• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.62
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• pp.285-311
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• 2020

Many people are suffering from the economic crisis and poverty that are deepening due to the recent spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. In this situation, this study focuses on the biblical Jubilee in order to seek how "Jubilee justice" can be realized in the modern context. The Law of Jubilee consists of four contents: the liberation of slaves, debt remission, land return and fallow. Ultimately it aims to prevent human slavery and preserve equality. Nevertheless, the thought of Jubilee has been distorted theologically and situationally, and as a result, it has been overlooked in the field of Christian education, and there is a limit in Christian practice for social justice. The thought of Jubilee, however, can be an alternative to overcome various problems of modern society such as the issue of the privatization of Christianity or the deepening of polarization caused by neoliberal globalization and can contribute positively to the practice of social justice. In other words, the thought of Jubilee can act as a biblical initiative in reforming wrong laws and establishing institutions for the poor on the institutional level; on the personal level, it can be a great motive in terms of the change of perception and the practice of the sharing economy. Jubilee education, which aims for Jubilee justice, helps to break the misconceptions and change the existing meaning perspectives on the basis of various interdisciplinary knowledge and supports social behavior for transforming social structure through activation of public opinion and fund raising at the practical level. Therefore, the learners of Christian education can play a public role in transforming the unjust society.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.77
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• pp.7-27
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• 2024

This study addresses the crucial role of Christian Religious Education (CRE) amidst civic polarization, moral disimagination, and learned helplessness. It begins her personal background as a 1.5-generation Vietnamese American and her academic engagement in immigrant faith and the challenges of teaching faith in violent contexts. The work underscores the public dimension and impact of religious education, highlighting its potential for fostering critical capacities for public engagement. However, that study observes a prevalent disconnection between congregational culture and the aim of public engagement, leading to a form of learned helplessness among students and communities. The researcher draws on Paulo Freire's concepts of "critical hope" and the need for a curriculum that transcends mere content delivery to foster transformative engagement with societal issues. The document critiques the disimigination machine that undermines critical thinking and collective resistance, as articulated by Henry Giroux, and explores the concepts of "learned helplessness" as a barrier to environmental and social activism. The researcher advocates for a theopoetic and theopolitical approach to education that nurtures hope and practical engagement with the world's injustice. She emphasizes small acts of theopoetic and theopolitical hope as transformative practices, using an example from Ferguson, Missouri, to illustrate how public liturgy and protest can mediate hope and justice. The document concludes with a call for a life-long, life-wide, and life-deep curriculum of enchantment towards responsible participation in societal repair, rooted in Christian hope.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.66
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• pp.413-437
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• 2021

