츠빙글리의 국가론에 근거한 통일을 향한 기독교의 책임

Abstract

Since the majority of Korean churches belong to the Presbyterian Church confessing the Reformed faith, even in the context of Protestantism as a whole, a study on Zwingli’s theory of the state as the father of the Reformed Church in the sixteenth century Reformation era brings great benefits for the direction of reunification that the Korean church should pursue. When we examine the previous studies on Zwingli’s theory of the state, it can be said that existing studies select and intensively analyze one or two of Zwingli’s important works. Therefore, this study comprehensively analyzes Zwingli’s theory of the state that appeared in all of Zwingli’s works from the beginning of his work as Reformer to the end of his life (from 1522 to 1531) to find the direction for reunification of Korea. According to Zwingli reflections on the State, the state is a divine institution established by God along with the church, and the state is for the peaceful life of the people. The governor of a state appointed by God must renounce greed. The church should obey the state. However, the church must resist selfish tyrant who abuse their power while ignoring the human life of the people. In particular, the teaching of Zwingli is that pastors of the Church should not stand by and resist this based on the Word of God. However, the method must be thoroughly based on the Word of God and follow a democratic procedure. Within the state, Christians must have a task of stewardship and fulfill their social responsibilities. As a conclusion, for Zwingli, God’s justice and human justice must converge. Based on Zwingli’s theory of the state, this thesis explored the way to the reunification of the Korean church in two directions. First, the responsibility of Christians toward the state for reunification was considered. Next, the direction the Korean church should take for reunification was presented. In summary, the church should actively submit to and cooperate with the state so that it can work for the biblical peaceful reunification of the state. However, if the state goes in the opposite direction to peaceful reunification, the church should actively criticize it based on the Word of God. The method must be democratic and must be done with the general consent of the people. In a word, the church must fulfill its public responsibility toward reunification. The church must also make an effort in various ways for the stable settlement of North Korean defectors and for the persecuted Christians in North Korea. Because it is not easy for the South Korean government to play a role for this issue, because of the political context, the church has to fulfill its responsibility. In addition, this thesis suggests that each denomination of the Korean churches should establish a permanent organization for unification with the experts, and that these organizations for the reunification should not only work together for the study on the issue of reunification but also present a biblical and unified voice of the Korean church to the society.