우리는 무엇을‘죄’라고 말하는가? 또 무엇을‘구원’이라고 이해하고 있는가? 우리는 이 점에 대해 매우 분명한 이해를 하고 있는 것 같지 만, 실상 오늘날 한국 교회에 널리 퍼진“죄와 구원”에 대한 대중적인 이해는 교리적 고백의 반복일 뿐 그 개념이 담고 있는 (있어야 할) 신 학적 진지함은 잃어버린 것으로 판단된다. 따라서 어떻게 하면 기독교 전통이 하나님과의 관계에서 심각한 삶의 문제로 고백해 왔던<죄>와 <구원>에 관한 이해를 교회 공동체 안에서 의미 있게 고백하고, 더 나 아가 이 기독교의 복음이 교회 영역 밖에서도 책임 있는 신앙윤리를 형성하는데 도움이 될 수 있게 할 것인가 하는 관심에서 이 논문은 출 발한다.

Historically, as a new scientific worldview, which was introduced by Galilei, Newton, and Darwin, settled down in the modern mind, the traditional doctrines reshaped themselves with deistic ideas, which are based on the supernatualistic dualism, and are transmitted to us in the name of orthodox beliefs. However, the so-called orthodox beliefs gradually began to diverge from the common-senses of the modern scientific rationalism and now hardly obtain a successful communication with it. As a result, the traditional Christian confessions of sin and redemption cannot appeal to the rational people who are deeply inspired by the modern science. This constant failure of dialogue becomes back to a crisis of Christian theology itself. The aim of this paper is therefore to reinterpret the traditional concepts of sin and redemption from the perspective of process theology in order not only to make a possible communication with the scientific worldview but also to revive their religious meanings for the same modern rational Christians. All these works involve both a criticism of the traditional conceptualization and its modern deistic doctrinization and a reinterpretation of religious implications in Christian beliefs. This essay is divided into three parts: First, it examines a brief doctrinal history of the concept of sin and its theological framework upon which the idea is related to other theological understandings. Second, it discusses apologetic failures of the traditional conceptualization and its theological problems and argues the necessity of the reformulation of the Christian beliefs in sin and redemption. Finally, it presents a process methodology, especially that of Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, by which the beliefs can be reinterpreted in accord with the modern reason and Christian religiosity. All of these works are built into a suggestion to establish a relational theology that could bring about the hope for the rehabilitation of all life communities in this world.

Historically, as a new scientific worldview, which was introduced by Galilei, Newton, and Darwin, settled down in the modern mind, the traditional doctrines reshaped themselves with deistic ideas, which are based on the supernatualistic dualism, and are transmitted to us in the name of orthodox beliefs. However, the so-called orthodox beliefs gradually began to diverge from the common-senses of the modern scientific rationalism and now hardly obtain a successful communication with it. As a result, the traditional Christian confessions of sin and redemption cannot appeal to the rational people who are deeply inspired by the modern science. This constant failure of dialogue becomes back to a crisis of Christian theology itself. The aim of this paper is therefore to reinterpret the traditional concepts of sin and redemption from the perspective of process theology in order not only to make a possible communication with the scientific worldview but also to revive their religious meanings for the same modern rational Christians. All these works involve both a criticism of the traditional conceptualization and its modern deistic doctrinization and a reinterpretation of religious implications in Christian beliefs. This essay is divided into three parts: First, it examines a brief doctrinal history of the concept of sin and its theological framework upon which the idea is related to other theological understandings. Second, it discusses apologetic failures of the traditional conceptualization and its theological problems and argues the necessity of the reformulation of the Christian beliefs in sin and redemption. Finally, it presents a process methodology, especially that of Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, by which the beliefs can be reinterpreted in accord with the modern reason and Christian religiosity. All of these works are built into a suggestion to establish a relational theology that could bring about the hope for the rehabilitation of all life communities in this world.

Sin, Redemption, Process Theology, Relational Thought