• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.36
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• pp.117-152
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• 2020

In Daesoon Thought, Matteo Ricci is regarded highly as a Jongjang, 'religious leader,' (of Christianity). This paper deals with the life and philosophical/theological thought of Matteo Ricci as homo-religiosus from the perspective of phenomenology of religion. Examining his historical background and biographical sketch, I will analyze Ricci's understanding of God, humanity, and salvation and re-evaluate his relationship with Daesoon Thought. Matteo Ricci, born in Italy, became a Jesuit missionary to China and transmitted various products of western civilization. Accepting the pro-cultural approach of Jesuit mission, he applied it to Chinese culture and language by learning the Chinese language and regarding Chinese people as his friends. This was a sympathetic way to transmit Western religion and culture while on Chinese soil. He suggested eight reasons to look towards the future of China with optimism and taught Chinese people his Christian message through his indirect means of understanding and persuasion. In China, Jesuit missionaries called the Christian God 'Tianzhu (Cheonju in Sino-Korean),' meaning Lord of Heaven. Ricci identified the Confucian notion of 'Shangdi (Sangje in Sino-Korean),' meaning Supreme Emperor (or God) with Tianzhu. While translating Confucian scriptures, he found the common ground between Confucianism and Christianity to be the monotheism of ancient Confucianism. He criticized the concepts of God in Buddhism and Daoism, and justified the Christian doctrine of God by way of a Confucian understanding of deity. Ricci's understanding of humanity was based on his Christian faith in creation, and he criticized the Buddhist concept of transmigration. He proposed Christian ethics and doctrine of salvation by using discourse on the afterlife and in particular, the concepts of heaven and hell. Concerning the relationship between Daesoon Thought and Ricci, the following aspects should be examined: 1.) Ricci's contribution to the cultural exchanges between East and West, 2.) his peaceful approach to his mission based on dialogue and persuasion, 3.) the various activities conducted by Ricci as a Christian leader, and 4.) his belief in miraculous healings. His influence on Korea will likewise be explored. Ricci's ultimate aim was to communicate with Asian people and unify East and West under a singular worldview by emphasizing the similarities between the Christian and Confucian concepts of God.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.265-288
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• 2009

The study has found that the main reasons affecting to the mature conjugal relations of middle-aged persons are closely related with sede factors brought about after marriage. Comparatively the factors before marriage have more or less weak power on the conjugal relations. They are mature relations wp between husbands and wives, stable and enough incede, and religious activities, which have deep relations with the satisfactory conjugal relations. C. G. Jung divided the whole life span as self-assuredness period in the first half and self-convergence period in the second half. The first is the period when one does his or her best to get external and physical self. On the contrary, the second is the middle-aged period one finds his or her meaning of life in the religious, philosophical, intuitional, and spiritual world, which lead life into harmony and integration. Therefore if one overcomes some psychological crisis related with middle-aged development he or she can enjoy happy senescence(old age). The study has suggested through literature investigation the definition of middle age and the developmental traits of middle age, and the relations between religions and conjugal relations of middle-aged husbands and wives. Futhermore, it has analyzed the theories which religions have close relations with the life satisfaction of middle-aged conjugal relations. In order to give an analysis the influence of the variable of religious activities and religious maturity, with the degree of conjugal satisfaction, 400 middle age are selected as the object of the study whose ages are ranging from 35 years to 60 years, and who reside in Seoul or near Seoul. They were asked to fill out the questionnaires asking about religious activities, religious maturity, and the conjugal satisfaction from March 25th to April 30th, 2009. The results of the survey have been statistically processed and analyzed. First, the higher religious maturity gives positive influence on the general religious activities including public service, human relations, and spiritual stability. That is, this result indicates that the individual, spiritual, and formal religious activities give to a degree influence on the religious maturity. Second, the maturity of religious life resulting from religious activities has a causation with the satisfaction of conjugal life. In more details, religious activities has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=31.36, p<.001) In more details, religious activities has a positive influence on the religious maturity(T=31.36, p<.001), and religious activities has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=33.81, p<.001), and the religious maturity has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=28.64, p<.001) Third, as we analyze the main effects which religious activities and the religious maturity could give influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life, it is found that both religious activities(F=15.95, p<.001) and the religious maturity(F=23.94, p<.001) give a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life. In conclusion, it is sure that religious activities and the religious maturity have a close relations with the satisfaction of conjugal life. Therefore it can be said that religious activities at the protestant religion, buddhism, and catholic religion can give an important influence on the satisfaction of middle-aged conjugal life.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.400-412
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• 2022

