“Give us today our daily bread!” in the Lord’s Prayer and Christian Community Ethics 주기도문의 “오늘 우리에게 일용할 양식을 주시옵고(Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερο)”와 기독교 공동체 윤리
“Give us today our daily bread!” in the Lord’s Prayer and Christian Community Ethics 주기도문의 “오늘 우리에게 일용할 양식을 주시옵고(Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερο)”와 기독교 공동체 윤리
This paper focuses on Christian community ethics regarding the phrase “Give us today our daily bread” in Matthew 6, concerning the tasks faced by Christianity during the current COVID-19 era. The reason is that the excessive consumer culture caused by human desire requires Christian introspection on the “daily bread” in the Bible and also because the restoration of community spirit through ‘sharing’ is necessary for this present age.
With the phrase “Give us today our daily bread” from the Lord’s Prayer, the author will largely examine two elements as follows. Firstly, the concept of “daily bread” will be comprehended and categorized to examine its meanings emphasized in different periods through the major scholars in Christian history.
Secondly, with the categorization of “daily bread,” the meaning of “bread” that the Christian community must pursue will be reinterpreted as ‘spiritual bread,’ ‘practical daily bread,’ and ‘bread as an antitype to sharing and the Kingdom of God,’ and suggestions on how the current human civilization can overcome the crisis it is in will be proposed. For purpose of reference, it is to be noted that the limitation of this article is that the passage was not approached from the perspective of literary criticism, but is aimed at examining the perspectives of major thinkers in Christian history.
Key Words
주기도문, 일용할 양식, 나눔, 하나님의 나라, 공동체 윤리, Lord’s Prayer, Daily Bread, Fellowship, Kingdom of God, Community Ethics
The Meaning and Relationship of Personal Devotion and Public Worship in terms of the Characteristics and Fundamental Elements of Christian Worship 기독교 예배의 본질과 속성의 측면에서 새롭게 바라보는 개인예배 (Personal Devotion)와 공동예배 (Public Worship)의 의미와 관계
The Meaning and Relationship of Personal Devotion and Public Worship in terms of the Characteristics and Fundamental Elements of Christian Worship 기독교 예배의 본질과 속성의 측면에서 새롭게 바라보는 개인예배 (Personal Devotion)와 공동예배 (Public Worship)의 의미와 관계
The Sunday public worship is a precious legacy of Christianity, and academic research has heavily focused on the meaning and role of the service. This is an attempt to deal with the relationship between personal devotion and public worship. Personal devotion or individual worship has been historically understood only as a means to enhance individual spirituality. In this research, the writer seeks to find a close relationship between personal devotion and public worship and explore the creative tension and cooperation between the two.
In order to find the correlation between personal devotion and public worship, the author concentrates on the characteristics and fundamental elements of worship. Worship is a personal encounter with the Trinitarian God, and the encounter aims to practice in life. Worship is a public act that embodies Paschal mystery and transcends the limits of time and space. Worship is the moment of anamnesis, an active kind of memory, and prolepsis, a foretaste of the future. Worship shares essential elements but is applied in various ways depending upon the socio-cultural context.
When comparing and analyzing personal devotion and public worship with these principles, it becomes clear that personal devotion and public worship should have both complementary and cooperative relationships by breaking away from any dichotomous rigidity. Personal devotion and private services should be respected as forms of worship which share the elements of public worship, and the communal characteristics should be more encouraged in public worship. Personal devotion and public worship are valuable assets of the church and have an inseparable relationship of creative and active collaboration.
Key Words
개인예배, 개인적 헌신, 공동예배, 주일예배, 예전, 예배의 정의, Personal Devotion, Individual Worship, Public Worship, Sunday Worship, Liturgy, Definition of Worship
War Between Himyarite Kingdom and Aksum Kingdom and Christianity in the First Half of the 6th Century 6세기 전반기 힘야르 왕국과 악숨 왕국 간의 전쟁과 기독교
In the kingdom of Himyarite, in which Judaism had been embedded since late 4th century, the Christian-friendly King Yanuf emerged under the influence of the Eastern Roman Empire in the early 6th century. But the appearance of a Christian-friendly king has drawn backlash from Jewish believers, leading to persecution of Christianity in 518. King Kaleb of Aksum, who sought to rescue Christians from these persecution and expand his territory on the historical basis of the rule of the preceding ruler, sent a commander named Hayyan to win the war and appoint Christian Yafur as king. In 522, Yusuf who believed in Judaism, revolted against the Axumites and attacked the Christians of Himyarite who supported them and especially massacred Christians in Najran. In response to this second persecution of Christians, King Kaleb set up a Christian king there and established rule by the Axumites after his direct war and victory in 525. Later, the Himyarite Kingdom failed to establish an independent country and became a tributary state of Aksum, and under the influence of Aksum, Christianity was embraced. When Himyarite kingdom became a Christian state, Emperor Justinus tried to secure trade route in Indian Ocean by attacking Sassanian Persia in cooperation with Aksum and Himyarite in 531, but they failed.
