Life!
Life is beautiful, precious, sacred and mysterious reality in which we find our lives and their meaning. Life is what we are.
We are now globally facing, however, a huge crisis of the environmental system. This thesis focuses on human interiority and mode of life as its external expression because the global crisis of environmental system has been caused by distorted modes of human life.
The global environmental crisis calls for a fundamental change in the human mode of life. Such change begins by change of our view on nature and life. This is why this thesis examines the Korean understanding of life and sensibility for life.
As the Korean view on life and nature is discussed, a dialogue between the Christian understanding and the Korean understanding is also attempted in this thesis. That dialogue will contribute to building up a Korean theological understanding of life and a Christian environmental movement based on such.
The researcher's own experiences regarding the topic forms the beginning point of this thesis and to make a contribution to extending the horizon of Korean Christian environmental movement by the integration of Christian spirituality and Korean traditional understanding on life is the aim of the research.
The thesis deals with Choi Chi-won, Yi Gyu-bo, and Hong Dae-yong among many Korean thinkers. Choi Chi-won rediscovered the concept of "Pungryu"(風流), a unique Korean traditional understanding that highly values life and reintroduced it in his own time. His own thought of "Jeophawgunsaeng"(接化群生) is a very comprehensive concept that includes not only humans but also all sentient beings.
Yi Gyu-bo, a prominent thinker at the end of Goryu dynasty, owned a very strong pro-life thought named "Manmulilryu"(萬物一流) that all beings are one. Hong Dae-yong, a scholar representing the late Chosun dynasty, also developed a thought of similar kind that all living things are equal.
This thesis consists of six chapters including the introduction as its first chapter. Chapter 2 summarizes the history of Korean Christian environmental movement. Chapter 3 contains an analysis and evaluation on the movement. The thoughts of three Korean thinkers are introduced in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 makes a specific suggestion based on a spirituality of life to the Korean Christian environmental movement. Chapter 6 comes to the conclusion that the movement can deepen internally and expands externally itself when the Christian creation spirituality and the Korean understanding of life meet together.
Attempts to integrate the Christian understandings and the Korean understandings of life will be helpful to expand the horizon of the Korean Christian environmental movement. They can animate the movement to be a more voluntary, lasting one, attracting people ecumenically and pan-nationally beyond the church boundaries.
The Korean Christian environmental movement based on the integrated understanding of life will be able to turn the groan and moan of all the suffering creatures(romans 8:22) under the global crisis of environment into joyful laughing of life and piece.