2021/09/23

Practical theology - Wikipedia

Practical theology - Wikipedia

Practical theology

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Practical theology is an academic discipline that examines and reflects on religious practices in order to understand the theology enacted in those practices and in order to consider how theological theory and theological practices can be more fully aligned, changed, or improved. Practical theology has often sought to address a perceived disconnection between dogmatics or theology as an academic discipline on the one hand, and the life and practice of the church on the other.[1]

As articulated by Richard Osmer, the four key tasks or questions to be asked by practical theology are:

  1. What is going on? (the descriptive-empirical task)
  2. Why is this going on? (the interpretative task)
  3. What ought to be going on? (the normative task)
  4. How might we respond? (the pragmatic task)[2]

Definition[edit]

Gerben Heitink defines practical theology as “the empirically oriented theological theory of the mediation of the Christian faith in the praxis of modern society.” Practical theology consists of several related sub-fields: applied theology (such as missions, evangelism, religious education, pastoral psychology or the psychology of religion), church growth, administration, homiletics, spiritual formation, pastoral theology, spiritual direction, spiritual theology (or ascetical theology), political theology, theology of justice and peace and similar areas.[3]

Ray Anderson writes that the first person to give practical theology a definition, C.I. Nitzch, defined it as the “theory of the church’s practice of Christianity.” Anderson quotes John Swinton as defining practical theology as “critical reflection on the actions of the church in light of the gospel and Christian Tradition.”[4] Swinton cites Don Browning's definition of practical theology as “the reflective process which the church pursues in its efforts to articulate the theological grounds of practical living in a variety of areas such as work, sexuality, marriage, youth, aging, and death.”[5]

History[edit]

Practical theology was first introduced by Friedrich Schleiermacher in the early 1800s as an academic discipline encompassing the practice of Church leadership in his Brief Outline of the Study of Theology. Schleiermacher viewed practical theology as one of three theological sciences, along with philosophical theology and historical theology, together making theology whole.[6]

Theologian Elaine Graham posits that practical theology has evolved over time. Originally focused more towards church leaders, she argues that it has become more personal and autobiographical.[7]

Application[edit]

Other fields of theology have been influenced by practical theology and benefit from its usage, including applied theology (mission, evangelism, religious education, pastoral psychology or the psychology of religion), church growth, administration, homiletics, spiritual formation, pastoral theology, spiritual direction, spiritual theology (or ascetical theology), political theology, theology of justice and peace and similar areas.[8]

Practical theology also includes advocacy theology, such as the various theologies of liberation (of the oppressed in general, of the disenfranchised, of women, of immigrants, of children, and black theology). The theology of relational care, which concerns ministering to the personal needs of others, may also be discussed as a field of practical theology.[citation needed]

"Convergent practical theology" has emerged from the combined studies and practice of missiology with organizational development since the publication of Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America.[9] This new perspective is described by Christian Boyd as "living our theology (primary and secondary) and practicing social science theologically, [so that] our minds are renewed and the community formed nurtures a new imagination for being and doing church."[10]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Theresa F. Latini, The Church and the Crisis of Community: A Practical Theology of Small-Group Ministry (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2011)
  2. ^ Osmer, Richard Robert (2008). Practical Theology: An Introduction. William B Eerdmans. p. 4. ISBN 9780802817655. The Core Tasks of Practical Theological Interpretation
  3. ^ Gerben Heitink, Practical theology: history, theory, action domains: manual for practical theology (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999) [1]
  4. ^ Swinton, John (2016). Practical theology and qualitative research. Harriet Mowat (2nd ed.). London: SCM Press. ISBN 978-0-334-04988-3. OCLC 897443171.
  5. ^ Anderson, Ray (2001). The Shape of Practical Theology: Empowering Ministry with Theological Praxis. InterVarsity Press. pp. 23–26. ISBN 0-8308-1559-7.
  6. ^ Chang Kyoo Lee, "Practical Theology as a Theological Discipline: Origins, Developments, and the Future."[2]
  7. ^ Graham, Elaine L. (2017-04-21). "On becoming a practical theologian: Past, present and future tenses". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 73 (4): 9 pages. doi:10.4102/hts.v73i4.4634. ISSN 2072-8050.
  8. ^ Gerben Heitink, Practical theology: history, theory, action domains: manual for practical theology (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999) [3]
  9. ^ Darrell Guder et al., Missional church: a vision for the sending of the church in North America (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998)
  10. ^ Christian Boyd, "Formed and Always Being Reformed as a Community Under the Cross," Luther Seminary, Doctoral Thesis, May 30, 2010. p. 9-11; 30-34.

