Book Review

Transforming Congregations Through Community:

Faith Formation from the Seminary to the Church
By: Boyung Lee
Louisville, KY.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013
152 pp. Paperback
ISBN 978-0-664-23330-3

Transforming Congregations Through Community provides an

“Asian American postcolonial feminist religious educator’s
perspective” (viii) on what constitutes an authentic sense of
Christian community, as “culled from racial and ethnic mainline
churches” (15). Boyung Lee celebrates the insights of a
communal worldview of interdependence and
interconnectedness as an essential foundation for healthy
Christian ministry. More explicitly, the text “...explores ways to
transform individualism in theological education and ministry
and presents a pedagogical model for communal faith and
ministry” (vii).
The first section of the book delineates the author’s
approach to understanding community and presents a biblical
foundation for communal faith. Lee helpfully distinguishes
between community in individualistic societies—namely,
relationship constituted by people who share similar interests—
and community within societies shaped by a communal
worldview, which promotes an “organic wholeness” in which
“persons can be fully understood only in connection with the
larger whole” (8). The text posits that an ideal balance between
the wisdom in recognizing human nature as communal—as
being fundamentally interdependent and interconnected—and
the goal of promoting each person’s individuality and
accountability, can be found in the notion of biblical community
within the notion of “People of God” in the Hebrew scriptures
(17—25). Furthermore, Lee identifies just such a balance within
the Pauline letters, which suggests that an individual does not

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have existence apart from the whole Body of Christ (35),

defined as “an alternative, countercultural community in which
all existing social, cultural, religious, and gender divisions should
be overcome” (34).
The second section of the book offers examples of how a
more communal approach might inform the practice of ministry
as pedagogy. The author meaningfully identifies why churches
should approach every aspect of their ministry, not merely
Sunday school, “...as a moment for spiritual involvement—for
engagement, enrichment, and insight”. In other words, churches
ought “to see all of church life as curriculum” (52). Employing
significant concepts from the field of religious education to
support the successful flourishing of ministry as a whole,
“Christian religious education occurs not only in the context of
formal instruction with an explicit curriculum but also through
the rest of its life with implicit and null curricula as attendant
pedagogical spirits” (59). Although some ministries might
espouse a broader pedagogical approach in theory, the author
cautions that communal spiritual formation is possible only
“when the community owns it” in reality (69).
The final section, constituting the last half of the book, gets
to the heart of the matter, seeking to cultivate communal,
holistic ministries whose “promise reaches beyond the four walls
of a classroom” (76). Speaking from experience, the author
provides real-life examples of engaging postcolonial biblical
interpretation, as well as a 5Rs methodology adapted from the
work of Christine Eaton Blair in order to “...challenge the
status quo, especially a modern-day individualism and
colonialism that keeps the mainline from being a truly inclusive
church” (91). Lee draws attention to the potential of day-to-day
administrative structures to promote or hinder the development
of real community. Lastly, this work offers a meaningful critique
of a multiculturalism that maintains a white, western perspective
as the dominant center, with other communities of identity
competing for incorporation from the margins. Instead, the
author promotes a vision of an intercultural communal church
based upon the work of African New Testament scholar Musa
Dube, which endeavors to cultivate a dialogical web “whose goal
is liberating interdependence” (129).
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Boyung Lee’s evocative text is aptly designed to help

seminary students, clergy, and laity of progressive mainline
denominations to explore ways to revitalize the church through
transforming individualism in theological education and diverse
ministry contexts” (xi). This would make a fine text to utilize in
a seminary or upper-undergraduate level course, not only on the
specific topic of religious education, but also within the larger
field of practical theology. Indeed, the combination of critical
scholarship and practical examples from ministry and higher
education made this book an effective invitation to live the
questions of identity, meaning, and value, which is how I
describe the task of theology. As a white, upper-middle-class,
former clergywoman from a progressive city in the Pacific
Northwest who teaches theology to undergraduates and
seminarians, I found that this text called me to engage in
thoughtful self-re flection. To what extent do I laud the ideals of
a communal worldview while still harboring an individualistic
approach to teaching and ministry? How might I continue to
examine critically my assumptions, identity, and privileges?
Notwithstanding my best efforts and intentions, in reality, does
my pedagogical approach to education and ministry "... bring
the liberation of those who are the most marginalized among
and beyond our community?” (130). For those who would
engage such questions, Boyung Lee’s text offers a thoughtful
consideration of how to embody intentional, liberating
communities of faith.

Thea Mirabella Maeve Wyatt

Seattle University
Seattle, Washington

Journal of Religious leadership, Vol. 17, Fall 2018

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