Earticle

This paper attempts to adduce that the Apocalypse of John is a book for the liturgy. The liturgical expressions and forms such as the liturgical musics and the scenes of the heavenly worship and the Halleluia with a great voice of many people in heaven are the evidence to this. Through this liturgical scenes in heaven and hymn instructs the author of the Apocalypse of John instructs that the claims of brutal Roman Imperial ruling system were antithetical to those of Christ. And he suggests that he regarded any compromise as impossible and any accommodation as blasphemy. To summarize: The worship and liturgical musics in the Apocalypse of John play a role of an educational place for a resistance against the Roman ruling system and against the violence.

Based on these different understandings of death, Korean funeral has been developed as a combined one. In a Korean Christian funeral, it is not hard to find other religious and cultural elements. From the beginning, it is not easy to articulate how the Korean Protestant Church comprehends funeral rites. There is very little information about this topic, and materials about funeral practices and rites in the Korean Protestant Church. Liturgically and systematically, the Korean Protestant church neither examined theoretically nor engaged in research regarding the funeral practices and rites. Directly speaking, it seems to me that the Korean Protestant Church does not even articulate a basic outline of its funeral services. In general, a Korean Protestant church is based on evangelical and reformation tradition. In the worship book of the main Korean Protestant Churches, Korean traditional elements are easily found in their service orders for funerals. However, a Korean Protestant church has not yet articulated why these elements are deeply practiced in the worship service nor how the Korean Protestant Church understands these traditional elements that are prohibited in the name of pagan culture. Therefore, I do not think that the Korean Protestant church has successfully adapted Korean traditional cultures into the worship services for the dead in the Korean Protestant churches. Without recognizing what the traditional and cultural elements are and what they mean, the Korean Protestant church just accepts the funeral services in its worship book according to its denomination. In the Korean Protestant church, the funeral services mostly consist of a concept of logos. From the beginning of the service to the end of it, the written statements are constantly repeated as prayers, hymns, scripture readings, and the sermons by the pastor. There is only one communication channel that glides away from the pastor to the participants in the service. There is no bodily movement. It is not inclusively allowing the participants to involve in the funeral service but just passively sitting on the chair. The Korean Protestant church deleted all the liturgies in traditional funeral practice, but snatched some of meanings from the traditional funeral practice and reformed it in the church worship setting.

The structure of the worship space can make a difference in our worship experience because the worship space impacts our experience. The buildings we worship in teach us theological truths about God. In fact, Christian worship space has evolved over the last two thousand years, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other sacred and secular architectural styles(like Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles) as well as responding to Christian faith related to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions. Sövik is a Evangelical Lutheran architect who is a leading architect from the 1970's who has been designing approximately 400 spaces for Christian worship for more than forty years. A particular shift in architectural design occurred in the nineteenth century which set the stage for Edward Sövik and his ‘non-church’ design. And the Liturgical Movements in the 20th century had an impact on Christians’ understanding of faith and from and Sövik was no exception. Sövik’s “non-church” worship space is flexible and multi-purpose. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the people who gather in these spaces. Sövik believed that churches should be the buildings of a "non-church" or "house of the people of God." For Sövik, People who gather for both liturgical and non-liturgical activities are the core element in his concept of the “non-church.” Thus, Sövik understood a church building as a space for service to both God and neighbor which could be used for more than one purpose. In fact, Sövik’s understanding of a worship space might not be appreciated by all Christians and all Christian communities today. However, implications for the way Christians ought to be thinking about incarnating Christian worship spaces is a valuable thing that Christians do not have to loose today.