Humans are created as spiritual beings that can relate to God. However, when a human spirit refuses to transform through confronting God, it experiences a crisis. A spiritual crisis results from disconnecting with God, who is the ultimate foundation, but we humans try to overcome such absence through accomplishments and efforts. In this technological age, the ethics issues of AI (Artificial Intelligence), robots, and cloning are related to anthropology. The development of the mind, heart, and logic cannot suggest a basis for destruction and confusion as much as the development of the world. In fact, education focused on the human mind cannot be considered holistic. Mind, together with thought, will, and belief, plays a crucial role in making choices and leading a human life. So it is actively studied in other domains other than Christian education. However, although the human spirit takes care of some territory of humanity, unlike the mind, it can neither be partial nor fragmentary. Instead, it manages the transformation that influences the core of human life. Therefore, Christian education must clearly concentrate on the spirit rather than on other human elements, intentionally concerning spiritual transformation through encounters with God. In other words, Christian education is the passage connecting a human spirit to God's presence at work, which enables us to understand the human being as a whole. For this, we must put our efforts to increase the chances of encountering God through Christian education. While "Encounter" requires both parties' interaction, "Transformation" stresses God as the main agent and His proactive nature. I also want to emphasize "worship" as the opportunity to communicate and experience God in our daily lives. By examining the preparation and the process of the spiritual transformation of humans, this paper would offer a theological foundation for continued transformation of the human spirit in the faith community, rather than personal experience or conviction.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.78
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• pp.111-136
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to theoretically explore symbol didactic, which serves as a mediator and integrator of human experience with biblical experience. Based on a deep consideration of the functions and roles of symbols, as studied in psychology, philosophy, religious studies, and theology, this study aims to examine representative theories of Bible didactic that have introduced symbolic action into Christian education. By exploring these theories, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of symbols in Christian education and their impact on the learning process. This study is divided into two main parts. In the first half, it examines the meanings of symbols and their functions as discussed by prominent scholars from various disciplines who have paid attention to symbols, including S. Freud and C. Jung in psychoanalysis, E. Cassirer and P. Ricoeur in philosophy, M. Eliade in religious studies, and P. Tillich in theology. In the second half, the study critically analyzes and discusses representative theories of symbol didactic, such as those proposed by H. Halbfas and P. Biehl, which have applied the symbolic action of neighboring disciplines to Christian education. Symbol didactic differs from traditional biblical didactic, which aims to transmit content, by using symbols as a medium to facilitate dialogue between the learner's experiences and those of the Bible. This approach enables learners to experience the deep relationship between the content of the Bible and the experiences of biblical figures with their own experiences, and provides an opportunity to deepen that experience.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.62
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• pp.257-283
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• 2020

Our current society is experiencing a mass upheaval through globalization: mobility, hybridity, and cultural diversity are part of this world phenomenon. We can say that these changes are a result of people crossing borders due to international travel, immigration, emigration, studying abroad, labor, international marriages, fast and comfortable transportation, and the Internet. According to 2018 UNPD(Untied Nations Population Division)'s data, the international migrants have exceeded 258 million as of 2017. The increased number of migrants signifies that people with various backgrounds move from their own culture to a drastically different one. Interacting with different cultures can give people the chance to experience abundant lifestyles and improve life qualities. During that process, however, the differences between cultures can cause not only misunderstandings, conflicts, and violent collisions, but also xenophobia or radical nationalism. The current society is confronted with a problem: the people cannot stubbornly cling to a homogenous ethnicity anymore, which makes the coexistence between the citizens and immigrants necessary. Through these circumstances, I aim to suggest an educational model and a practical curriculum from a Christian perspective as the aim of this study. It seeks to encourage Christians to flexibly respond to these conflicts and collisions, and to fulfill their social responsibilities faithfully. For this reason, I will explore and seek sharing practical values through both shalom's communality as a theological approach and postconventionality in mature adults as a social-scientific approach. Consequently, I have few requests for the readers. First, approach with openness, understanding, and respect for other culture. Second, see this study as one step of confronting the global problem for coexistence and coprosperity of all social agents in the earth, a limited space. Third, notice that this study uses the interdisciplinary approach (theological and social scientific view) for a shareable, practical value that consistently leads the curriculum of my thesis, and a scientific method to eliminate bias. Lastly, understand that this study will eventually be used in educational practice, and as a result it prioritizes giving thought to the Christian educational environment. This study begins by exploring the conflicts and collisions between diverse cultures of our current society in international and national cases. Afterwards, I will reflect on how we can manage these conflicts and collisions by exploring the social-scientific view, postconventionality in mature adults, the theological view, and shalom's communality as a complement for the postconventionality's personal dimension. In conclusion, I suggest a curriculum that achieves peace as a practical value based on postventionality and shalom's communality for this study's goal.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.74
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• pp.227-253
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• 2023