External links[edit]

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William Law - Wikipedia

William Law - Wikipedia

William Law
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This article is about the British theological writer. For other people, see William Law (disambiguation).

William Law
Born 1686
Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire
Died 9 April 1761
Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire
Venerated in Anglican Communion
Feast 10 April


William Law (1686 – 9 April 1761) was a Church of England priest who lost his position at Emmanuel College, Cambridge when his conscience would not allow him to take the required oath of allegiance to the first Hanoverian monarch, King George I. Previously William Law had given his allegiance to the House of Stuart and is sometimes considered a second-generation non-juror. Thereafter, Law first continued as a simple priest (curate) and when that too became impossible without the required oath, Law taught privately, as well as wrote extensively. His personal integrity, as well as his mystic and theological writing greatly influenced the evangelical movement of his day as well as Enlightenment thinkers such as the writer Dr Samuel Johnson and the historian Edward Gibbon. In 1784 William Wilberforce (1759–1833), the politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to stop the slave trade, was deeply touched by reading William Law's book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729).[1] Law's spiritual writings remain in print today.


Contents
1Early life
2Bangorian controversy and after
3Writings on practical divinity
4Mysticism
4.1Law's Admiration for Isaac Newton and Jakob Böhme
5Veneration
6List of works
7Notes
8References
9External links


Early life[edit]

Law was born at Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire, in 1686. In 1705 he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge as a sizar, where he studied the classics, Hebrew, philosophy and mathematics. In 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained. He resided at Cambridge, teaching and taking occasional duty until the accession of George I, when his conscience forbade him to take the oaths of allegiance to the new government and of abjuration of the Stuarts. His Jacobitism had already been betrayed in a tripos speech. As a non-juror, he was deprived of his fellowship.[2]

For the next few years Law is said to have been a curate in London. By 1727 he lived with Edward Gibbon (1666–1736) at Putney as tutor to his son Edward, father of the historian, who says that Law became the much-honoured friend and spiritual director of the family. In the same year he accompanied his pupil to Cambridge and lived with him as governor, in term time, for the next four years. His pupil then went abroad but Law was left at Putney, where he remained in Gibbon's house for more than 10 years, acting as a religious guide not only to the family but to a number of earnest-minded people who came to consult him. The most eminent of these were the two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, John Byrom the poet, George Cheyne the Newtonian physician, and Archibald Hutcheson, MP for Hastings.[2]

The household dispersed in 1737. Law by 1740 retired to Kings Cliffe, where he had inherited from his father a house and a small property. There he was joined by Elizabeth Hutcheson, the rich widow of his old friend (who recommended on his death-bed that she place herself under Law's spiritual guidance) and Hester Gibbon, sister to his late pupil. For the next 21 years, the trio devoted themselves to worship, study and charity, until Law died on 9 April 1761.[2]
Bangorian controversy and after[edit]
Further information: Bangorian controversy

The first of Law's controversial works was Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor (1717), a contribution to the Bangorian controversy on the high church side. It was followed by Remarks on Mandeville's Fable of the Bees (1723), in which he vindicated morality; it was praised by John Sterling, and republished by F. D. Maurice. Law's Case of Reason (1732), in answer to Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation is to some extent an anticipation of Joseph Butler's argument in the Analogy of Religion. His Letters to a Lady inclined to enter the Church of Rome are specimens of the attitude of a High Church Anglican towards Roman Catholicism.[2]

Writings on practical divinity[edit]

