From seperation of church and state to a deffinate no seperation of church and Tae Kwon Do
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James Noel takes his body through the motions of ancient Asian martial arts before, during and after prayer. His commitment to the Korean martial art of tae kwon do predates his decisions to become an ordained Presbyterian pastor and a professor of church history at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo.
Noel was a student at UC Berkeley, feeling a spiritual void in his life, when he met Raam Somayajulu, a researcher in physical chemistry. Away from class, Raam gathered with interested parties for discussions on quantum theory, yoga meditation and consciousness, body energy and the teachings of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras. These conversations inspired Noel to follow a path that led to practicing tae kwon do.
“In meditation and martial arts, the goal was to find and act from the center, which in Korean is called the dan’, an area near the stomach,” he says.
Noel entered San Francisco Theological Seminary with the idea of later studying comparative religion. He didn’t have a particular church affiliation. One day, as part of his studies, he read the story of Jesus’ transfiguration in Matthew, Chapter 17 in the New Testament. In it, Jesus led his disciples to the top of a mountain where he glowed like the sun. Then Jesus led his disciples back down the mountain where he performed a healing.
“I realized all of a sudden that Jesus was my guru. I thought the spiritual practices I was doing would lead me to enlightenment, only to discover that Jesus had already done it for me,” Noel says.
He went on to get a master’s of divinity degree, and then served as pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Marin City. He got his Ph.D. and now teaches church history and black theology at the seminary.
Though his relationship to his practice changed, he continued with Asian-style meditation and tae kwon do. “For me it was body prayer,” he says.
He has since developed his own system, which he now practices and teaches privately. He calls it neh kong do, or “way of inner strength,” as translated from Korean. “It’s a more fluid, gentle discipline,” he says.
Occasionally he shares neh kong do with the seminary community in San Anselmo. Currently, a large percentage of the students are Korean-born.
But because the Presbyterian missionaries in Korea discouraged converts from maintaining their native spiritual heritage, few of these students share Noel’s passion for Korean martial arts.
To add to the richness of Noel’s life, he’s also an accomplished artist, focusing his paintings on the culture of the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean. He’s had his work displayed in galleries and other venues.
There’s no way to put James Noel in a cultural or religious box. After all, he could break his way out of it with a few swift kicks and thrusts!
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