다석 류영모의 “없이 계신 하느님”으로서의 신 이해와 Robert C. Neville의 존재론적 신 이해 비교 연구

Abstract

The main goal of my dissertation is to first compare Robert C. Neville’s understanding of the ultimate reality and Yǒng-mo Yu’s understanding of God. For Neville who is a philosophical theologian and ex-Dean of Boston University School of Theology, God or the ultimate reality is necessary to explain all beings of the world and the order of beings because it is impossible to explain the world and the world order only through the determinate beings of the world. Neville proposes his God-world relationship theory by the traditional view that God creates the world ex nihilo, and tries to maintain both of God’s transcendence and immanence through his creation theory. Yu (1890-1981) is known as a supporter of religious pluralismin Korea, advocating for a syncretistic conception of God; and for interfaith spiritual renewal. Yu’s own definition of God as “Ŏpshi-gyeshin-Haneunim”(없이 계신 하느님, God who exists as Non-Being) is an ontological understanding of the ultimate reality, which is very different from conservative Korean Protestantism’s understanding of God. Yu’s understanding of God is very similar to Neville’s understanding of God as the creator in that both of them define the ultimate reality as absolute Nothingness (無) or Emptiness (空) transcending both being and non-being. Yu’s understanding of God was also based on the East Asian religious traditions which are Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Therefore, Yu defines Christian God as T’ai-chi(太極) and Wu-chi(無極), sūnyatā(空), and Tao(道) which are concepts or symbols that Yu borrows from the East Asian religions. I expect that my dissertation, which compares Yu’s and Neville’s understanding of God, will contribute to not only our theological context which wants to find a distinct Korean Christianity, but also the western theology which is much interested in the East-Asian ontological understanding of the ultimate reality.