133 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God ❚Special Issue❚ Understanding God in the Asian Context □ Catholic Theology and Thought, Vol. 77, Summer 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.21731/ctat.2016.77.133 ISSN(print) 1225-4924; ISSN(online) 1225-2564 The Korean Understanding of God * 1 Emeritus Prof. Msgr. Sangtai Shim 〔Suwon Catholic University, Korea; Director of the Korean Christian Thought Institute〕 Ⅰ. Opening Remarks Ⅱ. Pre-Modern Korean Concepts of God Ⅲ. Donghak ― The Korean Understanding of God in Cheondoism Ⅳ. The Theological Significance of the Korean Understanding of God Ⅴ. Concluding Remarks I. Opening Remarks I am grateful to the College of Theology, Catholic University of Korea, and the organisers of this symposium on the Asian Understanding of God for the invitation to prepare and present this paper. As I begin I wish to take a brief moment to express some personal observations and the basic directions of my presentation. * 1 This research paper is commissioned, supported, and originally published by the Founda- tion of Theology and Thought, 2016. This paper was translated from the original Korean by Patrick McMullan, SSC.
<4D6963726F736F667420576F7264202D203220BFF8B0ED28BABBB9AE2920C3D6C1BE>
Catholic Theology and Thought, Vol. 77, Summer 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.21731/ctat.2016.77.133 ISSN(print) 1225-4924;
ISSN(online) 1225-2564
The Korean Understanding of God*
1
Suwon Catholic University, Korea; Director of the Korean Christian
Thought Institute
. Opening Remarks . Pre-Modern Korean Concepts of God . Donghak The
Korean Understanding of God in Cheondoism . The Theological
Significance of the Korean Understanding of God . Concluding
Remarks
I. Opening Remarks
I am grateful to the College of Theology, Catholic University of
Korea,
and the organisers of this symposium on the Asian Understanding of
God
for the invitation to prepare and present this paper. As I begin I
wish to
take a brief moment to express some personal observations and the
basic
directions of my presentation.
*1This research paper is commissioned, supported, and originally
published by the Founda- tion of Theology and Thought, 2016. This
paper was translated from the original Korean by Patrick McMullan,
SSC.
134 Understanding God in the Asian Context
1. In early 1976, forty years ago, I began my professional career
as a
public theologian and professor. In those days, unlike today, there
were
few qualified scholars which meant from the beginning of my
appoint-
ment I had to lecture in, amongst other theological disciplines,
Concep-
tions of God and the Trinity, Soteriology, Mariology and
Eschatology.
However, and despite moving in 1990 to the newly established
Catholic
University in Suwon, I have consistently taught the Conceptions of
God
and the Trinity tract. Moreover, for forty years I have dedicated
myself to
teaching believers about the topic of “Who is God?” In both my
immedi-
ate and reflected experience I have come to deeply appreciate how
“the
more I know about God, the less I really know”.
I had planned, since about the turn of the Millennium, to make up
for
this paucity of knowledge by writing a series of books on Dogmatic
the-
ology starting with concepts of God and the Trinity. Unfortunately,
I am
now nearing the age of eighty and feeling quite dissatisfied
academically
because I have yet to fulfil my long cherished plan. It is,
therefore, with
mixed feelings that I have accepted this invitation to present my
paper on
“The Korean Understanding of God”.
Some of the roots of this presentation include the work of the
theolo-
gian, Gotthold Hasenhuettl, whose writings on God and the Trinity I
have
translated.1 I also draw on many articles that I have written over
the years.
Of particular importance here is my own passionate advocacy for
the
examining of the internal state of the Church during its remarkable
exter-
nal expansion during the 1970s and 1980s. In this respect, since
the 1980s
I have published many articles on the Theology of Inculturation.
Further-
more, in 1987, I took responsibility for the Pastoral Research
Institute of
Korea. Established under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops
Conference
1 Cf. G. Hasenhuettl, Einführung in die Gotteslehre, Darmstadt
(1980).
135 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
of Korea (CBCK), our inaugural publication was entitled “Prospects
for
Inculturation in the Catholic Church of Korea”. In the summer of
that
same year the Institute established an “Inculturation Research
Unit”
which, up until October 2002, has published a total of 58 issues of
the
Journal, Pastoral. This venture, through the lens of Inculturation,
was an
attempt to put a professional and academic focus on a variety of
topics:
including liturgy, spirituality, catechesis, mission, concepts of
God, the
nature of Christian community, concepts of the human and community.
I
have personally authored many of those articles.
Two of my articles, in particular, would seem to be pertinent to
the
topic of this present symposium and especially my presentation. The
first,
“Prospects and Problems for Inculturating Images of God”, is an
article
which was part of a 1997 collection entitled, Inculturating Images
of God.
The second, “Korean Concepts of God”, is to be found in an
edited
collection entitled “The Meeting of Eastern and Western Thought”
which
was published on the occasion of Rev. Dr. Yu Bong-jun’s sixtieth
birthday
in 1991.
Of these two papers, the latter remains a very good summary of
the
genesis of ideas which continue to endure and find expression
amongst
Koreans today. The former paper, on the other hand, is a synthesis
of the
salient points made in a series of thirteen papers sponsored by the
Sub-
committee for Inculturation and published under the title of
“Researching
the Inculturation of Concepts of God” (April 1991 until July 1993).
This
body of research was critiqued and reviewed by both theologians
and
academics in related disciplines.
In terms of this symposium as a result, and given the rich body
of
research I have already proffered, it really has not been possible
for me to
produce a new thesis on the Korean understanding of God.
Nevertheless,
136 Understanding God in the Asian Context
this presentation is not simply a summation of past research.
Rather, I pro-
pose to explicitly re-evaluate our conceptions of God in light of
the
exigencies and dynamic changes of both the 21st century and the
historical
context of the Asian Churches and the Korean Church in
particular
within the Universal Church. Such a task will be, I believe, more
satis-
fying.
2. One of my starting points for this present manuscript is the
exi-
gencies of contemporary change which are, at the same time, not
only a
fundamental concern for theology but also revealing of the edges of
the
Korean conception of God: including, in particular, the heavy
emphasis on
the fatherly aspect of God to the detriment, if not exclusion, of
the mater-
nal dimension. Thus, my first order of business is to indicate
briefly some
of the enduring historical and cultural characteristics of the
local concept-
tualization of God. Following this review, I turn to an examination
of
aspects of the 21st Century conceptions of God in both Asia and
Korea. At
the local level, the genesis of these concepts are, I argue, to be
found in
the New Religious Movements of the 19th Century and, particularly,
in the
influence of the religion of Cheondogyo or Cheondoism (: :
literally, “Religion of the Heavenly Way”).
