문익환의 기독교 신앙과 사회참여-민주화운동과 통일운동을 중심으로

Abstract

While growing up in northern Gando, Ik-Hwan Moon was affected by the ideas of nationalism and Christianity and was taught by Jae-Joon Kim, a theologian with progressive ideas. Since 1955, he lectured on the Old Testament of Bible at Hanshin and Yonsei Universities. He delved deeper especially into the prophetic movement of the prophets such as Jeremiah and Amos. While working as a pastor, he experienced the collapse of the wall between the (Roman) Catholic Church and Protestantism when he took the responsibility of common translation of Bible in 1968. Throught the translation of Bible, he expanded his scope of theological ideas. Ik-Hwan Moon began to have interests in social problems including civil rights when he learned about the self-burning of Tae-Il Jeon and suicide of Sang-Jin Kim in the early 1970s. However, he was still not active in social participation because he was working on the common translation of Bible at the time. In 1972, South and North Korea issued a joint communique on July 4th. Ik-Hwan Moon insisted that “South Korean theology should seek the theology of unification as soon as possible.” He thought it was important for the churches in South Korea functioned as the power of reconciliation between South and North Korea. He became active in social participation with the death of Jun-Ha Jang in 1975. With the Declaration of saving the nation with democracy in March 1st he was imprisoned many times. In his first imprisonment, he realized ‘happiness’ as the essence of Faith through St. Paul. During this period, he prayed to God and wanted to live a life of practical love and justice as the prophet Jeremiah for the suffering people. He was imprisoned for the second time from October, 1978 to December, 1979. Later he said that he was reborn during this period and was able to find Jesus living together with people in the people. In other words, he realized the ‘happiness’ of theology during his first imprisonment while he rather felt the guiltiness in the joyless faces of prisoners. From this, he realized that the essence of Faith and life was ‘sorrow’ such as the sorrow of individuals and the nation. In his third imprisonment during May, 1980 to December, 1982, he realized that sorrow and happiness was one and especially that democratization and unification were national reconciliation as well as a peace movement and the Christian Gospel was also the Gospel of peace. He emphasized that this kind of national reconciliation could ‘be achieved by grieving together while beating the chest in national tragedy’ and that he realized this looking at the cross of Jesus. In the mid-1980s, as the chairman of the alliance of people’s movement for democratic reunification, Ik-Hwan Moon spread democratization and unification movements from the standpoint of ‘democratic reunification parallelism.’ From the organizing period of the alliance, he buried himself in establishment of democratic government through anti-autocracy campaign for democracy. However, with the incident in Incheon on May 3, 1986 and ‘the death of Dong-Su Lee’, he went at the reunification movement wholeheartedly after his release from prison in July, 1987. In other words, the democratization was achieved in some degree through the June Struggle according him. He expanded the prospect of reunification movement through the regional lecture circuit and the activities of reunification counsel of the alliance. ‘88 Declaration’ announced by the National Council of Churches in Korea contributed to the vitalization of people’s reunification movement. Ik-Hwan Moon believed that people rather than the government should take the lead in reunification and he carried out an unauthorized visit to North Korea on March 25, 1989. His several meeting with Il-Sung Kim in North Korea induced the historic April 2nd Joint Statement and acted as a mediator of reunification. Through his visit to North Korea, he repented his past for accepting the division of nation as a Christian. He wanted to participate in the sufferings of the cross of Jesus Christ by embracing the phrase ‘hope everyone to become one’ with Christian love’ (The Gospel of John 17:21) as God’s calling to achieve reunification of South and North Korea. By 1990s, Ik-Hwan Moon saw reconciliation theology as the process theology as practical theology for achieving peace and insisted that reunification theology should be the reconciliation theology. He thought that reunification through a democratic process of reconciliation would contribute in the peace of Northeast Asia and World as well as that of Korea. He emphasized that the spirit of reconciliation and peace that he realized through Jesus Christ and discovered in prison was ‘the heart of cherishing life.’ In addition, his love for life was that for the nature and human life and especially a passionate love for the people. Ik-Hwan held on to his prophetic Participatory Theology with an effect of his teacher, Jae-Joon Kim. This theology began to have the characters of the people in the early mid-1980s and developed into the spirit of popular prophetic participation in history through his The history of Hebrew people written in 1990s.