The purpose of this thesis is to theologically establish the connection between social service and church growth in order to correct the common misunderstanding of Christians who believe that there is little connection between community service and church growth. To this end, we first looked at the Korean church’s perception of the relationship between social service and church growth, criticized the negative positions on the relationship between the two areas, and then theologically elucidated the relationship between the two. The views of two early church growth scholars, Donald A. McGavran and C. Peter Wagner, were dealt with as examples of the perception of the negative relationship between community service and church growth, and additionally, the views of community service advocates will be considered. In order to clarify the relationship between the two areas, it was proposed that both social service and church growth are ministries based on the missionary nature of the church. Since church growth means the growth of a missional church in essence, it should never be understood as selfish quantitative growth of a local church, but it should be understood as revealing God’s mission based on the concept of the kingdom of God. Social service is an activity that expresses the essence of mission along with evangelism. Through this ‘missionary essence of the church,’ social service and church growth can be closely connected.
Key Words
사회봉사, 교회성장, 교회의 선교적 본질, 하나님 나라, 한국 개신교, Social Service, Church Growth, Missionary Essence of the Church, Kingdom of God, Korean Protestantism
Reading Eighth-Century Judah and Its Economic Injustice from the Perspective of Corporate Globalization and Cultural Evolutionary Theory 세계화와 문화진화이론의 관점에서 읽는 8세기 유다와 경제적 불평등
Reading Eighth-Century Judah and Its Economic Injustice from the Perspective of Corporate Globalization and Cultural Evolutionary Theory 세계화와 문화진화이론의 관점에서 읽는 8세기 유다와 경제적 불평등
This study aims to examine the economic and social context of Judah, which becomes the background of the social criticism of the Hebrew prophets in the 8th century BCE, from the perspective of globalization and cultural evolution theory. The research analyzes the motives behind the prophetic complaints regarding the extortion of land ownership by closely reconstructing the external factors of globalization and the political situation that the religious leaders faced at that time in the context of the 8th-century Judean society.
From the cultural evolutionary point of view, religious practices and norms that had been the basis of so-called outdated economic strategies had a tendency to become obsolete as they embraced new economic goals in times of transitional changes such as population growth and expansion of foreign trade. As the society of Judah in the 8th century underwent a rapid integrated globalization and centralization of rituals, the existing self-sufficient economy was replaced by the dynamics of intensive agriculture, and, in this process, past religious practices and norms were overlooked. However, the 8th-century prophetic criticisms on the seizure of land ownership, such as in Isaiah 5:8-10 and Micah 2:1-2, do not simply contain a righteous accusation on the reality of the collapse of the publicity of the law or the full description of the spirit of justice for the fallen peasants of Judah. They reflect the accusations of a class of religious leaders based on local sanctuaries who resisted fiercely over their social status lost to the degree of that of the displaced farmers in the evolving Judean society due to the high farming dynamics and integration of rites. Amid the undesired trend of globalization, the biased trade strategy and the excessive concentration of political, economic, and social power structures centered on some cities inevitably intensify the strife and economic inequality from the perspective of cultural evolution through a long history. The logic of promoting a corporate globalization and the centralization of political, economic, and social power persists the same even with the passage of time; therefore, the ancient biblical texts still provide significant implications to the phenomenon of economic injustice modern society has encountered.
Key Words
문화진화, 세계화, 8세기 예언서, 유다, 경제적 불평등, 이사야, 미가, Cultural Evolution, Globalization, Eighth-Century Prophetic Books, Judah, Economic Injustice, Isaiah, Micah
Rethinking Charisma: Pursuit of True Community 카리스마 재고: 참된 공동체를 추구하며
The term charisma is as fascinating as it is puzzling. The origin of the term charisma goes back to the Hellenic colloquial language (=Koine). The root word Charis (=grace) and Charisma (=gift of grace) are often used synonymously in the early Christian scriptures. In the Christian-religious field, the term Charis first appeared in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, in Epictetus and in Paul.
