Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
Greetings to you!
The remarkable turn of the seasons that we witness at this time of the year assures us that even multiple dozens of storms cannot prevent the world from imagining and welcoming the warm breeze of spring. Every little line that the mercury climbs reminds us of hope. Though it seems so long in coming, it is practically here with us. Easter (a word that was originally associated with the goddess of spring) is here, too. The preachers of the hope of resurrection are mounting the pulpit or horseback to proclaim the power of radical transformation made by the mighty acts of God.
Transformation or metamorphosis is a commonly available fact of life, whether it takes place in the natural world where a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, or a star from galactic clouds, or a cell from conjugation. While these changes in form are accompanied by inevitability, they always seem to involve struggle and stretching, waxing and waning, birth and expiration. Although these natural phenomena mostly die out, preachers have the uncanny capacity of having them leave us with the capacity to dwell on hope.
Our contemporary cultures have done a good job of making the word “transformation” familiar to us—perhaps, all too familiar. We may be tempted to think of it as a change in form. However, the Latin forma originally meant what holds the object together so that it may have its integrity. It is the part that tells that a change has occurred. That was also what the disciples saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, which many New Testament scholars regard as a precursor of the resurrection. There Jesus was transfigured (metemorphōtē): in other words, he was metamorphosed!
Easter confirms the promise of transformation (metamorphosis). Nature has been transformed, and hope is renewed. Our preachers and theologians in this issue call upon us to dare to hope and pursue the path of transformation with a note that our posture is more of a receiver than of a maker of the change. We will not again presume to say and believe that we can build the kingdom of God. Such a notion is entirely alien to the biblical formulation of the kingdom of God, which is what God brings and we welcome, not something fallible human beings build and impose on others.
God’s peace and grace be with you always!
Jin H. Han
Editor in Chief
