KJC Korea
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This study intends to do a religious/philosophical and theological approach to the issue of “the life rights of animals”(so-called “animal rights”) arising in our society. A progressive and practical change regarding animal rights requires a new ethics based upon specific presuppositions of philosophy and religion, and focused on theological ethics particularly within Christian communities. Thus, this study focuses on the religious/philosophical and theological convictions of the way God deals with the world, and of the relationships of human beings and non-human creatures. This study focuses on the so-called process thought of Alfred N. Whitehead (1833-1947), which is a proper and reasonable world view on the relationship of God and the world, and of God and humankind, and on the relationships between human beings and non-human beings. Also, this study evaluates the very theological, ethical questions that Andrew Linzey’s animal theology is subject to, and at the same time, proposes process thought as a proper and readable reference for any religious/philosophical and theological reflections on Linzey’s animal theology. As the process-relational perspective puts emphasis upon the plausibility of animal theology and its ethical implications rooted in the basic values and interdependent relations of all beings, the overcoming of anthropocentrism, and the value and life right of non-human creatures, it is to be considered as a more proper reference/resource for responsible eco-life-centered practices.

Since the climate change is directly related to the culture or to the lifestyle, it demands to change the social relations. Another important topic of the climate change is the ecological justice which is closely related to the issue of equality. This shows why the question on the human being and the ecological justice should be based on the theological issues in terms of the discussion of the issue of the climate change. In this sense, the climate change is the matter of the theology and faith, because the object of the theology is not only God, but also the human being. Since it is the task of the theology to relate tradition and situation with each other, the theology can be termed as an answer of theology. Thus, the climate change needs to be an important theological question as well as an important theological task. What kinds of question need to be answered on the issue of the climate change as a theological topic to the theology? Actually it confronts us with various questions. As for the most remarkable question among them is the emphasis layed on the earth as a life - game - space or as a living environment. The earth, the living space of the mankind, can be understood as the house of God where God dwells. This means that the house of God can be considered as the sum of the entire earth and all living things in it. Therefore, the mankind, who lives in the midst of life, has the responsibility to preserve this created world as the House of God. This understanding requires Christians to live differently, that is, to pray for other people and to do the justice. What the theology can contribute in order to solve the problem of the climate change, is to provide an inner motivation not for the change of God, but for the change of the mankind himself and his lifestyle. The inner motivation means to become Christians through their faith. In other words, it means to be human in essential sense. As Jesus carries the cross in order to save all lifes, we as Christians should also be connected with others and live creatively together with other lifes, because Jesus called us only to the life.

The purpose of this article is to examine the relation of love and technology in a Christian theological view. At first, love is universal in its original character. This means that love is purely universal without any doctrinal or ideological assumption. In contrast, technology is universalistic in its basic character. This signifies that technology is intentionally universalistic in its conspiracy with some ideologies or doctrines. In this respect, love and technology are fundamentally incompatible. On account of the coercive and violent character of univeralistic technology, the sound way for them to be related is that the universal love is concerned with, embraces, and transforms the universalistic technology. However, it is difficult to anticipate the transformation of technology by love because the universalistic character of technology is as transformative as the universal character of love. The only way to anticipate it is that love has a unique character that surpasses technology. It is Christian love (agape) that can realize that anticipation. Through the Incarnation of Christ Jesus, it makes love concrete and not abstract, and in relation to technology, it enables love to overcome the fatal weakness of technology, i.e., ambiguity by giving love a unique character, embodiedness. Only when the relation of technology and love is extended to the relation of technology and agape (embodied/incarnated love), then technology and love can be cogently related, and even the transformation of technology by love can be anticipated.

Urs von Balthasar is famous for his theological aesthetics which is elaborated in his masterful trilogy entitled The Glory of Lord, Theo-Drama, and Theo-Logic. This study excavates the concept of publicity implied in Theo-Drama that sees salvation history as a drama played out in the world stage. This drama is made possible through the initiation of the Trinity and the active participation of the human actor. Focusing on the public-theological contents – political theology, social ethics, and liberation theology - manifest in Theo-Drama, we investigate the socio-political roles or praxis of the church and the human actor in this world. We show that Balthasar’s drama theology is a church-centered praxis theology that stresses active participation of the church (and the human actor) in the world, and that it is also a public theology that attempts active dialogue with the social sciences with the aim to promote the public relevance of theology. This study thus intends to contribute to enriching the resources of public theology and extending its horizon.

