• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.61
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• pp.131-164
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• 2020

This study analyzes the Trinitarian principles of Christian education through the neo-orthodox theology of Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Paul Tillich in the current era of postmodernism. Both neo-orthodoxy and postmodernism react against the epistemological ideals of modernity. Postmodernism is based on a limited human point of view, and thus becomes a captive to its own subjectivity, producing two main characteristics - pluralism and relativism. Since neo-orthodoxy appeared as a reaction against human-centered modernity, critical analysis of neo-orthodox theology can give insights to cope with the challenges of postmodernism in Christian education today. Thus, this study bases its argument critically on the thoughts of neo-orthodox theologians such as Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Paul Tillich, since they responded to the challenges of enlightenment through rediscovering fundamental theological principles. First of all, this study examined the meaning of God's creation and the fall and provided the principle of theistic relativism. Secondly, this study explored educational insights from Jesus' crucifixion, through His work of redemption, liberation, and restoration and suggests an incarnated relationship building. Thirdly, the study analyzed the caring and comforting work of the Holy Spirit and emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit that heals corrupted human reason and enables loving relationships.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.68
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• pp.175-216
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• 2021

This essay aims to seek an alternative model of catechesis, as this form of education faces various challenges from the Korean Church especially during COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time, catechesis in the Korean Church narrowly focused on the act of producing Christians who would be loyal to the local church, rather than focusing on nurturing members loyal to Christ, an issue that has been problematized in recent publications on catechesis. Thus, the loss of social trust in the Korean Church and the decline of its public image exemplify how this type of catechesis as disciple-making for local church's benefit, mostly nurtures a vertical dimension of faith. The current teaching and learning method mostly employs a unilateral transfer of doctrine from the teacher to the learner and emphasizes the memorization of doctrine. This type of instruction renders the catechesis as the most lackluster and outdated form of Christian education. This essay aims to reconceptualize the traditional model of catechesis. This essay first critically evaluates current situations of catechesis and presents several alternative meanings on the concept of doctrine. Then it explores the theories of catechesis through different models posed by Christian educators such as John Westerhoff III and Richard Osmer. The final section is devoted to presenting an alternative form of catechesis that focuses on seeking holistic faith.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.35
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• pp.181-216
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• 2020

The incarnation of Jesus and Jeungsan's descending to earth as a human being are important theological theories in their respective religions, Christianity and Daesoon Jinrihoe. Both theories are the doctrinal devices necessary for the religious description of each religion. However, this kind of study is likely to result in a theological study that generates religious apologia or explanations. Therefore, it is impossible and meaningless to define the theory of another religion as meta-discourse in terms of one's own religious viewpoint. From a traditional theological point of view, the incarnation is an exceptionalist case wherein God descended as a human being named Jesus to save humanity from original sin. In the case of Jeungsan's descending to earth as a human being, its religious features appear in various forms, so the attempt to unify these two is not an objective method of religious studies. However, this paper aims to find the religious significance of Jesus' incarnation and Jeungsan's descending to earth as a human being by understanding them from a third-person terminology or third-person religious viewpoint rather than from a specific theological position. To this end, this paper will use Kim Jong-seo's position that the concept of Jeungsan's descending to earth as a human being was borrowed from the concept of the incarnation of Jesus as the premise of the research generated in this paper. Therefore, this paper avoids the quest for "Total Christ" or "Total Jeungsan" that integrates and views the divine and human elements of Jesus and Jeungsan. This is because such a research method becomes a theological study. Instead, it excludes transcendental elements or metaphysical aspects that discuss the divine pre-existences of Jesus and Jeungsan and clarifies the significance of the incarnation and Jeungsan's descending to earth as a human being at the physical level in terms which are objective and verifiable. According to this research methodology, this paper develops a discussion after presupposing the hypothetical names of "incarnationist religion" and "divine descent in human avatar religion." However, the two presuppositions mentioned above contain elements of criticism that they are materialistic interpretations that completely eliminate connotations of divinity and religious significance. Nevertheless, it can be said that the two presuppositions have academic significance due to the way in which they avoid the current entanglement of transcendence and instead aim for modernistic relevance.