II. Pre-Modern Korean Concepts of God
It is my contention that the concept of God held by Koreans prior
to
the 19th Century embraces, in distinction to the Semitic Religions
(Juda-
ism, Christianity, and Islam), not only a transcendent, paternal
God but
also a maternal God who was immanent within all things.
137 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
1. Ancient Korean Concepts of God
Ancient civilisation on the Korean Peninsula was agricultural and
nat-
urally receptive to transcendent reality and cosmological order.
Subject to
the struggles of survival and fear of extinction, people were open
to the
idea of Haneul [/ (: Cheon): the heavens, sky], a power
greater
than their own skill and effort. Haneul, for the ancients, is not
simply a
reference to the space known as the sky or heavens but is a
designation
connoting awe and reverence, and thus it was called respectfully
Haneul-
Nim as a ‘person’. Notably, the “immanent reality” of this land,
and its
embrace of Haneul, gives way to a “transcendent immanence”:
namely,
this land has not only provided a suitable location for an
agricultural
civilization to flourish over the eons but, even more so, this
civilization
has been permeated with the presence of the Spirit of the one,
transcen-
dent God. There is, because the Spirit infuses the Cosmos, nowhere
where
God is not.2
There dwells, I contend, within the archetypal imagery for God
em-
braced by ancient Koreans both father and mother imagery. The
myth-
ology of Dangun (: ) supports this contention: a view
that is also consistent with a large body of research from
academics across
the board. Dangun, along with the Jumong (: ) and Hyeokkose
(: ) legends, are collectively classified as the foundational
myths of the Korean Nation. These ancient archetypal stories are
descent-
2 My opinion aligns with Karl Rahner and his theological work on
the universality of salvation and the notion of the “Anonymous
Christian”. Rahner, who spent much of his life delving into the
biblical and theological implications of God’s universal salvation,
is one of the most prominent Catholic theologians of the 20th
century. His profound insight, which was to become axiomatic for
the Church after Vatican II, posited every human being lives in a
supernatural-existential reality that is penetrated by the divine
salvific will in which God is always giving of Himself. Cf. Shim
Sang-Tai, Anonymous Christian: A Critical Study on Rahnerian
Theology, Seoul: Pauline Press, 20082, pp. 93-140.
138 Understanding God in the Asian Context
myths associated with the Constellation of Lyre and the appearance
of its
brightest star, Vega. Many academics, myself included, agree that
these
myths have three substantive characteristics: an epiphany of the
heavenly
deity, regeneration and transformation associated with the mother
God-
dess, and the union of heaven and earth leading to the foundation
of the
nation.
In the first instance, an important observation must be made about
the
Dangun myth: namely, the etymology of Hwanin (: ) as found
in the myth, dates back to the roots of the Gojoseon (Ancient
Joseon)
Kingdom (2333 BC-108 BC). The Hwanin epithet, which long
predates
the entry of Buddhism into Korea (372 AD), was adopted as the name
for
akra (: ), or Lord of the Devas, because of the similarity
of sound of the Chinese characters used in the Buddhist Sutras.
In
Buddhist cosmology, akra is the one who is Lord over the
vicissitudes of
life and death.3 In previous research I have proposed a tripartite
character
for understanding the essence of Hwanin: namely, as Father and Lord
of
Heaven (: ) who oversees the world and directly en-
countering earthly history through his son, Hwanung (: ). The
nature of ancient agrarian religious sensibilities, and the
importance of
farming for survival, is manifest in the myth of the descent to Mt.
Taebaek
of Hwanung accompanied by three “heavenly officials”. Theses
three
“Officials” are entrusted by the heavenly God to act as incarnate,
func-
tional Gods the demiurges of Wind (: ), Rain (: )
and Clouds (: ) who sustain agricultural productivity.4 Hwan-
ung can be seen as a kind of divine prime minster (: ) of
3 Cf. Lee Byeong-Do, Ancient Korean History, Jindan Hakhoe (ed.),
Seoul: Eulyoo Publish- ing Co. (1959), p. 74. 4 Cf. Lee Eun-Bong,
Ancient Korean History of Religions: The Structure of Heavenly God,
Earthly God and Human God, Seoul: Jipmoondang Publishing (1984),
pp. 90-98.
139 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
fecundity who, along with these three officials and 3000
followers,
establishes 360 “government ministries” which govern the
vicissitudes of
life. These Gods, and other divine beings, found within the Dangun
Myth
were believed to be manifestations of, what is categorised as, the
fertility
Goddess.5 Furthermore, the ancient Korean belief in the sacredness
of,
among others, trees and mountains (tree Gods and mountain Gods)
were
valued as tutelary deities of agriculture and incarnations of a
transcendent
God.
people across the ancient world. Whilst seemingly children’s
stories,
myths come from the dawn of history and convey wisdom particular
to
the ancients.6 These child-like stories espouse, practically and
pictorially,
profound truths concerning the lives and worldview of the ancients.
The
significant content of these myths furnishes a narrative of ancient
experi-
ence and ultimate truths. Namely, an objective and descriptive
narrative
about the dawn of the cosmos and the emergence of human
beings.7
Thus, within the mythic horizon can be seen the ancients’
experience
and understanding of the present as well as the transcendent
reality of the
Gods which is concretized in human likeness, the so called
personification
of the divinity. Human or non-human, the Gods are given human
char-
acteristics and personified as father, king, lord, mother and other
feminine
5 Cf. Ibid., pp. 90-126. 6 For the concept of mythology, see M.
Eliade, Der Mythos der ewigen Wiederkehr, Düssel- dorf: Patmos,
1953; Myth and Reality, New York: Macmillan, 1963; K.W. Bolle,
“Myth: An Overview”, in M. Eliade (editor in chief), The
Encyclopedia of Religion X, New York: Macmillan, 1987, pp.261-272;
F. Stolz, “Mythos/Mythologie”, in König/Waldenfels (Hrsg.), Lexikon
der Religionen, Freiburg: Herder, 1987, 441-446; Jeong Jin-Hong,
“Structural Analy- sis of Mythology”, in Introduction to Religious
Studies, pp. 109-116. 7 Eliade’s opinion, which is commonly
accepted by most historians, is that mythology’s most important
role is to provide every single human act, including the rituals,
with a paradigm of relevance. Cf. M. Eliade, Myth and Reality, p.
8; Jeong Jin-Hong, ibid., p. 112.
140 Understanding God in the Asian Context
entities. In this, the other-worldly, out-of-time, reality of the
Gods and the
after-life is manifested in this world. To those living in time and
space, the
jump to God, and the transcendent world of God, appears as a
distant real-
ity, a special space immanent within the world. In this, ancient
Koreans
were no different from other peoples. They too, personified God
with
images of men and women. On the one hand, they held a masculine
image
of God which emphasised the divine attributes of particularity and
severi-
ty, and, on the other hand, a feminine image which expressed
universal
love and fecundity. The feminine dimension of God is confirmed in
the
mother-like attributes of caring for, and nurturing, humanity.
