• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
• /
• v.68
• /
• pp.375-415
• /
• 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 the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.42
• /
• pp.75-108
• /
• 2022

This paper aims to newly investigate the meaning of life in this era when various discussions on life and ethical living are commonly raised by comparing and examining the theories of life proposed by Confucianism and Daesoon Thought. Both Confucianism and Daesoon Thought explain the creation of all things as having been based on the principles of life in heaven and earth. Specifically, there is the will to live (生意 saengeui) and also divine beings (神明 sinmyeong). For this reason, everything in heaven and earth is created by obtaining the same principle of life such that it is an equal being with the same intrinsic value. Here the consciousness of being one body amid all things as one living thing is established. The consciousness of being one body forms an organic worldview in which all things are one. As a result, all things in heaven and earth exist within a mutual organic relationship, and that makes oneself and others precious life partners that coexist rather than separate beings. Nevertheless, both Confucianism and Daesoon Thought define humans as outstanding beings, set aside for a higher purpose than other beings. The excellence of humans is that by constantly engaging in self reflection and completing tasks through independent efforts, they thereby achieve the great moral doctrine of coexistence and symbiosis. In this process, cultivation of character (修養 suyang) and cultivation of the Dao (修道 sudo) are presented as means to realize one's nature and establish the right human image. By realizing nature or humanity through the cultivation of character and cultivation of the Dao, humans fulfill their responsibilities and missions by independently participating in being nourished by Heaven and Earth (天地化育 cheonjihwayuk) or the Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth (天地公事 cheonjigongsa), both being based in the concept of the three generative forces of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (天·地·人 cheon·ji·in). In the end, the theories of life posited by Confucianism and Daesoon Thought are based on a consciousness of being one body. Both emphasize the characteristics and roles of humans who are distinguished from other beings and phenomena. At this time, human characteristics and roles are revealed as the reasons for which humans have a responsibility and mission take care of all things. From this point of view, it can be seen that the theoretical structure of Neo-Confucianism and Daesoon Thought, in regards to their theories of life, is rather similar.