In 21st century, both the Catholic church and Protestant church have traditionally maintained separate homiletics in Germany. Specially, the Catholic church has pointed out liturgy-centered church, but Protestant church has aimed to build up word-centered church. Therfore, the homiletics tradition of both Churches have resulted in their own patterns of worship contents. In today, the Catholic church has been interested in interpreting the liturgy by preaching(Words) and, Protestant church has regarded the preaching as first sign of baptism sacrament. However, both the Catholic church and Protestant church have separate views related to the meaning of preaching and of piety for church ritual. In other words, although Catholic's preaching only explained the liturgy in itself, since Second Vatican Council, each country interpreted replaced the liturgy with linguistic view of preaching as the own cultural expression. However, it disappeared from preaching-centered liturgy and conventional and systematic views in Protestant church. On the contrary, it has expanded the theological preaching which stresses on Justification of believers. Basically, both Churches have had their own separate exegetic and liturgical points of view. Recently, their homiletics have come even closer together owing to the study involved in both the exegesis for preaching and the illumination of the Holy Spirit in linguistic aspects of bible texts. In spite of different homiletic questions on the preaching language, both of them emphasized the importance of preacher’s preaching delivery and of layer’s preaching comprehension. From ancient time, although people have paid attention to preaching rhetorical role, and the both Catholic church and Protestant church was interested in the preacher’s rhetorical role, it was difficult for their homiletic coincidence because preaching style of Catholic priest was different from that of Protestant’s pastor. It is going on the homiletics study of Peter Düsterfeld which mentions the preaching and the understanding of the Catholic church. In addition, as H. R. Müller-Schwefe criticizes Mildenberger und Dannowski’s theological study and reflects on the homiletics of both churches, they suggest new homiletics. It is to study the homiletics through language delivery, rhetorical development, and textual interpretations of the Bible.

This study has identified the status of a preacher in the position of 'interpreter' and examined the influence of interpretation and explanation of the Bible text among the role and function of preachers in terms of the horizon of hermeneutics. In addition, the study identified a role of the preacher as a guider that supports believers to experience a word from the God and also as an interpretor based on such discussion along with the responsibility of him/her. The gist of the study was not to focus on which roles of a preacher are superior but to deal with the concern of a preacher as to how he/she can support audiences to experience and meet a word form the God in the rapidly changing era and situations in human society. A preacher as an interpreter of the Bible today tends to read and interpret the text in the horizons of expectation of audiences and promulgate it for having them build dynamic relationship with the text in the horizons of expectation. Hereupon, it is suggested for a preacher as a guider of experience to support audiences so that they can come to the world of 'text experience.'

Phineas Bresee was the founder of the Church of the Nazarene which was built on the Wesleyan-Holiness theology, and birthed during the American Holiness movement in the late 19th century. Bresee was born in 1838, in Franklin, Delaware County, of western New York. His family were devout members in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bresee answered a call to preach when he was a boy. Then he remained a preacher until the end of his life, a period of 60 years. However, he had to abandon his Methodist Episcopal Church to which he belonged for the greater part of his life at the age of 57. This research will be an aid in understanding and identifying the journey of faith of Phineas Bresee as well as the historical background of the foundation of the Church of the Nazarene. However, the main interest and task of this researcher will also focus on the characteristics of his preaching, whether his understanding of preaching was actually related to modifying his ministry into the Holiness movement, and finally, the organization of a new church denomination in the American religious and social context. There are five important stages in his life in relation to understanding of who he was. The first stage was the period when he lived in western New York State for 18 years, where he grew as a good Christian boy. The second stage was the period of his pastoral ministry in Iowa, where he led diverse congregations in the Methodist Episcopal Church for 25 years. The third stage was the period when he rose to the leadership of Southern California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and worked as a holiness preacher. He was influenced by the holiness revivalism of Southern California from 1883 until 1894. The fourth stage was a short period, because it was his transition from Methodist worker to organizer of a new church. During this time, Bresee was a director of the Peniel Mission from the fall of 1894 until the fall of the next year. The fifth and last stage of his life was the period when he launched new, unexpected and providential work as a church organizer, pastor and superintendent for the Church of the Nazarene. This happened during the 20 years spanning 1895 to 1915. Overall, Bresee was a faithful Methodist preacher, a passionate evangelist, and finally the respected and able founder of the new Church of the Nazarene. Moreover he was a person who was faithful and responsive to the needs of his era, the late 19th century, showing and living out passion for the evangelism of the poor, and for the holiness preaching in the continuing stream of Wesleyan Methodism and American revivalism. The end of his life came on November in 1915 in Los Angeles, after participating and traveling to Kansas City General Assembly of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene as a senior superintendent in September. Bresee was at the age of 77. He was a man of courage, patience, adventure, decisiveness, irenic mind and creativeness.

