2024, Vol., No.59

The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.58

pISSN : 1229-8387 / eISSN : 2713-749X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/csethics

Since the late 1970s, the US has begun to adopt and practice neoliberal ideol-ogy entailing significant structural changes not only to its economy and politics, but also to its society, culture, and even religious life. As a result of this totalistic politico-economic experimentation, the world has now witnessed an unprecedented level of economic/wealth inequality between the haves and the have-nots, between the top 1 percent and the bottom 50 percent. Along with the idea of endless competition, inequality has become an undeniable trait of a neoliberal world. As economist Joseph Stiglitz rightly warned in his 2012 The Price of Inequality, the growing economic and wealth disparity poses a formidable threat to American democracy. The purpose of this paper is to explore theological solutions to the social ills of neoliberal governance of the 21st-century global economy. I especially focus on the global phenomenon of the rising economic and wealth inequality caused by neoliberal governance. In so doing, I employ a comparative historical analysis of two periods: the Gilded Age (from the 1870s to the late 1890s) and the New Gilded Age (from the late 1970s to today). These historical periods are marked by extreme economic inequality between the rich and the poor despite many characteristic differences between these two ages. Through this comparative historical analysis and critique, I will attempt to achieve two goals: first, to lay out a new ecclesial principle of justice for the church’s engagement in neoliberalism; second, to specify the church’s ecclesial roles for advancing macroeconomic justice in an age of neoliberalism. The purpose of this exploration is to help the church become a more responsible agent in meeting the challenges of the New Gilded Age.

The theme of Kang Won Don’s theology is Christian economic ethics. Since 1990, he has continued his academic journey by setting real-world economic issues as a subject of study from a consistent theological perspective. He recently wrote Christian Economic Ethics from the perspectives of theology, ethics, and social science. Kang Won Don’s Christian economic ethics methodology is to establish theological humanity as a basic foundation, set theological criteria, and form and develop social systems with a feasible maxim. He establishes “economic democracy” as a maxim that can be realized in the real economy. In this sense, Kang Won-don’s economic ethics can also be seen as belonging to the type of integration through which his human theory mediates between economics and ethics, based on theological humanity. In order to realize the plan of “economic democracy” to regulate the market economy socially and ecologically, workers’ authority and position are important. In addition, an ecological constitutional order that specifies the rights of nature in the constitution must be established.

Schillebeeckx posits that all experiences are inherently interpreted, emphasizing that the early Christian community’s confession of Jesus as the Christ must be viewed within their cultural context. This study focuses on Schillebeeckx’s exploration of how specific experiences led to the early church’s recognition of Jesus’ identity and subsequent confession of Him as Christ. Rather than proposing a new Christology, this work seeks to deepen Christians’ relationship with Christ through vivid confession and commitment. Schillebeeckx highlights a pivotal concept in his theology: the ‘contrast experience,’ which is the recognition of a gap between the ideal world and reality. He argues that the early church experienced God’s saving presence through Jesus’ life and teachings, leading to their confession of Him as Christ. Schillebeeckx suggests that modern Christians, like the early church, should live out their faith by resisting injustice and embodying God’s salvation in the world.