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1729), together with its predecessor, A Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection (1726), deeply influenced the chief actors in the great Evangelical revival.[3] John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Henry Venn, Thomas Scott, and Thomas Adam all express their deep obligation to the author. The Serious Call also affected others deeply. Samuel Johnson,[4] Gibbon, Lord Lyttelton and Bishop Home all spoke enthusiastically of its merits; and it is still the work by which its author is popularly known. It has high merits of style, being lucid and pointed to a degree.[2]

In a tract entitled The Absolute Unlawfulness of the Stage Entertainment (1726) Law was agitated by the corruptions of the stage to preach against all plays, and incurred some criticism the same year from John Dennis in The Stage Defended.[2]

His writing is anthologised by various denominations, including in the Classics of Western Spirituality series by the Catholic Paulist Press.

The devotional writer Andrew Murray was so impressed by Law's writings that he republished a number of his works, stating "I do not know where to find anywhere else the same clear and powerful statement of the truth which the Church needs at the present day."[5]
Mysticism[edit]

Böhme's cosmogony: The Philosophical Sphere or the Wonder Eye of Eternity (1620).

In his later years, Law became an admirer of the German Christian mystic Jakob Böhme. The journal of Law's friend John Byrom mentions that, probably around 1735 or 1736, the physician and Behmenist George Cheyne had drawn Law's attention to the book Fides et Ratio, written in 1708 by the French Protestant theologian Pierre Poiret. It was in this book that Law came across the name of the mystic Jakob Böhme.[6][7] From then on Law's writings such as A Demonstration of the Errors of a late Book (1737) and The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration (1739), began to contain a mystical note.[8] In 1740 appeared An Earnest and Serious Answer to Dr. Trapp and in 1742 An Appeal to All that Doubt. The Appeal was greatly admired by Law's friend George Cheyne, who wrote on 9 March 1742 to his good friend, the printer and novelist Samuel Richardson: "Have you seen Law's Appeal ... it is admirable and unanswerable". John Byrom wrote a poem based on An Earnest and Serious Answer, which was found among the manuscripts of Samuel Richardson after his death in 1761.[9]

Law's mystical tendencies caused the first breach in 1738 between Law and the practical-minded John Wesley after an exchange of four letters in which each explained his own position.[10] After eighteen years of silence Wesley attacked Law and his Behmenist philosophy once again in an open letter in 1756 in which Wesley wrote:

Lime Grove Putney (1846), home of the Gibbon family where William Law walked with John Byrom and other friends.


I have scarce met with a greater friend to darkness except 'the illuminated Jacob Behmen'. But, Sir, have you not done him an irreparable injury? I do not mean by misrepresenting his sentiments; (though some of his profound admirers are positive that you misunderstand and murder him throughout) but by dragging him out of his awful obscurity; by pouring light upon his venerable darkness. Men may admire the deepness of the well, and the excellence of the water it contains: But if some officious person puts a light into it, it will appear to be both very shallow and very dirty. I could not have borne to spend so many words on so egregious trifles, but that they are mischievous trifles: ... bad philosophy has, by insensible degrees, paved the way for bad divinity.[11]

Law never responded to this open letter, though he had been deeply upset, as was testified by John Byrom.[12]

After seven years of silence Law further explored Böhme's ideas in The Spirit of Prayer (1749–1750), followed by The Way to Divine Knowledge (1752) and The Spirit of Love (1752–1754). He worked on a new translation of Böhme's works for which The Way to Divine Knowledge had been the preparation.[13] Samuel Richardson had been involved in the printing of some of Law's works, e.g. A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection (second edition of 1728), and The Way to Divine Knowledge (1752), since Law's publishers William and John Innys worked closely with Samuel Richardson.[14]

Title page of the Johann Georg Gichtel (1638–1710) edition of 1682, printed in Amsterdam.

