1. United Theological College
Contextual Theology Group Presentation
Taurai Emmanuel Maforo, Nyevero Musekiwa, Simbai Dzibakwi(Kasambira), Martha Mberi, and
Dorothy Machedye(Mumvuma)

2. Presentation Outline
Topic
1
Introduction
2
Definition of terms
3
Origins
4
Two distinct features of Minjung Theology – Han and Dan
5
The Korean Political Context
6
Central Theme of Minjung Theology
7
Concern of Minjung theology
8
Minjung theology and the Bible
9
Minjung as an expression of the Holy Spirit
10
Conclusion

3. 1. Introduction
Minjung theology is born out of reflective questions and
resultantly finds a unique understanding of Christ and
how to follow Him faithfully. In other words in their quest
to get answers they constructed a local theology
presenting a radical view of the portrait of Christ – a
radical re-reading of the Christology of the Kerygma.
Questions they needed to deal with were:
a. How do you find the hope for freedom after centuries of
oppression from four different world powers?
b. Is freedom and peace a state of utopia?
c. What spark is there to transform the pain that you feel
within and the emptiness of the world around you?
•

4. Locke

5. Aim of Presentation

This presentation is thus aimed
at laying bare the meaning of
Minjung, both as a people and
a theology together with their
interpretation of the gospel
message. In the process we
shall explore the two distinct
features of Minjung which are
HAN and DAN.

6. 2.
Definition
of Terms

7. Minjung
○ It is a Korean word, but it is a
combination of two Chinese
characters “min” and “jung”.
○ “Min” may be translated as
“people” and,
○ “jung” as “the mass”

8. ○ Tong H. Moon, one of Minjung
theologians, defines the meaning of
"Minjung" in this way : "The term came to
be used first during the Yi dynasty (18921910) when the common people were
oppressed by Yangban class, the ruling
class of the time ...
○ At that time anyone who was excluded
from the Yangban class was a Minjung.
○ During the Japanese occupation (19101945), most Koreans were reduced to
Minjung status except for a small group
who collaborated with the Japanese
imperialists.

9. The Minjung are those people who have
suffered from: Exploitation, poverty; sociopolitical oppression, and cultural repression
throughout the ages.
 They know the pain of dehumanization.
 Their lives; have been rooted in the age-old
experience of suffering and the present
experience of it.
 They have been treated as non-beings by
their rulers. Yet they have not given in but
resisted the oppression of their rulers. They
have suffered for changing Korea into a' just
nation.

10. What the Minjung
are not

11. Proletariat





But the meaning of the Minjung cannot be
consumed by the term the proletariat.
The Minjung is not a strictly economic
term.
It is rather a political term.
It emphasizes the Minjung as the actor of
the society and history.
The Minjung seek their liberation in their
concrete historical context.

12. Citizens



However, the citizen is distinct from the
Minjung.
While the Minjung do not enjoy at present
time the full and substantial participatory
membership in the society, the citizen by its
definition enjoys the full membership of the
society and country.
The Minjung may be citizens, but they are at
most nominal citizens. They are citizens only
by name, not in a substantial sense.

13. Nation


Although the Korean nation has suffered
for a long time, within the nation the
Minjung have suffered more by both
external (foreign) and internal rulers.
Ahn Byung-Mu stated that in the Korean
history there had not been for the
Minjung but for the nation, and that the
Minjung had been veiled and
overshadowed by the nation.

14. Minorities or the others

It seems hard to identify the minorities or
the others with the Minjung.

The Minjung denotes the multitudes and
ordinary people who are in a position of
being governed and sometimes being
oppressed by the powerful.

15. BUT!!

16. The Multitude



According to Hardt and Negri, and also
Sugirtharajah(Asian faces of Jesus),
agree that the Ochlos in the Markan
Gospel is most close to the multitude.
Multitude is as inclusive an idea as
minjung.
Multitude is the term most illuminating on
the meaning of Minjung.

17. Minjung theology
• Minjung Theology - the people's
theology emerged in the 1970s from the
experience of South Korean Christians
in the struggle for social justice. It is a
people's theology, and, according to its
authors, "a development of the political
hermeneutics of the Gospel in terms of
the Korean reality“.
[Philip L. Wickeri, (1985) Asian Theologies in Review, Theology Today]

18. The Push Factor
• In the 1970s, a handful of theologians and
lay leaders became involved in the struggle of
the "Minjung" (the oppressed) for justice and
freedom.
• As their involvement on behalf of the Minjung
intensified, the Korean government dismissed
them from their universities and seminaries.
• Having lost their teaching jobs: they chose to
participate more actively in Minjung movements.
They chanted with labourers staging sit-instrikes, demonstrated with student in the
streets, and cried with the families of Political
prisoners.

