Minjung Perspective in the Theology of Suh Nam-dong Revisited

Abstract

Minjung theology arose in the middle of the 1970s against background of the political oppression of the dictatorial military regime and the economic deprivation of urban workers and rural peasants in South Korea. In this situation, most of Korean churches were not concerned with the poor and the oppressed. Beginning in 1975, however, some progressive theologians unified their references to the poor and oppressed as Minjung and began to develop Minjung theology. One of them is Suh Nam-dong. In this article, his way of theologizing is analyzed within Suh Nam-dong’s own theological interest and structures and methodological frameworks, and criticized in terms of evangelical perspective. As a result of analyzing his writings on Minjung theology, one cannot but notice that in Suh the context of Minjung is on par with the text of the Bible or even the Bible takes a secondary position as a “reference book.” It is clearly denied that the Bible is the absolute standard for faith and practice. He does not accept the Bible as the absolute standard, instead regards it as a political textbook. The Bible is the revelation of God’s redemptive history for our salvation. One of serious problems in Minjung theology, is that all the theologies start not from the Bible, but from the various social references. To Minjung theologians, including Suh, the Bible is the book of Minjung, only for Minjung, and take it as a social biography for Minjung. According to Suh, the major events of the Bible like Exodus, cross, resurrection and others are to be re-interpreted exclusively in terms of socio-economic perspective, centering on the political liberation of the oppressed Minjung. They are said to have been concrete historical reference points and nothing else. Jesus’ resurrection, for example, loses its uniqueness in that Jesus’ resurrection is identified with the self-conscious awareness of Minjung as the subject of history. In this sense, we have to ask this question, “Is Minjung theology really a Christian theology?”