Indigenization Theology

Background

Indigenization refers to the process by which the gospel takes root in religious and cultural soil different from that in which it was first proclaimed. In theology the term is used in a sense similar to contextualization, that is, interpreting the gospel in a way suited to a particular life setting. Within Korean Methodism, the line running through Choi Byung-hun and Chung Kyung-ok is regarded as its forerunner. In the 1960s, critical self-reflection arose over the fact that Korean theological scholarship had been largely limited to translating and introducing Western theology. In this climate, Yun Sung-bum, Yu Tong-shik, Byun Sun-hwan, and others at Methodist Theological Seminary began to address the question of indigenization in earnest.

Development

• Early 1960s: Yu Tong-shik, who had encountered Western theology while studying in the United States in the 1950s, sparked the debate by presenting the indigenization of the gospel as a task for the Korean church. In 1965 he published Korean Religion and Christianity.
• 1963: Yun Sung-bum, a student of Karl Barth, published articles including "Hwanin, Hwanung, and Hwangeom Are God" and "The Dangun Myth Is a Vestigium Trinitatis." He interpreted the Dangun myth as a trace of the Trinitarian conception of God. Park Bong-rang, Chun Kyung-yun, and others strongly objected, arguing that the Christian gospel transforms culture rather than adapting to indigenous culture. This controversy is commonly called the "Dangun myth debate." The question of ancestral rites was also discussed during this period; Yun proposed that the rites be understood not as a religious act but as an ethical practice of filial piety.
• 1970s: In Korean Theology (1972), Yun Sung-bum set forth a "theology of sung (誠, sincerity)," which provoked renewed debate around 1973. The theology of sung interprets sung, a central Confucian concept, as the Word (言) being accomplished (成), that is, as the Incarnation. During the same period, Yu Tong-shik studied Korean mugyo (巫敎, shamanistic religion) in The History and Structure of Korean Shamanism (1975).
• 1980s and after: Drawing on the concept of pungryudo described by the Silla scholar Choe Chiwon, Yu Tong-shik systematized his thought as "pungryu theology" and in 1992 published Pungryudo and Korean Theology. Kim Kwang-shik attempted a dialogue between indigenization theology and minjung theology using a hermeneutical method, and Kim Kyoung-jae developed a theology of culture based on his "grafting theory."

Outcomes and Influence

In the 1980s, Byun Sun-hwan developed a theology of religious pluralism that emphasized dialogue with other religions. Conservative theologians and church leaders criticized him intensely, and in 1992 he lost his ministerial credentials following a doctrinal trial by the Methodist denomination. Through this process, conservative theologians came to regard indigenization theology warily as a departure from orthodoxy. Nevertheless, since the 1990s a second generation of scholars who studied under these figures at Methodist Theological Seminary, including Park Jong-chun, Sim Kwang-seop, Lee Jung-bae, and Lee Duk-joo, have continued the work. Yu Tong-shik's pungryu theology, together with Ahn Byung-mu's minjung theology, has been introduced abroad as representative of Korean theology. In church practice, the movement bears on questions of how to view the Confucian tradition and shamanism, and how to understand ancestral rites and memorial services.

Assessment

Supporters regard indigenization theology as an attempt to move beyond the framework of Western theology and reinterpret the gospel through Korean eyes. In their view, it demonstrated that Korean Christianity is not simply a religion imported from the West.

Criticism has continued from the standpoint of Reformed and other conservative theology. Critics contend that indigenization theology denies the principle that Scripture alone is sufficient (the sufficiency of Scripture) and has fallen into religious syncretism, mixing elements of different religions. The opponents of the 1960s likewise emphasized that the gospel transforms culture.

Indigenization theologians counter that indigenization is not indiscriminate mixing. In later discussions, a "methodological syncretism" was also proposed, acknowledging that some degree of mixing inevitably accompanies indigenization.