: Critical Reflections on Rorty, Derrida and Vattimo with Special Reference to ‘Asian Religions’”
discussant: Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame

4:15 P.M.    James K.A. Smith, Calvin College
“Secular Liturgies and the Prospects for a ‘Post-Secular’ Age”
discussant: Pericles Lewis, Yale University

5:30 P.M.    John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University
“Religion and Knowledge in the Post-Secular Academy”
discussant: Peter Steinfels, Fordham University

6:30 P.M.    End of panels for the day

Saturday, April 4 – Henry R. Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue

8:30 A.M.    Penny Edgell, University of Minnesota
“Religion as Cultural Repertoire, or, the Post-Secular as Scholarly Turning Point”
discussant: Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Michigan

9:30 A.M.    Michele Dillon, University of New Hampshire
“Probing the Post-Secular Turn: Bridging Grandiose Claims and Lived Realities”
discussant: David Little, Harvard University

10:45 A.M.  John Torpey, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
“A (Post-)Secular Age? Religion and the Two Exceptionalisms”
discussant: David Morgan, Duke University

11:45 A.M.  Eduardo Mendieta, SUNY at Stony Brook
“Spiritual Politics and Post-secular Authenticity: Foucault and Habermas on Post-Metaphysical Religion”
discussant: Ludger Viefhues-Bailey, Yale University

1:30 P.M.    Roundtable
Craig Calhoun, SSRC & New York University
José Casanova, Georgetown University
David Kyuman Kim, SSRC & Connecticut College

3:00 P.M.    End of conference

Conveners: Philip Gorski, John Torpey, David Kyuman Kim.

Conference sponsors: The MacMillan Center Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Society; The Center for Comparative Research at Yale University; Social Science Research Council; co-sponsored by The Graduate Center, City University ofNew York.

The conference is free and open to the public. No registration is required. For further information, please contact the conference coordinator, Ateş Altınordu [Email Ates].

Religion and Theology in Asian America: An ISAAC Lecture Series

ISAAC is delighted to announce the inauguration of “Religion and Theology in Asian America” (RTAA) lectureship in 2009. ISAAC, in partnership with colleges, universities and seminaries across North America, will sponsor talks by scholars and practitioners who specialize in Asian American Religion and Theology (with special attention to Christianity). We are in conversation with U.C. Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and Fuller Theological Seminary about hosting at least three lectures in 2009.

The Society of Asian North American Christian Studies (SANACS) steering committee oversees and recruits speakers for the RTAA lectures. The members of the steering committee are:

Dr. Russell Jeung
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies
College of Ethnic Studies
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California

Dr. Rebecca Y. Kim
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California

Dr. Jonathan Tan
Assistant Professor of Minorities’ Studies and World Religions
Xavier University
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dr. Timothy Tseng
Executive Director
Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity
Castro Valley, California

Dr. Russell Yee
Managing Editor
SANACS Journal
Oakland, California

For our “speakers pool,” we are interested in identifying scholars or practitioners who can address a wide range of issues that intersect with the experiences of Asian Christians in North America (e.g, the civic engagement practices of Asian American Catholics, Protestants, and evangelicals; trans-national and diasporic aspects of religion and theology in Asia America; the impact of the North American context on ethnic Asian spirituality and religious practices; reflections on the intersections or disconnections between the study of race, gender, politics, and religion in Asian American studies; etc.).

ISAAC also seeks donors who would like to make these lectures more widely available. We estimate a budget of $5,000 for each lecture. You may direct your gifts to this lecture – go to isaacweb.org for more information or to make an on-line gift.

If you represent an educational institution that is interested in hosting a lecture, if you are interested in becoming a member of the “speakers pool,” or if you are interested in contributing to the lectures, please email Tim Tseng for details.

Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir to Give Inaugural Lecture at Claremont School of Theology (Sept. 18)

Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir, a friend of ISAAC, will give her inaugural lecture at Claremont School of Theology on Thursday, Sept. 18th in the Mudd Theatre at 4:30 PM. Dr. Young Lee Hertig, Vice-President and Southern California director of ISAAC will be a responding panelist. For more information go to:
http://www.cst.edu/about_claremont/news_HSJ.inaugural.php

Seminar on Biblical Greek (in Mandarin) – Bay Area (Oct. 4)

Worldwide Bible Society, the translators of the New Chinese Translation is pleased to announce a one-day FREE seminar conducted by Prof. Andrew Hwang of Singapore Bible Society and Dr. Sam Tsang who taught many Bay Area pastors now, on Oct. 4 from 10.30am to 3 pm at Mountain View Chinese Christian Church (175 E. Dana St. Mt. View, CA 94041, contact phone: 408-996-8388).

