| For a long time, creation stories in the Bible have been understood in their Hebraic and Hellenstic structures. Christian symbols in those stories such as light and darkness, man and woman, and the sky and earth were not mainly free from Hellenistic influences. Symbols in Hellenism were identified in terms of domination and subordination, or in those of superiority and inferiority. These views penetrated into the Christian interpretation of the creation story. This new era needs a new interpretation based on a non-dualistic and egalitarian understanding. In the first chapter, the newly arisen necessity for a new interpretation is discussed. The new interpretation will be derived from the cosmic model of equality of the Korean people in terms of yin and yang. The second chapter studies the relation between the yin-yang theory and Christian theology. Using the concept of “local theology,” this chapter finds that the truth that was revealed in a local culture cannot be different from the truth that the Bible itself declares. Chapter three examines the ways in which the major religions of Korea grew and developed within the Korean soil. Because Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity have all consecutively dominated the country at one point or another, Korea is a good place to assess various religious influences on its people. Surprisingly under the current of major religions, the religion that offers the most useful cosmic frame to Korean people is shamanism. Chapter four explores the four religious features found in Korean people's lives: the source of energy, the resolution of han (haewon), reconciliation, and the great unity. Chapter five links the yin-yang theory to God's creation. It describes how the four features were manifested during the creation, and finally concludes that all creatures were in sahngsang (a relationship in which creatures mutually help each other) in God's original plan. In other words, none of them were excluded from the beginning; they were perfectly harmonized; and none were either superior or inferior. This interpretation will help Christians to understand the world itself and the relationship between man and woman anew. |