19. • When these Christians committed
•
•
•
•
themselves to Minjung movements, they;
"were forced to reflect upon their Christian
discipleship in basement interrogation'
rooms,
in trials, facing court-martial tribunals,
hearing the allegations of prosecutors,
and in, making their own final defence.
Out of these in-depth human experiences,
Minjung theology was born.
(Minjung Theology: A Korean Contextual Theology by Rev. A. Sung Park, the
author, is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church and a PhD
candidate at the Graduate Theological union in Berkeley, CA.)

20. Origins/Sources of Minjung
theology
• “Minjung is thus a term which grew out of the
Christian experiences in the political struggle for
justice.
 This theology is an accumulation and articulation of
theological reflections
 It is a theology of the oppressed in the Korean
political situation, a theological response to the
oppressors, and it is a response of the oppressed to the
Korean church and its mission.
 Theology of Minjung is a creation of those Christians
who were forced to reflect upon their Christian
discipleship in basement interrogation rooms

21. Origins/Sources of Minjung
theology
• They reflected on their Christian commitment in
•
•
•
•
•
prison cells;
in their letters from prison to families and friends,
in their readings of books sent by friends all over the
world,
in their unemployment,
in their stay at home under house-arrest, while
subject to a twenty-four-hour watch over their
activities,
and during visits with their friends.

22. Two distinct features of Minjung
Theology

Han

Dan

23. Han
○ HAN can be defined as “a feeling of helpless
suffering and oppression.”
○ It can be translated as “a feeling of unresolved
resentment against unjustifiable suffering.”
○ Or, it is “a deep awareness of the contradictions
in a situation and of the unjust treatment meted
out to the people or a person by the powerful.
○ The feeling of Han is not just a one-time
psychological response to a situation but is an
accumulation of such feelings and experiences.”
[Suh Kwang-sun David, “A Biographical Sketch of an Asian Theological Consultation” Minjung
Theology: People as the Subjects of History, ed. Commission on Theological Concerns of the
Christian Conference of Asia, (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis,1983) PP.24-25.]

24. Dan
○ DAN is a soteriological term in Minjung theology and is the
○
○
○
○
gospel response to han.
Dan literally means “to cut off”.
It has two dimensions, the personal level of self-denial and
the societal level of ending cycles of revenge against
oppression (which would create new modes of oppression).
It seeks transformation of injustice within, which in turn affects
the community.
Following Jesus is not about an eventual spiritual liberation in
heaven, but concerned with the daily rejection of revenge and
violence, both inward and outward.
(Chi Ha Kim, “The Dream of Revolutionary Religion”, Living Theology in Asia, New York, Orbis
Books, 1982, P.24.)

25. Central Theme of Minjung Theology

26. Paul Tillich

For Paul Tillich, the norm of Christian
theology is "Jesus as the Christ." Instead
of talking about the norm of theology,
Minjung theology deals with the central
theme of theology.

27. There are two different opinions on
the central theme in Minjung
theology.
1.
2.
Nam-Dong Suh says that the central theme
of Minjung theology should not be Jesus but
the Minjung.
Byung-Mu Ahn says that its central theme is
both Jesus and the Minjung because they
are inseparable.

28. Nam-Dong Suh




Suh asserts that the oppressed (Ochlos) were
not a channel to help our understanding of
Jesus, but rather Jesus was the channel to help
our understanding of the oppressed.
Jesus' cries and suffering represent those of the
Ochlos.
Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve
the Ochlos.
Jesus was concerned about the Ochlos than he
was concerned about himself. Therefore, the
central theme of Minjung theology is the
Minjung.

29. Byung-Mu Ahn





Ahn asserts that Jesus and the Ochlos cannot be understood
separately.
To develop his theory, Ahn analyzes the term "Son of Man."
The title "Son of Man" in the book of Daniel originally
connotes a collective expression and later the title was given
to Jesus.
A few New Testament scholars recognize that Jesus as the
Son of Man not only was one person, but also represented a
group of people {Ochlos).
Hence, Ahn does not separate Jesus from the' Ochlos.
In fact, Jesus was one of the Ochlos. Without Jesus, we
cannot understand the Ochlos. Without the Ochlos, we
cannot understand Jesus fully. We are able to find the true
identity of Jesus and of the OchIos only in their relation to
each other. Thus, Ahn's theme is Jesus and the Minjung.

