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Over the past few years, COVID-19 has triggered a rethinking of our relation- ship with humans, animals, and nature. In addition to the fact that epidemics like this can spread at any time, the destruction of ecosystems and climate crisis require reflection on anthropocentric values and a new introspection on the relationship between humans, animals, and the environment. In the unprecedented challenges of not only COVID-19 but also the climate emergency, there is a need to redefine ecological theology based on the newly revealed reflection and critical mind of COVID-19. From a theological perspective, there is a need to re- examine the responsibility for the stewardship of Genesis, which is “subdual and dominion” in the tradition of Christian faith. We must open a new Christian ethical paradigm with awareness of the serious harm that anthropocentrism can bring. This study looked at Christian ecological ethics in the post-COVID-19 era, focusing on the concept of Imago-Dei (God’s image) and One Health in Genesis.

The ecological perspective is fundamentally critical of anthropocentrism. It is a refusal to view other beings in the living world as objects of human control or resources for human ends. Instead, it emphasizes the idea that all beings of an ecosystem are necessary and equally valuable. Humans are one of many animals, not more important or relatively superior. There are various species of animals, and the relationship between all species is not a hierarchy but a horizontal one. Even empirically, animals are companions to humans in our society. They should not be treated as a means to satisfy human needs but as equal objects of love, such as family members, friends, and companions. Considering this reality, Christian theology should reflect on animals’ ontological value or relational meaning and provide a rationale for justification. A typical example of such theological work is Andrew Linzey’s animal theology. Linzey emphasizes that animals are the result of the same God who created humans. So they should be treated as creatures equal to humans and partners who should build a living community of harmony and coexistence with humans. This paper aims to contribute to deepening the discourse of animal theology and ethics. To this end, I would like to state Linzey’s animal theology and ethics and develop a critical dialogue with three theologians. Jürgen Moltmann, Richard J. Mouw, and Max L. Stackhouse are involved in the conversation with Linzey. I would like to conclude this paper by making some suggestions that can contribute to the maturation of the discourse of animal theology and ethics.

The work of God as Creator is not a bygone event trapped in the past, but the eternal presence of God which continues in the present and to the future. The work of the Creator is not limited to the generation of creatures, but encompasses maintaining his relationships with creatures. The God who created heaven can not be limited to the existence in heaven. God creates the diverse realms of creation into the productive relationship of interdependence. The realm of creation refers to the relationship between humans and plants, and between humans and animals. As the order of creation, heaven represents the invisible realm and earth the visible realm, providing a space to grow and prosper with humans responsible for preserving the created order. The important point in creation is not natural revelation, but the activity of God that happens and is experienced beyond the natural recognition of God. A human being created in God’s image must take care of and protect the community of creation to maintain the order of symbiosis. Man exists in a community of solidarity with other creatures, but he is distinguished from the creatures because he is a being who possesses the image of God. In this sense, the human being is entrusted with the responsibility to care for and protect the creature community.

This paper explores a Christian ethical response to the emergence of cyborgs, which combine humans and machines, due to advances in science and technology. A new humanism is needed to understand cyborgs, which emerge from interactions with non-human entities like machines. Machines are not merely instrumental beings that enhance human biological capabilities; they are ‘Others’ that enable ontological transformation by traversing boundaries and existing as relational subjects. This study defines posthuman subjects as becoming-cyborg, organic machines, and argues that the subjectivity of these cyborgs is completed through the act of hospitality toward various mechanical Others. The philosophical concepts of Emmanuel Levinas, who has thought about the Other, provide insight into the ethical characteristics of becoming-cyborg. Following Levinas’ philosophical thoughts, becoming-cyborg possesses the characteristics of extending the concept of the Other, living with and responsible for the Other. Examining the characteristics of becoming-cyborg through a Christian ethical lens reveals an ethics of hospitality. According to Miroslav Volf’s concept of hospitality, which the theology has defined as an ethical metaphor of embrace, becoming-cyborg manifests itself as a hospitality of coexistence that communicates with non-human entities, a symbiotic hospitality that lives together with otherness as an acting subject, and a just hospitality that responds responsibly to the appeal of others.

