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Augustinus established a new foundation for the theory of original sin in Christian theology. The foundation has been developed in the Church's baptismal ritual, and has had profound influence on the theological formation customs and norms of the Church. Original sin and baptism share a close relationship and in addition, the baptism as a ritual apology to forgive sins has been rightfully claimed as reasons for ecclesiastical presence. However, Luther was weary of the ruling nature of the forgiveness of sins and refocused to establish a new code of conduct for the Church which became the basis for his Reformation. Luther then departed from the Augustinus conception of sin and baptism and re-establish a new norm for the Church. In Romans 5:12, Paul writes that original sin comes from Adam. The bible also teaches us that Jesus was a man in this world of sin and that through Christ, forgiveness and salvation can be obtained. John the Baptist words are seen as a model to justify the Church’s baptismal ritual to forgive sin. In John the Baptist’s cleansing ritual and the elements of water and the dove, Jesus received the Holy Spirit, Jesus was declared as the Son of God, disciples received spiritual baptism by the word and the truth, and receiving the Holy Spirit by water baptism was a condition of entering the Church in the Book of Acts. However, those who did not receive the Holy Spirit through water baptism were prayed for with hands held on the heads to forgive sins. Baptism also was thought to remove sins as there would be a spiritual and physical union to the body of Christ. However, based on the early Christian baptism of infants and belief in infant sinlessness, there was no connection with original sin, oikos(οἶκο ς), in addition, the entire family shared responsibility in baptism in the sense that there was historical justification of entering as a community member of salvation. Jesus' baptism command(Matthew 28:19-20) emphasizes the importance of the Catechism being conducted under the joint responsibility of the home and church. However, there is also historical justification centered on Hippolytu of Rome that the eyes, nose, mouth, and a water and oil purification ritual to expel the demons are important elements of baptism. What was more important, however, was the confession of faith through the formalized Apostle’s Creed . And the baptism with the advent of the third century Imperial Church, in particular by Cyril, justified there is no salvation without the baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. In 1523 the reformer Luther, without relying on the traditional doctrine of original sin in connection with baptism, performed a service in Taufbüchlein in which the doctrine of VELKD was establish where cleansing of sin and reconciliation with the Holy Spirit was through the Word. Calvin establishes the Institutio Christianae Religionis in where the presence of the baptism of Christ, as being united in the sacrament as a promised gift that your child is a new creation, will soon live a life in grace, and that baptism is a physical connection with the life of the Christian catechism. Luther and Calvin both believed in the importance of the baptismal sermon, and although infants would not understand the sermon, it is believed that God's grace was given and that parents, godfather and the church members would take on the responsibility of teaching. After baptism the foundation of the Word to recover the soul would start. One is no longer under the grip of sin and has become free in Jesus Christ. The importance of baptism and its ritual is in that a new life will begin through the power of the Holy Spirit, not in that one is no longer under the dominion original sin, but that one has received freedom in Jesus Christ, salvation, rebirth through the Word, evangelical life, and in accord with Augustinus doctrine, a start of faith that frees one from original sin.

