Ecclesial spirituality in the Korean Presbyterian Church : a practical and hermeneutical investigation into the problem of marginality

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The focus of this study is on the unique and unparalleled features that the KoreanPresbyterian Church (KPC) representing the broad Korean Church has displayedduring last 120 years' mission history: a strong revivalism in the formative phase; aremarkable Church growth in the growing phase; a rapid moral secularisation in thedeclining phase.Specifically this study aims to account for the problematic phenomenon manifestedduring last three decades and further to suggest a substantial alternative for the. problem at this stage. To achieve this aim, this study employed a practicalhermeneutical methodology and was approached in terms of ecclesial spirituality.Chapter II, paying special attention to the marginality of the Korean nation destined tobe a victim of world powers in modem history, provides a short history of the KPCfrom a marginal perspective to discern the particular geopolitical, socio-politicoeconomic,and cultural situations that presumed to have had a crucial impact onshaping the spirituality of the KPc.Chapter III proposes, as a base theory, a definition towards the phenomenon ofecclesial spirituality: EccLesial spirituality is eccLesial apprehension and response tothe meaning and power of God ~ presence and redemptive activity in the powerdominatedworld. According to the proposed definition ecclesial spirituality takesshape through the hermeneutical process of the faith community in the dynamicinterplay between divine, human and contextual powers operating in socio-historicalsituations.Chapter IV analyses and explains, on the basis of the proposed definition, what andhow contextual realities historically operated in shaping the spirituality of the KPC andfurther evaluates the features of the KPC's spirituality manifested in each historicalphase. The result shows that the marginal situation of the nation operates as a crucialfactor in the formation of the KPC's spirituality in each particular socio-historicalcontext in either a positive or negative way.Chapter V, as the normative and strategic phase of our research methodology,concludes by examining the theological identity of the Church in relation with thepower-dominated world and by investigating the hermeneutical locus of ecclesial praxis, whereby marginality is suggested as the praxial hermeneutical locus ofauthentic ecclesial identity and spirituality in the world. And further, identifying theChurch as a marginal community in the world, this study finally proposes a spiritualityof marginality as an incomplete suggestion of the direction towards which thespirituality of the KPC should steer.This study contributes towards the development of an ecclesial hermeneutic for thebenefit of ecclesial transformation in the world. Specifically, its contribution is torealise the distinctive identity and position of the KPC as ecclesia crucis in thecontemporary situation. It can also motivate the significance of studies in ecclesialspirituality, not only for the KPC, but also for both Western churches and the SouthAfrican white Church in their identity crisis in the contemporary dominant culture anddrastically changed socio-political context.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University