Der Heilige Geist erstreckt sich in zweierlei Hinsicht in die Geschichte. Erstens übt er in geschichtstheologischer Hinsicht eine Funktion der Neuschöpfung aus. Er schafft eine neue Identität des Menschen, so daβ die Alternative von ‘passiv-aktiv’ ebenso wie ‘objektiv-subjektiv’ aufgehoben wird. Der Geist trifft jedoch nicht nur den einzelnen Menschen. Er bewirkt auch die strukturellen und interpersonalen Bindungen seiner Existenz, indem er in der geschichtlichen Struktur Gestalt annimmt. Auf diese Weise tritt er nicht nur in den Geschichtsablauf ein, sondern er wirkt selbst die Geschichte. Das Verhältnis von Pneuma und Einzelperson wird methodisch auf das Verhältnis von Pneuma und Institution übertragen. Dabei erhält die Person- Geschichte-Figur eine andere Richtung als Thielickes früher Ekklesiologie. Dort unterwanderte das Wort Gottes indirekt, nämlich durch die Einzelperson vermittelt, die vorhandene Geschichtsstruktur. Nun aber erstreckt sich der Heilige Geist in die Geschichte, indem er interpersonal sowie zwischen Person und Geschichtsstruktur wirkt. Zum anderen ist die Lehre vom Heiligen Geist bei Thielicke eine hermeneutische Disziplin. Der Geist schlieβt nicht nur alle theologischen Aussagen, sondern auch die zeitliche Erweckung der Heilsgeschichte zur Einheit zusammen, indem er das vergangene Heilsgeschehen ebenso wie das zukünftige hier und jezt vergegenwärtigt. Es geht um eine Vorwegnahme des Eschatons. Dabei wird die Spannung zwischen Gegenwart und Zukunft im Vergleich zur Ethik neu verstanden. Das Eschaton kommt nicht bloβ aus der Zukunft, weil der Geist diese Zukunft schon hier und jezt eröffnet. Es kann auch als Entfaltung dessen begriffen werden, was in der Gegenwart schon geschieht. Damit will Thielicke nicht die futurische Eschatologie durch die präsentische verdrängen. Es ist bei Thielicke abwegig, beide Eschatologien auseinanderzureiβen und sie in einen Widerstreit zu setzen. Er versucht, die zwei Richtungen der geschichtlichen Entwicklung, die der Geist wirkt, zu verdeutlichen, nämlich die Entwicklung der Geschichte von der Zukunft zur Gegenwart und umgekehrt. Thielicke etabliert seine Pneumatologie als eine Antithese zu Strömungen seiner zeitgenössischen Theologie, z.B. zur existentialen Theologie und Theologie des Todes Gottes usw., die sich seiner Meinung nach auf den Adressat des Wortes, nämlich auf das Subjekt des Glaubens, gründen. Er gibt diesem Denkschema eine genau umgekehrte Richtung. Durch den Heiligen Geist vollzieht sich das Wort am Menschen und gliedert ihn in das Heilsgeschehen ein, statt es dem Bewuβtsein des Menschen anzueignen. Der Heilige Geist schlieβt die Divergenz zwischen Gott und Mensch, indem er die Umgestaltung der menschlichen Identität bewirkt. Das bedeutet insofern auch eine Veränderung des menschlichen Selbstbewuβtseins, die jedoch als Identitätsänderung vom auβen zu verstehen ist.