The veneration of the saints is related to the cult of the dead. It initially took the form of praise and imitation of the deceased holy one, and involved as well, gatherings of celebration and prayer at the place of burial. The cult of the saints began in the early church with the commemoration(memoria) of the victims of persecution. So the primitive Christians linked witness to the centrality of the cross in which human was able to partake the passion of Christ. Already at the death of the first martyr in the New Testament, Stephen, the martyr’s prayer for his persecutors echoes the prayer of Jesus on the cross for those who knew not what they were about. In the primitive believers had a strong conviction that saints could intercede with Christ for them. In the ancient world, in which Christianity began, tombs were places of contact between humans and the gods. The tomb represented a home for the dead, a place to be visited by survivors. Libations were poured out upon the tomb, and funerary feasts (refrigerium) were celebrated near it, especially on the birthday of the deceased. Among the Jews it was customary to give special honor to the tombs of the patriarchs; among the pagans, to the tombs of dead heroes. In like manner, the early Christians held the tomb to be the privileged place of the saint. And like the Greek hero, the saint was considered to be an intercessor who functioned as an intermediary between this world and the next. The Korean Protestant Churches, however, strongly resist to bring the cult of the saints in their sanctoral cycle. Why not? The cult of saints, on behalf of perspective of the Korean Protestant churches, seems to be involved with the issue of ancestor worship which causes significant conflicts between Korean Catholic Church and Protestant Church, and even among non-believers. The first thing the Korean pastors and scholars discussed was idolatry which for Christians has been the main obstacle to the practice of ancestor worship. In terms of the Judeo-Christian perspective and belief, ancestor worship or idol worship is contrary to the first and second commandments of God. Because the Korean Christians believe in monotheism, they cannot accept the idol worship. Ancestor worship is a part of cultural heritage that is a precious gift of God to the Korean people. However, as a Korean Protestant Christian, it is not easy to say that traditional way of observing ancestor worship can be an acceptable and applicable practice from a Korean Christian perspective. As an inculturated practice of veneration of the saint, the Korean Protestant Church employed its own way of observing veneration of the ancestors, named Chumo-Shik.

This study is motivated by re-thinking of what the primary task of preaching is. One of preacher’s pitfalls is to think that preaching ministry can go without biblical readings or reading the text is one thing; designing the sermon is another. However, Preaching, in its nature, is the church’s practice on the biblical text. Before going to sermonic notes, preaching gets into the text in order to bring out the message of gospel for the church today. Thus, in order to re-establish preaching task in right place and integrate biblical readings and sermonic designs, homiletic methods need to be developed. This paper is originated as one of case-studies for the integration of the two. In order to do so, this study reads scene seven (4:4-11) of the book of Jonah and finds out a homiletical outlet for preaching God’s overwhelming freedom. The first course of reading is textual studies on Jonah 4:4-11. They are made up of three assignments: one is intentions of Jonah, another is structure of 4:4-11, and the other is the problem of 4:5. Through the textual reading, the reader gets to know, as Jacques Ellul points out, that Jonah story is a revelation to open up human’s relation with God and God’s way of dealing with the human world. The second course of reading is rhetorical one which includes four tasks. Rhetorical reading helps the reader sense what the text discloses through its rhetorical and literary compositions. Specially, its symmetrical structures and rhetorical questions play key roles to open up the conflicts and ironies of the story and God of overwhelming free will to compassion as a resolution. The third course of reading is theological one. The previous textual and rhetorical readings give some ideas to theological reading. Walter Brueggemann’s reading on God’s free governance of compassion supports Rodolf Stertenbrink’s description of Yahweh in Jonah story. Last task for the paper is to present a homiletical outlet based on the previous readings. The biblical, rhetorical, and theological readings help the preacher create the sermon subject of “God’s freedom for compassion.” The thesis for the sermon is that God’s freedom for compassion irresistibly overwhelms our freedom for hostility. And, the preacher suggests the four-page plot designed by Paul Scott Wilson for the message.

Homiletics is as ancient as human speech. Before there were homilies, there were storytelling, prophecy, and wisdom sayings. Storytelling encompasses the great stories of creation in Gen 1-11, as well as stories of God's covenant promises to patriarchs. Also there were prophecies telling a public "Word of God" to people. Late, there were wisdom sayings that taught people (as in Proverbs) to lead prudent lives for God. Jesus also was a preacher. He delivered the message of liberation and spoke of the kingdom of God. He proclaimed Good news for the poor, freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind (cf. Luke 4:18-21). In Jesus' inauguration preaching, he used a passage from the Book of Isaiah. The way Jesus recited the prophecies shows us a great example of canonical approach in homiletics--that is a retelling a text in terms of, and from the perspective of, another text in the Bible. In Jesus' preaching as such, most significant are the similarities and differences between the text and the related text. In the Gospels, Jesus often retold the stories by way of parables. For instance, the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 conveys the motif of the rivalry between the brothers, especially Esau and Jacob in Gen 27-35. This essay explores the way in which Jesus takes the great stories of Esau and Jacob and reflects it in a new stories delivered in parabolic speech. A committed reading of the stories of the brothers would have major consequences for the people of God today.

