Hangul 민중신학 Revised Romanization Minjung Sinhak | Hanja 民衆神學 McCune–Reischauer Minjung Sinhak | |
Minjung theology (Hangul: 민중신학; Hanja: 民衆神學; RR: Minjung Sinhak; MR: Minjung Sinhak; the people's theology) emerged in the 1970s from the experience of South Korean Christians in the struggle for social justice. It is a people's theology, and, according to its authors, "a development of the political hermeneutics of the Gospel in terms of the Korean reality."
History
Minjung theology began in South Korea in the 1970s with figures such as Ahn Byung-mu, often considered the "father" of minjung theology, Suh Nam-dong, and Kim Yong-bock. Minjung, which means the "people" in the communist sense of the proletariat, is made up of people who are ostracized by the larger community.
It is part of a wider Asian theological ferment, but it was not designed for export. It "is firmly rooted in a particular situation, and growing out of the struggles of Christians who embrace their own history as well as the universal message of the Bible."
As South Korea has grown to be more a prosperous nation, later generations of minjung theologians have needed to reevaluate who are the poor and oppressed minjung of Korea. As such, a number of minjung theologians have focused on questions of reunification with North Korea, identifying the minjung as all those oppressed in both Koreas.