• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.62
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• pp.43-74
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• 2020

This paper examines the epistemology of the body and the direction of Christian education based on it. Looking at Merleau-Ponty, Damagio, and Nelson's epistemology of the body, it found that they had a common point, even though they studied in different areas like philosophy, brain science, and body theology; the body is a subject that perceives the world in a sensuous and direct way, and is a channel that mediates humans and the world, and plays a decisive role in human self-formation. In particular, theology of body revealed, that the body is a pathway for our understanding of God just as a pathway for our understanding the world. In addition, theology of body revealed that the body is regarded as the place of 'embodiment of God', and in the end, the world in which our incarnated body participates should also become the place of 'God's incarnation'. It also examined Christian education based on the epistemology of the body, focusing on 'education starting from the senses', 'education as a participation', and 'incarnational education'. From these three concepts, it found that epistemology of body suggests an alternative view of traditional knowledge-based education or schooling education. It suggests an open paradigm centered on sense and experience, personal participation, non-verbal experience, and field of education, beyond a fixed and closed paradigm of doctrine-centered, objective knowledge mediation, language-centered, and content-centered. Furthermore, this paper found that the body is like a well that can pump up metaphors that provide a basic metaphor for re-conceptualizing Christian education.