All Believers Are Prophets: Social Spirituality for the Third Reformation

Abstract

The year 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Most Protestant churches in the world are commemorating Martin Luther’s Reformation by remembering and renewing its historical and theological meanings. Yet, they tend to ignore or undervalue other Reformations present in the history of Christianity as they focus too much on Luther’s Reformation. To be sure, Luther’s is a significant event that needs to be illuminated and examined historically and theologically. But his Reformation cannot be totally independent or monopolistic; rather, it is interconnected with other Reformations in many ways. Thus, in order to understand the historical and theological meanings of Luther’s Reformation, we should also explore other Reformation movements before, during, and after his time, such as that of John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Thomas Müntzer, and so on. Based on that viewpoint, the purpose of this essay is to examine the sociopolitical context of the religious reformation movements in the modern history. To do so, this essay, firstly, analyzes closely how the First Reformation betrayed the people’s desire to change their society, secondly, examines the core tenets of the liberation theologies during the twentieth century, which I call the Second Reformation, and, thirdly, suggests the social spirituality that socially engaged Korean Christians and religious people are exploring recently as a meaningful source and ground for the Third Reformation which pursues both social and religious transformation of the world.