Tasks of Korean Protestant Christianity in the 21th Century: Contextually Relevant Theology and Concrete Guideline for Praxis

130년의 개신교 역사를 가진 한국교회는 부흥의 역사를 거듭하며 성장했지만 지난 15년간 급격한 하향추세를 겪고 있다. 이는 세계적 경제발전과 포스트모던 문화에 영향을 받고 있는 한국사회의 변화에 교회가 적절하게 반응하지 못하고 구태의연한 구조와 경직된 신학에 갖혀 있기 때문이다. 이 논문은 21세기의 한국교회의 목회적 과제로 새로운 시대와 적극적으로 소통하는 신학의 필요성과 믿음과 헌신을 넘어 교회 밖으로 적극적으로 행동하는 신앙인들의 실천적 행동강령의 필요성을 그 대안으로 제시한다.

After the remarkable and constant growth trend within its mission history of 130 years, Korean protestant Christianity has been stagnated and declined in the 21th century. The results of the 2005 Korean Census and the annual reports of the denominational conferences show the clear trend of its decline. The anti-Christian group’s resistance campaign against campus evangelists at Seoul National University is a vivid example how Koreans evaluate Christianity today. This article defines that the 21th century is (1) Post-Survival era where the previous issue of extreme poverty, fear of wars and oppressions, and hopelessness disappears and, (2) Korean Postmodern era where authoritarianism, exclusivism, uniformity, anti-rationalism are not respected and neglected. The main reasons of the decline are exclaimed as contextually irrelevant and irresponsible theology and the lack of the concrete guideline of praxis unifying faith and life. The alternative theological solution can be learned from the Korean Catholic churches, rapidly growing recently in contrast to the protestant churches. Two theological concepts are suggested as alternative paradigms for seeking contextual relevance: Volf’s ‘embrace’ and Whitehead’s ‘the consequent nature of God.’ The story of Seoul Light and Salt Church is suggested as a good applicable example of the concrete guideline for praxis for th2 21st century.