The church in Korea as a communio in context

[摘要] English: We intended to prove the fact that the church is a faithful and ethicalcommunio in context. For this purpose, we used historical (Chapter 2),biblical (Chapter 3) and theological data (Chapters 3 and 4). And wecritically evaluated the Korean church from the viewpoint of what a faithfuland ethical communio entails, and of horizontal contextualization (Chapter5).In Chapter 2, our research focused on the doctrine of the church asrevealed in different historical periods. The important theologians of thePatristic Period were Justine, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine.They mostly understood the church as a spiritual communio of peoplebound together in faith and ethics. In the Middle Ages, Erasmus definedthe church as an ethical communio against the background ofsecularization and the unethical hierarchical system. The monastictheology was built on the basis of vertical contextualization. Thetheologians of the Reformation era described the nature of the church withthe use of the ideas of communio in faith and ethics. Anabaptistsrecognized the church as a communio in faith only without emphasis of thecontextualization. The Orthodox Reformed Confessions defined the churchon the basis of communio in faith and ethics. In the Modern Period, theEnlightenment, Romanticism, Liberal Protestantism, Feminism, Liberationand Black Theology have claimed that the church is a horizontal communioestablished for the social purposes of human beings only. They developedthe ecclesiology on the principle of the vertical contextualization. Thedoctrine of the church throughout history reflected the different contexts ofthese historical periods. But some doctrinal teachings emphasized thecontext only, while some emphasized the text only. Both groups are in theerror. The doctrine of the church is rightly designated through the bipolarityof text and context.This study examines the doctrine of the church as derived from the lips ofJesus Christ in Chapter 3. We mostly focused on the Greek words EKKANOLa.and OIKODOUNOW as used in the Gospel of Matthew, in Chapter 16 and 18.Matthew recorded Jesus Christ's use of the Greek word EKKANOLa in twochapters only, with Jesus Christ predicting that the first Church would bebuilt on the day of Pentecost. She would be established as a communiolinked by faith and ethics. The communio would be a body of people whodemonstrate self-denial for the sake of others. The facts of faith includethe already accomplished events (Jesus Christ's Incarnation, Suffering andDeath on the Cross; the Resurrection, the Ascension, the baptism of theHoly Spirit) and a not yet accomplished event (the Second Coming ofJesus Christ). The ethics is revealed in the practical life of Christians, aswas portrayed in the life of Jesus Christ. His life (humiliation andexaltation) is summarized by the word 'love.' The love for others is theformative fact of Christian ethics. Paul practiced the church as acommunio of people bound together in faith and through the ethics thatdetermined how they lived.In Chapter 4, we proved that horizontal contextualization is a foundation ofthe church. The church is effectively developed in horizontalcontextuallzation. This contextualization originated in the works of JesusChrist and Paul. This is the theological command of God. Horizontalcontextualization is intended to overcome the horizontal gaps betweenPalestine of the 1st century and Korea or South Africa of the 21st century.God sometimes uses even the contexts of secular religions to develop Hisfinal purpose. For this, we analyzed the Korean history from the viewpointof religion. The Korean religions selected were Shamanism, Buddhism,Confucianism and Taoism. On the concept of the horizontalcontextualization, we concluded that God used the above religions to makeKoreans receptive to Christian doctrines, even if non-Christianity per sebears no similarity to Christianity.We have evaluated the Korean churches, namely the Roman CatholicChurch, the fundamentalist church and the evangelical church in Chapter 5.The former two have ignored the need for horizontal contextualization,while the latter has over-emphasized the contextualization with ignoranceof the Biblical text. All of the Korean churches have failed to effectivelyevangelize the Korean Peninsula.In conclusion, we suggest that the church or the doctrine of the churchcan be effectively established and developed on the bipolarity of text andcontext. .Jesus Christ, Head of the Church, presented the principle todevelop His Church in the Gospel of Matthew 16 and 18. The concepts offaith and ethics as the essence of the church are derived from the wordsof Jesus Christ. Horizontal contextualization as the theological commandalso provided the important foundation to develop His Church. WithoutJesus Christ, the church cannot be built to last forever. He is the onlybuilder.

[发布机构] University of the Free State