Of Humility and Feminist Theology (Part Two)
The previous post discusses humility in Christianity. I explain how sin's conception emerges in modern masculinity's anxieties surrounding economic uncertainty, competition, and the widening division between the private family and public work life. Sin's definition reflects the anxieties of the modern era: rebellion against God, disobedience, and willfulness.
This post continues the discourse on sin, exploring the possibility of recuperating maternal femininity in understanding suffering, sin, and relationality from the Korean Minjung liberation theology perspective. First, I map out the concept of han or suffering from injustice. Then, I discuss how jeong, in solidarity with the others, can alleviate han.
Having explained my decision to explore Minjung theology, who are the Minjung, anyway, and what is Minjung theology?
This Sino-Korean word is composed of the words "min- " which means "people" and "jung", "mass". When translated, it should mean "mass of the people", yet it is not to be confined to a particular definition. Sociologist Han Wan-Sung attempts to pin down its definition, describing the "minjung" as those who "are oppressed politically, exploited economically, alienated sociologically, and kept uneducated in cultural and intellectual matters" (Kuster, 2010, p. 22).
The first generation of Minjung theologians were political activists (Suh, 2010, p. xiv). They discovered Jesus as Minjung, diverging from traditional Western theologies, where Minjung became a lens for interpreting Jesus' Cross and Resurrection (Suh, 2010, p. xiv). The idea of han, a concept developed by Minjung theology, means suffering from economic, political, social, and cultural injustice. Andrew Sung Park (1993) describes han as "entrenched in the hearts of the victims of sin and violence" (p. 10), resulting in "diverse reactions as sadness, helplessness, hopelessness, resentment, hatred, and the will to revenge". We typically associate suffering with victims alone. But theologian Wonhee Anne Joh (2006) builds on this definition of han, stating that han is present in the oppressor and the oppressed. While dan is about the elimination of oppressors and cutting off what brings han, hence linked to a "masculine military language", jeong, often perceived as weaker and feminised, recognises “agape, eros, and filial love with compassion, empathy, solidarity” (Joh, 2006, p. 119). For instance, Jesus practised jeong as He extended it to His oppressors on the cross.
This return to a "maternal semiotic" (Joh, 2006, p. 106) or language and symbols of motherhood and femininity would recuperate God's tender and feminine aspects apart from God as Father and Son only. To translate this into practice, being aware that one is susceptible to flaws entails acknowledging the need for community and friendships to keep these faults in check. When we recognise our strengths, humanity and imperfections, we recognise our interdependence, which requires vulnerability and openness to constructive feedback, relationality, and forgiveness. “Han” could be transformed into “jeong-han” or love that recognises the sufferings of others (Joh, 2006, p. 26), providing an alternative model to oppression.
Picture a healthy marriage where both spouses communicate their needs with respect for the other's dignity, where initially hardened hearts become tender in the presence of the awareness of a mutual dependency, where two flawed individuals realise they are on a journey together to become better people. Picture a healthy family where parenting involves considerable reflection of the strategies adopted in raising children and deliberation of the immense power one holds in shaping an individual's personality and psychological makeup.
Picture a healthy church where the leadership team embraces transparency and the knowledge that everyone is vulnerable to weaknesses, including themselves, hence the need for accountability, where they, too, need the church as much as the church needs them.
References
Joh, Wonhee Anne. 2006. Heart of the Cross: A
Postcolonial Christology. Louisville, London: John Knox Press.
Küster, V. 2010. A Protestant Theology of Passion: Korean Minjung Theology Revisited. Vol. 4. Boston: Boston: BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004175235.i-203.
Park, Andrew Sung. 1993. The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian Doctrine of Sin. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Suh, David Kwang-sun. 2010. “Foreword.” In A
Protestant Theology of Passion: Minjung Theology Revisited, xi–xviii.
