Minjung Christology

            Minjung theology is a Korean contextual theology.  The term Minjung may be used for those who are excluded from the elite who enjoy prestigious positions. The Minjung are those people who have suffered from exploitation, poverty, socio-political oppression, and cultural repression throughout the ages.  Their lives have been rooted in the age-old experience of suffering and the present experience of it.  They have suffered for changing Korea into a just nation.

            In the context of Korean Minjung theology, Jesus is seen as a shaman (priest)  People are in the grip of han (han means negative energy in the universe that oppresses people) and Jesus as a shaman undo the han and restore humanity to peace and tranquility.  Jesus is the spokesperson for the Minjung.  He speaks to God on behalf of the Minjung.  He is the Christ who is facing God from human being’s side.  Human beings are concrete Minjung who are suffering.  Therefore, the Jesus who is with the Minjung-he is Christ.  He identifies himself with the Minjung and exists for the Minjung.  He is the savior of humankind.  This salvation is given to human beings for their liberation, the liberation Jesus realized in the action of transforming himself by listening to and responding to the cry of the Minjung.

Conclusion:

            There is the danger in Latin America that instead of liberating theology, contact ith the movement will lead Christians simply to legitimize revolution with a few biblical proof texts.  There is the danger in the USA that black theology will in its desperation to show that it is entirely freed from white domination, fall into legitimizing black fascism.  And there is the danger that feminist theology will, in escaping from Genesis 2, fail to rediscover Genesis 1.  But liberation theology is itself an idea whose hour has come, and while it can be improved, it cannot be denied.

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