New Age is not an unfamiliar word for modern people who live in the postmodern age. Rather, New Age is deeply within our lives from music or yoga. But New Age is above simple culture that we generally know. Outwardly they seem to seek peace and harmony, but within their inner side, we can know that they seek for antichristianism, non-Christian, and a life in Utopia without God. New Age has secretly snuck into the churches by packing ‘pantheism’, ‘doctrine of reincarnation’, and ‘relativism’ into the name of culture. New Age, which has infiltrated the church, damaged the truth of the Bible and also encouraged the believers to have doubt and make a division with their relationship with God. The idea of New Age basically appeared by criticizing the Christianic view of the world. Especially, they have argued that the doctrine “salvation ‘only’ through Christ” should be replaced by “salvation through any religion”. This means that they bodily deny the existence and value of the church. But churches are insensitive of this matter and even belittle this matter. Going back to Genesis 3, we can see that Adam and Eve, creation of God, forgot their identity and doubted God’s absolute Word and relativized it. Through this Satan tempted them and made them to declare independence and freedom without God. But where were their fate headed to? Their life without God and their distortion of the Word gave them death, the agony of sin, and miserable life. The thoughts that tempted Adam and Eve are the main ideas of New Age which New Agers are crying out. Hence, this research will examine the ideas of New Age which are: non-Christian and antichristianism, and the elements of New Age that snuck into our churches. This research will examine theses elements and ideas through the three elements of worship life: sermon, prayer, and praise. Furthermore, consolidate a plan to reform the churches that have the elements of New Age already rooted into themselves, and also examine the soils that brought New Age up to the surface. Through this, churches will recover their essence of a church, and also become a pure church. The purpose of this research is based to play a part, in spite of one’s poor ability, by guarding the church from New Age which brings the crisis of identity, and to bear the mission of the church.

This paper discusses the ministry of Holy Spirit in teaching and learning. The Holy Spirit is the catalyst in the teaching-learning process in Christian education. His work and ministry provide the spiritual distinctive that separates Christian education from education in general. The Holy Spirit as teacher is not limited by rime or space. His role as teacher permeates every aspect of the teaching-learning process. He is the agent who guides the teacher and learner into all truth. The Holy Spirit is ultimately responsible for all learning, leading people to know and apply truth. He ministers primarily through five elements of the teaching-learning process - the teacher, the learner, the curriculum, the participants, and the environment - to enable persons to mature in Christ. He is the catalyst for learning truth, no matter where it is found. Although we may never totally understand the complexity of His role in the teaching- learning process, we must continue to depend on his wisdom and power to teach and learn God's truth. It is seen that teaching is no minor phase of the Holy Spirit’s work. As the Spirit of truth, He gives understanding, wisdom, counsel, and knowledge; He imparts and appropriates truth; He teaches and guides believers into all God’s revelation; He reminds of Christ’s teachings; He announces things to come; and He reveals God’s truth to man. He convinces sinners of their guilt; He anoints or indwells believers so that they need not rely on inadequate sources for learning God’s truth; and He illuminates the minds and hearts of believers to enable them to welcome and appropriate God’s Word.

Nowadays, South Korea is a multicultural society. While transition to multicultural society has taken place in Korea, immigrant family have gone through difficulties due to the lack of effort to understand and prejudice upon another cultures. That is because Korean society has identified itself one people with one culture holding stereotype of other nation and people. There is no difference on the perception of multicultural family between Church and Korean society. Such a stereotype of immigrant family makes an impact on the adjustment of the immigrant family in Church. The immigrant family encounter similar circumstance such as stereotype, language barrier, and cultural differences in Korean Church. Simultaneously, they are expected not only to assimilate themselves to the culture of Korean Church, but also to abandon their own language, lifestyle, custom, and values. In this sense, it is indispensible to concern about and study the issue of multicultural family and their children as the one that need a pastoral care by local church pastors. This study has a good reason to discuss a pastoral care in terms of communication on the presupposition that the method of the pastoral ministry for multicultural family and their children, needs to be improved. Therefore, main purpose of this study is to seek a proper direction of multicultural pastoral ministry acknowledging the issues of the multicultural ministry and accommodating the demands of the change. For this purpose, this study will investigate not only the reality and issues of multicultural family from the sociocultural perspective but also the reality and its alternate solution in the context of local church. The second will explore the biblical communication that God initiated and wanted and the communication for multicultural family in the context of church. Finally, this paper will suggest a way of communication and its pastoral strategy for multicultural immigrant family. This study will play an important role in seeking the proper way of pastoral care for multicultural family and their children.