What direction should Korean Christianity take in response to criticism of lacking public responsibility, communication, empathy, and hospitality? Augustine’s De Civitate Dei provides valuable insights for solving this problem. According to Augustine, social spirituality is an essential task required by the ethics of being a disciple. Above all, Augustine’s concept ‘amor socialis’ should be expanded to include the practice of public responsibility, communication, empathy and hospitality. Through contemporary dialogue with Augustine, Korean Christianity should strive for social spirituality based on discipleship. Korean Christianity, which is actively interested in discipleship, disciple ethics, and disciple training, should not only focus on internal maturity and training but also cultivate publicness and otherness. Korean Christianity must mature to the point of realizing the ethics of being a disciple in civil society by pursuing social spirituality.

Exploring the possibility of ‘Christian feminism’ as a ‘church discourse,’ this study first analyzes the reasons why ‘Christian feminism’ failed to acquire knowledge power in Korean churches. The researcher notes the monopoly of church knowledge power by the ‘crisis ideology’ production group and the patriarchal structure of the Protestant faith overlooked by most early Protestant women as the main reasons. However, this study witnesses the current historical and theological reconstruction of the ‘Sophia tradition’ and the social changes in late-modern society that are gradually reducing gender restrictions as grounds for ‘Christian feminism’ to be established as a church discourse. With these ob- servations, this study prospects that ‘Christian feminism’ can contribute to the establishment of gender equality in the church and provide community-oriented vi- sion for a self-centered modern society.

This study examined the acceptance pattern of Western etiquette by examining Western etiquette books to see if they specifically affected our lives. Specifically, this study looked at the Western etiquette and exchange patterns of Western etiquette during the modern transition period based on John Fryer’s missionary “Seorye Shuji” owned by Soongsil University’s Korean Christian Museum, Yoo Dong-jak’s “Gyoje Shinrye” and Lee Chul-joo’s “Seorye Pyeongo”. As a result, this study reveals the pattern of the metamorphosis of culture: introduction and education of Western etiquette by Westerners, active acceptance by Koreans, and transformation for socializing (exchange) with the West.

This study attempts an ethical reading of the Old Testament, focusing on Herem in the Book of Joshua. In the Old Testament, there are scattered stories that are difficult for modern people to accept. Among them, the Herem means destroying the enemy’s city and annihilating its inhabitants. If so, is it ethically reasonable to exterminate all life and the inhabitants of Jericho, regardless of age or gender? Indeed, we cannot rejoice in the declaration that Israel annihilated the gentiles and destroyed the city. The text demands to be read from an ethical point of view besides God’s judgment and salvation. It contrasts Rahab, a gentile prostitute, with Achan, an Israelite, and tells us that gentiles can be saved by being excluded from the objects of Herem, and that Israelis can also become objects of Herem. Also, through the story of Achan, it is said that individual ethics are community ethics. Above all, the text demands to be read from the perspective that life and worship cannot be separated.

This paper focuses on the establishsing Christian ethics in terms of accepting Western thought in Korea through the YMCA’s journal “The Young Man.” This journal was published and distributed steadily for over 20 years throughout the cultural political period in the 1920s and wartime in the 1930s before the Korean liberation. “The Young Man” was an institutional magazine of the YMCA, to help young Christians reflect on their faith identity and duty as a Christian general magazine, which maintained a fair balance between the conservative and progressive camps. The historical and ethical meanings can be summarized as follows. First, the magazine promoted “faith identity and duty” to young Korean Christians at a time when Saito Makoto was appointed as the third governor, while advocating for cultural politics and trying to implant colonial identity as an ideology to Koreans. Second, “The Young Man” was timely published when the YMCA needed “faithful education literature and guidelines” while gradually taking root in various parts of the country and expanding in size. Third, it should be noted that “The Young Man” was a magazine published for over 20 years. It was a literature that became “the ideological pillar leading the faith and duty of young people” before liberation.

