Kookmin Ilbo Newspaper Interview: When God Became White
I was honored to be interviewed by the Kookmin Ilbo Newspaper, a widely circulated newspaper in Korea, about my book, When God Became White.
I am grateful for this interview and am excited that my book, When God Became White, will be translated into Korean later this year.
Was Jesus White?… “Let’s Read the Bible Without the Illusion of Whiteness”
2026-05-26 12:00 [출처] - 국민일보 [원본링크] -
Even amidst the K-culture craze, discrimination against people of color persists. Ji-Sun Kim (57), a professor at Earlham School of Religion in the U.S., who immigrated to Canada at the age of five in 1975 and grew up amidst severe discrimination, focused on the discrimination that does not disappear, no matter how much the world changes.
Professor Kim, a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), sharply diagnosed the white male-centrism of Christian theology in her book *When God Became White*, published in 2024. Regarding the history of Jesus, who was born a Jew but became white, Professor Kim advised, “We must break free from this now to understand the true meaning of the Gospel.” This book will soon be published in Korean by the Christian Literature Society of Korea.
We met with Professor Kim at Luce Chapel, Yonsei University, in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 12th, and conducted an additional interview via email on the 26th. Born in Seoul, Professor Kim grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, which was a predominantly white area.
The words she mainly heard at school were discriminatory language, such as “You look strange” and “You smell.” While the Korean church was her only sanctuary, Professor Kim’s gaze stopped at a “painting of a white Jesus.”
“Why is Jesus, born in the Middle East, such a pale white man?” This lifelong dilemma eventually became the subject of his research. Professor Kim pointed out, “Jesus was a Jew with dark skin,” adding, “However, in the process of the Roman Empire officially recognizing Christianity and justifying colonial rule, he was ‘whitened’ into the image of a ‘white prince’ that did not resemble the ruled class.” She further added, “God clearly commanded that we should have no other gods before Him, yet humanity has chased the illusion of a white Jesus for 2,000 years.”
Professor Kim stated that the reason women are marginalized within the church is due to patriarchal theology that defines God by human gender. “To read the Bible anew, we must look at the context in which it was written,” Professor Kim pointed out, adding, “Jesus calling God ‘Father’ should be viewed as a cultural expression of the patriarchal Israeli society of that time.”
She continued, “We must now remove the lens of a ‘white Jesus’ and restore the Shekinah (God’s presence) and Sophia (wisdom) found in the Bible.” She noted, “True freedom is established only when we understand God—and Jesus, for all—not as confined by a specific skin color or gender, but as a spirit that approaches like breath, wind, and vibration.”
Professor Kim cited the example of Yahweh, saying, “When Moses asked Yahweh for his name, the answer was ‘I am who I am.’” She emphasized, “We must understand God not as a fixed noun, but as a verb that acts, creates, and loves.” She added, “Through this shift in understanding, we come to realize that we are all created in the image of God, transcending gender and race.”
In the book, Professor Kim argued that unique Korean sentiments—Han (unjust suffering), Ou-ri (community spirit), Jeong (strong love), and Chi (life energy)—must be incorporated as an alternative to heal Western-centric theology. Professor Kim presented the value of “Now, anew.” She suggested, “Now is the time to reread the Bible through a new lens,” and proposed, “Let us lay down long-held fixed ideas.”
Text and photos by Reporter Jang Chang-il jangci@kmib.co.kr GoodNews paper ⓒ Kukmin Ilbo (www.kmib.co.kr) , unauthorized reproduction, collection, redistribution, and use for AI learning prohibited
[출처] - 국민일보 [원본링크] -
*I was honored to preach at Ewha University Chapel. You can listen to the worship, which is in Korean, here:
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