What does it mean for the members of the early Christian community to have charisma? First of all, this means that the Spirit of God rests in him, that he is inspired by God’s Pneuma. Since the body of Christ encompasses the entire ecclesia, that is, all Christianity, and every true Christian carries the Spirit of God within him, every member of the church is also a carrier of charisma.
If the Christian faith is actually best conveyed within the community, then vitality of Christian life can be expected from the outset in smaller community groups. For this, charismatic existence overcomes the dichotomy between thinking and living, theory and practice, by revealing and realizing the indissoluble relationship between charismatic thinking and living.
Key Words
카리스마, 제도, 교회론, 참된 공동체, 변혁, 종교와 사회, Charisma, Institution, Ecclesiology, True Community, Transformation, Religion and Society
Interpreting the Gospels in Light of Genre Characteristics of Greco-Roman Biography: A Fresh Reading of Mark 2:1-3:6 그레코-로만 전기의 장르적 특성에 비추어본 복음서 해석: 마가복음 2:1-3:6을 중심으로
Interpreting the Gospels in Light of Genre Characteristics of Greco-Roman Biography: A Fresh Reading of Mark 2:1-3:6 그레코-로만 전기의 장르적 특성에 비추어본 복음서 해석: 마가복음 2:1-3:6을 중심으로
The present paper applies the arguments and methodology of previous studies―that the Gospels are Greco-Roman biographies, and that the interpretation of the Gospels faithful to this genre focuses on Jesus, the protagonist of the Gospels―to the interpretation of Mark 2:1-3:6. Mark 2:1-3:6 deals with a variety of issues such as healing, forgiveness of sins, fasting, old and new eras, and Sabbath, but some sort of filtering is needed to conduct a genre-sensitive interpretation. One of them is to constantly ask the following touchstone question: “Is this exegetical work helpful for observing, illuminating, revealing and highlighting Jesus, the protagonist of the Gospels?”
The interpretation of Mark 2:1-3:6 passing the touchstone question above is as follows: Mark 2:1-3:6 constitutes a chiastic structure and the episode at the center is the fasting debate (2:18-22). On the surface, the episode addresses the issue of fasting, but in reality, it reveals the identity of Jesus, the protagonist of the Gospels. In the episode, Jesus is portrayed as the one that opens a new era and gives a new order to the present state. Such image of Jesus plays a vital role in understanding the two episodes before and after the fasting episode. In the new age, Jesus, just like God, possesses the authority to forgive sins (2:1-12). In contrast to the old age when sinners were excluded, Jesus has meals with tax collectors and sinners (2:13-17). Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (2:23-28) and the one who can give a completely new meaning to Sabbath observance (3:1-6).
This thesis is a study on the meta-philosophy and religious thought of Franz Rosenzweig, who critically questioned the logic and anthropology of German idealism at the end of the 19th century. Rosenzweig, a Jewish-German philosopher, interpreted the essence and meaning of man as an existential philosophical meaning, and sought the ultimate answer theologically based on the faith of Judaism. Above all, his philosophy emphasized the relational difference between absolute and finite, universal and special, unity and individual, and began with a meta-philosophical understanding of God, the world, and humans. Furthermore he suggested a threefold religious view of creation, revelation, and salvation from the standpoint of Jewish religious philosophy.
German idealism, namely the completion of modern anthropocentric philosophy, was a rationalistic philosophy that advocated the identity of thought and existence, subject and object. The line of idealistic philosophy, starting with Kant, to Fichte, Schelling, and finally Hegel, fully justified the authority of reason, and pursued totality by thought, aiming at the unity of self and self-consciousness. Hegel’s philosophical idealism, which defined the Absolute as subject and substance, following Rosenzweig’s interpretation, was to complete a pantheistic philosophical system without a Creator. However, his critical interpretation of the idealists’ philosophy of identity, is conclusively only applied to Fichte’s subjective idealism of the previous period, and can be evaluated as an argument unrelated to Hegel’s holistic philosophy. His philosophy of religion, developed while criticizing modern rationalistic philosophy, was constructed on the basis of the central beliefs of Judaism: love for the monotheistic God and love for neighbor. He was convinced that the final answer to the problem of human finiteness and sin can be found through respect for individuality and love of God. The correlation between time and eternity, finitude and infinity unfolds through the extreme difference and distinction between the Absolute and the finite, and the final exit is determined only by God’s divine providence and love. Therefore, His religious philosophy is summarized as a discipline of wisdom that declares God, the creator, the revelation, and the savior who is related to human beings and the world, as truth and loves him as the transcendent.
