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Ehsan Danish
| Minjung theology | |
| Hangul | 민중신학 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 民衆神學 |
| Revised Romanization | Minjung Sinhak |
| McCune–Reischauer | Minjung Sinhak |
| Literally "the people's theology" | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Progressivism in South Korea |
|---|
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Minjung theology (Korean: 민중신학; RR: Minjung Sinhak; lit. the people's theology) emerged in the 1970s from the experience of South Korean Christians in the struggle for social justice.[1] It is a people's theology, and, according to its authors, "a development of the political hermeneutics of the Gospel in terms of the Korean reality."[2] It is part of a wider Asian theological ferment, but it was not designed for export. It "is firmly rooted in a particular situation, and growing out of the struggles of Christians who embrace their own history as well as the universal message of the Bible."[3]
History
Minjung theology first began in South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s after the Korean War,[4] and was preached in a minority of Protestant churches.[5] The theology gained popularity in the 1970s during the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee and the Third Republic of Korea.[6] The two Protestant theologians considered to be the creators of minjung theology are Ahn Byung-mu and Suh Nam-dong, who were both Kijang pastors who joined the minjung movement after the death of Jeon Tae-il.[7] Jeon Tae-il was a factory worker and union organizer who had burned himself to death along with a copy of South Korea's labor laws in an act of political and religious protest.[8] In 1972, Ahn Byung-mu wrote his first article on minjung as a theological theme, which he called "Jesus and Minjung."[9] A Catholic writer and artist named Kim Chi-ha is credited with inspiring much of minjung thought with graphic depictions of the Korean Christ suffering alongside the minjung.[10] Ahn Byung-mu, Suh Nam-dong, Hyun Young-Hak, and Kim Yong-Bock are considered first generation minjung theologians.[1]
As South Korea has grown to be more a prosperous nation, later generations of minjung theologians have needed to reevaluate who are the poor and oppressed minjung of Korea.[1] As such, a number of minjung theologians such as Park Soon-kyung have focused on questions of reunification with North Korea, identifying the minjung as all those oppressed in both Koreas.[11] The Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (CPAJ) and Fr. Park Chang-Shin are associated with liberation theology in Korea.[4]
In the 1970s theologians began exploring the theme of minjung liberation and many were removed from their positions at universities and seminaries for coming to the defense of those who were oppressed and imprisoned by the Park Chung Hee regime and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.[12]
Theology
The word Minjung translates literally as "the mass of people," but a more comprehensive definition of the term is "those who are oppressed politically, exploited economically, alienated socially, and kept uneducated in cultural and intellectual matters." Another way of putting it is that the minjung are han-ridden people, which is a Korean word that roughly translates as resentment.[13] Minjung theology is a belief that is concerned with the experience of the lower classes or the multitude.[14] Ahn Byung Mu viewed Jesus as a collective event wherein Jesus comes as the Messiah for the poor and oppressed masses of people.[15] In Korea, Jesus took on the role of the suffering and impoverished of the democratization movement.[16] Minjung theology focuses on Jesus being the friend of the poor and his powerlessness during crucifixion leading up to his resurrection.[17] Minjung theology views the oppressed masses as subjects of change rather than objects of history.[8]
Minjung theology asserts that God speaks to all historical and cultural contexts including the conditions of Korea.[18] Proponents of Minjung theology believe that the context of Korea is similar in many ways to the stories found in the bible, and that God is demonstrably on the side of the poor and oppressed throughout the books of the Bible.[19]
Minjung is contrasted by the paeksung who accept oppression and the word inmin meaning a national identity.[20] The Old Testament was written from the perspective of people in positions of power, but the stories are often about the liberation of the minjung. For instance, the Exodus, a story told from the perspective of Moses, is about the liberation of the Hebrew people from the oppressive rule of the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II.[21] The Exodus story has parallels to Korean history because Koreans have endured under brutal governments for most of its history.[22]
Criticism
In his book Grassroots Asian Theology, Simon Chan criticizes minjung theology for being an elitist interpretation of grassroots theology in South Korea that ignores the actual beliefs of the minjung.[23]
William Huang of the conservative MercatorNet has criticized believers in minjung theology for supporting restrictions on beef imports from America, encouraging peaceful dialogue with North Korea, and calling for the National Security Act to be repealed.[4]
Hyunsook Park of Christian Today has criticized believers in minjung theology for not taking a literal interpretation of the bible, being more concerned with collective sin and structural violence than it is with individual sins, being more concerned with the material world rather than the eternal afterlife, for favoring the poor over other groups of people, and for being affirming of LGBT+ people.[24]
Kim Jin-young of Christian Today has criticized proponents of minjung theology for putting Kim Il-sung, liberation, and labor before God. He also compared minjung theology with Juche.[25]
Lee Youngjin of Christian Today has criticized minjung theology for putting people first rather than God.[26]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Kim, Andrew Eungi; Kim, Jongman (2023). "Minjung Theology". St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology.
- ^ Suh 1983, p. 17
- ^ Wickeri 1985, p. 461
- ^ a b c Huang, William (2020-05-13). "Korean Christianity: Thriving in Megachurches, Deserted by Youth". MercatorNet. New Media Foundation. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Hazzan, Dave (2016-04-07). "Christianity and Korea: How Did the Religion Become So Apparently Prevalent in South Korea?". The Diplomat. Diplomat Media. Archived from the original on 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Wadhwa, Soni (2021-01-28). "Motherly figure, Hindu mystic or Jain pilgrim: Jesus has always been interpreted differently in Asia". Scroll.in. Scroll Media. Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Kim & Kim 2014, p. 240
- ^ a b O'dwyer, Shaun (2014-06-03). "The Tank Man's Defiance". The Japan Times. News2u Holdings. Archived from the original on 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ Kim & Kim 2013: "According to his memory, it was in 1972 that he had written for the first time an article dealing with minjung as a theological theme called 'Jesus and Minjung.'"
