A Critical Consideration on Life Thought Building on the Context of Korea: Chiha Kim’s Life Thought

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국복음주의신학회
· 수록지 정보 : 성경과 신학 / 69권 / 153 ~ 202페이지
· 저자명 : 김석호

초록

This article tried to articulate the understanding of life in the korean context as analyzing Jiha Kim’s life thought which is one of main influences to life thought or life theology of Korea. His life thought was produced as uniting various philosophical ideas such as Jiki, Hanulnim, and Bulyeongiyeon. Jiki, etc. Life means the internal principle or power and the external formation, and it points out that the visible and invisible world are one. Life as Hanulnim is divine, and humanity and other things having life are one, holy and equal. Life as Bulyeongiyeon means dynamism which leads change and development. The concept of life including all these elements implies a total unity of all things in a holistic and conductional (action) perspective. The relationship between ultimate reality (God), humanity, and nature is inseparable within the change or movement of life. These three realities of God, humanity, and nature are one in ‘life’. In the sense of human ethical responsibility, Kim insists that our action must be based on the recognition of our total union of ultimate reality (God), humanity, and nature and when we act accordingly, we serve or possess (Mosim) this original nature of life. Chiha Kim sees all existences in the holistic view of life as one, and recognizes them the holistic and cosmic life on the basis of dynamic relationality. The universe, humanity, nature and the cosmic life possess a universal identity. Everything is originally one, though everything has its own uniqueness, diversity, and complexity. His life thought includes the concept of locality, which considers the local contexts and reality as the subjects and objects and indicates ‘here’, ‘now’, ‘tradition’, and ‘the reality’ as the foundation of solving problems. In the Korean multi-religious contexts, therefore, traditional religious themes, practice, and spiritual experience are at the heart of the understanding of ecological theology. He has shown a Korean way of ecological thought that opposes the destructive tendencies of division, confrontation, competition, materialistic capitalism, industrial civilization, individualistic anthropocentrism, technological development, mechanistic worldview, etc., which mostly came from outside Korea.
Nevertheless, his life thought inevitably contains pantheistic or panentheistic view of the reality which is not acceptable in Christianity. It may be caused by the understanding of the ultimate relality as non-personality which is power or principle to be able to exist or sustain life. The understanding of life in Christianity is derived from Triune God who has communicable to his creation in His personality. Therefore, it shows that korean christian should be aware of this tendency of the understanding of life.

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