There is an important challenge in the Korean Christian community of how to introduce and educate youths, through religious and faith education, in the miracles that are written in Scripture. This challenge comes from the persistent declining demographic of Christians in Korean society and the difficulty that arises in educating children, youths as well as adults with the theme of Miracles in Scripture that abound in the Bible. It is vital, however, to teach youths within their faith training, to become familiar with core biblical ideology. The miracles that are found in Scripture can be thought of as God's direct actions toward His people. The core of Christian faith can be said to come from belief in these works of God as a reflection of His primary nature. In the perspectives of the Korean church and Christian education, youths represent the future and must take spiritual responsibility for Korean society. Therefore, in the above mentioned theme, not only for the present but also the future, is a crucial assignment for Christian education. This study will examine the most efficient methods for educators in the Christian education of youths in the teaching of the miracles in Scripture and also cast light on the core meanings of these miracles and the applications for youths in today's current era.

The purpose of this study is to explore a new understanding of marginality and its practical teachings in order to address the marginal experience of a 17-year-old Korean American youth, called Adam in this study and his development toward Christlikeness. The marginal experience for KA youth is a growing concern in the teaching ministry of the KA church, but many KA churches do not offer their youth appropriate guidance and Christian education. From a practical theological viewpoint, I investigate Adam's critical incident through the four interconnected tasks - descriptive-empirical, interpretive, normative, and pragmatic - by employing the transformational approach of James Loder. This approach seeks to show the complementarity in theology and social science and develop an interdisciplinary model for Christian education in particular and practical theology in general. Utilizing the transformational model, I present a brief overview of Adam's background and incident in the descriptive-empirical dimension, the sociological analysis of his socio-cultural and racial elements of marginality through Everett V. Stonequist's lens in the interpretive dimension, the holistic concept of marginality from the theological perspective of Jung Young Lee in the normative dimension, and the reflective practices and concrete guidelines for the KA ministry in the pragmatic dimension. Through an exploration of Adam's critical incident, this article argues for the need to teach a new holistic concept of marginality in the educational ministry as a faithful space filled with possibility for transformation in Jesus Christ, who is at the utmost margin. Adam's problems are not issues being resolved within his generation. There will be ongoing agony and painful alienation not only among the 1.5 and second generation but also later generations of the KA youth in both American and Korean societies if the concerns of youths such as Adam are not addressed.

This article explores the radical changes that South Korea have gone through in the last decade, and how these changes, in turn, have influenced and reshaped Korean American communities in the United States of America, especially within Korean-American immigrant churches and their views, and understanding of the new generations. It examines what is needed within Korean American immigrant communities and their churches in three-fold dimensions. First in the philosophical aspect, the emphasis of rationality and postmodern plurality becomes evident and challenges irrationally-enforced Christian belief in the traditional immigrant churches. New generations educated by critical rationality and pluralistic inclusiveness will not honor the current exclusiveness. Second, the transitions of the Korea’s rapid economic developments and the upgraded economic status of Korean-American immigrants challenge the ultimate goal and meaning of people’s spiritual life. The traditional and typical message of church focusing on individual survival and prosperity needs to be transformed with the message of community service and responsibility. Third, the cultural transition of the Korean wave, called Hallyu, unexpectedly but powerfully changed the Korean-American identity, especially the view their own Korean heritage. Postmodern anti-authoritarianism requires that the traditional single, authoritative, and top-down leadership paradigm needs to be transformed into mutual, inclusive, and communal leadership. The new paradigm of digital communication accelerates and actualizes these transitions into the physical lives of Korean-Americans. The churches are required to be contextually relevant to and responsible for these powerful transitions and to claim the meaning and mission of its existence for the Korean-American immigrant community.