Wednesday 17 July 2013

THE KOREAN MINJUNG IN CHRIST

Kwang Sun Suh shares his minjung theology out of his personal and the experience of the Korean under persecution reflectively in his book entitled The Korean Minjung in Christ”. Suh explains that the Korean Minjung theology is born out of life experiences of the oppressed. Particularly, the experience of Christian professors under the oppressive government of President Park Chung Hee in the 1970s gave birth to it (p.2). Minjung theologians call it “a socio-biography”. One might want to call it “a political-biography” or “life history of minjung” (p.1). This life history of minjung is often suppressed, censored and banned by the oppressive dictatorial government. If we look at how the Story of God’s creation, the story of Abraham, of God’s chosen nation and the apostles being revealed and preserved in the Bible, we can probably say God is a Storyteller Himself. If the Story of God is the Grand narrative then our lives stories are the subplots under His main plot. Hence, our lives stories are important and meaningful because we are part of the Grand narrative. We can probably say that a good theology should be biographical.

Kwang Sun Suh begins his book by sharing his experience in the interrogation room by the government. He was forced to write his autobiography, not in summary but in details, he emphasizes. This is also the reason why he finally came to write The Korean Minjung in Christ. This book is not only the author’s private autobiography but also the biography of the han, the oppressed.

Kwang Sun Suh mentions that the story of Moses and Israel’s exodus from Egypt became the most favorably told stories by the preachers during the Japanese occupation. The book of Exodus was the first Bible book being translated into Korean and published 1908. Later on, the Japanese government banned the book of Exodus and the book of Daniel from the Korean church. The Korean was hoping to be liberated from the yoke of the Japanese Imperial Army. Gradually, the Korean church was participating in politics. Early missionaries attempted to depoliticize the church after realizing the young Christian church had become a political vehicle by holding Revival meetings. Although the Great Revival in 1907 was very successful, resulting in the depoliticizing of Christians. Such revivals nevertheless were not successful in de-nationalizing them (pp.21-22). The Korean Christians together with the Korean people were marching on the street demonstrating their desire of national independence. Although the movement towards independence was organized by both Christians and non-Christians, the Japanese particularly hated the Christians. Evidently, most of those arrested by the Japanese were Christians (p.40).
After gaining independence from the yoke of the Japanese, Korean fell into the hand of the Communist regime. The church also faced internal division. The first was between Christians paying respect to Shinto shrine and those who were rejecting to do so. The second was between pro-communist Christians and anti-communist Christians (pp.57-58).

Kwang Sun Suh explains that “Minjung Theology is a Korean theology of liberation” (p.23). It is a praxis model of contextualization. Epistemologically speaking, Minjung are two Korean characters “min” and “jung” meaning “the people” and “the mass” (p.23). The author says that it is safest to translate the word as “the people of God”. Minjung is the experience of the oppressed people in Korea. It is the voice of the oppressed in 1970s (p.23). Anyone who is oppressed, suppressed, discriminated, exploited or experiencing injustice is a minjung whether a man, a housewife, an ethnic group, a race, a worker or a farmer (p.25). And hence, the purpose of minjung theology is to reach out to, to fight for and to liberate the oppressed. One remarkable example of minjung is the missionaries’ choice of language when they first commenced their missionary work. Instead of using the official language, they chose to use the language of women, children and the unlearned for communication (p.29). This reminds us of God’s choice of the weak, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the shepherds, the lowly, the outcast and the so-called “sinners”.

The rediscovery of the Minjung began and took place in Ewha Womans University. Arts were used to communicate the gospel such as Jesus Christ the Superstar, Godspell and the mask dances. Churches in Asia are stormed with Western arts whilst Asian arts are kept out. Chinese arts such as the martial arts, calligraphy, dances and operas can be a very great means of communicating the gospels. Once, during a hospital visitation to a patient, a not-yet-believer Chinese in his 60s shared joyfully about his hobby on calligraphy to the reviewer.  With the impact of globalization as well as the growing power of China, Chinese arts have gained its popularity attracting people from various religious-faiths admiring and appreciating them. On the hand, the impact of popular cultures is also very strong among the younger generations. Realizing this fact, the church should make use of both traditional or modern and pop-culture as bridges to relate and to share the gospel message.

Kwang Sun Suh delineates on Shamanism or the mudang. According to Suh, mudang “is a religion which is pervasive in Korean minds, and which is alive in the Korean way of life” (p.94). It is similar to Chinese folk religion practiced by the households. Suh calls it “a religion of wish-fulfillment, practiced by the deprived” (p.102). Suh uses mudang to explain Christianity by giving new correlation to mudang. Christian God is the heavenly being in the mudang religion (p. 113) and Christ is the great mudang who performs miracles, cures the sick and casts out evil spirits (p.114). Interestingly, he also correlates the possessions of spirits to the possession by the Holy Spirit.

Suh demonstrates that Korean are very spiritual, however their spirituality is based on their egoistic-pursuits. Suh says most devout believers are praying for health and wealth of the family; for the poor are pursuing economic development and prosperity (p.123). This case is very similar to the Chinese in Riau Archipelago. Suh criticizes that even some churches are demanding “verifiable signs of health and wealth in this world” including the power to speak in tongue and heal the sick (p.124). Suh invites his readers to turn to the spirituality of Jesus as the response to this shallow spirituality of Korean.

  • The Spirituality of love of Jesus is solidarity with the poor that feeds the poor and the hungry
  • The Spirituality of politics of Jesus does not bow down to political power; yet subdues to its reign under the Supreme God. The Spirituality of politics of Jesus is the way of a servant.
  • The Spirituality of Jesus is the spirituality of the cross, participating in suffering.
  • The Spirituality of feast of Jesus is the spirituality of life and creation.

The power of sins creates han. Han is not just a person but also a group of people, a nation, a global community. Minjung should not be limited to the economically poor or politically oppressed but also to include the rich who suffers under the ego-structured global economic system. The rich live under the bondage of being economy-slaves and are chained by consumerism. They live under the yoke of status and power. They feel lonely, exhausted and depressed. They feel lonely in this global village and when they are in the church, they feel neglected because the church preaches against the rich whilst hoping them to contribute more financially. They feel oppressed, exploited and hated. When the pulpits proclaim that God loves the poor, they feel unloved and rejected. Someone may be rich financially but they are not rich according to God’s point of view (Luke 12.21).

Not only it is inevitable but also paramount important to challenge the worldview of the people. Language, arts, folk-beliefs, cultures are all important vehicles to ride on and to connect with the people. Kwang Sun Suh’s The Minjung of Korean in Christ demonstrates how theologizing can be done throughout the experiences of the author as well as the life of the Korean as a nation. A good theology touches the life of the people, deals with people’s struggles, pains, questions, doubts, fears, insecurities, loneliness and worries. It is immanent and yet it must lead to transcendence. Wisdom and spirituality are best served as the path to transcendence. 

Kekuatan Kelemahlembutan - Bilangan 12