Purpose of the Study: This paper focuses on a significant historical event, namely the Bremen teachers' movement of 1905, which aimed to abolish religious classes in public schools. By examining an incident in the German history of religious education that remains unfamiliar to the Korean Christian Association, I aim to explore the interconnected diachronic and synchronic influences involved in this particular event. Contents and Method: The religious controversy sparked by the Bremen Teacher's movement of 1905 marked the first official call for reform towards neutral religious education in schools. Several factors contributed to this debate, including the rise of civil society in the 19th century, advancements in science and scholarship, the emergence of social democracy, and the conflict between the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. This paper delves into the historical context of the controversy and analyzes its impact on the develop of religious education in Germany. As reflected in the Bremen Document, the official outcome of the Bremen Teacher's Movement, educators argued for the separation of religion and education, emphasizing that religion is a deeply personal matter. The document called for the adoption of value-neutral moral education in public schools, achieved through objective Bible-History classes. This paper explores the impact of the Bremen School Dispute of 1905 on the development of religious education in Germany. Specifically, the provisions of the Bremen State Constitution of 1948 and the German Basic Law of 1949 were influenced by the controversy, with Article 141 of the Basic Law - known as the 'Bremen Clause' - providing a legal basis for the exclusion of churches from religion-classes at Schools in Bremen. The Bible-History Classes advocated in the Bremen Documents served as the basis for the present-day Bremen religious education curriculum well known for neutral objective religion-classes. Conlusion: This study analyzes the background, content, and influence of the Bremen School Controversy, which remains relatively unknown in Korea. The findings of this study can contribute to the ongoing discussion of Christian school education in Korea, with an emphasis on maintaining a Christian identity while promoting religious publicity in the classroom.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.62
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• pp.101-133
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• 2020

This study is an attempt to grasp the fundamental characteristics and core structures of Bibliodrama, which has recently received a lot of attention in various fields including Christian education. Bibliodrama is a guided form of process-oriented staging of biblical texts in groups with the aim of mutually opening up the text and the biography of the participants in the implementation of holistic encounters (H. Aldebert). In the background of the birth of Bibliodrama can be found the hermeneutical efforts of the biblical scholar Walter Wink who sentenced the bankruptcy of historical criticism. He laid the biblical interpretative foundation for Bibliodrama which combines Bible and body. German theologian Gerhard Marcel Martin had a new experience of seeing the Bible through body activity during his life in New York, and based on that experience he began to work on the Bibliodrama. And the New Testament scholar Tim Schramm, who focused on the TCI (themecentered interaction) movement, found the optimal methodology to embody the interaction of biblical studies in Bibliodrama. On the other hand, Peter Pitzele, who wanted to realize the Bibliodrama in the tradition of Midrash, has developed a new type of Bibliodrama (Bibliolog) that is different from the European Bibliodrama. When we put together the positions of the pioneers of Bibliodrama, it turns out that it has three fundamental characteristics: body, interaction, and the empty space of the Bible. The body refers to the personality of learners participating in the Bibliodrama. They are not passive participants, but voluntary and active participants. Interaction is realized through the dramatic way of Bibliodrama. Bibliodrama aims for a dynamic process in which hermeneutical interaction occurs. The empty space of the Bible, which Bibliodrama pays attention to, allows us to understand why the Bible is not a fixed word but a living word that is still heard today. In order to understand the Bible as the content of education, Bibliodrama liberates the text that is fixed in a literal way and gives life by paying attention to the empty space of the Bible and reading it slowly.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.70
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• pp.11-35
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• 2022

The purpose of this article is to suggest nine types of educational ministry based on the practical theology in Christian Education. For the purpose this article emphasizes an individual dimension including church, society dimensions. An individual dimension is based on the spirit of post digital era within sociocultural area in different with personal-existential area of the philosophical and theological perspective and life cycle theology area of the developmental psychological perspective. Post digital era means the humanization of digital, digital friendly, and emotional digital cultural characteristics. Post digital generation means child, youth, young adults those who are accustomed with post digital cultural of the post digital era. The educational ministry for the post digital generations categorized into nine types according to correlation with individual, church, and society as a field of ministry and critical scientific method, critical confessional method, and critical correlational method as an interdisciplinary which are composed of Christian tradition and contemporary science. Representative key competencies of nine types in the educational ministry are media literacy, relational identity, communication, high touch, discipleship, making and using media, integrative vocation, collaboration abilities, and home, school, and social resilience in relation with multicultural generations.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.68
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• pp.375-415
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• 2021

