Edited by Young Lee Hertig & Chloe Sun
Have you ever felt alone, facing the challenges life presents? Have you ever felt like you were parachuted onto an unpredictable path of leadership, with no road map? Then join us! Mirrored Reflections arose from the alienating experiences of a group of evangelical Christian women leaders known as AAWOL (Asian American Women On Leadership), who formed a community with the motto “Never Alone Again.”
Reflecting on how the stories of select biblical characters mirror their own stories, AAWOL core sisters reframe these biblical stories through a Yinist lens and envision fresh, powerful leadership principles. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter guide readers to discover and articulate their own stories and imagine how their own parallel those of the biblical characters. Read and be nourished, finding mirrored reflections of your own broken or unvoiced story—both female and male—and enjoy the redemptive nature of the stories’ multivocality.
Contributors
(from left, clockwise) Joy Lentz Wong, Melanie Mar Chow, Kirsten Oh, Deborah Hearn Gin, Beverly Chen, Young Lee Hertig, Chloe Sun (not shown: Grace Choi Kim)
Table of Contents
Foreword by Richard J. Mouw
Preface by Timothy Tseng
Introduction: The Yin and Yang Concept Young Lee Hertig
Part I—Journeys toward Redemption
1. The Asian American Alternative to Feminism: A Yinist Paradigm Young Lee Hertig
2. Subversive Banquets of Vashti and Esther Young Lee Hertig
3. Bathsheba Transformed: From Silence to Voice Chloe Sun
4. Irit Redeemed: Casting My Lot with Lot’s Wife Kirsten Oh
Part II—Journeys toward Wholeness
5. Ruth: Identity and Leadership from Multivocal Spaces Deborah Hearn Gin
6. Hannah: I Will Never Be the Same Grace Choi Kim
7. Mary and Martha: Integrating Two Sides of Life Beverly Chen
Part III—Journeys toward Liberation
8. Elizabeth and Mary: Women in Solidarity Joy Lentz Wong
9. Priscilla: Co-laboring in Marriage and Ministry Melanie Mar Chow
10. Dialogical Encounter at the Well Young Lee Hertig
Conclusion
Glossary and Abbreviations
Bibliography
ENDORSEMENTS AND REVIEW
Endorsements and Review
“Mirrored Reflections is a ground-breaking and paradigmatic book for Christian theology in general and evangelical biblical hermeneutics in particular. It opens up space for Asian American women’s readings of the Bible without mimicking other feminist agendas; it embraces reader-response approaches while honoring the scriptural horizon; [it boldly explores a countercultural contextualism, polyphonous multivocalism, and intersubjective perspectivism without lapsing into relativism; and it insists on the need for us to come to terms with pluralism, globalization, and transnationalism in the pursuit of faithful Christian discipleship in our time.] Simply put, this is biblical interpretation and theological reflection at its best: engaging, subversive, transformative, and salvific – for women and men. Evangelical Bible reading will never be the same!” –Amos Yong, J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology, Regent University School of Divinity, Virginia Beach, Virginia
“Mirrored Reflections is a unique and engaging work. Like Ernesto Cardenal’s class trilogy The Gospel in Solentiname, it presents innovative engagements of persons with the transformative power of biblical narratives. In it eight Asian American women deftly intertwine their personal stories of struggle to authenticity and liberation with those of selected biblical women. The authors’ reward will be if you, the reader, are stimulated to find biblical parallels to your own journey toward self-fulfillment.” -Norm Thomas