한국교회의 역사 경험에 대한 종교개혁적 성찰

Abstract

In commemoration of 500 years since the Reformation, this treatise seeks to re-illuminate faith and theology of Korea's Protestant churches from the light of Luther's theology. Presently, Korea's Protestant churches need to undergo changes from within and without. They don't have, however, any idea from where to start the changes. In this respect, Luther's Reformational discovery can be regarded as the starting point for changes of Korean churches. It's because his theological discovery changed not only the Medieval churches also the whole European society. That said, the point of this treatise is not targeted to the objects of change. It's neither about individuals, churches, nor about societies but important is what is the sources bringing about changes. As Luther considered the old church as Babylonian captivity, we need to have self-examination of the reality of Korean churches and society. It is revealed that principle of justification by faith is not working in our country, since Korean churches have been too dependent on the United States and its churches, beyond being friendly to them. It is surely one of our country's historical experiences just like the victim mentality caused by the Japanese colonial rule or the Korean War. These experiences hinder meaningful changes based on faith-experiences. Historical experiences, which are merely relative and partial, may prevail in human matters but can't obtain ultimate legitimacy in front of God. Only faith-experiences based on the doctrine of justification as 'being righteous by God's righteousness' are able to bring about true changes to churches and society. Such faith-experiences have been handed down to us in the form of confession of faith of Korean churches, surviving internal life of church history, which we can identify particularly in the Great Revival of 1907 in Korea. The heritage of the Reformation can be and should be applied to the reforms of Korean churches and society. Although ‘Indigenous theology’ and ‘Minjung theology’ were presented as the possibility of Korean theology in Korean theological history, they could not bring as much fruit as expected for the mission and ministry of the church for society because they could not theoretically subject the Korean church's unique faith experience. A meaningful change in Korean church and society is in rediscovering and practicing the principles of the reformational theology that Luther discovered and practiced 500 years ago, like the slogan of “Ad Fontes” (return to the source).