Intimately
and inseparably associated with sacred and special places, belief
in female
Gods, including mountain, water, and ‘sea Gods’ (: ), were
un-
derstood to govern not only the vicissitudes of life and death but
also
ensure the bounty of agricultural production so necessary for
survival.8 In
general, the religiosity of the ancient Korean agrarian society is
extensive-
ly pictured, and conceived of, in terms of a mother rather than a
father
Godhead.
Within the corpus of Dangun mythology, Hwanin, the heavenly
God,
was seen as a sublime and distant being which prompted the need for
a
utilitarian God who was close to the lives of the people. For
example, the
mountain God, who is a manifestation of God’s son on earth, is the
utili-
tarian God who controls life and farming. Ancient Koreans, whose
faith in
the descent of God’s son to earth in order to care for and bless
human
beings, naturally developed particular kinds of harvest
thanksgiving rit-
uals. These rituals, which also honoured the ancestors, were
regularly
offered to the Heavenly deity and commemorated the son’s descent
to
earth by ritual offerings to the mountain and tree Gods.
8 Cf. Lee Eun-Bong, op. cit., pp. 260-265.
141 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
2. The Korean Understanding of God From the Three Kingdoms to the
Present
During the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE-916 CE) indigenous
Ko-
rean worship of the heavenly God significantly transformed itself
through
encountering the three major religious traditions of China:
Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Daoism.9 Both linguistically and in historical
practice a
new complexity began to emerge as the Confucian concept of heaven,
the
Buddhist concept of Sakra devnm Indra (: ), and the
Daoist concept of the great Jade Emperor (: ) were
appropriated into the indigenous religious framework. Semantically,
God
began to be addressed with the titles drawn from these religious
traditions.
Amongst the more important and influential of which are: the
Creator [in
Heaven] (: ), Emperor of Heaven (: ) Sangju (:
) and Cheon or Heaven (: ).
Ancient Koreans, naturally reverential to a heavenly deity, had yet
to
become aware of the concept of an immanent divinity. However,
follow-
ing the Three Kingdoms Era and through the influence of the
Chinese
religions, the Divine Will was manifested and a deeper
understanding of
God was appropriated by the people. The wisdom of Confucius
provides a
good example: “[The Lord of] Heaven places virtue within me (
).”10 The presence of God’s spirit within people awakens the duty
of
mutual respect, the service of God, and reveals the normalisation
and uni-
9 Cf. Lim Dong-Gwon, “Korean History of Primitive Religions I:
History of Polytheism and Shamanism”, in Anthology of Korean
Cultural History VI, vol. 5, Seoul: Korea University Research
Institute of Korean Studies (1969), pp. 43-64; Kim Gyeong-Tak,
“Korean History of Primitive Religions II: Developmental History of
the Understanding of God” in Anthology of Korean History of
Culture, vol. 6, Seoul: Korea University Research Institute of
Korean Studies (1970), pp. 131-135. 10 Confucius, “Shu R” Ch. 22,
in Analects & The Doctrine of the Mean, Zhu Xi (ed.), Han
Sang-Gap (tr.), Seoul: Samsung Publishing (1976); Ryu Seung-Gook,
op. cit., pp. 44f.
142 Understanding God in the Asian Context
versalisation of humanitarianism and a loving relationship with
God.
Koreans of the Goryeo Dynasty worshiped a myriad of Gods,
include-
ing the God of Heaven (: ) as the supreme God who presides
over the cosmos; as well as Mountain Gods who resided on certain
special
mountains, the Sea God who caused the rain to come for the major
rivers,
the God who protected the nation (: ), household Gods who
protected the family, and a series of Goddesses. The code of clan
relations
(: ), or the national unifying principle, was derived
from the close relationship between ancestor worship and the Lord
of
Heaven. It was believed that the national genealogy could be traced
back
to the original ancestors who were born of the heavenly deity
(:
). Gradually, moreover, Koreans began to solemnize their
funda-
mental sense of gratitude to the ancestors and worship of the Gods,
in-
cluding the Lord of Heaven, mountains and water, in various
seasonal
rites such as rituals for rain and for thanksgiving.
During the Joseon Dynasty, the ancient understanding of God began
to
coalesce around Confucianism and its ideas of a Supreme Being
shaped
by the concepts of purpose and fate; righteousness (Mencius); Yin,
Yang
and the five elements (Dong Zhongshu; : ); and the neo-
Confucianism of the Cheng-Zhu school based on the teachings of
Cheng
Yi, Cheng Hao and Zhu Xi.11 Neo-Confucianism became
mainstream
with the advent of Joseon. This cosmic philosophy, with its ideas
of nat-
ural law (: ) and propriety (: ), was different to the ori-
ginal ethical-sociopolitical teachings proposed by Confucius and
Mencius,
and their ideas of a Heavenly Being. For Koreans of this time,
living the
Way of Heaven meant living with “Li” (the basic principle or
pattern of
the universe, : ) and virtue (: ).
11 Cf. Lim Dong-Gwon, op. cit., pp. 77-107; Kim Gyeong-Tak, ibid.,
pp. 149-173.
143 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
Such a society is naturally governed by the virtues of reverence (:
)
and honesty (: ). Respecting heaven through the practice of
the
virtues of reverence and honesty not only reveals the nature of
moral
virtue but of religion as well. Towards the end of Joseon, this
Confucian
view of the Divine, which promoted an already existing sense of
the
transcendent in the human heart, became a stepping stone for
prominent
scholars to facilitate the introduction of Christianity in Korea
from China
and through texts of Western learning translated into
Chinese.12
III. Donghak The Korean Understanding of God in Cheondoism
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Catholicism, and
Christian
thinking, began to make inroads into Joseon society. Moreover, by
the end
of the nineteenth century, nationalistic religious movements
including
Eastern Learning or Donghak (: ) and Jeung San Do (:
) began to emerge.13 Up until modern times, there was little
ac-
knowledgement of the ancient understanding of the divinity which
tended
to be submerged in folk religion. However, the impact of Western
thought
and the ravages of the Japanese imperial conquest created a crisis
which
increased the distress of the people already suffering under an
inept and
pitiful monarchy along with a corrupt civil service. Suddenly,
within a
context of a steadily worsening national crisis, there emerged from
a-
12 Cf. Lee Sung-Bae, Confucianism and Christianity, Waegwan:
Benedict Press (1979). 13 Park Chang-Gun, “Su-un’s Philosophy and
Cheondogyo”, Cheondogyo Central Church (1970); Jeung San Do,
“Korean People and Cheonjigongsa (The work of renewing heaven and
earth)”, Seoul: Tae-gwang Publishing (1976); Park Jong-Cheon,
“Theological Interpret- ation of Coexistence Philosophy in Dangun
Mythology II”, pp. 108-124.