This paper asks the question of whether theology should seek rationality in Christian tradition or seek a universal rationale including outside society as well as tradition. For this, this paper utilizes an interdisciplinary way of theology and philosophy of science which is based on common ground in rejecting foundationalism of dogmatism in theology and of empirical positivism in science. Parallel with Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm theory, G. Lindbeck seeks a rationale in the form of a creedal tradition, as rules of faith of Christian community. Lindbeck tries to find a rationale in society in general in the eye of the tradition. Lindbeck’s position is easily accessible to the Christian community and provides a safe way to understand and act in society. However, Lindbeck’s account produces a division between the intrasystematic truth in church and ontological truth in the world. The former plays a lens to interpret the world, then results in fideism. To solve the problem, N. Murphy, who holds a holistic perspective considering tradition and social rationality at the same time and carries the insight of MacIntyre’s practice of prominent virtue, argues a logical rationality by view of ‘research programme’ in I. Lakatos. Murphy seeks a competitive and rational theology which is equipped with a creative theological research programme to lead other academic fields. Even though Murphy’s position remains mainly as a rationality of social influence focused on worship and piety in the Christian community, and has some inconveniences remaining in a narrowness of Anglo-Ameriacn logic and limited holism which cannot response to the urgent social ethical issues effectively, Murphy’s holistic theological research programme should be highly appreciated as a solution to the problem of fideism and an important accomplishment in interdisciplinary theology.

This paper is intended to show how exilic & post-exilic Isaiah and Ezekiel have recognition of God in their times and to give main theological paradigms in the sense of Deuteronomist’s God’s name, universal theo-epistemology, God’s glory in the Priest’s source and change of individual forms of religious life. Exilic and post exilic Isaiah and Ezekiel present holy community’s vision focusing on the new temple and at the same time, use the name and glory of God who once departed from the people of Judah but will come back to them. To the people of Judah, the historical disaster that the Jerusalem temple was destructed and the monarchy failed down, 587 B.C., means not merely disappearing the royal authority of Judah, David’s descendants. It was the great theological emergency in the meaning of YHWH’s departure from Israel. So the most important thing to the returned people of Judah was the return of YHWH. Exilic and post exilic Isaiah and Ezekiel gave hopeful message of YHWH’s return to the returned people, to the people who was in the land of Judah and to the foreigners through God’s name and glory. Israel couldn’t find the symbol of God’s presence in the ark or temple with the disaster of 587 B.C., but their recognition of God’s being with themselve was not broken. The destruction of the temple changed their thought of God’s presence from the earth to the heaven and brought out the universal recognition of God. In the period of Exile, For them, God just dwelt in heaven not on earth, because they needed universal God, not God of Jerusalem. Such exilic and post-exilic theological thought also brought out change of individual forms of religious life. The importance of individual responsibility to sin and repentance and the forms of religious life such as observance of Sabbath, circumcision, fasting and individual prayer etc also brought out ethical responsibility. In doing so, they hoped new generation when God, the savior of Jerusalem/Zion will come back and set there his name and glory(Ezekiel 48:35).

The longevity revolution stemmed from extended life expectancy at the beginning of 21st century as a root of various individual and social changes facing Korean society is deserved to get our attention. The word ‘Homo hundred’ is already widely recognized in almost every sphere of our lives. Korean society often labelled as an example of compressed aging is now experiencing the most rapid population aging in the world and this phenomenal demographic change is expected sooner or later to make South Korea the most aged society in the world. In the years 2020∼2025, Korea will enter the era of ‘Homo hundred’ when the modal age at death, i.e., the age where most of the deaths are occurring, reaches 90 years. The era of Homo hundred and an aging society should not be regarded simply as increase in life expectancy but as a fundamental change that has a highly comprehensive influence and accordingly requires a variety of measures to cope with it. Therefore this unprecedented demographic change will give rise to a new understanding of life cycle which will affect all members of society across all age groups. However, our social institutions and systems are not prepared yet for the paradigm shift to meet the demands from the fundamental change, and previous consciousness structure and value system of the old paradigm still lingers in our society. This systemically, institutionally, socially, culturally, and legally insufficient preparation for the era of Homo hundred makes a sharp contrast with an urgent need for comprehensive and wide-ranging change. A survey on people’s perception about the era of Homo hundred shows that extended life expectancy without appropriate roles and financial unpreparedness for the retirement are the reasons to be negative about the era of Homo hundred. Such being the case, this paper attempts to provide viable foundation for both theories and practices by equipping people actively to engage in economic and volunteer activities, and by motivating them to participate in community and relationship-oriented life. This study thus seeks to examine the possibilities to deal with twofold tasks of an aging society by making a public theological reinterpretation of vocation in connection with appropriate social activities and paid and unpaid work, and koinonia with regard to ethics of community and relationship as social aspects of happiness.