The Accommodational missionary method adopted by the Jesuit missionaries who came to China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasty is called the Accommodation and Naturalization and is based on the Poetry. The terms they borrowed were 'Di(Emperor Above)' and 'Tian(The heaven)', the key terms of Confucianism. Although 'Di' was a new transcendent concept, its status was downgraded in the political upheaval, and 'Tian' was rather elevated. However, both of these concepts gradually transformed into philosophical concepts that directly affect real life. The two terms borrowed to express the priesthood could not contain the uniqueness of Christianity, and Christianity was interpreted as an extension line of Confucianism thinking, reduced to an adjunct of Confucianism, and was not indigenous to the depth of ideology. A rational philosophical inquiry could not have played a full role in guiding the Chinese into the true Christian 'faith' unless it is paired with the great teachings of revelation. It is necessary to analyze these results soberly to find problems and to try various studies to explore ways to open up new horizon for Christian missionary work.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.66
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• pp.243-272
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• 2021

Corona 19 brought about a major shift in the Korean church's pastoral style. Contact and non-contact ministry styles using the Internet and media devices are being held together. The elderly, who have been classified as digital vulnerable, need to see whether they are properly adapting to these changes and they have any difficulties in their religious lives. This study is to organize the current status of Corona 19 related to Korean churches, look at the current state of church programs for Christian elderly people, look at how important the religious life is to their lives, and to suggest educational pastoral methods for their religious lives based on the theory of Maria Harris' educational ministry. First, in terms of Koinonia, it was suggested that the heritage, beliefs, values and ways of life held by the Christian elderly be shared with people inside and outside the church in order to entertain and embrace everyone without alienation. Second, from the perspective of Leiturgia, educational ministry was proposed to expand prayer life from a personal area to a public area to become a life of practicing prayer and justice by providing public prayer content with media that can be used by the elderly to perform spirituality. Third, it was suggested that in terms of Didache, it should be required that the elderly should be educated to be familiar with the changing technologies, that teaching environment should be extended from church to online, and that the educational content of tradition and new forms should be dealt with extensively. Fourth, from the perspective of Kerigma, Christian elderly people who have suffered in various life environments, both personally and socially, should listen to the words again and gain the power to overcome the corona crisis through the God's words, so that they can be melted into the curriculum of koinonia, leiturgia, didache, and diakonia. Fifth, it was suggested that senior citizens should switch their consciousness to become subjects of service, not objects of service, and that digital literacy education should be provided individually at eye level to narrow the digital gap for Diakonia curriculum.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.43
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• pp.31-66
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• 2022

In Korea, the concept of publicness, although conceptually unclear, is being used as a medium between religious groups and other areas of society. In this situation, it is necessary to discuss the concept and agenda of publicness related to religions. For this purpose, we reviewed the relationship and agenda between publicness and faith, and then analyzed the cases of creating sacred objects and holy sites in connection with the concept of publicness. Specifically, according to Chapter II, Publicness and Faith, theologians and sociologists interested in publicness generally presuppose or aim for social participation and change. In this context, the agenda related to religious publicness can include the ground of non-Christian publicness, interreligious equality in the public spheres, the status of religious bodies, and the participation of researchers in the public spheres. In Chapter III, Sacred Objects and Publicness, we divided religious publicness into 'publicness within religion' and 'publicness outside of religion.' According to this classification, rituals are a key factor in creating publicness within religion. Publicness outside of religion is not intrinsic, but is constructed through various external debates. In Chapter IV, Sacred Holy Sites and Publicness, we reviewed cases of the construction of Catholic holy sites and analyzed oppositional logic provided by other religious groups in relation to the publicness outside of religion. Those cases internally created publicness within religion but lead to evaluation and debate about publicness outside of religion in public spheres in which various religions participate. Those who opposed the creation of Catholic holy sites used the logic that Catholicism was eliminating the heritage and values of other religions, and responded by expanding this to include the logic that the Catholics were weakening publicness or creating religious bias.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.66
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• pp.75-112
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• 2021