30. Concern of Minjung theology
• Minjung theology is not primarily concerned about
the Korean Christians in particular, but the
oppressed Korean Minjung in general.
• This theology specifically discovers the deep-seated
feeling of Han in the Minjung and endeavours to
transform it through Dan.
• Dan means to cut off 'the vicious circle of the
Minjung's Han by exorcizing the evil spirit of revenge
against the oppressive rulers from the Han-ridden
hearts of the Minjung (self-denial) and by
transforming the Han into the power of revolution for
establishing a God's nation.

31. Concern of Minjung theology



The issue of revenge thrives on Marxist ideology of
conflict because the oppresser can always find ways to
crush any dissenting voices because they have the
ammunition.
Since Minjung theology is not accepted by a majority of
Korean Christians, it remains a challenge for Minjung
theologians to persuade Korean Christians to Minjung
theology.
The destiny of Minjung theology is, however, not to be a
theology of church dogmatics but a theology for the
oppressed Minjung, of the oppressed Minjung, and
by the oppressed Minjung.

32. Concern of Minjung theology
• Minjung theology has the goal of contributing to
the Minjung in their efforts at becoming the
subjects in history, thus it participates in the
liberating actions of the Minjung.
• In reality, however, the Minjung are mostly
inactive and kept in the bondage of everyday
survival games.
• The Minjung are closely watched and controlled
in a very subtle but inhuman manner by the
institutions of liberal democracy.

33. Concern of Minjung theology
• Minjung theology aims at their liberation
from such oppressive conditions and
helps them to become the subjects of
history and the carriers of substantial
democracy where the Minjung are
participatory actors and decide on both
the destiny of their own lives and that of
the society as a whole.
[Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, (Maryknoll, N.Y, Orbis Books, 2004).]

34. Minjung theology and the Bible


The basic hermeneutical task of Minjung theology
is not to interpret the Bible (the text)"' in the light of
the Korean situation (the context), but to interpret
the suffering experience of the Korean Minjung
(the context) in the light of the Bible (the text).
Minjung theology contends that the Minjung do not
exist for the authority of the Bible, but the authority
of the Bible exists for the freedom of the Minjung.
This does not mean that! The Minjung are more
important than the Bible; it means that, the
Minjung are a starting point for a biblical
hermeneutics.

35. Minjung theology and the Bible

“In Minjung theology the bible becomes nonreligious, it becomes socio-economic history
and the scriptures are not the revelation
given by God – takes history and culture as
the best references. The bible is only a
record of an oppressed people’s
experience”. Eunsoo Kim

36. Minjung as an expression of the
Holy Spirit

Minjung theology's development in Korea as an
indigenous theology of liberation is a genuine
response to the Holy Spirit in Asia's fastest
growing Christian population, though not without
its problematic elements and critics. Bretzke’s
article reflects on the inculturation of minjung
theology in terms of a five-stage framework
suggested by the Pentecost account in Acts 2:142.
"Cracking the Code: Minjung Theology as an Expression of the Holy Spirit in Korea." Pacifica
(October 1997): 319-330. By James T. Bretzke, S.J.

37. Minjung as an expression of the
Holy Spirit

"The People of God believes that it is led by the
Spirit of the Lord who fills the whole world. Moved
by that faith it tries to discern in the events, the
needs, and longings which it shares with other
men of our time, what may be genuine signs of the
presence or of the purpose of God. For faith
throws a new light on all things and makes known
the full ideal which God has set for man, thus
guiding the mind towards solutions that are fully
human."
Translation from Austin P. Flannery, O.P. ed., The Documents of Vatican II, (New
York: Pillar Books, 1975).

38. Conclusion
Minjung theology is therefore a theology of
liberation, and a construct of the oppressed
multitudes through a ‘deliberate’ process of
conscientization causing a contextualized rereading of the gospel(that sent shock-waves to
the spines of the Elite Korean Christians) with
an intention to eliminate Han through Dan. In
other words it was a realized attempt to change
the course of Korean history turning the onceperceived objects into subjects of history.

39. Thank You
And
God Bless You All
c.2013 @United
Theological College