Key Words
독일 관념론, 동일성, 전체성, 이성주의, 개별성, 신의 사랑, German Idealism, Identity, Totality, Rationalism, Individuality, Love of God
The Damages and Activities of Church in the Daegu and Kyoung-buk Areas During the Korean War 한국전쟁 당시 대구·경북 지역 교회의 피해와 활동
This study researches the destruction of churches in the Daegu and Kyoung-buk areas during the Korean War. And this research also unveiles how these churches unfolded their roles and activities over the war. Although almost 70 years have passed after the war, this study is necessary to discover the identity and destruction of these churches. For this study, phone interviews were performed with Korean War survivors in the areas to collect the data of church destruction and existing resources which were employed to discover the activities of those churches. From these results, this study was able to confirm that about 40 churches around these areas were destroyed and several Christians were martyred for their faith, while others were indiscriminately killed. As the war was rapidly advancing, many soldiers and citizens were either killed or wounded, and countless war refugees left their homelands. Due to the war situation, churches in the Daegu and Kyoung-buk were established and managed the Bible Club to transform the national crisis into an evangelistic opportunity. This filled the education vacancy, which could be provided during the war, to cultivate talented future human resources.
The Korean government conscripted and recruited more and more people and refugees to fight in the war. In response to this recruitment, the churches launched patriotic rescue movements and established crusades to defend the country. Churches in the Daegu and Kyoung-buk also participated in various rescue missions with support from outside organizations. In particular, these rescue missions repaired churches which had been destroyed, devastated, and ruined by war. They provided for refugees their houses, church buildings, and annex buildings.
The significance of this study is the discovery and identification of the activities and the damages of churches within the Daegu and Kyoung-buk, which was of little interest until now. The further research on the influences of Korean War on the revitalization of churches in the Daegu and Kyung-buk areas should be carried out to expand the understanding of the churches at that time.
Key Words
한국전쟁, 외원단체, 기독교세계봉사회, 십자군 의용대, 성경구락부, 구호활동, Korean War, Foreign Voluntary Agencies, Christian World Service Association, the Crusades, Bible Club, Relief Activity
The Difference between Korean Church Historiography and Postmodern Historiography and Their Contributions/Limits: Focused on Literary History 한국교회사와 포스트모던 역사학의 차이점 그리고 그것의 공헌과 한계: 역사의 문학성을 중심으로
The Difference between Korean Church Historiography and Postmodern Historiography and Their Contributions/Limits: Focused on Literary History 한국교회사와 포스트모던 역사학의 차이점 그리고 그것의 공헌과 한계: 역사의 문학성을 중심으로
The purpose of this study is 1) to explore the differences in historical literature between the two views of historiography history by organizing the academic flow and through stressing the historical literature of Korean church historiography and 2) to investigate the contributions and limitations of postmodern historiography to the study of Korean church history.
The following findings have been observed as a resulg of this study. Although current scholarship has mentioned historical literature history (literary form), narrativity (story), and imagination (prophetic insight), it has emphasized the separation between history and literature and underlines the need to base historiography upon historical fact. Conversely, postmodern history has argued that history and literature cannot be separated from one another and, in fact, it remains that texts determine historical meaning and not the past itself. These are the significant differences between the two views of historiography.
Regarding postmodern history’s contributions and limits, we can mention: First, although postmodern history can help us to reconsider the traditional understanding of history, there remains a real past and historians are able to recognize the past itself. We should not abandon the quest for seeking an objective view of history. Therefore, we should try to overcome the gap between traditional historiography and postmodern historiography. Second, postmodern history can assist us in understanding the paradigm shift in primary sources from fact to narrative or memory. There is a weakness in underemphasizing historical criticism. Third, postmodern history can offer a new method of "who" recorded the events and how historians have described the past, but that requires multidisciplinary aproaches.
Finally, the contribution of this study relates to providing an impulse to the importance of historical literature and the development of a new methodology in postmodern history.
Key Words
역사의 문학성, 한국교회사, 포스트모던 역사학, 평양대부흥, 이만형, Historical Literature, Korean Church History, Postmodern History, The Pyongyang Great Revival, Man Hyung Lee