This study is purposed to prepare students in theological universities so that they contribute to their faith community as well as the broader social community in future through developing a practical course model for education of character formation. Facing the challenge of a high-tech revolution being progressed globally in this period, theological seminaries as the Christian-affiliated institute of higher education see the necessity to nurture their learners' competency of holistic personality comprehending cognitive, affective, behavioral, and more spiritual maturity as well as specialty in each subject matter. The holistic character capability of seminarians is closely related not only to their own self-realization, but also social community's well-being. This research had the following content and results. Chapter 1 brought up a subject to educational needs of the holistic character formation in the theological seminaries to meet the rapidly changing times. Chapter 2 considered the importance of character formation in the curriculum of the universities and theological seminaries in the times of high-tech revolution through the literature reviews related to. Chapter 3 clarified the elements of character education to be placed emphasis on theological seminaries and established the way of course planning. Chapter 4, using a course of Christian social education for illustration, described in order the whole process of course planning comprehending the need of planning, description of course concept, establishment and definition of learning outcomes, organization of learning experience(course content), teaching-learning activities, evaluation of learning outcome, and course improvement, which was visualized with the chart of the process of course design. Also, it provided a practical illustration of the conceptual map, an outline of content and an organization of units, and scope-sequence chart. Finally, chapter 5 gave an syllabus example in an integrative and digestive form as the course plan to be distributed to the students, which is the final result produced through the whole process of course planning. This research is intended not to present a overall curriculum planning of the university-level in the theological seminaries, but to develop a course-level curriculum focused on the formation of character. The author hope that this study would be used as a guideline in developing a course model to nurture the capability of the learners' holistic character.

• 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.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 1999

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify hospice volunteers' perception of the death. Methods : This study was conducted with 327 adults who registered for the hospice volunteer education program in Severance Hospice Center from 1996 through 1999. The 4-years data was collected through a self-reporting questionnaire constructed and revised by the authors. The questionnaire was classified into 5 categories. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS/W. Results : 1) Hospice volunteers were mostly female(93.9%) with an average age of 48 years. The majority(82.6%) of the participants were Protestant. 2) From the 4-years data over 90 percent of participants thought of death as a process of life and responded positively to these three items : 'Death is a temporary separation from family', 'I will die in peace', 'Faith in God results in a freedom from fear of death'. 3) Age were statistically relevant to the following items: 'I often read the obituaries in the newspaper', 'Dying is a tragedy', and 6 items were significantly related to religion: 'I rarely think of dying unexpectedly', 'Death is a temporary separation from family'. 'Dying is a tragedy', 'We have to do our best to prolong life by use of modem medical technology', 'I feel comfortable thinking of death and dying, 'Faith in God results in a freedom from fear of death'. The finding that religiosity was related to perception of death is consistent with other reports. And $40{\sim}50$ year old Protestant women had more positive perception of death than $20{\sim}30$ year old women. Conclusion : The findings indicated an importance of considering the age and religiosity when we educate the hospice volunteers. And that will be a important basic-data to develope program for hospice volunteers.

• 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.77
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• pp.203-223
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• 2024

This study aims to reflect on how the experiences in the interrelationship between parents and children affect the formation of God's image and how it affects the formation of healthy Christian identity. We will explore the implications of this research on education for the formation of healthy Christian identity for children. Based on the theories of God's image by Erickson, Freud, and Rizzuto, we examine in-depth how the parental image that children acquire in their relationship with their parents is related to the image of God, which is the basis of their lives. Parents are like caregivers, guardians, and absolute beings that enable their children's survival and safety from their birth. The parental image that a child has through interaction with their parents has a close relationship with the image of God. Amid the existential limitations and restrictions faced by children and parents, negative experiences such as oppression, punishment, and anger that children receive from their parents leave various psychological wounds inside the child. What is important here is that the summation of negative experiences inflicted on the child should not exceed the appropriate level that the child can endure. In addition, children should be guided to feel the following in their relationship with their parents. Children need to be nurtured to feel basic trust from their parents. If these important premise is not observed, the distorted parental image will lead to distorted God's image. Unreliable or violent images of parents will pose a serious threat to the formation of constructive faith or healthy Christian identity. Based on this premise, this study claims a substantial shift from oppressive, authoritarian, and one-directional ways of education to those of mutual, liberational, postconventional education. Finally, this study closes its inquiry by providing constructive direction and alternatives for the development of healthy Christian identity for Children.