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A Study on Contact Points Between Oriental Religions and Christianity for Spreading Mission - Focused on Taoism and Buddhism -

Kim Eun-soo 1

1전주대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

There are much more Taoists and Buddhists than christians in Asia, and also Taoism and Buddhism have a long history more than Christianity. Therefore, this paper is to study a possible contact point being in these oriental religions and christianity for spreading mission and to provide the practical ways to mission for Korean churches. For this, this tried to find a contact point for mission comparing christianity with the ideas in Taoism's 『T'ai-p'ing Ching, 太平經』 and 『Vajracchedika-Prajnaparamita-Sutra, 金剛經』. The trinity of Taoism and Buddhism thoughts is a method revealing oneness and a method revealing others. It is more helpful to explain the truth of christianity based on oriental hebraistic thought than western Newtonian and Cartesian thoughts based on the dualism which judges right from wrong of reality. At first, the way to being of God as the Trinity in christianity is similar to the trinity(三一性) of Taoism. 'Ŭm'(陰), which is the origin of all things is God(Father) we can see through our eyes, and 'Yang'(陽) is God(Jesus Christ), who is seen as a son. Jesus Christ said to us, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father".(John 14:9) We can be seen the Father from Jesus Christ, the son of God. The spirits of the Father and the Son, which is 'ch'i'(氣) in Taoism, exist fully in action among us. The action of the Trinity of God is the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is the spirit of the truth.(John 15;26, 14:26) The trinity(三一性) of Taoism is to realize the truth and to follow the way to the truth as a kind of movement for life. The 'Sunyata,'(空) in Buddhism means a state that one couldn't shut oneself in the limit and call oneself by his name. And it is the same as the color(色, 形). Therefore, it means that the color is the Sunyata. The color which has a physical form is the same as the Sunyata, which is a transcendent man. So Jesus Christ who had come into the world as a man is the same as invisible God. As a result, the color is similar to the Son of God, and the Sunyata is similar to God the Father. Life comes from Two of these. That is the 'spirit' like the Holy Spirit in christianity. Consequently, even though Taoism and Buddhism as an oriental religion have many similarities with the christianity that has an oriental world, it is impossible to find doctrine continuity with christianity. However, despite this obvious theological differences, it is necessary to try to find mission contact points from the world view of oriental religions, for the Gospel can spread much better in the principles of oriental religion. So it is meaningful to find the contact point for mission because the Christian Gospel as an oriental religion in the principle of analytics can spread more clearly to Koreans who have lived in the tradition of Taoism and Buddhism for a long time more than in the thoughts of western dualism.

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