Law had taught himself the "High Dutch Language" to be able to read the original text of the "blessed Jacob". He owned a quarto edition of 1715, which had been carefully printed from the Johann Georg Gichtel edition of 1682, printed in Amsterdam where Gichtel (1638–1710) lived and worked.[15]

After the death of both Law and Richardson in 1761, Law's friends George Ward and Thomas Langcake published between 1764 and 1781 a four-volume version of the works of Jakob Böhme. It was paid for by Elizabeth Hutcheson. This version became known as the Law-edition of Böhme, even though Law had never found the time to contribute to this new edition.[16] As a result of this it was ultimately based on the original translations made by John Ellistone and John Sparrow between 1645 and 1662,[17] with only a few changes.[18] This edition was greatly admired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Blake. Law had found some illustrations made by the German early Böhme exegetist Dionysius Andreas Freher (1649–1728) which had been included in this edition. Upon seeing these symbolic drawings Blake said during a dinner party in 1825 "Michel Angelo could not have surpassed them".[19]

Law's Admiration for Isaac Newton and Jakob Böhme[edit]

Law greatly admired both Isaac Newton, whom he called "this great philosopher" and Jakob Böhme, "the illuminated instrument of God". In part I of The Spirit of Love (1752) Law wrote that in the three properties of desire one can see the "Ground and Reason" of the three great "laws of matter and motion lately discovered [by Sir Isaac Newton]". Law added that he "need[ed] no more to be told that the illustrious Sir Isaac [had] ploughed with Behmen's heifer" which had led to the discovery of these laws.[20]

Law added that in the mathematical system of Newton these three properties of desire, i.e. "attraction, equal resistance, and the orbicular motion of the planets as the effect of them", are treated as facts and appearances, whose ground appears not to be known. However, Law wrote, it is in "our Behmen, the illuminated Instrument of God" that:


Their Birth and Power in Eternity are opened; their eternal Beginning is shown, and how and why all Worlds, and every Life of every Creature, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or hellish, must be in them, and from them, and can have no Nature, either spiritual or material, no kind of Happiness or Misery, but according to the working Power and State of these Properties. All outward Nature, all inward Life, is what it is, and works as it works, from this unceasing powerful Attraction, Resistance, and Whirling."[21]

Aldous Huxley quotes admiringly and at length from Law's writings on mysticism in his anthology The Perennial Philosophy, pointing out remarkable parallels between his ( Law's ) mystical insights and those of Mahayana Buddhism, Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism and other traditions encompassed by Leibniz's concept of the Philosophia Perennis. 

Huxley wrote:

Granted that the ground of the individual soul is akin to...the divine Ground of all existence...what is the ultimate nature of good and evil, and what the true purpose and end of life? The answers to these questions will be given to a great extent in the words of that most surprising product of the English eighteenth century, William Law...a man who was not only a master of English prose, but also one of the most interesting thinkers of his period and one of the most endearingly saintly figures in the whole history of Anglicanism.[22]

Veneration[edit]

Law is honoured on 10 April with a feast day on the Calendar of saints, the Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America) and other Anglican churches.

William is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 10 April.[23]

List of works[edit]

-----
Notes[edit]

^ "BBC - Religions - Christianity: William Wilberforce".
^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
^ In A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life Law urges that every day should be viewed as a day of humility by learning to serve others. Foster, Richard J., Celebration Of Discipline, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988, p.131.
^ "I became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did not think much against it; and this lasted until I went to Oxford, where it would not be suffered. When at Oxford, I took up Law's Serious Call, expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of rational inquiry.", Samuel Johnson, recounted in James Boswell's, Life of Johnson, ch. 1.
^ Murray, Andrew (1896). The Power of the Spirit. London: James Nisbet. pp. ix.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, pp. 112–113.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2006, pp. 442–465.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, pp. 120 ff.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2006, pp. 454–456.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2006, pp. 448–452.
^ J. Wesley, Works, Vol. IX, pp. 477-478.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2006, pp. 460–463.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, pp. 138 ff.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, pp. 118–120, 138.
^ This edition is the Theosophia Revelata. Das isst: Alle Göttliche Schriften des Gottseligen und hocherleuchteten Deutschen Theosophi Jacob Böhmens, 2 Vols., Johann Otto Glüssing, Hamburg, 1715.
^ This William Law edition is available online, see http://www.jacobboehmeonline.com/william_law.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, p. 144.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, pp. 138–141.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, p. 140.
^ Joling-van der Sar 2003, p. 133.
^ William Law, Works, 9 volumes, (reprint of the Moreton ed., Brockenhurst, Setley, 1892-93 which was a reprint of London edition of 1762), Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A., 2001, Vol. VIII, pp. 19-20.
^ Huxley, Aldous 'The Perennial Philosophy', first edition pub. Chatto and Windus 1946.
^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.


References[edit]

Abby, Charles J., The English Church in the 18th Century, 1887.
Foster, Richard J., Celebration Of Discipline, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
Huxley, Aldous, The Perennial Philosophy, 1945.
Joling-van der Sar, Gerda J. (2006). "The controversy between William Law and John Wesley". English Studies. Informa UK Limited. 87 (4): 442–465. doi:10.1080/00138380600757810. ISSN 0013-838X.
Joling-van der Sar, Gerda J. (2003). The spiritual side of Samuel Richardson : mysticism, Behmenism and millenarianism in an eighteenth-century English novelist (Thesis). University of Leiden. ISBN 90-90-17087-1. OCLC 783182681. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
Lecky, W.E.H, History of England in the 18th Century, 1878–90.
Overton, John Henry, William Law, Nonjuror and Mystic, 1881.
Stephen, Leslie, English Thought in the 18th century.
Stephen, Leslie (1892). "Law, William" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Tighe, Richard, A Short Account of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. William Law, 1813.
Walker, A.Keith. William Law: His Life and Work SPCK, 1973.
Walton, Christopher, Notes and Materials for a Complete Biography of W Law, 1848.

Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Law, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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고난의 시대, 함석헌이 말했다 “같이 살자” : 뉴스 : 휴심정 : 뉴스 : 한겨레

고난의 시대, 함석헌이 말했다 “같이 살자” : 뉴스 : 휴심정 : 뉴스 : 한겨레

고난의 시대, 함석헌이 말했다 “같이 살자”

등록 :2021-03-10 04:59수정 :2021-03-10 08:22
조현 기자 사진
조현 기자

[함석헌 탄생 120돌…제자 5명이 말하는 함석헌과 그의 정신]

10대 때 ‘3·1운동’에 나서며 일제에 대한 저항을 시작한 고 함석헌 선생은 김일성·이승만·박정희·전두환 독재에 항거해 수차례 투옥된 와중에도 굴하지 않은 한국 현대사의 대표적 비폭력 평화 운동가다. 그가 평생 주창해 온 ‘씨알사상’은 이름 없는 한 명 한 명이 당당히 깨어 일어나 역사의 주체로 우뚝 서야 한다는 사상으로, 우리 모두가 하나의 씨알로 더불어 살아가는 존재임을 강조한다. 한겨레 자료사진

함석헌(1901~1989)은 10대 때 ‘3·1운동’에 나선 이래 평생 ‘씨알’을 위한 헌신으로 초지일관한 인물이다. 일제강점기뿐 아니라 김일성·이승만·박정희·전두환 독재에 항거해 모두 여덟번이나 “인생 대학”(감옥)에 다녀온 그는 20세기 한국을 대표하는 사상가이자 비폭력·평화운동가로 꼽힌다.


