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 民 “min” and 众 “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.
