• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.641-648
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• 2019

South Korea and North Korea, which have been separated for 70 years, are getting closer and closer. This is very good news for Christians in South Korea who have long wanted to contact with the North Koreans. But it is not easy for Christianity to find contact points for North Koreans who have lived in a society that does not accept religion. First of all, it is necessary to grasp their ideological background, to find similarities with the message of Christianity, to search the Bible for cases of contact with Christianity in similar situations, and to appropriately contextualize them according to the present situation of North and South Korea. The ideological background of the North Korean people is the materialism which is the basic philosophy of communism, and the Juche idea based on materialism. Christianity is negative about the world view that spiritual things are good and material things are evil. Some contact points between Materialistic thinking and Christianity can be found in recognizing the material world as an important element of God's creation. The contact between materialism and Christianity also can be found in dialogue with the Greek philosophy in early Christian era, particularly in the conversation between Paul, who were at the forefront of non-Jewish contact, and Athenians.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.552-566
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• 2015

This paper deals with suicide that has become a serious problem in our society as well as in the world today from a Christian perspective. Historical position regarding suicide is divided into two; some see it as a brave and honorable act and give approval to it, the others view it as act of giving up the life that is given by God and are opposed to it. Though suicides in the Bible are mostly committed to maintain honor, because of Augustin's position it became negative in Christianity, leading to a thought that one who committed suicide goes to hell. Why then people commit suicide? The views of scholars on the cause of suicide are divided into three; biological, psychological, sociological. My position is that though each or all of them contribute to suicide, yet the decisive factor is on how a person reacts to them. Major factor of suicide is how humans as interpretive beings accept the present despair. On the basis of this understanding of suicide and humans, I conclude this paper with three new recognitions as an essential answer to suicide. First, humans are made in God's image and belong to Him, thus their life is precious. Second, Christianity views humans as ones look for the hope in the future as the eternal life. Third, suicide is a violation of the commandment 'do not kill' yet it is not an act of sin but a disease that needs to be cured. To achieve this Christianity must not only spread the idea of respect for life and also run suicide prevention center every city.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.34
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• pp.43-68
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• 2014

This writing, focused on by Tarkovsky and by Song, Il-gon, examines moments of sage which is what Eliade described as 'hierophanic time'. These productions, which can be seen as movies that seek after the truth, show important paradoxical ideas and expressions in those moments. This is because symbolic messages from unrealistic and out of ordinary images are specifically shown. If they had to be compared, through the film by Tarkovsky, the technical civilization of contemporary society in an apocalyptic view is criticized and saved, or the prophetic will to not give up the desire for salvation is shown. In the process, the short shots which forces to show hierophanic time not only diversely visualized the author's ideological self-consciousness towards the conversion of the new world, but it also fulfills the metahistorical meanings mentioned by Eliade. However, in the film by Song, Il-gon, the realistic personal sufferings of three women is specifically shown first in extreme. They overcome their unsolvable problems through mysterious rituals and belief in miracles. In the scenes that include hierophanic time, there are many cases that cover Christian faith and the meaning of salvation. In other words, we can say that hierophanic time in , are related to conviction which led to moments of miracles in order to overcome reality. Therefore, even though there is a difference in the way authors use hierophanic time, the scenes that show it in the two movies display individuality of mythical imaginations disclosed by Eliade. This is because the general hope for reproduction, or meaningful symbols related to the ideal conversion of affairs are revealed.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

