This study explores C. S. Lewis’s portrayal of desire/greed in Out of the Silent Planet, the first of his Space Trilogy. After an introductory note on Lewis’s concern to connect supernatural with mundane, the novel’s background is explained with a sketch of its storyline. The first main section deals with Devine, a paragon of materialistic greed. In light of Lewis’s “dialectic of enjoyment and renunciation,” he constitutes a tragic case of a “wrong attitude toward things.” a futile attempt to grasp eternity with transient things. The cold-blooded “evolutionist” Weston is clothed with the ideal of “eternal prosperity of humanity,” which seems to transcend mere materialistic desire. Yet he too is driven by fear of death, possessed by the egocentric desire to become his own mater. The study makes constant references to Byung-chul Han, a Korean German philosopher, noting the remarkable correspondence between the two, very different, thinkers. Toward the end of the study a critical reflection is offered on the unmistakable difference between Lewis the hopeful Christian and Han an atheist philosopher.
Elevator is a short movie which was produced, directed, and mainly performed by Won-rae Kang. He was a famous singer and dancer of Clon, a popular dance music group, during the 1990s in Korea. The movie deals with the struggles of a disabled person who unexpectedly experiences a change of identity from being non-disabled to disabled. The plot of the movie is based on four episodes in elevators and one meeting between several disabled and non-disabled people in a playground near Anmok beach. However, the work is not just a movie that defends the rights of the disabled, but it reveals some characteristics in three aspects. First of all, the movie portrays a narrative of self-healing which can be regarded as an essential way of overcoming the pain of disability and pursuing salvation regardless of its type. Second, it also demonstrates its trait as a meta-film that shows self-consciousness and self-reflexivity. Finally, it uncovers the possibility of the disabled person’s life as an art.
Dong-li Kim’s works are covered with Korean religion and conformism of destiny. This paper adopted his short stories as a motif about Jesus Christ . In “Mary’s pregnancy,” the pregnancy of the Virgin Mary is described as the mysterious super natural phenomenon. Also in “A Carpenter Joseph,” Dong-li Kim stares Jesus as Joseph’s realistic views. These two stories show the men who accept destiny. In “The Cross of Saban,” Saban proposes that he can save the Jews by defeating Rome’s army. But Jesus claims that they can be blessed by pursuing peace on heaven, not on the land. In this work, he thinks Jesus is a great shaman lives in Israel. Also in “The Resurrection,” he can’t comprehend resurrection as a flash death, that is real body. In “The Angel” shows the notion of defending humanity, he names it new humanism. As a result, the writer does not recognize the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he recasts the Bible story through the Spiritual Science and Shamanism. His concept of the absolute research of life is the realization of shamanism and his new humanism
This study aims to re-read aspects of violence reproduced in The Crucible through the theories of violence of Walter Benjamin, Slavoj Žižek and Hannah Arendt. This study intends to re-read The Crucible through the theories of violence of Benjamin, Žižek and Arendt because of what they commonly emphasized, that is, the fact that escape from stereotype image of violence provides significant implications for contemplation on violence. When we re-read The Crucible by taking one step back from the power of accusation wrapped in fury and lunacy and taking notice on stark law-making and law-preserving nature of Salem society, foundation can be created to contemplate and reflect on its ‘systemic violence.’ In addition, Arendt’s theory of violence which saw opposing relationship between ‘violence’ and ‘power’ and between ‘behavior’ and ‘action’ provides insight into the origin of witch hunt in Salem society and into understanding the meaning of John Proctor’s resistance.
One major goal of Slavoj Žižek’s thought throughout his life works is to establish politico-ethical subject. Žižek’s paradoxical subject, just like Lacan’s subject that is a posteriori result of a subjectivation event, situates itself in this world but does not belong to this world. Since this kind of subject does not resolve itself into the Symbolic of this world but remain as a foreign element, it keeps a revolutionary potential against this worldly order. For Žižek, a revolutionary moment happens when ‘the Thing’ of the Real is identified with a subject and intrudes into the Symbolic. Antigone, Abraham, and the Christ are the main characters who represent Žižek’s politico-ethical subject. Žižek’s criticism against Buddhism and Derridean deconstruction does not look accurate and fair. Also Žižek’s ethic fails to distinguish between the good and the evil. Despite the weaknesses in his thought, Žižek’s psychoanalytical insight can provide positive contributions for understanding the hidden structure of subconsciousness connected to human subject and this worldly structures.
Eco-theology was developed by the influence of the secular ecology. The Christian eco-theology was started in earnest by Lynn White, who has developed a modernism-discourse based on Christian tradition. Criticizing her discourse, Thomas Berry has led the religious-ecumenical discourse of eco-theology. In the 21st century, the Christian eco-theology has expanded into the ecological-political theology. One of the leading theologians of ecological-political theology is a Jürgen Moltmann. Moltmann has emphasized the Sabbath motif in relation to the discourse of eco-theology. Moltmann’s ideas for the eco-theological Sabbath are summarized in three ways. Firstly, the Sabbath is the day when the wounded ecosystem is healed, because it is the rest day when the creative work was finished. Secondly, the Sabbath is the day of enjoying the blessing of being while experiencing the presence of eternity. Thirdly, the Sabbath is the day of hope when we can recognize the value of being of all things. Moltmann suggests a theological alternative view what can overcome the ecological crisis. The idea of Moltmann was criticized by some radical ecologists and some Sabbath theologians.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the spiritual atmosphere of the church bell’s sound of modern Joseon (1898-1945). This paper will show proof of the connection between March’s first independent movement and the poems of Youngak Lee, Kwangyun Kim, