Jesus Of Korea

In 2010, nearly 30 percent of South Koreans—a country with a Confucian tradition over 1000 years old—identify as Christian, the largest percentage of Christians in an Asian nation, aside from the Philippines. Korea also boasts of having the largest church in the world; it also has the largest Presbyterian, Methodist, and Pentecostal churches in the world. Its vibrant spirituality, devout church life, and missionary zeal are well known around the world; its number of missionaries—nearly 20,000—is second only to US churches. How can we explain this religious revolution in modern Korea? Many people look to the 1970s and 1980s to find the cause of the rapid growth of Christianity in Korea. But to understand the real story behind the growth of the Korean church, we need to rediscover the story of the American missionary enterprises of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There, we will learn how the story of the “American Christ” came to Korea and gradually became a part of the Korean people’s story. After the missions, he is no longer the American Christ, but Jesus of Korea.

A well-documented work on the history of modern Korea focusing on the history of Christianity in relation to politics.

What a privilege it is...for us to be allowed into the theological world in which some Korean theologians such as Professor Suh had a deep experience of God as God with and in us because they had a deep experience of the suffering of minjung.... The Christian theology Professor Suh shares with us here is a theology of the first person pronoun...a theology conceived in the womb of passion (suffering) and given birth in the midst of the people struggling for freedom and democracy. C.S. Song

This book traces the historical and theological development of the Holy Spirit in Korea through six successive periods.

Many people may wonder about the current state of minjung theology that started in the 1970s in resistance to the military dictatorship in Korea. They ask: "Is minjung theology still alive?" or "Can the concept of minjung, a Korean term for poor and oppressed people, still offer a significant contribution to the reshaping of society closer to the Kingdom of God?" The essays in this volume attempt to answer such questions directly and indirectly. The authors are from Korea, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the United States. They deal with minjung theology from their own contexts. The essays were written to commemorate the late minjung theologian Suh Nam-Dong (1918-1984) on the 30th anniversary of his passing. [Minjung-Theologie heute. Kontextuelle und interkulturelle Perspektiven] Viele werden sich wundern, was der aktuelle Status der Minjung-Theologie ist, die in den 1970ern im Widerstand gegen die koreanische Militärdiktatur entstand. Sie fragen: "Lebt die Minjung-Theologie noch?" oder "Kann das Konzept minjung, ein koreanischer Begriff, für die Armen und Unterdrückten, noch eine sinnvolle Perspektive bieten, wenn wir über die Veränderung unserer Gesellschaft nachdenken, um dem Reich Gottes näherzukommen?" Die Autoren kommen aus Korea, Deutschland, Hong Kong, Indonesien, Taiwan, den Philippinen und den USA. Sie setzen sich mit der Minjung-Theologie vor dem Hintergrund ihrer eigenen Kontexte auseinander, um den vor 30 Jahren verstorbenen Minjung-Theologen Suh Nam-Dong zu ehren.