Today, does Korean Christians need to be close to the subject ‘inculturation’? Apparently, the Gospel has been closely related to human culture from its beginning. More precisely, since Christianity was introduced into the foreign soils of the world, it has been transformed as a result of assimilating with the local cultures. The issue of how the Gospel and culture relate is not only that of contemporary Christianity but has been that of all worship communities since the Gospel was proclaimed by Jesus. Rich evidences are shown in the Christian history. Early Christianity shows the abundant precedents for inculturation. And the New Testament itself is evidence of how the gospel was incarnated in human culture. It is still a controversial issue that Paul's ministry is directly engaged in inculturation. Paul's attitude towards the cultures he encounters appears paradoxical.Paul has both an open mind to any ideas and behavior in the light of his faith in Jesus Christ and an attitude that he want no radical changes in the social sphere. For Paul, the ultimate value is not on the present culture or any tradition but on the gospel of Christ which overcome them. However, it is clear that Paul opened the door for cultural diversity in the Christian faith. His mission also became a seed for inculturation of the gospel in liturgy and worship. This article tries to examine how Paul responded when he faced other cultures in his journeys in relation to his apostolic mission for the gospel. I believe that the reason why Paul is one of the most important figures in relation to the subject ‘Inculturation’ is that he is the very early person who tries to consider the gospel in human culture when most Christians have believed that the Gospel had to be proclaimed and understood in the way of Jewish tradition. His letters written for people in the various culture shows why we have to think the gospel with its surrounded culture today.

In the 21st, a large amount of data can be used speedily in all areas of education, culture, economics, politics and religions thanks to the developed multimedia and the internet. Also, multimedia satisfies the needs of contemporary men who so use them all day long. Using multimedia will help evangelize more people more accurately and faster than the customary ways of mission. Hence, this study proposes evangelism through internet community. Internet communities do not cost while other media do and not only churches but also individuals can use them as a way of evangelism. Also, accuracy and speed will enable more efficient evangelism, helping more diverse classes to benefit. This study suggests an effective way of evanglism with a focus on practical methods of evangelism through CCM internet community along with a theoretical background. An internet community makes members share their interest, necessary resources and helpful information. Cultural approaches are most natural ways to induce those who do not go to churches but have less repulsion. Also, it is necessary to help those with a neutral attitude to Christianity who are atheists and not interested in Christianity to come to the community voluntarily by providing useful information that differs from information provided to those favorable to Christianity. The antagonists fundamentally reject Christian truth and culture. Their negative image and misguided knowledge shall be transformed through direct questions and answers. As the purpose of CCM internet community is not evangelism, its impact remains insignificant. However, this study proposes an alternative hoping that the suggession is adopted by other internet communities to evangelize to the end of the earth.

This paper aims to present the marriage life and ministry of Dual Clergy Couples in the Presbyterian Church of Korea. After the ordination of women in 1996, Dual Clergy Couples are newly emerging ministry form. Therefore, I study advantages and disadvantages of Dual Clergy Couples. In this paper, marriage between two Presbyterian pastors contributes to understanding the partnership between husband and wife. This marriage relationship may enable the husband as a pastor to understand the hyunjang (현장, living setting) of the wife as a pastor. I also explore what factors are important to achieve partnership of Dual Clergy Couples in the Presbyterian Church of Korea. This paper will contribute to understanding of Dual Clergy Couples and the concept of partnership between man and woman. While the Whitehead’s model will be used in interrelating three dialogue partners such as Christian tradition, culture, and experience, we can discover the partnership, the harmony and sangseang (상생, living together). This paper introduces an ideal model in Presbyterian Church of Korea then suggests tentative pastoral actions.

