Volume 75, Issue 5

This article refers to the recent German discussion on the role and function of legal dogmatics. The insistence among legal scholars on relating the evolution of the law to academic work, to the praxis of the courts and on locating it in truth-seeking communities, but also the insight into the multifunctionality of dogmatics open up ways for a comparison of legal and theological dogmatics. The article identifies nine levels in legal and theological dogmatic thought and orientation which lead to fruitful observations of commonalities and differences of legal and theological normativity.

In this article Martin Luther King, Jr.’s concept of active non-violent resistance and his stand against the Vietnam War are reconstructed in their historical and societal context, following his own theological concept of contextualization. The findings suggest that King combines fundamental and contextual arguments to sustain his position. It is argued that in order to apply his positions to the current questions of peace and war, King’s arguments have to be recontextualized. Special emphasis is laid on King’s theological concept of human dignity and human rights as well as his vision of a Great World House as unique contributions to the peace discourse of his time and beyond.

Bakunin’s anarchism on the one hand and Carl Schmitt’s State-God on the other mirror each other. Either concept is about the non-accountable, »absolute« political decision. Both modern terrorism and the political reaction to it in the »security state« follow the alternative Bakunin-Schmitt. By contrast, the »open society« of democracy needs the Christian, intelligent love of enemies to deal with its enemies without self-destruction.

The theology that had the broadest and strongest influence in Korea was the fundamentalist theology, with HyungRyong Park being the representative figure. Yet Korean theology did not remain in fundamentalism. Cho developed a theology of life different from that of soul-focused fundamentalist theology, and this is seen clearly in his theology of three-fold blessing. He spread a theology that gave hope to the sick and poor in Korea and planted the Yeoido Church that eventually became the largest in the world. However, Cho’s theology has not developed into the theology of the kingdom of God that saves society and history. Minjung Theology, which appeared in the mid-1970, was a theology that fought for justice and democracy. It finally drove out dictatorship and left a major historical achievement of establishing democracy in Korea. A considerable number of Minjung theologians were actively involved in the center of the politics during President Daejung Kim’s administration. However, lacking the doctrines of trinity and atonement and teaching self-salvation, it failed to take root in Korean Churches. Ohn Theology derives from 130 years of Korean theology: it merged out of Park’s soul- and church-centered theology, Cho’s theology of life, and the Korean Minjung Theology’s historical responsible theology, and it blossomed at what is currently Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary. It was based on Luther and on Calvin's Reformed theology and strongly influenced by European theologians like Karl Barth and Jürgen Moltmann as well as the prominent Korean theologian, JongSung Rhee.

This essay investigates the concept of »Sinicization of Christianity« from an »academic« standpoint, the goal being to discuss more objectively and rationally how Christianity may be able to meld into Chinese culture, the Chinese nation, and in particular, contemporary Chinese society. The investigation is presented in three parts: a comparison between the histories of Christianity in China and Korea, a study of the ecological situation of religions in contemporary China, and new developments in international research on interreligious dialogue. The article concludes that social practice should be the main criterion for testing religious faith, and that, based on China’s current conditions, the best course for the Sinicization of Christianity is to make positive and important contributions to continued reform and opening-up of Chinese society and to its development and progress.