Seo, Bo-Myung

Dr. Bo-Myung Seo completed his B.A. at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, M.A. at University of Chicago, Chicago, and M.Div. and Ph.D. at Chicago Theological Seminary. His research and writing interests are in cultural theories and comparative thought. He is currently Assistant Professor of Theology and Cultural Criticism at Chicago Theological Seminary.

Critique of Western Theological Anthropology: Understanding Human Beings in a Third World Context

2005 0-7734-6132-9
This study is an attempt to articulate some of the inadequacies of the 20th century Western theological anthropologies and pursue the possibility of one that is more attentive to the conditions of life that still dictate the non-Western world. After discussing the ideas of freedom and history, which are deeply embedded in what it means to be human in Western modernity, and their implications, the author argues for the anthropology of the othered-selves as one that better describes the condition of being human in the post colonial contexts. Understanding such a view of being human not in terms of lack of subjectivity but as a different form of subjectivity, the author undertakes to present different models of the Other: hermeneutical, dialogical, and biblical models. The author presents the biblical model to be the most challenging one, which Emmanuel Levinas incorporates into his philosophical discourse on otherness. After briefly discussing how some theologians made use of Levinas' work, the author argues for the positive contribution his work makes for theological anthropology, in lending support to the conception of the anthropology of the Other and how this anthropology is positive conception of what it is to be human in the world.