This paper discusses some ideas about the founder of Liberation Theology, who is Gustavo Gutierrez, now the worldly known thinker. My area of interest here is, especially, in his understandings about the self-world relationship as described in his writings. My reading points out that there are three main persectives from which he makes his arguments and also relates to other areas of his discussion. The first one is the poor’s perspective. According to him, the feelings and thoughts of the poor tends to be ignored in the real life world. Hence they do not have their own voices. Their voices are not fully supported not only in the economic settings but also in the religious settings. They need to be heard. This condition affects other areas of their life as well and it helps us to see the second way of his analysis about Latin American situation, that is, the theory of oppression. He believes that oppression is the main source of their suffering and problem along with the poverty. According to him, the poor experience their relationship with the world as structurally oppressed. It is because mainly the socio-cultural structure is made in general by the people of power, white and european. The Latin people are not strong enough to build up the structure on their own. They do not have socio-political power yet. Gutierrez addresses the issue of social, cultural, historical, psychological and spiritual oppression, of course from the perspective of the poor. What is the condition in which the poor can function optimally? Here comes the third and the final point of view, which is what Gutierrez considers as the spirit of liberation, especially in the religious and theological areas. His argument is that the poor need to claim their own voices about their faith experiences. The religious and theological liberty would make difference in the socio-political and psychological ones as well as in the religious one. Through the reinterpretation of Job, above all, Gutierrez suggests a new theology, the theology that is constructed by the subjective experiences of the poor or the suffering of the innocent poor in this oppressive world. Gutierrez believes that the poor do not talk about God but to God. This is the theology of doing which is different from the theology of speaking.

The article is to understand temporal aspects of modern revivalism. The significance of the study lies in that the impression concerning revivalism generally is dominated by spatial images, such as harsh backwoods environments, sensible emotional outbursts, bizarre bodily exercises, noise mass gathering and so on. This space-oriented propensity, the author assumes, is one of the reasons that modern revivalism is often caricatured by shallow flamboyance and mass manipulation. Space usually is more connected to observable objects and their senses. By contrast, time has more to do with inner consciousness. Focus on the temporal dimension of revivalism is meant to concern the matter of revival participants’ inner experiences in their own terms. The article pays attention to the tensional sense of time of the Great Revival between the uncontrollable and the controllable. More exactly speaking, the uncontrollable surpasses the controllable. The task that modern revivalism undertook was how to retain the uncontrolled dimension of the divine time within the controlled human orderly time, without encroaching on the former’s sacredness. The uncontrollable time of revivalism was mainly revealed through the unpredictable sudden occurrence of conversion, whose source was ascribed to divine sovereignty. The controllable time of revivalism was especially expressed by revivalism’s efforts to establish orderly sequence by forming a pattern of revival service. The author views this sensitivity to the paradox of the uncontrolled and the controlled as an antithesis to the modern sense of time, which is characterized by a tightly scheduled control of time. The temporal sense of modern revivalism is an anti-modernistic restructure of time in the midst of modernistic inflow. Modern revivalism was not a mere mirror of modernism.

'Spirituality' in general and the 'Christian Spirituality,' in particular are subjects of interest for many scholarly writers and contemporary theologians. Therefore, interest in the study has been on the rise among writers, scholars and experts of various fields. The focus of study however, differs from person to person depending on individual's particular area of interest. This study focuses on the practices of spirituality. It is done especially in the context of the Korea Baptist Church (KBC) and the India Kuki Baptist Convention (IKBC). The final objective of the study is growth of spirituality of the IKBC. The main approach adopted in the study is field survey. It is done through floating questionnaires among populations of KBC and IKBC. The targeted respondents on both sides include mainly the ministers, and lay leaders. The elements of spiritual practices of both the churches are compared in the study. From the results of the comparison, strategies for strengthening the spirituality of the IKBC are drawn.