함석헌 탄생 120돌(13일)을 앞두고 지난 5일 오후 3시 서울 마포구 서교동 함석헌기념사업회에서 ‘이 시대에 왜 함석헌 정신이 필요한가’를 주제로 좌담회가 열렸다. 애초 기독교회관에서 열 예정이던 기념 강연회가 코로나19 사태로 취소되면서 함석헌의 제자 5명만 모였다. 1970년 박정희 독재에 맞서 창간해 송건호·법정스님·김동길·안병무 등이 편집위원으로 함께했던 <씨알의 소리>가 지난해 창간 50돌을 맞았지만, 이마저 코로나19 확산 탓에 행사가 열리지 못했던 터라 이번 만남은 조촐했지만 뜻깊었다. 좌담엔 창간 때부터 편집일을 도맡았던 <씨알의 소리> 주간 박선균 목사(83), <함석헌 사상 깊이읽기> 1·2·3권을 쓴 김영호(79) 인하대 명예교수, 박재순(71) 전 씨알사상연구소장, 목성균(68) 함석헌기념사업회 이사장, 장영호(67) 씨알사상연구원장이 함께했다. 이들은 1960~70년대 중앙신학교와 한신대 강단에 섰던 함석헌의 제자이거나 민주화운동을 함께한 동지들이다. 이들은 “당시엔 장준하(<사상계> 창간자), 안병무(민중신학의 태두), 김동길(연세대 명예교수), 김용준(고려대 명예교수), 장기려(부산 복음병원 의사) 등 기라성 같은 분들이 주위에 있어 우리는 제자라고 하기에도 어려운 꼬맹이였다”고 겸손해했다.



앞줄 왼쪽부터 김영호 인하대 명예교수, 박재순 전 씨알사상연구소장, 박선균 <씨알의 소리>주간, 뒷줄 왼쪽부터 목성균 함석헌기념사업회 이사장, 김은경 목사, 장영호 씨알사상연구원장, 김관호 함석헌기념사업회 사무국장, 김대식 씨알사상연구원 연구위원.


■ 인간 함석헌…“공감능력 뛰어난 투사”



함석헌은 일제 치하와 독재 시절을 거치는 동안 여러번 고문을 당하고 감옥에 다녀와서도 굴하지 않고 오뚝이처럼 일어선 의기의 인물이다. 1950~70년대 서슬 퍼런 독재에 숨소리조차 내지 못할 때도 함석헌의 강연장엔 수만명이 모여 그의 포효를 들으며, 민주화의 꿈을 되살렸다.

제자들은 “함석헌은 투사의 면모뿐만 아니라 공감능력을 두루 갖춘 사람이었다”고 회고했다. 중앙신학교(강남대 전신)에서 함석헌을 만났고, 1970년 이후 함석헌의 집에서 함께 살며 <씨알의 소리>를 만들었던 박선균 목사는 함석헌을 가장 가까이서 지켜본 이들 중 한명이다.

“선생님은 일체의 지시 없이 스스로 알아서 하도록 했다. 원효로 70번지인 선생님 댁은 문을 닫는 법이 없었다. 늘 열어두었기에 누구든지 들어올 수 있었다. 정보과 형사도 마음대로 드나들었다. 지위가 높다고 특별 대우하는 것도 없고, 아이라도 함부로 대하지 않았다. 우리는 세끼를 먹었지만 선생님은 한끼밖에 드시지 않으면서도 그 한끼를 우리와 한 밥상에서 똑같이 드셨다.”

1970년대 함석헌이 집회나 목요기도회에 나가는 날이면 경찰 20~30명이 집 앞길을 봉쇄했다. 그때 동지들은 경찰과 몸싸움을 벌이곤 했다. 그러나 함석헌은 한번도 경찰에게 욕설을 뱉거나 폭력을 사용한 적이 없다는 게 박 목사의 전언이다. 함석헌이 오산학교 교사 시절, 학생들이 학내 시위를 벌이며 교사들에게 뭇매를 때릴 때도 자신을 때린 학생을 미워할까 봐 눈을 가리고 있었을 만큼 증오심 없이 살고자 했던 함석헌은 말뿐만 아니라 실제 삶도 비폭력·평화주의로 일관했다는 설명이다.

박재순 목사는 서울대 철학과 1학년 때 서울대에 강연 온 함석헌을 처음 만났다. 1974년 일어난 민청학련 사건으로 5개월간 옥살이를 하고 나와 한신대에 편입한 뒤엔 늘 함석헌의 강연을 쫓아다녔다. 4살 때 소아마비를 앓아 휘어진 척추를 펴는 수술을 했던 1976년 당시엔 함석헌이 부산에서 올라와 수술실까지 바래다주기도 했다. 그날 함석헌이 마루에 앉아 시든 나무를 보며 ‘저 나무가 재순이 같다’고 눈물을 훔치더란 이야기를 전해 들었다고 한다.