- ^ Kim & Kim 2014, p. 240
- ^ Kim & Kim 2014, p. 258
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. ix, Introduction
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. 1, chpt. 1
- ^ Wilcox, Susan (2013-11-06). "Authors' Theology Grounded in Class Struggle". National Catholic Reporter. The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Sharma, Manik (2018-06-16). "How Asia Remade Jesus: A New Book Presents Intriguing Insights Into the Story of Global Christianity". Firstpost. Network18 Group. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ Dabashi, Hamid (2020-01-06). "Decolonising Jesus Christ: The Figure of Jesus Christ Goes Way Beyond the Image of Him Which Hegemonic European Christianity Imposed on the World". Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network. Archived from the original on 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ Langan, Michael D. (2020-09-04). "Review: "Christianity, The First Three Thousand Years"". NBC2 News. Waterman Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. v, Preface
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. vi, Preface
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. 2, chpt. 1
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. 3, chpt. 2
- ^ Moon & Mun 1985, p. 7, chpt. 2
- ^ Chan 2014, p. 26
- ^ Park, Hyunsook (2020-08-24). "Bosusinhakgwa Haebang-Minjung Sinhak" 보수신학과 해방-민중 신학 [Conservative Theology and Liberation-Folk Theology]. Christian Daily (in Korean). German Report. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ Kim, Jin-young (2018-12-08). "Nyuseuaenjoi Gwallyeon Danchedeul, 'Yesugyo'nya 'Suryeonggyo'nya" 뉴스앤조이 관련 단체들, '예수교'냐 '수령교'냐 [News & Joy Related Organizations, 'Jesus Church' or 'Recipient Church']. Christian Today (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Youngjin, Lee; Daewoong, Lee (2019-07-15). "Minjungsinhagi Jeonyeomdoeneun Gaeyo" 민중신학이 전염되는 개요 [Overview of the Contagion of Minjung Theology]. Christian Today (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2019-10-27. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
References
- Chan, Simon (2014-05-02). Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-9544-1.
- Kim, Yung Suk; Kim, Jin-Ho (2013-09-16). "2". Reading Minjung Theology in the Twenty-First Century: Selected Writings by Ahn Byung-Mu and Modern Critical Responses. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-62189-876-4.
- Kim, Sebastian C. H.; Kim, Kirsteen (2014-11-24). A History of Korean Christianity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316123140. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
- Küster, Volker (2010-03-26). A Protestant Theology of Passion: Korean Minjung Theology Revisited. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004175235.i-203.42. ISBN 9789004175235. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
- Moon, Cyris H. S.; Mun, Hŭi-sŏk (1985). A Korean Minjung Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-0-88344-250-0.
- Suh, David Kwang-sun (1983). "A Biographical Sketch of an Asian Theological Consultation". In Kim, Yongbock (ed.). Minjung Theology: People as the Subjects of History. The University of Virginia: Zed Press. ISBN 9780862321918. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
- Wickeri, Philip L. (1985). "Asian Theologies in Review". Theology Today. Archived from the original on 2005-02-11. Retrieved 2005-11-24.
Further reading
- Ahn, Byung-Mu (2019). Stories of Minjung Theology: The Theological Journey of Ahn Byung-Mu in His Own Words. SBL Press. ISBN 978-1-62837-257-1.
- Chung, Paul S.; Karkkainen, Veli Matti; Kyoung-Jae, Kim (2010-03-25). Asian Contextual Theology for the Third Millennium: Theology of Minjung in Fourth-Eye Formation. ISD LLC. ISBN 978-0-227-90299-8.
- Kim, Hiheon (2008). Minjung and Process: Minjung Theology in a Dialogue with Process Thought. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-03911-735-2.
- Kim, Yong-bok (1992). Messiah and Minjung: Christ's Solidarity with the People for New Life. Christian Conference of Asia. Urban Rural Mission. ISBN 978-962-7250-10-4.
- Kwon, Jin-Kwan; Küster, Volker (2018-07-01). Minjung Theology Today: Contextual and Intercultural Perspectives. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. ISBN 978-3-374-05072-7.
- Lee, Dong-won D. (1933). A Critical Analysis of Korean Minjung Theology: Overview, Critique and Alternative. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
- Lee, Jung Young (1988). An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology. Twenty-Third Publications. ISBN 978-0-89622-378-3.
- Lee, Kwang Hee (1990). Evaluation of Minjung Theology from the Reformed Position: Critique of Its Religious Ground Motive. Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.
- Lee, Sang Taek (2012-10-24). Religion and Social Formation in Korea: Minjung and Millenarianism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-089311-3.
- Prasad, Manohar Chandra (2005). The Book of Exodus and Dalit Liberation: With Reference to Minjung Theology. Asian Trading Corporation. ISBN 978-81-7086-349-6.
- Schüttke-Scherle, Peter (1989). From Contextual to Ecumenical Theology?: A Dialogue Between Minjung Theology and "theology After Auschwitz". P. Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-41890-1.
- Son, Chang-Hee (2000). Haan of Minjung Theology and Han of Han Philosophy. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-1860-1.
- Suh, David Kwang-sun (2000-08-15). The Korean Minjung in Christ. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57910-509-9.
- Ucko, Hans (2002). The People and the People of God: Minjung and Dalit Theology in Interaction with Jewish-Christian Dialogue. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-8258-5564-2.
External links
- Minjung Theology Archive at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-05-25)
- MinjungTheology.net at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-06-15)