There are various understandings how to define death. In the context of medicine, death is defined as the irreversible change of the tissue according to the cessation of circulation and respiration. According to the psychologists, a person need to accept the finiteness as a human being and remain conscious that the death is not avoidable. And they say if a person doesn't regard death as unavoidable reality of life he or she will not confront the humanistic death and after all will die like animals. In philosophy, death is viewed as an unwelcome reality in the end of the journey of life. Sociologists usually understand that the society is the organization composed with living persons and human beings which construct and transmit the culture from generation to generation between the both ends of life and death. In society, the generation is changed, maintained, and developed through the phenomenon of death. Although death of human being is natural event in society, the death of a specific person brings a sense of loss, crisis, and anxiety to the communities like family, regional society, nation, and the world. In this context, death is not confined to personal dimension and it can be regarded as a social problem. It is valuable to summarize the religious perspectives on the meaning of death for the better hospice care. In shamanism, there are basic idea that although the flesh of human being disappears, soul never die. If human dies, the flesh of human being disappears but soul never disappear and come back to the origin of soul as it is called chaos. So in shamanism, it is said that shaman can solve the mortified feeling, restore the broken harmony, send the soul to comfortable space- the origin, and guarantee the blessing of descendents. Buddhists regard the death as an essential component through the cycles of life. Through this cycle, human being exits as an endlessly transmigrating being and the death is just a restoration to the original status. In Confucianism, the view on the death based on the philosophy of the "Yin and Yang" and "Five elements". In Buddhist tradition, many believers said the philosophy of "Death is the same as life". Unlike usual thoughts that a god governs "life and death" and "fortune and misfortune", Confucianists deny the governance of a god and emphasize the natural orders in which every phenomenon in the world moves according to the principle. Confucianists understand the death as a natural order with this principle. In Confucianists' belief, the essence of human being remains in their own descendent's lives after the death of ancestor, so in Confucianism there is no concept of immortality of the soul. In the history of Christianity, death has been defined generally as the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body. In the earlier days of Old Testament, the death is regarded as a disappearance of just a flesh and human never disappear and always live in the relationship with God. Later days in Old Testament, we can find the growing concern for the life after the death because of the entrance of the theodicy. In the New Testament, the death is not regarded as the normal process of the human life and regarded as the abnormal status in which death come to human because of sin as a decisive factor and it should be conquered. In fact, the most of us afraid death because not of the fear of death itself but of the sense of the emptiness and regrets. so many people often make the monument hoping to live forever. But Christian usually regard this behavior as a sinful act because human being usually think themselves as a master of their life and attempt to become immortal in this kind of trial mortal. But if we live with God, we cannot confront such a condition because we aware limits as a mortal human being and entrust everything on Him and want to live according to His guidance. Therefore, in the Christian tradition, the death is regarded as accomplishment of life, fruits of life, invitation to the eternal life, and the last stage of human growth. For human being, the death is the great step of maturation as a human in the final stage of life.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.18
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• pp.53-79
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• 2004

This paper explores the relationship between Korean immigrants to the United States and their religious identity from the cultural point of view. Most scholarly studies on Korean immigrants in the United States have been dominated by sociological approach and ethnic studies in examining the social dimension of the Korean immigrant communities while neglecting issues concerning their religious identity and cultural heritage. Most Korean immigrants to America attend Korean churches regardless their religious affiliation before they came to America. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the fact that Korean church has provided a necessary social service for the newly arrived immigrants. Korean churches have been able to play a key role in the life of Korean immigrants. Korean immigrants, however, have shown a unique aspect regarding their religious identity compared to other immigrants communities in the United States. America is a nation of immigrants, coming from different parts of the world. Each immigrant community has brought their unique cultural heritage and religious persuasion. Asian immigrants, for example, brought their own traditional religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism. People from the Middle Eastern countries brought Islamic faith while European Jews brought the Jewish tradition. In these immigrant communities, religious identity and cultural heritage were homo genously harmonized. Jewish people built synagogue and taught Hebrew, Jewish history, culture, and faith. In this case, synagogue was not only the house of worship for Jews but also the center for learning Jewish history, culture, faith, and language. In short, Jewish cultural history was intimately related to Jewish religious history; for Jewish immigrants, learning their social and political history was indeed identical with leaning of their religious history. The same can be said about the relationship between Indian community and Hinduism. Hindu temples serve as the center of Indian immigrantsin providing the social, cultural, and spiritual functions. Buddhist temples, for that matter, serve the same function to the people from the Asian countries. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tibetans, and Thais have brought their respective Buddhist traditions to America and practice and maintain both their religious faith and cultural heritage. Middle Eastern people, for example, have brought Islamic faith to the United States, and Mosques have become the center for learning their language, practicing their faith, and maintaining their cultural heritage. Korean immigrants, unlike any other immigrant group, have brought Christianity, which is not a Korean traditional religion but a Western religion they received in 18th and 19th centuries from the West and America, back to the United States, and church has become the center of their lives in America. In this context, Koreans and Korean-Americans have a unique situation in which they practice Christianity as their religion but try to maintain their non-Christian cultural heritage. For the Korean immigrants, their religious identity and cultural identity are not the same. Although Korean church so far has provides the social and religious functions to fill the need of Korean immigrants, but it may not be able to become the most effective institution to provide and maintain Korean cultural heritage. In this respect, Korean churches must be able to open to traditional Korean religions or the religions of Korean origin to cultivate and nurture Korean cultural heritage.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.142
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• pp.99-119
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• 2017

