The Cave and the Butterfly: An Intercultural Theory of Interpretation and Religion in the Public Sphere

Paul S. Chung

Jan 2011 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

About this ebook

This study offers an intercultural theory of interpretation and religion. It does so by bringing Western and East Asian traditions into dialogue regarding the nature of interpretation. The result of this innovative study is a theory of interpretation which integrates the socially embodied dimension of human life with the study of hermeneutics and religion in post-foundational and cross-cultural perspective. Toward this end, Paul Chung offers a constructive theology of divine speech-acts in a manner more amenable to the social-public sphere than other proposals. In all of this he deeply considers intercultural horizon of interpretation between West and East and its implications for a theology of interpretation. The result is a truly theological theory of interpretation that takes seriously the issues of intercultural studies and their intersection with Christian doctrine.

About the author

Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Luther Seminary. He is the author of Karl Barth: God's Word in Action (Cascade Books, 2008).