With creativity and theoretical acumen, Kim combines linguistic studies with comparative mysticism to write a stunning book about the role of the heart/mind (maum) in forming our authentically whole selves. In the service of theological questions about hybrid, diasporic identities and who gets counted as fully human, this “lived grammar of the soul” is deeply personal, widely erudite, and life-giving.

Holly Hillgardner, Gresham Professor of Religious Studies, Bethany College

As a Korean woman theologian interested in mystic speech, Dr. Kim fearlessly pushes on not just to broaden but deepen the Western canon by maximizing its possibilities of signification. By seizing on the Korean notion of maum as the language of the heart, and connecting it quite insightfully with Augustine's notion of sermo humilis (humble speech), she enlivens our notion of what it means to be a Christian or what she calls the Christian language. Dr. Kim's dialogue between East and West organized around maum crafts a new, global narrative of Christianization which is entirely her own, as she concludes with haunting passages about the maum of being an Asian-American woman theologian.

Willemien Otten, Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology, The University of Chicago Divinity School

A brave and consequential proposal for "street-smart theology" spoken in diasporic conditions. So Jung Kim attunes us to vulnerable vernacularity across centuries and cultures-from Christian martyrs Marguerite Porete and Yi Suni to contemporary Asian/American Christian women. With a path-breaking method oriented to how everyday language is used to bridge and break strictures, So Jung attends to poignant processes through which diasporic faith is voiced and human-ness, woman-ness, Asian-ness, and Christian-ness are transformed. Read this book for the audacious eloquence of unsaying, undoing, and unknowing dominance. Read it for the polyphonic virtuosity of humble, heart-felt, and savvy Christian faith.

Kristine A. Culp, Associate Professor of Theology, The Divinity School, and Dean, Disciples Divinity House, The University of Chicago