144 Understanding God in the Asian Context
mongst the people new religious movements which achieved an
incultura-
tion of the diverse Asian religious traditions already present in
Korea,
including Shamanism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, as well
as
Western Christianity and philosophies. With Donghak to the fore,
these
indigenous movements promoted the rejection and expulsion of
foreign
powers and religion in order to relieve the sufferings of the
people.
1. It has been one of the key contentions of my research that
Donghak
creates a convergence of the historical understandings of God with
essen-
tial elements of Western Christianity. Within this convergence,
which
helped people to deal with past crises, we can also discern
important
truths to help us overcome contemporary crises including the
ecological
catastrophe we now face.14
Choe Je-u (1824-1864), often called by his pen name, Su-un
(water
cloud), founded the Donghak Movement in the late Joseon period.
Em-
ploying the seminal phrase, Si Cheonju (: ) which ex-
presses the idea of carrying God in one’s heart, Su-un posited a
faith in
which people could have a direct, first-hand experience of God,
called
Hanul-Nim (: ), within the people.15 The essential core idea
14 Cf. Lee Jung-Bae, “Comments on the Inculturation of Protestant
Theology” (1991), in The Inculturation of the Understanding of God:
Research Materials, Seoul: Catholic Conference of Korea (1995), pp.
215-236; Kim Gyeong-Jae, Hermeneutics and Theology of Religions,
Seoul: Korean Theological Institute (1994), pp. 172-186; Anonymous
God: Criticism on the Monotheism, Seoul: Sam-in Publishing (2002),
pp. 210-216; Park Jong-Cheon, “Theological Interpretation of
Donghak”, in Christian Thought 427 (July 1994), pp. 160-176; Ibid.,
428 (August 1994), pp. 107-123. 15 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, “History of
Donghak and of Cheondogyo in Korea”, in Korea Univ- ersity
Institute of National Culture (ed.), Anthology of Korean Cultural
History: History of Religions and Philosophies II, Seoul: Korea
University Institute of National Culture Press (1982), pp. 705-866;
Moon Myung-Sook, “Donghak’s Understanding of Human”, in Incultur-
ation of the Understanding of Human, Seoul: Catholic Conference of
Korea (1995), pp. 153- 194; Lee Jung-Bae and Yoon Suk-San,
“Contracted and General Discussion on Moon Myung- Sook’s Paper”,
pp. 194-207; Kim Ji-Ha, Life, Seoul: Sol Publishing (1992), pp.
17-73, 202-
145 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
of Donghak, concerning a humanist experience of God, has
remained
constant even though followers have developed this religious vision
in
many different ways.
In the year 1860 AD, on the fifth day of the fourth month of the
lunar
calendar, Choe, after a long period of sustained study and
spiritual exer-
cises received, in a vision, the “Do” (: ) from the singular
God,
Cheondo or Sangje).16 Su-un asserts the nature of God is humanistic
and
intentional, as opposed to the assertions of Chinese philosophy
which po-
sits God as the organising principle of heaven and earth. In his
writing he
respectfully applied the honorific title of Haneul-Nim ()
/Haneunim
() as a liberal translation of the Chinese logogram, Cheonju
(:
) or Lord of Heaven. His choice of the pure Korean Haneunim (
) was, he believed, an inherent expression of the authentic,
indigenous,
and popular religious sentiment.
Su-un, in evoking a direct, interior, experiential God, was
redefining
the God-human relationship.17 For him, Si Cheonju means that we
carry,
or bear, God. He explained this meaning in the following way:
“‘Si’
means having the Divine Spirit within and expressing the vital
force of
life when people realise this they will keep it in their hearts
without
change ( ).” 18 In
the same passage he does not refer to “Cheon (Heaven)” alone but
uses
the phrase “Lord of Heaven” to further explain his choice: “‘Ju’
refers to
respecting, honouring, and serving God like one’s own parents”
(
208; For the text and its translation of Compendium of Eastern
Scripture (Compendium here- after) and of Story from Dragon Pond
(Story hereafter) by Choe Je-u will be used Choi Dong- Hee (tr.
& annot.), “Compendium of Eastern Scripture and others.” in
Il-Yeon et al., Folklore and Religious Philosophies of Korea,
Seoul: Samsung Publishing (1976). 16 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, op. cit.,
pp. 728ff. 17 Moon Myung-Sook, op. cit., p. 67. 18 Compendium “On
Learning” X; cf. “Compendium”, pp. 458ff.
146 Understanding God in the Asian Context
).19 Rather than an ontological abstraction of
Heaven, Su-un points to a God-experience which defines the Lord
of
Heaven relationally and humanly, i.e. as serving one’s parents.
He
believes that this God is the subject of our prayer and is made
manifest in
the cultivation of the generosity of heart, respect, and faith.
Su-un’s God
is not an absolute ruler but is within our hearts teaching humanity
the path
of right behaviour.
The distinguishing characteristic of the Donghak-Cheondogyo
vision
of God is found in Choe Je-u’s insistence that God’s being is not
separate
from humans. God is, for Su-un, both the Lord of Heaven and Chigi
(:
). He explains this latter idea as follows: “The vital force
(Chigi) is
like the mysterious Spirit, and it is vast and full in the
universe. It touches
and governs all things. It looks like it has form, but it is
difficult to
describe. It seems to have sound, yet it is difficult to
understand” (,
).20 Su-un posits a God who is the one
Ultimate Energy that unites and harmonises the vast
Universe.21
Choi Je-u proffers two characteristics for the universal nature of
Chigi
and the Heavenly Lord. His idea of Chigi/Heavenly Lord cannot
be
explained exclusively in the traditional Christian idea of a
transcendent
essence because Chigi is not simply the source of all energy and
the Heav-
enly Lord is not simply a universal essence. Everything in the
Universe
and on earth is in harmony with Hanul-Nim () and being trans-
formed by Mu-wi-E-hwa: “acting nature’s non-action” (:
). He understands God’s essence is a harmony of creation and
evolution,
19 Ibid. 20 Compendium “On Learning” IX; Kim Gyeong-Jae, op. cit.,
pp. 181ff. 21 Cf. Lee Don-Hwa, New Philosophical View on Humankind,
Cheondogyo Central Church (31982), p. 30.
147 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
where both creative action and creative process are the breath of
God’s
life. In this way, Choi understands the transformation of all
things is, at
one and the same time, both immanent and transcendent.
