권정생 동화의 샬롬 사상 고찰 - 「하느님의 눈물」과 『하느님이 우리 옆집에 살고 있네요』를 중심으로

Abstract

In this article, the researcher attempted to examine the peace shown in Kwon Jeong-saeng's fairy tales Tears of God and God Lives Next Door to Us in light of Shalom mentioned in the Old Testament. Kwon Jeong-saeng said, “My favorite Bible text is Isaiah chapter 11 of the Old Testament.” The core of this text, which contains the idea of Shalom, can be seen as verses 6-9. In this text, Isaiah spoke of the ‘ideal kingdom’, that is, the ‘restored kingdom of God’, which means “a kingdom where the strong and the weak coexist peacefully.” As mentioned at the end of Tears of God, “Yes, everyone in this world.” But God’s comment, “Even as I wait like this, people are going out of their way to harm others,”, is enough to be seen as referring to a world that is opposite to such a country. As mentioned in God Lives Next Door to us, “But the world I created is not like this.” God’s lament, “And the man I made was not like this,” is an appropriate text for this. Through this, the researcher believes that just as Isaiah aspired to “the kingdom of God where shalom is achieved,” Kwon Jeong-saeng also aspired for a similar kingdom. In ancient Israel, it was common for those in power to exploit the powerlessness, resulting in a breakdown of individual and social ethics. Eventually, this led to the collapse of the state. As a result, the Old Testament prophets, including Isaiah, dreamed of “a utopia where the strong and the weak live together in peace.” This is because they believed that when such a society is created, Israel will become an ideal country where people live in peace. The researcher believes that the reason why the core of Kwon Jeong-saeng's literary thought is the Shalom idea mentioned in the Old Testament is that the tragic events that were witnessed when the prophets of the Old Testament were active were repeated in the modern history of Kwon Jeong-saeng's life. Today, it can be broadly seen in three categories: war, ecological destruction, and economic inequality. The three mentioned are the main factors destroying peace and coexistence. Kwon Jeong-saeng believes that human greed is responsible for the destruction of both people and nature. This is why Kwon Jeong-saeng mentioned God's tears and God's sighs and talked about the modern tragedy in which these three things occur. This is also why the researcher believes that God's tears and sighs mentioned by Kwon Jeong-saeng in Tears of God and God Lives Next Door to Us refer to Kwon Jeong-saeng's tears and sighs that yearn for a world where Shalom is complete.