“병원에서 머리에 구멍을 두개 뚫고, 쇠막대기 4개를 꽂아 척추를 억지로 늘린다고 40일간 고정해 놓았다. 친구들이 이런 야만적인 수술이 어디 있냐고 분개할 만큼 큰 고통을 받고 대수술을 할 때, 선생님이 바쁜 상황인데도 아침 일찍 수술실까지 와 줘 큰 위로가 됐다. 나만 그런 사랑을 받은 게 아니다. 그분은 평생 사랑하면서 산 분이다.”



좌담회 중인 목성균 함석헌기념사업회 이사장(왼쪽부터), 박재순 전 씨알사상연구소장, 박선균 <씨알의 소리>주간, 김영호 인하대 명예교수, 장영호 씨알사상연구원장.


■ 함석헌의 씨알사상…“한명 한명이 역사의 주체”

이름 없는 한명 한명이 당당히 깨어 일어나 역사의 주체로 우뚝 서야 한다는 함석헌의 ‘씨알사상’은 2008년 서울에서 열린 세계철학자대회에서 현대의 한국을 대표할 사상으로 주목을 받았다.

서울대 영문과를 졸업한 뒤 중앙신학교에 진학해 함석헌을 만났다는 김영호 인하대 명예교수는 “미국에 유학하며 새로운 사상을 접해보면 이미 선생님에게 들은 이야기였다. 한국의 사상과 글을 쓰는 표준을 말할 때, 함석헌을 빼고는 말할 수 없다”고 단언했다.

좌담회 도중 김은경(66) 목사가 들어섰다. 광주에서 고등학교를 마치고 함석헌의 원효로 집에서 함께 살며 민주화운동을 도왔던 그는 이 좌담회 소식을 듣고 찾아왔다. 박재순 목사는 “시계도 없이 사는 나를 보고 선생님이 자신의 회중시계를 보내줬는데, 그 시계를 가지고 온 이가 바로 김 목사”라고 설명했다. 함석헌의 권유로 한신대에 진학해 기독교장로회 목회자가 돼 오는 9월 장로회 교단 역사상 첫 여성 총회장으로 부임하는 김 목사가 여성 지도자로 우뚝 선 것도 당시 소외된 여성의 내적 힘을 격발시킨 함석헌의 응원 때문이었단다. “사회에 처음 나온 내가 주눅이 든 것을 보고 선생님은 ‘여자 한 사람이 나라를 구할 수 있다’는 말을 자주 해줬다. 민주화운동 한다고 공부는 안 하고 여기저기 돌아다니는 것을 보고, 제대로 공부를 해야 한다고 하셨다.”

평생 씨알사상을 연구해온 박재순 목사는 “씨알은 작은 객체로 따로 떨어져 있는 듯 보이지만, 그 생명은 자신을 깨트려 싹을 틔우고 줄기를 키우고 열매를 맺어 다른 생명체를 먹여 살리는 것이다. 우리 모두가 그런 씨알로 더불어 살아가는 존재이기에 이 세상 생명에 대해 무한책임을 지는 것”이라고 함석헌의 사상을 설명했다.

“산업혁명과 국가주의, 마르크스 유물론, 자연과학 모두 고귀한 생명의 의미와 목적을 살리지 못했다. 그러나 선생님은 ‘거울에 비친 네 얼굴을 보라. 100만년 비바람과 재난과 전쟁과 죽음을 뚫고 이겨내고 버텨낸 위대한 얼굴이다. 우주 생명 진화의 역사와 인류의 역사가 통째로 압축된 그 얼굴이다’라며 소외되고 핍박받고 고통받는 씨알이 얼마나 존귀하고 위대한 존재인지 일깨워주셨다. 선생님이 죽음과 고난을 두려워하지 않은 것도 우리 안에 있는 생명의 씨알을 깨달았기 때문이다.”

