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Dr. Kang Na Lectures in Zephyr Cove, NV

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Posted on Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Dr. Kang Na, associate professor of religion at Westminster, lectures on “fresh readings of old texts” at the Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center in Zephyr Cove, NV this week.

The following description of his lecture has been provided by Zephyr Point’s website.

We read in the New Testament: A new song (Psalm 33.3), A new covenant (Jeremiah 31.31), New wine (Matthew 9.17), A new commandment (John 13.34), Renewing of our minds (Romans 12.1), A new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17), A new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21.1).

Then we read in Isaiah 43.19 “I am about to do a new thing; . . . do you not perceive it?” Our reply is, sometimes—often?—“no.” How might we think of our new (baptismal) life in Christ, spiritual renewal, our faith journey, and our church life in terms of new? How might we attain new perspectives on the scriptures that we have known so long? One of the important “methods” of preparing ourselves for seeing and hearing God’s Word afresh, especially those beloved and familiar parts of the Bible we know all too well, is to indeed follow Yoda’s lesson, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” 

Kang Na is an Associate Professor of Religion at Westminster College, where he teaches courses on the Bible, biblical interpretation, and Reformed theology. His area of specialty is the New Testament (Paul’s letters in particular) and hermeneutics (the science of interpretation). The son of first-generation Christian parents, he was baptized June 13, 1965 in South Korea, moved to Tennessee just before turning ten, and since then has lived, studied, taught, and served churches in various places in New Jersey, Korea, Atlanta, Germany, and New York City.

He earned an AB at Princeton University, a M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D in New Testament from Emory University. He is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who enjoys music (violin, guitar, piano), food, exercising, computers and tech gadgets, traveling, fixing things, and riding his Harley. The most significant among his many passions are his wife, Amy, and their three children Christian (19), Laura (17), and Sofia (16).