Moreover,
Hanul-Nim () is not solely a being outside of humanity but is,
at
one and the same time, the cause which is outside and inside of
all.
As a consequence, God, for Choi, cannot be understood as a
supernat-
ural being. Thus, within contemporary Cheondogyo, Hanul-Nim
()
cannot be understood as being governed by particular knowledge
or
understanding. That is, Hanul-Nim () is not an abstraction that
can
be conceptualised but, just as with one’s parents, experienced in
the
service of the one, holy “Nim”. The deity is the personalised
essences of
all, transcendent but immanent, absolutely infinite yet, at the
same time,
the relative genesis of all change.
Furthermore, Su-un draws a distinction of what can be humanly
known and not known. In the Buryeon Giyeon (: :
“Not so, yet so”) the last body of teaching in the Dongkyeong
Daejeon
(, the Great Scriptures of Eastern Learning), Su-un ponders
the
epistemological and metaphysical significance of the question of
origin.
“Did all these events happen because some leaders had knowledge
from
the moment of their birth, or because knowledge developed itself?
Even if
one says that they have knowledge from the time of birth, at that
stage our
minds are still in darkness, and even if one says that all things
happen by
themselves, the Truth is far away and hard to reach.”22
Whilst the origins of all matter are difficult to trace, Su-un
posits all
reason ultimately leads to a creative demiurge. “Therefore, those
things
which are difficult to determine may be called ‘unknowable’ and
those
things which are easy to determine may be called ‘self-evident’. If
we
22 Compendium “Buryeon Giyeon (Not So, Yet So)” I; “Compendium”, p.
470.
148 Understanding God in the Asian Context
search for the distant source of all things, it appears again and
again to be
‘unknowable’. But if we consider the Creator as the sense of all
things,
they appear to be very much ‘self-evident’ and their origin becomes
ap-
parent.”23 The pre-condition of oneness with a Creator-Lord of
Heaven
sustains the unity of humans with the Universe and, consequently,
know-
ing the origin of all things is to know the moral path. The answer
to the
ultimate question of humanity and all things is not just to be
found in a
Creator-God but must also include the awakening of moral
duty.
Su-un insists that all people must cultivate a moral life. “What is
a
superior person who does not cultivate the moral life, or
understand the
validity of ethics, nor abide by the Samgangoryun (the three bonds
and
five relationships in Confucianism)?”24 While respecting the
traditional
morality of Confucianism, he sought to establish that this morality
was
not inherently static. “Humaneness, righteousness, propriety, and
wisdom
(: ) are the virtues taught by former sages. Keeping a
good mind and having the right spiritual force are the virtues
established
only by me.”25 In teaching personal morality as the “morality of
the
Heavenly Lord”, Su-un moves beyond traditional Confucian morality
and
advocates that the way to union with God is found in attending to
one’s
true heart. This attending to one’s true heart is achieved through
the
practice of being mindful of God and avoiding wicked behaviour
(
: ).26 Su-un’s understanding of morality must be seen through
the lens of his experience of the deity.
23 Compendium “Buryeon Giyeon (Not So, Yet So)” V; “Compendium”, p.
472. 24 Story “On Paving the Way” v. 2; cf. “Compendium”, p. 513.
25 Compendium “On Developing the Virtues” IX; cf. “Compendium”, p.
467. 26 Compendium “On Learning” VIII reads, “The “Do” that I
received naturally influences the world according the divine
providence (Mu-wi-E-hwa). Anyone can be naturally influenced by it
when one attends to one’s true heart, follows one’s nature by
straightening the tempera- ment and receives the divine teachings”,
in “Compendium”, p. 457.
149 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
From Su-un’s perspective, human instinct naturally adheres to
the
fundamentals of the Universe which conforms to the will of
heaven.
Moreover, his respect for social norms and traditional morality is
not the
same as blind obedience because the humanistic experience of God is
an
experience of the fullness of the universe within and, hence, the
expec-
tations of the deity are felt to emanate from deep within his own
person.
Humans may be forced to break with social convention and even pay
the
price of life on account of their oneness with Hanuel-Nim. He spoke
of
achieving this high virtue as like something that becomes vapour.27
Chigi
is, at one and the same time, externally an evaporating, vaporising
vital
energy, yet also immanent within all humans and things. Chigi is
precisely
the insight of respecting the God who is within all humans and
things:
humans carry God through Chigi, and we live within God. This
paradox-
ical truth lies at the heart of Su-un’s humanism.
This insight forms the basis of Choi’s idea of Si Cheonju, “I serve
or
bear the God within me”. While external to humans, God is not an
abso-
lute controller but is intimately present and teaching rightly
within the
heart of humans. Therefore, humans are capable of reaching the
highest
realms, to become superior persons, because they bear Haneul-Nim
(
) within and return to Hanul-Nim (). Furthermore, his
insistence
that every person bears God and can serve that God, as with a
parent, with
utmost devotion can be seen as not just a rebuke of the rigid
exclusivism
of Neo-Confucian dominated Joseon society but, more importantly,
the
proclamation of a fundamental human equality.
2. Choe Sihyeong, known as Haewol (1829-1898), became the
second
leader of the Donghak-Cheondogyo movement. This revered teacher,
in
27 Cf. “Compendium”, pp. 473ff.
150 Understanding God in the Asian Context
the 70th year of his life, was arrested in July 1898 and eventually
executed.
Until then, Haewol, despite the persecution of the civil
authorities, not
only propagated but, in the light of the demands of his society,
developed
Su-un’s teaching of Si Cheonju.28 Thus, in his teaching he
proclaimed that
not only humans bear God but likewise all creation bears God. That
is to
say, by asserting that heaven is in all things then all things are
heaven, he
makes the universalism of heaven into a type of pantheism.
Professor
Choe Dong-Hee, a specialist in Donghak, interprets Haewol’s
preaching
as a kind of deterministic or willful providence. “That is to say,
it is a
praise of God’s omnipotent providence for all things, since all
things bear
God and therefore must follow God’s providence.”29
Importantly, Haewol developed the idea of reverence. He did not
limit
reverence to God alone but, in the Samgyeongseol or Teaching of
Three
Reverences (: ), expanded reverence to include reverence
of Heaven (: ), reverence of humans (: ) and reverence
of things (: ). Hence, contained in the Samgyeongseol and its
command to “reverence humans just as one reverences Hanul-Nim
(
) (: )” is the establishment of the idea that “the
human is Hanuel-Nim ()”, or Injeukcheon (: ). “The
human is Heaven (Cheon) and Heaven (Cheon) is a human; outside
the
human there is nothing and outside of God there is no human.30 This
idea
of Injeukcheon naturally reveals the union of God and humans
and,
crucially, there is no need for some kind of third-party,
supernatural
mediator between God and humanity.