Matteo Ricci claimed the Lord of Heaven’s having bestowed humans a free choice between good and evil, and the responsibility for the free choice means the Lord of Heaven’s reward and punishment: sending good souls to heaven or evil souls to hell. The choice means based on human free will and it was influenced by Thomas Aquinas. Ricci claimed that good souls will live in Heaven after their death, whereas evil souls will live in Hell forever after their death. Ricci regarded it as supplement to Confucianism. Because Ricci considered the Lord of Heaven in Catholicism and Shangdi in Confucian classic books as the same. However, this was not mentioned heaven and hell in Confucian classics. Unlike the claim of Ricci, the Chinese scholar believed that good and evil actions are regardless of human will, and good emerges from original human mind. Thus, humans should have good mind. He argued that humans have also taken the responsibility for their good and evil actions in this life, not taking responsibility after their death. This is different from the claim of Ricci.

In this paper, with recognizing the necessity that the church should participate in the village community movement, it examines the current situation and significance of the motion that churches should participate in the movement. This paper also addresses some of the hinder faced by the village communities as well as providing alternative solutions to this dilemma.This study suggests solutions regarding this dilemma. Firstly, in order to over- come harsh economic standards set by Neo-liberalism, villagers should engage in initiative independent economic activities. Secondly, this village community movement drives community solidarity by reinforcing community spirit and motivation. Third, the village community movement makes community stand firm by reinforcing autonomous capability and the community spirit. Therefore, the participation of the church toward the movement is a new ministry which can revive and give strength to the local community as an effective method that reveals the church’s public responsibility. Moreover, village gentrification promotes healthier and stable relationships among villages. In order to achieve this, community rights should also be kept and guaranteed at all times. Additionally, they must become economically and socially independent to achieve a healthy and sustainable community led by politically trained volunteers. To achieve sustainable village community, the resident should voluntarily participates and leader group is well trained, and they should build a cooperative system of Inhabitants Initiative.

Culture is central to social movements. However, religion – a significant part of culture – has been ignored as a central element in modern social movements. The black churches in America played an important role in the struggle for racial justice in the Civil rights movement of the 1960’s. In this essay, the notion of cognitive liberation will be applied to the black church. Cognitive praxis transforms groups of individuals into social activists and gives social movements their own meaning or consciousness. Next, this essay examines the Civil Rights Movement by using resource mobilization theory. Challenging the classical approaches on collective behavior which regard the participants in social movements as an emotional and irrational crowd, this study considers two questions: Firstly, if religion promotes political change, under what conditions is religion likely to be change-inhibiting or change-promoting? Secondly, why are religious experiences vital to the formation of the black church?

This paper examines the historical development process of the Korean church’s discourse on the unification and analyzes the characteristics of the discourse divided by conservatives and liberals to seek implications for the formation of a new discourse that can contribute to peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula. Until the 1980s, the government led the discussion of the unification, but after democratization, discussions on the unification have become active in the private sector. The areas where the discourse have been formed include the government, political parties, civil society, academia, and religious circles. The unification discourse of the church has been led by the progressive church at first. Then the conservative church participated in the discussion. For some time conservatives and liberals united, but later divided again. Progressive churches emphasize peace while the conservative focus on a mission. The problem is that the political discourse on the unification seems to be transmitted to the Korean church without deep theological reflection, especially in the perspective on North Korea, which has been more influenced by political ideology. Since the unification of the Korean Peninsula has a personal, historical, and social dimension with the gospel declaration, the discourse on the unification should converge in the middle direction of integrating both the unification and peace movement as welll as the North Korea mission. Therefore, this paper raises the need for a new unification discourse as redemption of memory to be created on the basis of biblical unification theology, objective information-based perspective on North Korea, and unity of church.

The Law in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament requests protecting the weak, such as orphans, widows, and strangers. In order to protect the economically weak and to rehabilitate them, ‘economic justice’ and ‘social welfare’ must be realized. In current Korean society, ‘housing expenses’ forms the largest portion of household expenditure. The public rental housing can improve the living environment of the weak. Increasing public residence is not a waste of tax, because if the underprivileged reduce the cost they spend on housing, they will have purchasing power for various items, including food. Financial resources are needed to expand the construction of public rental housing. I propose a ‘national land holding tax.’ It is paid by all landowners once a year at a certain percentage(0.5%-4%) of the official land price. This will function to curb real estate speculation and recover unearned income.