Buddhism tends to be accepted as an institutional religion. This is probably due to the historical background in which Buddhism has been accepted as a representative institutional religion along with Christianity since the mid-20th century. In particular, Buddhism is accepted as an institutional religion based on tradition. Buddhism is also accepted as philosophy. Even if the western philosophical background is embraced that defines philosophy as the pursuit of intellectual clarity and wisdom in life, Buddhism is deemed to be classified as a philosophy that allows for the possibility of philosophical criticism without unconditionally believing the truth that Gautama Buddha discovered. The possibility of Buddhism as philosophy like this is directly linked to the possibility of Buddhism for doing philosophy. Doing philosophy in Buddhism can be presented in three processes: keeping a distance from daily life, the observation and concentration based on the distance, and the formation of a new world-view. Doing philosophy is rooted in the same way as meditation in the lives of people tired from post-capitalist everyday life. Nonetheless, Buddhism clearly has the characteristics of religion, thus posing a challenge of establishing a new relationship between religion and philosophy. The tradition of a strict separation between the religion and philosophy in Christian civilization is still working as a factor that keeps Buddhism from being classified as philosophy. In cases where the pursuit of intellectual clarity and practical wisdom in life is incorporated into the purpose of philosophy, Buddhism can be categorized into having the distinctive function of religion "spiritual peace", and sharing the common function of philosophy and religion "enlightenment." In that sense, it can also be an important task to seek a new perspective on the relationship between religion and philosophy.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.107-138
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• 2013

The purpose of this article is to awaken our colleagues to the culture and mind issues that have been forgotten or neglected by contemporary psychiatry under the prevalence of materialistic orientation. Cultural psychiatry too, though it has been contributed a great deal to widen the mental vision of psychiatry, has revealed several limitations in its approach. In the course of one sided search for culture specific factors in relation to mental health, conventional cultural psychiatry has neglected an effort to explore the common root underlying the different cultures and the common foundation of human mind. Cross sectional comparisons of the cultures alone have inevitably prevented the global considerations to culutre and mind in historical aspects and the dynamic interactions between mind and culture more in depth. The author suggested that the total view of mind and total approach of analytical psychology of C.G. Jung might be capable to replenish those limitations. Author explained the ways of C.G. Jung's observations and experiences of non-western culture and his concepts of culture and mind. The author demonstrated Jung's view of culture with the example of Filial Piety, Hyo, the Confucian moral norm which can be regarded as components of the collective consciousness though connected with archetypal patterns of behavior of intimacy between parent and child. In regard to the coexistence of multi-religious cultures in Korea the author made a proposal of 'culture spectrum' model for understanding value orientations of person in religious cultures. He identified in case of the Korean 4 types of cultural spectrums: Person with predominantly the Buddhist culture; with the Confucian; with the Shamanist; and with the Christian culture. The author also made an attempt to depict the dynamic interactions of different religious cultures in historical perspectives of Korea. Concepts of mind from the Eastern thoughts were reviewed in comparison with Jung's view of mind. The Dao of Lao Zi, One Mind by Wonhyo, the Korean Zen master from the 7th century, the Diagram of the Heaven's Decree by Toegye, a renowned Neo-Confucianist of Korea from the 16th century and his theory of Li-Ki, were explored and came to conclusion that they represent certainly the symbol of the Self in term of C.G. Jung. The goal of healing is 'the becoming whole person'. Becoming whole person means bringing the person as an individual to live not only within the specific culture but also to live in the world beyond the culture which is deeply rooted in the primordial foundation of human mind.