Book Review

Tim Madigan 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.33

[Book Review] Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson & The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place

Tim Madigan 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

The Vitality of Sufism: A Contextual Analysis

김현철 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

Corresponding to the increasing studies on Sufism in South Korea, this paper analyzes the modern discourse on Sufism to present that Sufism needs to be examined contextually in changing modalities. By employing a method of contextual analysis in the line of Clifford Geertz and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, this paper specifically demonstrates that 1) many of modern studies theorized and predicted disappearing Sufism toward its extinction in the face of modernity, 2) contrary to this prediction, Sufism is still vibrantly alive in most parts of Muslim majority countries today and spreading over the world along the line of the globalization, 3) the theory of disappearing Sufism failed to grasp this reality of vitality of Sufism due to its assumption of homogeneous Sufism, and 4) contrary to homogenous Sufism, the vitality of Sufism is owed to changing modalities in Sufism. By demonstrating these four points contextually, this paper draws out contextual and considerable reasons why the studies failed to grasp the vitality of Sufism and why Sufism remains alive even vibrantly. With this analysis, this paper hopes to add a considerable piece to the studies in Sufism in South Korea.

The Many Faces of the Gentile Woman: a Postcolonial Feminist Hermeneutics of Mark 7:24-30

김희선 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

This research is about reading a Syrophoenician woman’s story in Mark 7:24-30 from a postcolonial feminist perspective. This research looks at earlier hermeneutics including classical missiological model and earlier feminist hermeneutics. Then, this introduces postcolonial feminist hermeneutics. A postcolonial reading of this Gentile woman tells that a postcolonial interpretation must expose and investigate the intersection of sexism, cultural and religious imperialism in the history of the text’s interpretation. By introducing postcolonial interpretation, the Gentile woman’s story becomes much richer and multi-dimensional. The main emphasis and contribution of this research is to provide multi-faceted interpretations on Gentile woman’s story. By inviting more hermeneutics and perspectives, the story of the Syrophoenician woman may offer special insights to various people in the multifaceted society. I propose that current readers may expose themselves to the Gentile woman depending on their contexts. We encounter the text as individuals who interact with our situation and via this existential interaction, the text can be truly alive and understood. Whatever the readers find in this story, the “good news” in the story can be reaching even contemporary Korean readers living in extremely competitive society. From the practical theological perspective, genuine dialogue with an empathy can be a big relief of emotional distress. I see Jesus’s words to the woman can be a greater comfort to people in Korea as well. Exploring many faces of gentile woman may lead one to the next step, from seeking one’s healing to cooperation with others living in the margin for justice and peace.

Dasabhumi and Tre Vie: An Idea on Reinterpretation of the Christian Three Ways through the Buddhist teaching of the Ten Stages of Bodhisattva

이주엽 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

Christians have Tre Vie or the Three Ways as a conceptual map for their spiritual development. According to the map, a Christian steps up through three stages of purification-illumination-union. However, there are some problems in the way that the teaching is usually accepted. There is widespread misperception that the highest level of development, i.e. the stage of union and contemplative prayer, is accessible to only a few spiritual elites. Another problem is the Protestant resistance to asceticism. Asceticism as human effort is regarded as conflicting with the Protestant theological principle of sola gratia, grace alone. This article is to reinterpret Tre Vie in the light of Dasabhumi, the Ten Stages of Bodhisattva. Remarkable similarities are found when the two teachings are compared and contrasted. Daniel Brown, a psychologist, says that there is a universal path in the development of meditation. His discoveries are a good tool to support the connection and similarities between Tre Vie and Dasabhumi. As a result, it will be revealed that contemplative dimension is already involved in the earlier stages. If contemplation appears even in the beginner’s stage, a sort of elitism that only a chosen few have an access to contemplative prayer is unnecessary. By definition, contemplation is not human effort but the grace of the Holy Spirit. If contemplative dimension is present from the beginning of Christian spiritual development, this means that grace works throughout the entire process. This will eliminate Protestants’ misunderstanding and suspicion against asceticism. The development through purification-illumination-union is not a straight line. Rather, it is more like a spiral movement. Even in the lower stage, the entire cycle of all the three elements is made. And it repeats the cycle in a growing scale.

Am I the Lord of Desire, or Slave?: Understanding ‘Desire’ in the Gospel of Luke

박태식 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

The Gospel of Luke is often called the “Gospel of the Poor.” In this Gospel, we can find many beautiful teachings of Jesus about how to use property well, and furthermore even the so called ‘Abandonment of Property.’ Most of all, it might be difficult to accept the teachings about the Abandonment of Property because it is very peculiar in our society. The Abandonment of Property which Jesus has taught is not just giving money to help poor or to make them live well in a better financial condition. If so, this teaching becomes another established rule of the Christian Church. The core teaching is about the ‘Desire’ of human beings. Jesus considered it not possible to avoid the instinct of Desire with any earthly value. On one hand the teachings of Jesus about Property pierce the rich, but on the other hand they promise the poor redemption. In other words, Jesus emphasized the Kingdom of God through these teachings. The point is not the teachings themselves, but the values the teachings create. The control of Desire is definitely a hard thing, and as a result, sometimes it is very dangerous. Jesus gave a perfect place for Desire in heaven, where there is no more worry about it. “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:33- 34). Am I the lord of desire, or slave?