Haewol extends the concept of Si Cheonju to include the idea
of
28 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, op. cit., pp. 749-759. 29 Choi Dong-Hee,
ibid., pp. 754. 30 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, ibid., p. 757; Lee Don-Hwa,
The Founding History of Cheondoism, Seoul: Cheondogyo Central
Church (1933), p. 36.
151 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
cultivating God, or Yang Cheonju (: ). Since all things, in-
cluding humans, originate from God, then there exists reason within
all
things. It is only right, since God’s reason exists within, to
reverence all
things. This respect, according to Professor Choe Dong-Hee, which
makes
manifest the nature of each and every thing, is not only important
but also
different from the form of respecting humans. For example, “Even
one
grain of rice must be protected and stored because it nurtures
human or
animals”.31 Haewol taught the idea of E-Cheon-Shik-Cheon (:
): that is, “Humans eat rice to grow, God eats God to grow”.
Cultivating moral humanism is achieved through reverencing the
reason
within all things: so too, humans bear God within them by
cultivating
Hanul-Nim ().
Son Byong-hi (1861-1922) known as Uiam, became the third leader
of
the movements. In 1905, he was responsible for changing the name of
the
movement from Donghak to Cheondogyo. He developed the
movement
into a modern religious system which engages in propagation and
socio-
cultural activitism.32 It was, moreover, at this time that the idea
“the per-
son is Haneul (Cheon)”, Innaecheon (: ), began to develop.
For Uiam, this designation meant that the idea of bearing Haneul
(Cheon)
was, in fact, cultivating one’s heart. Here, the word “heart”
carries the
sense of a pure empowerment which “governs” the person (perhaps,
it
could be translated as an “affective rationality”). If the heart of
all creation
is infused with God, that is Haneul (Cheon), so too, the heart of
humans
can be called Haneul (Cheon). Thus, it can be said that the human
is God,
or Innaecheon. Indeed, the meaning of Hanuel can be said to
be,
Innaecheon, In other words, the logic of Innaecheon is conveyed in
the idea
31 Choi Dong-Hee, ibid., p. 758. 32 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, ibid., pp.
765-780.
152 Understanding God in the Asian Context
that humans are understood as limited heaven, or Sobuncheon
(:
), but the essence of human nature is moving towards Heaven,
Cheonji-ri (: ).33 The concept of Innaecheon conveys the
sense that the deity is carried within the individual nature of all
people;
and in the discovery of this God is the discovery that the
individual’s
subjectivity is God.
Son Byong-hi’s idea of Innaecheon is the codification of Su-un’s
Si
Cheonju and Haewol’s Injeukcheon and Yang Cheonju.
IV. The Theological Significance of the Korean Understanding of
God
It is my intention in this section to briefly sketch the
theological sig-
nificance of the history, from ancient times to the present, of the
Korean
understanding of God. I seek to draw on both the archetypal imagery
and
the understanding of God present in Donghak-Cheondogyo.
1. The Theological Significance of the Traditional Understanding of
God
In previously published research on “the Korean Concept of God”
I
proposed that it is possible to discern aspects of the Christian
concept of
God in Korean reverence for God since ancient times. It is my
published
opinion that the monotheism of Israel and the manifestation of
Hwanin in
the Dangun Myth are not that dissimilar. At the time of the
conquest of
Canaan by the Chosen People of YHWH, there was a synthesis of the
God
33 Cf. Choi Dong-Hee, ibid., pp. 771-773.
153 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
of the Chosen people with the “El”, the “Father God” worshipped by
the
indigenous population. YHWH became YHWH-El. The God
worshipped
by Christians is precisely this YHWH-El. Christians, following
Jesus
Christ the Lord who cried out, Abba Father, recognise the God
who
speaks and acts as YHWH-El. YHWH-El is one and the same God
whom
the Christian Church confesses to be Lord, all powerful and ever
living,
infinite and immutable, beyond compare and supreme.34
Hwanin, of the Dangun Myth, can be compared with El of the
Hebrew
Scripture. Like El, Hwanin is a Father God who is supreme in heaven
and
rules over the whole universe. Hwanin, Lord of all, who maintains
the
harmony of the world, displayed his benevolent fatherhood by
sending his
son Hwanung along with the three demiurges for the benefit of
humanity.
Comparatively, the essence or “godness” of Hwanin and El is
expressed
as the will of a father directly binding themselves through their
sons,
Hwanung or Baal respectively, with humans and their fortunes. Given
the
identification of the father God, El with YHWH, the one and only
Al-
mighty God of Israel, and the one whom Christians too confess as
Lord,
Creator, and God, it has been my long held opinion that
theologically
speaking there is no reason why Hwanin of the Dangun Myth (who
sent
his son, Hwanung, to earth along with the three demiurges to spread
good
work amongst humans), does not provide sufficient evidence to
equate
Hwanin with YHWH -El and the Almighty God of Christian
belief.
35 Cf. DH 3001; Gotthold Hasenhuettl, Einführung in die
Gotteslehre, Darmstadt (1980), pp.137-142.
154 Understanding God in the Asian Context
2. The Theological Significance of Donghak-Cheondogyo and the
Korean Understanding of God
In previous publications I have expounded upon the following
aspects
of the Korean concept of God in the light of the Donghak movement
and
Cheondoism.
1) There emerged, within the Donghak movement and the
Cheondo-
gyo, a syncretic inculturation of the ancient Korean concept of God
with
the Asian religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. However,
to
my mind, the emergence of this new religious syncretism is no
simple
matter but was shaped by the strengths of various religious
traditions
interacting with specific historical and material conditions and
the new
ideological structures corresponding to the “signs of the times”
emerging
within the transitions taking place in Joseon society towards the
end of the
nineteenth century.
As we examined above, the God of the Donghak Movement and
Cheondogyo can be understood as the underlying sense of existence:
the
transcendent source of all creation who, at the same time, carries
the sense
of the inherent uniqueness of being. Separate from the externality
of
humans and the world, this God is not the absolute principle
subject of
existence but is immanent within humans and the world. The
understand-
ing of God emphasised in the Donghak Movement and Cheondogyo
embraces the idea of unity and oneness: particularly, Si Cheonju,
Injeuk-
cheon, and Innaecheon.
The emphasis of harmony and fusion within this understanding of
God
are formative ideas within the East Asian mind set. This kind of
dualistic
thinking is not to be understood as a contradiction of opposites
but a
155 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
harmony of opposites; thus, for example, reason and the life force
(: ;
: ), yin with yang (: ; : ).