Although the interest in Christian education of spirituality has increased recently, the practice of the education of spirituality in the Korean Church has been fragmented in the contents and methods without any clear educational purpose of the Protestant tradition. This requires a creative study to seek out the contents and method best suited to realizing the educational purpose of the Protestant tradition, through a rigorous academic methodology. This study proposes just such a creative model for the education of spirituality with an educational purpose based on the core ethos of the Protestant spirituality, integrating the long tradition of spiritual practices of Christianity. First, I survey the teachings on 'the life of faith' of the main leaders of the Protestant church, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley. Through this process, I reveal 'liberated-ness' to be the common purpose of the Protestant leaders, and the core of the practices for that purpose are 'the means of grace,' which has a different meaning from that of the Roman Catholic tradition. I construct the meaning of 'liberated-ness' in a dynamic manner, which begins with the 'liberating will' of God, and is followed by the 'self-giving will' of the believer as the response to the 'grace' of the 'liberating will.' The contact point of these two 'wills' is what I call 'the living membrane of faith.' As a creative synthesis of the above discussions, I propose a model of 'the practice of liberated-ness' for an education in spiritual practice. The purpose of this education is for the learner to become a person who continuously experiences ever-increasing 'liberated-ness' through continuous personal 'encounters' with God, and to become ever more faithful in carrying out practices for the 'liberated-ness' of her or his neighbors. The relationship between the teacher and the learner is that of personal 'encounter' as put forth by Sherrill, and also incorporates elements of 'co-authorship' as conceptualized by Kim. I transform and rename major practices of spiritual discipline according to a principle of 'liberated-ness' based on the Protestant tradition, and these comprise the main content of my spirituality education model. They include: 'lectio divina of encounter,' 'prayer facing the Lord,' 'service in liberation,' 'reflection of liberated-ness,' and 'mutual spiritual direction.' The teaching and learning process draws on Dykstra's methods of coaching and mentoring. The key environment is that of a 'sacramental community' as defined by Moore. Evaluation can be performed only by the learner her/himself. The significance of this model is that it creatively inherits and succeeds the tradition of Christian spiritual discipline from the early church onwards by transforming it through a Protestant spirituality of 'liberated-ness.'

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.73
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• pp.139-157
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• 2023

In Korean Protestantism, interest in Christian spirituality has grown significantly since the 1980s. Spirituality is now studied and used as a crucial term and topic in theology and ministry. As research on spirituality expanded to various areas of study and ministry and various topics related to spirituality were dealt with, research on spiritual direction also began. Oe-Shik Kim and Hae-Yong Yoo, who studied in North America, are the early scholars who began to study spiritual direction in Korean Protestantism in the 1990s. Their research has influenced Korean Protestant scholars and pastors to understand spiritual direction and apply it to seminary education and the Korean Protestant churches. Spiritual direction has been practiced in the Korean church in the form and content of faith education, spiritual training, devotional training, discipleship training, small groups, and pastoral counseling. The spiritual direction practiced by Eastern, Western, and monastic traditions throughout Christian history is not shared by Korean Protestants. Because Korean Protestantism has developed a unique spiritual tradition in the Korean context, its contents and forms of spiritual direction reflect the Korean context. Korean Protestants are more familiar with Tongsung Kido, early morning prayer, Bible study or Bible meditation, and small groups than contemplative traditions and individual spiritual direction. Thirty years have passed since research on spiritual direction began. The Korean Protestant academia needs to critically reflect on its research and practice. Spiritual direction is a term and tradition of different Christian cultures around the world and is part of Christian history and tradition. Korean Protestant scholars and church ministers need to accept the concept and application of spiritual direction considering the context and spiritual tradition of Korean Protestant churches, a flexible understanding, perspective, and attitude toward the concept and application of spiritual direction in Korean Protestant churches are needed.