A Theological Criticism of Adam Smith’s Ethical Economics

허석헌 한국민중신학회 2021 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.- No.35

This paper aims primarily to clarify the theological implications of an “impartial spectator” and “invisible hand,” which are the critical concepts of Adam Smith’s economic theory. And this study discovers how these concepts support the world’s poverty and exploitative economic structures with perverse relations to theology in the contemporary neo-liberalistic-economic system. Through diagnosing problems of the combined structure between the economics and the theology of Smith, this study pursues to analyze the pathogenesis of the neo-liberalistic system from a theological perspective and to investigate the alternative ways of creating a harmonious economic theology. To this end, a significant question emerges: What relevance does Smith’s theory have with contemporary natural theology, or how does his theological orientation impact his two concepts, the “invisible hand” and the “impartial spectator.”

Jeremiah, the Deviant Prophet

윤동녕 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.34

Jeremiah was a prophet of violence and destruction. Contrary to Jeremiah, Judean religious establishments maintained shalom. Shalom prevailed over Jerusalem and Judah. Shalom, thus, represents the collective consciousness of Jeremiah’s era. Shalom was also a “common social space” for the variety of religious orientations. The gods of Judah could form “a social God” who maintained different cults but shared a common social goal, divine and human welfare. It is, therefore, obvious that the devotees of the social God did not listen to the prophecy of Jeremiah. For them, doom-prophecy was a treason against national security and social morality. His prophecy was a blasphemy against the social God on the one hand and a violence against collective sentiments on the other hand. The period of Jeremiah is generally said to be under a critical situation because Judah was afflicted by the menace from Babylonia and Egypt. In this pathological situation, Jeremiah came to be sensitive to socio-political transition, for he was located on the most outer border of social boundaries. He anticipated vaguely that Judah would be destroyed. However, even he could not determine whether his anticipation was true or not because he, as an individual and a corporate personality at the same time, had been also overwhelmed by the communal hope for shalom.

“Strangers” in the New Testament and Contemporary International Migrant Workers

박경미 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.33

Viewed sociologically, the origin of the earliest Christianity may be explained in terms of a process in which minjung(people) in the first century envisioned and experimented a new hope in the face of the Roman imperial globalization. This study examines the dynamic features of early Christianity as a movement of alternative community(s) and changes that it sought to make, against the massive wave of globalization that the Roman Empire brought to disrupt and destroy the traditional communities in villages and cities. Then, this study endeavors to consider how the early churches which defined themselves as strangers in the world embraced the weak and strangers into their communities. In conclusion, this study tries to make a brief reflection on the ethical implications that such originary experiences of the early church might bear on today’s situation of global diasporas of foreign migrant workers.

Com/passion as the bodily extension: a theological critique of the interpretations of plasticity by Andy Clark and Catherine Malabou

박일준 한국민중신학회 2020 Madang: Journal of Contextual Theology Vol.0 No.33

Andy Clark’s theory of the extended mind seems to subvert the Cartesian dualism of mind and body. This extension-ability of the brain derives from the concept of neuroplasticity, which is based upon Paul Bach-y-Rita’s study on sensory substitution. However, Harari points out that the extended mind of Homo Deus or superhumans may end up with upgrading inequality. It is no wonder that plasticity has been interpreted as elasticity, flexibility, and adaptability, which are the attitude part-time workers, immigrant laborers, deliveries and so on should have for their job ethics. Thus, it may be on the verge of being appropriated into our contemporary semiocapitalistic social structure, in which plasticity turns into elasticity and flexibility. Thus, Catherine Malabou pays her attention to its unnoticed aspect of destructive plasticity. Plasticity may be a name for changing difference. It is not to recover the old form of life but to constitute a new form of life. Nonetheless, one needs to know that it is only workers with citizenship who can say ‘no’ to unfair structure under the protection of human rights. In this sense, Malabou’s notion of destructive plasticity needs something more. This paper suggests com/passion, which refers not to the mind’s extendibility but to the embodiment of the mind or the spirit or the Word. The divine love is not to save people’s souls from the evil materialistic world but to be with people in the flesh on the earth. Thus, com/passion extends courageous passion to be with the suffering of ‘those who are not’ (ta me onta, 1Cor. 1: 28).