2) For many years, I have been engaged in discerning the
undertones
of the Christian theology of Inculturation to be found within the
Cheon-
dogyo concept of God. This work, especially during the 1980s in
the
research and publishing unit on the theology of Inculturation
affiliated to
the Journal, Korean Pastoral, was carried out through engagement
with
the views of Korean Protestant theologians and at the particular
urging of
the writer and commentator, Professor Lee Jung-Bae of Methodist
Semin-
ary. Professor Lee has consistently argued the need to start from
an his-
torically sensitive understanding of the impact on civilization
from mas-
sive changes in the money system as a means for beginning to
understand
the concept of God within the Donghak movement and
Cheondogyo.35
Lee points to the patriotism of the Donghak Movement which
appear-
ed during the breakdown of the 500-year-old Joseon Dynasty at the
end of
the 19th Century. He argues that, in the wake of breakdown of the
ruling
ideology of Joseon Society, including its Monism, Neo-Confucianism
and
the policy of suppressing Buddhism, there emerged a redefinition of
the
human-nature-cosmic relationship; namely, an awakening of an
inclusive
cosmic and ecological consciousness. For him, the concept of Chigi
pro-
moted by Cheondoism is not a simple adoption of the Chinese concept
of
“Gi” (: ) but, absorbed into Si Cheonju, is a form of Korean
style
pantheism which both critiques the personal God of Western
Christianity
and is a challenge to scientific civilization. Both Chinese
Philosophy and
Donghak-Cheondogyo tend to agree in designating “Gi” as the power
that
36 Cf. Lee Jung-Bae, “Comments on the Inculturation of Protestant
Theology” (1991), in The Inculturation of the Understanding of God:
Research Material, pp. 215-236; Koreanized The- ology of Life as
Systematic Theology, Seoul: Methodist Theological University Press
(1996).
156 Understanding God in the Asian Context
generates heaven and earth and the source of all extant life.
However,
Neo-Confucianism and other Chinese philosophies accentuate Gi as
an
inevitable attribute of nature. On the other hand, Donghak
conceives of
‘Gi’ as developing into a personal God. “Chigi, which permeates
humans
and all things and evaporates into external reality, is not only
the funda-
mental energy within all things, living and inanimate, but also is
the
Almighty, Living God.”36 Realising that all life is one and
inter-related,
this theory of Chigi has the objective of overcoming any
individualised
concepts with the respectful awareness of Si Cheonju, as the Living
God
present within all beings; the energy of the universe is one and
the same
energy which is within the individual. That is to say, the idea of
Si Cheon-
ju implies the existence of God within the individual and is not
only the
prerequisite for personal relationship with God but also
inter-human re-
lationships: namely, “the awakening of the universe, the awakening
of so-
cial community and the awakening of the ecosphere”. Lee interprets
Su-
un’s religious experience of Si Cheonju as a desire for the people
to obtain
the highest level of virtue.37
Lee holds that the theory of Chigi, with its personal but not
personal
aspect of God, must be interpreted from within the dynamics of
discover-
ing God within the Korean historico-cultural reality and not from
the
perspective of Western Environmentalism. More fundamentally, we
must
pay attention to the fact that this theory must be seen as an
expression of
the East Asian idea of the fundamental oneness of all life and is,
in fact, a
Korean expression of God saving the world.
The Cheondogyo idea of Si Cheon is, as mentioned earlier,
accom-
panied by the idea of Yang Cheon which supports the realization of
con-
36 Cf. Lee Jung-Bae, “Comments on the Inculturation of Protestant
Theology” (1991), p. 233. 37 Cf. Lee Jung-Bae, “Discussion on Moon
Myung-Suk’s The Concept of Human of Dong- hak”, in The
Inculturation of the Concept of Human, pp. 194-199.
157 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
scious morality as well as the cultivation and growth of the cosmic
energy
which is within all things. The nature of cosmic life means, above
all else,
that all cosmic beings have their own interiority and purpose to
which
humans have an active role and particular responsibility. Professor
Lee in
evaluating the appropriateness of the Christian symbolic system
observes
that a truly indigenous viewpoint would widen the horizon of
Christian
self-understanding. He asserts the God-centred perspective of
Christianity
results in a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of “Si”
which
comes about from a false dogma of life that causes a misreading of
the
Korean foundations of the concept. A Korean view of God would be
not
only simultaneously humanistic yet not humanistic but also promote
an
eschatology which places God within the ecosphere.
To sum up, Professor Lee, in his search for an appropriate
Christianity
for the Korean context, turns to Donghak-Cheondogyo as his
starting
point in discovering principles which are, at the same time, both
culturally
specific and globally engaged. For him, Chigi is the Spirit of God
which
can be re-mythologized or remodeled as a mother Goddess. This
remodel-
ing, he asserts, means re-envisaging God through the metaphor
of
“Mother” which, unlike the traditional understanding of a
transcendent
being governing the external relationships of the universe,
embraces an
organic reality that voluntarily eschews self in order to affirm an
essence
of immanent love.
Professor Lee, at this juncture, turns to examine the issue from
the per-
spective of a Christian academic. “God, who is like a mother, is
organi-
cally related to everything and has an essence of self-giving, and
Jesus is
the great life of the world and the essence of joy, thus churches
are places
where the spirit of “si” is fostered and realized. Taking this one
step
further, Donghak guides the way Christianity is realized. While
Christian-
158 Understanding God in the Asian Context
ity tries to extricate itself from the idea of the world of
mythology and
god/human feedback relationship, Donghak, which does not sit
comfort-
ably with the moribund religions of Asia, presents a God who is
Chigi:
namely, the rediscovery of the dynamic of the personal which is not
per-
sonal. Therefore, in the 21st Century and this second axial period,
an en-
lightened Donghak, having taken on aspects of Confucianism,
Buddhism,
Daoism, and Western thought is, in practice, Christianity’s teacher
of
grace (faith).”38 Having reflected deeply on Professor Lee’s
insights, I
have to say that I agree, for the most part, with his
position.
V. Concluding Remarks
My intention in this paper, as I said at the outset, is to outline
and
establish, through an historical review, the Korean context for the
contem-
porary desired-for-image of God.
From the perspective of Dogmatic Theology, I have personally
been
involved in seeking to understand and research the “signs of the
times”
which have been presenting themselves in this unique historical
moment
of change. Indeed, since the 1970s I have taken seriously the call
by the
Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC) for an
evangelization
which promotes the message of the Gospel by taking seriously the
cultural,
religious, and social realities of Asia. In particular, I draw
attention to the
Extraordinary Synod of Asia (1988), prior to the FABC’s Year of
Dialogue
in 2000. At this inclusive yet autonomous event, the Bishops
expressed a
wish for a creative engagement with the religious spirit of the
Continent in
order to develop a theological stance which gives proper expression
to the
38 Lee Jung-Bae, ibid., p.185.
159 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
face of the Church in Asia. Many of the Bishops remarks are
pertinent to
this present Symposium.