Prof. Hwang who is also the head of the translation committee for WBS will discuss the meanings of biblical Greek words from a linguistic point of view from 10.30-12 and Dr. Tsang will respond in the afternoon (1.30-3) to show how Prof. Hwang’s method can fit into his own method of studying Paul. The seminar will be conducted in Mandarin.  All are welcome.

Dr. Sam Tsang
Vice President of Overseas Theological Seminary, San Jose
PhD. New Testament, University of Sheffield
MDiv, MAET, Western San Jose

Rebecca Kim to talk about Korean American Evangelicals at UC Berkeley (Sept. 10, 2008)

I’d like to announce the following event to be held at UC Berkeley (see below). Rebecca Kim is a good friend and colleague who has recently published a study of second-gen Korean American evangelicals. If you live in the Bay Area or know people at UC, could you spread the word about this exciting talk?
Thanks,
Tim

About Rebecca Kim

About her book

* * *
“God’s New Whiz Kids?  Korean American Campus Evangelicals”
Rebecca Kim, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Pepperdine University
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
4 p.m., 223 Moses Hall (http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/CD45.html)
Sponsored by the Religion, Politics and Globalization Program at UC Berkeley
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Leadership Development & the Study of Asian North American Religion, GTU

God’s New Whiz Kids? focuses on second-generation Korean Americans, who make up the majority of Asian American evangelicals, and explores the factors that lead college-bound Korean American evangelicals—from integrated, mixed race neighborhoods—to create racially segregated religious communities on campus. Kim illuminates an emergent “made in the U.S.A.” ethnicity to help explain this trend, and to shed light on a group that may be changing the face of American evangelicalism, both at home and abroad.

—
Events Coordinator
The Religion, Politics and Globalization Program (RPGP)
The Institute of International Studies (IIS)
ojessie@berkeley.edu
Ph. 510.642.7747
rpgp.berkeley.edu
globetrotter.berkeley.edu

“What Do Asian Americans Really Believe?” Fenggang Yang lecture at Middlebury College

On March 15, 2007, Dr. Fenggang Yang, Associate Professor of Sociology at Purdue University, and author of Chinese Christians in America Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities (Penn State University Press, 1999) delivered one of the William P. Scott lectures at Middlebury College in Vermont entitled “The Pluralism Project of Distortion: What Do Asian Americans Really Believe?” where he argues that Christianity is much more prevalent among Asian Americans than is commonly understood, especially by the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

Watch a digital video with RealPlayer.
Podcast of the same lecture is also available here.

The following related lectures can also be viewed at this webpage:

April 19, 2007
Jane Smith
Hartford Seminary
“Islam: A Truly American Religion?”
Watch a digital video

April 9, 2007
Prema Kurien
Associate Professor, Syracuse University
“A Place at the Multicultural Table: The Development of an American Hinduism”
Watch a digital video

March 9, 2007
Sharon Suh
Associate Professor in the department of Theology and Religious Studies, Seattle University
“Religion, Immigration and the Quest for a Self: An Examination of Contemporary Korean American Buddhism”
Watch a digital video

March 2, 2007
Nathan Brown
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
“Islam, Human Rights and Constitutionalism”
Watch a digital video

March 1, 2007
Raymond Williams
Charles D. and Elizabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, Wabash College
“Transnational Religions and American Identities”
Watch a digital video

Korean Immigrant Nationalism lecture at University of Washington

Please join Korean American Historical Society in welcoming

Richard S. Kim, PhD.
“Diasporic Dilemmas: Korean Immigrant Nationalism and Transnational State-Building, 1903-1945”

A lecture on efforts undertaken by the Koreans in the United States to free their homeland from Japanese colonialism.

This event also marks a new start for KAHS in terms of leadership and organization.

Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 PM
University of Washington
Simpson Center for the Humanities,
Communications Bldg. Room 226

Richard Kim is Assistant Professor of Asian Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan in 2002. He also obtained a M.A. in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research and teaching interests include Asian American history, Korean American Studies, U.S. immigration history, race and ethnicity, colonialism and nationalism, globalization, transnationalism, and diaspora. Professor Kim is currently working on a book manuscript on Korean immigrant nationalism and diasporic politics as well as a volume on Asian Americans in rural America. (http://asa.ucdavis.edu/faculty_kim.shtml)

Korean American Historical Society is dedicated to collecting, maintaining, and transmitting the heritage and achievements of Koreans living in the United States and abroad. For more information, see http://kahs.org/