Meet the 17th Assembly Cato Lecturer 

By Rebecca Beisler

The presenter of the Cato Lecture at the 17^th Assembly in July will be Korean American theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a world renowned scholar and expert in intercultural, feminist and post-colonial theology. 

Grace is the author or editor of 22 books and Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. She is a much sought after lecturer across the globe and last year Christian media organisation Sojourners named Grace as one of eight women shaping the church. 

Grace told the Assembly this week she was thrilled to be asked to present the Cato Lecture and was looking forward to returning to Australia after making strong connections with the Uniting Church on her visit five years ago.

While not wanting to give too much away, Grace said her lecture will touch on the concepts in several of her books and make connections with the 17^th Assembly theme, ‘Threads of Love, Weaving Christ’s Love Across Cultures and Boundaries’.

Grace is an ordained minister within the Presbyterian Church (USA). She was born in Korea, educated in Canada and now teaches in the US. Her book Invisible, listed by Englewood Review of Books as one of 12 Important Theology Books of 2021, explores the marginalisation and oppression of Asian-American women. Borne out of her own experience of xenophobia and racism, Grace discusses the notion of “invisibility” as not only a cultural or social issue but also a spiritual one.

“We talk about in, you know, like Harry Potter, the invisible cloak. It's one thing to have this thing where you use it as your power and it’s your decision to be made invisible, but it's really another thing when societies themselves make a group invisible. Asian Americans here are made invisible by the white dominant society and I’m hoping that the book might be a lens for us to understand how other groups are made invisible.”

Grace listed those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the LGBTIQA+ community, people who are disabled, and in today’s context, the Palestinian people, as examples of groups which are made invisible by society.

She speaks about a ‘theology of visibility’ as a way of lifting people up.

“I think in so many ways it's not just Asian Americans that are made invisible, but other groups. And we really need to stop that. Everyone is equal, everyone is created in the image of God and we have to value each other. No life is less valuable than another life.”

Her upcoming book, When God Became White, due for release in May, unpacks and questions the fixation for much of the church on a white male God.

“Many years ago, I took my kids to the Sistine chapel and you see Michaelangelo’s painting of a white male God and you see it all over Europe. Jesus somehow turned into a white male Jesus too. He wasn’t white, but he turned into white. It made me really question, why is this happening when no one has seen God, there is no reference to God being white anywhere in the bible, Old Testament or New Testament. Sure there are male metaphors, and there are female metaphors of who God is as well.”

“Why are we so fixated on this whiteness and this maleness of God? It has to do with power. In the name of God, white male European church leaders have engaged in war and genocide and colonialism and sexism, and the white male God helps them to do it.”

Grace in 2019 at the Uniting College for Leadership & Theology in Adelaide, and speaking to the Korean National Conference online in 2023. 

In the book, Grace shows what it might look like to recover the biblical reality of a non-white, non-gendered God.

“I think it is an important topic, especially because the white churches are dropping off or are rapidly declining and it’s in developing countries, or in Africa, Asia, South America, that the churches are slowly growing, so we really need to understand that God is not male and God is not white.”

Grace says she is particularly excited to witness the installation of Charissa, who will be the first Tongan and first person of colour to lead the Uniting Church nationally.

“For her to be the first woman of colour, it’s so exciting to see that happening in Australia. I think that will shed a light for many other denominations too.”

Grace says the 17^th Assembly theme and its reminder to embrace the other is an important message for the church today.

“I think the theme really speaks to our time right now. As Christians we speak about love all the time, but we don’t really act on it. The Church really needs to grow on love and what it means to love one another. Even in our own contexts we are afraid of those who are different from us. If a poor person walks into the church, everyone is alarmed. We get afraid of those who are different from us. I think the theme of love and binding, it’s a good theme for us to think about for these three years and beyond.”

Grace said she hoped that the theme and its focus on crossing boundaries would extend beyond the Uniting Church in Australia to other places across the world.

“No church is just an island to themselves. We're all kind of global these days. So I hope that whatever the churches are doing in Australia, it will have an impact in other places, in Asia and in North America, too. We have so much to learn from one another.”

The Cato Lecture is a key feature of the triennial Assembly. It is named after Fred Cato who established the Cato Lectureship in 1932 for the promotion of religion and education.

Find out more about Grace Ji-Sun Kim and her books. Listen to her podcast Madang by The Christian Century.