The Bishops, at the Extraordinary Synod, expressed the need for
a
theological vision of God for the Asian Churches which emphasised
“cre-
ative harmony” as opposed to the traditional Western concepts of
“distinc-
tion” and “difference”.39 They, and I have long cherished a similar
under-
standing, promote the view that the God of Asia embraces a God of
Com-
passion for all things. In practice this means the Asia Church, in
its teach-
ing and art, tends to place more emphasis on the motherhood of God
in
contrast to the Western Church’s perspective of an explicit
separation
between God and the Cosmos and an emphasis on the fatherhood of
God.
In this 21st Century moment of considerable and profound change,
I
believe that, whatever else, the contours of debate and discernment
of a
theology about God for the 3rd Millennium must be grounded in
the
concrete experience and reality of humanity and, indeed, all
creation,
especially the experience of the poor, alienated and oppressed
people as
well as the severely desecrated environment. Moreover, it will
be
necessary to create a new theological paradigm: a Pneumatology
which
respects a multiplicity of charisms and prioritises the integrity
of not just
humans but the whole of creation. I pray you can discover these
values in
my paper.
Finally, I wish to conclude my humble manuscript with a quotation
from
the international theologian, Cardinal Walter Kasper who was a
guest
speaker at an International Symposium honouring the Year of Faith
hosted
by the Institute of Korean Christian Thought. As part of his
contribution
39 The National Catholic Reporter, an American weekly paper,
carried the official response of the Japanese Church to the
Vatican. I have used the Japanese response as the source of this
paper: cf. “Official Response of the Japanese Church to the
Lineamenta”, in National Catholic Reporter, March 27, 1998, pp.
10-12.
160 Understanding God in the Asian Context
entitled, “Discerning the shape and direction of faith and culture
in the
Korean Church” (October 2012), the Cardinal offered the following
re-
flection: “[…] In the first instance, we cannot easily overlook the
under-
standing of God in the East and the West and its impact upon
formation of
a life of faith. Traditionally, Western Christianity makes an
explicit
distinction between the transcendence and immanence of God in
relation-
ship to the Cosmic world, emphasising the fatherly dimension of
God
expressed as a vertical relationship along with a legalistic
approach to the
world and church order. Eastern Asians, however, tend to privilege
the
compassion and immanence of God in creation over the
transcendent
dimension. That is, the understanding of the truth of the human
life world
and, indeed the essence of all created reality is a “transcendent
imam-
nence” which, since time immemorial, is a transcendent God who
cannot
be separated from the undivided energy that embraces and permeates
all
existence. Therefore, it is possible to find within the long
history of the
indigenous agricultural society of this place an extensive array of
religious
art which portrays images of the mother Goddess as opposed to those
of a
transcendent father God. The Church of Christ finds within the
landscape
of East Asian Religions a convergence of the unifying and
universalising
feminine dimension of God. This dimension, which is more than
an
invitation into the presence of a benevolent deity, becomes, for
those who
seek the truth of salvation in a context of alienation and
insatiable thirst
for redemption in this world, a joyful engagement with the
all-encom-
passing fellowship of God.40
40 Cf. “Special Discourse between Cardinal Walter Kasper and Msgr.
Shim Sang-Tai”, in Korean Christian Thought 21 (2013), pp.
335ff.
161 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
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pp. 10-12. Received: 7 April 2016 Reviewed and Edited: 19 May 2016
Finalized for Publication: 11 June 2016
163 Sangtai Shim / The Korean Understanding of God
Abstract
This paper begins with a discussion of the contours of ancient
religion
in Korea. The starting point is an analysis of the indigenous
mythology of
Dangun and the divine image of Hwanin along with the concept of
Haneul.
The focus then turns to the transformation of the concept of God,
espe-
cially noting the emergence of the word, Cheon (: ), which
came
with the arrival of the Chinese religions: Confucianism, Buddhism,
and
Taoism. This overview is given in order to establish an important
conten-
tion of this paper that the concept of God held by Koreans prior to
the 19th
Century embraces, in distinction to the Semitic Religions (Judaism,
Chris-
tianity, and Islam), not only a transcendent, paternal God but also
a mater-
nal God who was immanent within all things. Moreover, it is
contended,
there is sufficient evidence to equate Hwanin of the Dangun myth
with
YHWH-El and the Almighty God of Christian belief.
The central concern of this paper focuses on the understanding of
God
which emerges within the new religious movements that appeared
towards
the end of the 19th Century. The particular focus is on the Donghak
(East-
ern Learning) movement founded by Choe Je-u (Su-un). Su-un, the
paper
contends, established a faith based on the concept of a God (Lord
of
Heaven) called, Si Cheonju, whom is conceived as a direct
experience of
“carrying or bearing God”. God is Chigi, the vital force or energy
pervad-
ing the universe, which is both the transcendent and the immanent
Lord of
all. God is the paradox within all humans and things. We carry
God
through Chigi, which is, at one and the same time, externally an
evaporat-
ing, vaporising vital energy, yet also immanent within all humans
and
164 Understanding God in the Asian Context
things. Other key concepts of the Donghak divinity which are
developed
and analysed are Hanul-Nim (: ), Haneul-Nim (),
Injeukcheon (: ), Yang Cheonju (: ), and In-
naecheon (: ). The inspiration of Donghak leads to a funda-
mental insight the idea of “transcendent immanence”.
Using these fundamental insights, this paper turns to examine the
con-
temporary moment and its issues of injustice, poverty, alienation
and eco-
logical collapse. A Korean view of God, it is argued, would be not
only si-
multaneously humanistic yet not humanistic but also promote an
eschat-
ology which places God within the ecosphere. In order to adequately
ap-
preciate the opportunity which is provided by an enlightened
Donghak,
the reader is challenged to re-envisage God through the metaphor
of
“Mother” which, unlike the traditional understanding of a
transcendent
being governing the external relationships of the universe,
embraces an
organic reality that voluntarily eschews self in order to affirm an
essence
of immanent love. The essay concludes with the words of Cardinal
Walter
Kasper commenting on the Mother Goddess image which is not just a
sat-
isfying image but an invitation to all those who seek the truth of
salvation
in a context of alienation and insatiable thirst for redemption in
this world,
a joyful engagement with the all-encompassing fellowship of
God.
Key Words: Dangun, Hwanin, Haneul, Cheon, Donghak, Eastern
Learning, Choe Je-u, Su-un, Si
Cheonju, Chigi, Hanul-Nim, Haneul-Nim, Injeukcheon, Yang Cheonju,
Innaecheon,
Transcendent Immanence, Mother Goddess.