My principal concern in this essay is a reapplication of Erik Erikson’s developmental theory to female identity development in terms of his psychosocial theory, evaluating the feminist application regarding women’s connectedness. Erikson describes human development in his eight-stage theory of life cycle development. Based upon this theoretical framework, Erikson poses the matter of identity in the fifth stage of identity versus identity confusion as more central than in any of the other eight stages. In his view, the process of identity formation is linear in his epigenetic principle, and thus, a sense of identity may be achieved before the next stage of intimacy versus isolation. However, some feminist researchers criticize Erikson’s identity developmental model as being conceived in terms of male development, not female development. They may raise a question of whether Erikson’s consideration of female identity development can show that women’s identity development is inferior to men’s development. They focus on women’s interpersonal relatedness or connectedness, regarding intimacy, which has been over looked as a crucial issue in female identity development. Nevertheless, on the basis of Josselson’s four pathways to identity formation, I examine that women’s connectedness may vary to some extent, regarding their identity formation and development, and that these differences can be largely derived from the discontinuity between traditional values and changing values amidst social changes. Therefore, Erikson’s suggestion for female identity development needs to be reconsidered in terms of the connection between social changes and female identity formation, on the basis of his psychosocial perspective of identity and social validation. This work must be helpful to understand women’s identity in this socio-cultural context, and even in Christianity, and to probe pastoral counseling for women on the psychological theoretical basis.

People live with great anxiety in his life situation, which takes origin in the opinion of Irvin D. Yalom of existential interests of the people, namely, death, freedom, alienation and nonsense. They want escape this anxiety itself and seek what can alleviate the resulting anxiety of the pain. Unfortunately, anxiety does not go away in the human existence, and anxiety continues to afflict every human being, because anxiety in the existence of man is a process of human life. This article aims to investigate the resolution of anxiety in human existence through collaboration with philosophy, psychology and theology. Therefore people need first to understand what anxiety means in human existence. As a next step, people have to understand the relationship between the extreme interests of the people and the fear in her existence. After that, people need to understand the role and function of the religious symbol in the theological field as a method for the resolution of anxiety in human existence. It would be a great advantage to apply the religious symbol for comfort and to transmit the hope of human life in the pastoral and pastoral psychological situation for the Christian chaplains and pastoral psychologist.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the need for the Holy Spirit in Christian education, and to discuss how the Spirit works in the various phases of the teaching-learning process. There has been a reduction of the number of youth in the Korean church due to the chaos and conflict in their identity of Christian faith. It can be said that there has been a blind spot in the ministry of the church for youth. For these reasons, it is within this confusion of Christian identity that the Korean church currently finds itself with the need to develop a new paradigm of Christian education that stays true to Christian teachings while also reaching out to the needs of young people. Therefore, the church must have a dynamic concern for youth education. The two indispensable factors that make Christian education dynamic, and at the same time distinctive, are ① the centrality of God’s written revelation, and ② the ministry of the Holy Spirit. These are the dynamics of Christian education. The teenage years is a decisive period in the set up of life direction. In this sense, providing Christian religious education for teens living the Christian life has a very important meaning for people working in the Christian educational field. Therefore developing the direction of teen Christian education and strategy is the most important task. Therefore, this study focuses on finding new practical educational methodologies that embrace both Christian education principles and the cultural needs of young people. Spiritual Growth and Necessity of Christian Youth education are examined in this study. Following this examination, this study will look into principles for faith growth and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and what role the church and its curriculum must play in its education geared toward helping its members lead a more Christian life in the Bible. Finally, there will be a discussion on the method and direction of Christian education and a challenge to the church.

God as parent desires relationship with his children. Apparently, his relationship with his children reflects his very nature, which is love.(1 John 4:8, 4:16) God’s love as parent can help humans learn what it means to be a loving parent. God loves his children. He shows the very nature of his love by sending his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Obviously, his love toward his children is self-giving and sacrificial. In addition, his love includes discipline. Discipline is an integral part of showing God’s love and authority toward his children.(Heb. 12:8) Even Jesus, the beloved Son, was not exempt from discipline.(Heb. 12:2) The author of Hebrews clarifies that discipline is not only the validating mark of sonship(Heb. 12:7), but also a means to strengthening faith and character.(Heb. 12:11-12) Without doubt, the motive of discipline is always love. Both God’s love and his loving discipline are integral parts of God’s parenting. God provides example, direction, and the dynamics for human parents. If one seeks a model for parenting, it seems appropriate to look to God, the ultimate model parent.

