Browsing by Author "Kim, Pil-Kyun"

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    Christian discipleship as power encounter with South Korean indigenous leaders : an intercultural theological study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Kim, Pil-Kyun; Simon, David Xolile; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores how appropriate Christian discipleship can be carried out in the Korean indigenous religious context, which encompasses belief systems such as shamanism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism, etc. Christian discipleship brings about transformative encounters between Christianity and other religions, but it is impossible without human self-emptying / kenosis. An important concept in this study was therefore kenosis, and it was argued that it is related to both Christian and indigenous leadership. Kenosis can be applied to various realms, but the focus of this study was limited to Korean indigenous leadership based on sangsaeng, jeong and han, Korean Christian discipleship in relation to reconciliation, and mission including translation, healing and ritual. Essentially, kenosis is clarified in the relational dimension, and this research links kenosis to relationality based on the trinitarian foundation, as this notion is thoroughly relational. Of significance, it was found that these two concepts, kenosis and the trinitarian idea, are interlinked with the values of other religions. In addition, this study looks at the influence that the core values of Korean indigenous religions had on the Korean people to accept a new religion, and the impact of this on Christianity and its spread during the era of the early Korean Protestant church. For instance, Koreans emphasized the core values of Neo-Confucianism rather than that of Buddhism during the era of the Chosŏn Dynasty. In Korea, the early Neo-Confucian scholars highlighted the significance of Neo-Confucian core values, and accepted this belief system as their national religion. Neo-Confucianism was therefore the dominant religion during the Chosŏn Dynasty, particularly for the political elite, which was then passed down to their descendants. In my view, the different core values between Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism created much tension. Just as a receiving group adopts a new religion to enhance his or her social identity, Koreans accepted Christianity to increase their social identity during the era of the early Korean Protestant church. Consequently, Christianity has rapidly grown in the Korean indigenous context. However, despite much conflict over the issue of Confucian ancestral rituals, the early Korean Protestant church finally allowed filial piety as the core value of Neo-Confucianism, and replaced the Confucian ancestral ritual with a Christian ancestral ritual called chudo yebae. This is significant because chudo yebae, as the Christian ancestral (or memorial) ritual, applies filial piety, which is the core value of Neo-Confucianism, to the Christian ancestral ritual. Furthermore, it was found that the Korean name of God Hana-nim was used for the Christian God, indicating that indigenous religions are familiar with the Korean name of God. In Korea, the vernacular translation of the Christian God into the Korean term Hana-nim was important because the term was familiar with the populace at that time. The unity of the term Hana-nim in Korean indigenous religions and Christianity facilitated the growth of the Korean Protestant church and its congregations. It also clarified the triune God who is a Being and simultaneously has three Persons. In other words, the term Hana-nim supports the notion that God is fully monotheistic, and at the same time, triune. This study concludes that kenotic mission motivates Christian discipleship to engage in acts of humility. In short, kenosis reveals Jesus’ servant leadership, evident in his prayers, compassionate love, and self-emptying humility. However, there still appears to be much confusion, as a number of missionary leaders and their followers continue to compare shamanistic elements with Christian elements, even though Jesus carried out healing and spiritual deliverance through prayer and exorcism. In the early Korean Protestant church, there was also a group of women who were converted from shamanism, and served as female itinerant distributors called ‘Bible women’. It is challenging to clearly explain how the core values of Christianity are compared and linked to the core values of other indigenous religions such as Neo-Confucian love called yen and Buddhistic self-emptying call gong. Nevertheless, I assert that intercultural studies on how Christianity can be related to the core values of other religions should be an on-going process for God’s kenotic mission and dialogue, although much controversy surrounds this methodology.