장영호 씨알사상연구원장은 최근 성전환을 했다는 이유로 전역당한 뒤 목숨을 끊은 변희수 하사의 죽음에 대해 “약자가 소외되지 않도록 모두가 돌봐야 할 책임이 있다”며 함석헌의 말을 전했다. “선생님은 ‘어떤 제도도 사람보다 중요할 수는 없다’고 하셨다. 또한 생명에 대해서도 ‘생이 곧 명이다’라고 말씀하셨다. 생은 살아내야 할 명령이라는 것이다.”

함석헌기념사업회를 이끄는 목성균 이사장은 씨알사상이 깊은 수도와 철학을 통해 나온 공감과 연민임을 전했다. “우리가 해야 할 것은 마음을 집중해 그 근원의 소리를 들을 수 있는 힘을 키우는 것이다. 그것이 이 시대 역사의 주체로 해야 할 씨알의 의무다.”



10대 때 ‘3·1운동’에 나서며 일제에 대한 저항을 시작한 고 함석헌 선생은 김일성·이승만·박정희·전두환 독재에 항거해 수차례 투옥된 와중에도 굴하지 않은 한국 현대사의 대표적 비폭력 평화 운동가다. 그가 평생 주창해 온 ‘씨알사상’은 이름 없는 한 명 한 명이 당당히 깨어 일어나 역사의 주체로 우뚝 서야 한다는 사상으로, 우리 모두가 하나의 씨알로 더불어 살아가는 존재임을 강조한다. 한겨레 자료사진


■ 고난의 시대, 함석헌의 사상은 어떤 가르침을 주나



함석헌은 일제 때 오산학교에서 역사 교사로 10년을 일한 이후 평생 월급을 받아 본 일 없이 하루 한끼만 먹으며 투쟁의 삶을 살았다. 북한에서도 공산당에 협조하면 고위직에 오를 수 있었지만 거부하고 월남했고, 남한에서도 서울대 사범대 교수로 갈 수도 야당 당수가 될 수도 있었지만 모든 부와 권력을 거부하고 빈자·약자·핍박받는 자와 함께했다. 지인들의 도움으로 겨우 마련한 원효로 집을 스승인 오산학교 설립자 남강 이승훈을 기리는 재단에 헌납했고, 1회 인촌상 수상 상금으로 받은 2000만원도 결핵요양원에 보냈다. 함석헌은 자신을 “잘 날지만 먹이 하나 구하지 못하는 바보새”라고 표현했다.

박재순 목사는 “걷기도 어려운 장애의 몸이지만 ‘인간은 하늘을 향해 일어서는 존재’라는 선생님의 말씀에 힘을 얻어 거꾸러지지 않고 일어날 수 있었다”며 함석헌의 고난 철학을 전했다. “선생님은 ‘좌절·시련·고난은 새로운 삶을 살기 위한 발판’이라고 했다. 훌륭하고 아름다운 삶을 살기 위한 밑거름이라는 것이다. 우리 민족도 한국전쟁 같은 참상을 겪었지만, 그 정신을 드높여 십자가를 지고 세상을 정화하고 구원할 수 있다고 본 것이 <뜻으로 본 한국역사>다.”

함석헌의 활동 중에 유일하게 ‘운동’이란 이름을 붙인 것이 ‘같이 살기 운동’이다. 참석자들은 코로나19 사태로 어려움에 처해 좌절하고 자살하는 이들이 늘어나는 요즘, 같이 사는 정신이 어느 때보다 절실하다고 입을 모았다. 김영호 교수는 “남과 북도 정치의 부침과 상관없이 함석헌의 비폭력·평화 정신으로 대화를 이어가야 한다”며 “휴전선 부근에 함석헌 비폭력 평화센터를 건립하자”고 제안했다.

조현 종교전문기자 cho@hani.co.kr

원문보기:
https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/well/news/986119.html#csidx14e20524151e23b94ccfb1b4fe947fd
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