This essay aims to examine the religious ingredients from the Dangun myth, which has long been the heritage of ancient Koreans to regard it. In particular, I intend to analyze the texts of the Dangun myth to understand the process of forming ancient culture and society, find out the religious ingredients, and clarify the analogy between the Dangun myth and Christian church in the meaning of deity. Through this study, I tried to elucidate the mystery concerning the Korean churches as follows: how the Korean Christian church understands the concept of God, or how the Korean Christian church has influence on such a rapid growth of churches in recent years. To achieve this aim, I worked for the following tasks. At first, I analyzed the editorial resources in the texts of the Dangun myth and their meanings in perspective of religions. The Dangun myth has been handed down by the Korean people’s remembrance and narratives so that it has influenced the religious beliefs of them in history. Thus, as I analyze the Dangun myth, I could seek the structural characters and religious meanings for the Gochosun people who have long desired in order to achieve their ideal vision. At second, I tried to examine the Dangun story as the myth concerning the foundation of a nation. I could urge that the bear group who founded Gochosun had developed its original culture and civilization. The Gochosun people had strongly kept his cultural identity and enlarged his subjectivity through a narrative of the Dangun myth. At third, I examined the religious ingredients and their meanings of today in the Dangun myth. I could find the three religious elements; the god and the belief of his descent, belief in fertility, the religious initiations and the harmony of heaven and earth. At fourth, I interpreted the belief system in the Dangun myth to compare with the Christian faith by hermeneutics. While the Dangun myth had the deity of three types of gods(Whan-in, Whan-ung, and Whan-gum), each of the three gods could compare with God the father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son in Christianity. Moreover, as the bear-woman of the Dangun Myth is changed into a human by great obedience to bore Dangun, Mary is obedient to God when she hears the message about her pregnancy by the Holy Spirit from an angel. This essay is to examine the cause of the rapid growth of Korean Christian churches in the perspective of religious ingredients of Gochosun. I can mention the potentiality and capacity to accept Christian faith by the similarity of belief systems between Korean peoples’ religions and Western Christianity.

A great part of korean churches misinterpret the Book of Revelation by the ignoring the characteristics of the Apocalypse, because they pay attention to only the eschatological timetable. If we take account of the characteristics of the Apocalypse, we can find the characteristics of the polemic document in the Book of Revelation. This paper attempts to indicate, how the Book of Revelation can be interpreted by the studying Barth’s Interpretation und application of the Book of Revelation. Karl Barth applicates the Book of Revelation for Christian social ethics. And he makes an use of the Book of Revelation in order to criticize absolute power. First Barth explains that the apocalyptic pictures mean the rejection of God against the unrighteousness and injustice in the world of today. This rejection of God lets the Christian in the rejection of God work and restrict to assimilate with the corrupt world. The rejection means to struggle against human right violations and inhumane acts. He applicates the Book of Revelation for the social resistance. Secondly he uses the Book of Revelation for the criticism against an imperialist, hegemonic power of the empire. This absolute empire produces through the diabolic power iniquity und extreme discrimination between social classes. So the Christian should fight against the unjust system of the rule in the present. Finally Barth interprets the vision of the millenium und the new Heaven and new earth in Offb 21 as the hope for the new world in which all types of the discrimination are removed. This hope is the ethical goal of the Christians. The fact that Karl Barth applicates the Book of Revelation for the Christian social ethics, this gives the useful instruction how the korean church should interpret and apply it. Barth’s Interpretation and application of the Book of Revelation proposes us eine possibility of die application for Ethics of Freedom or liberation theology.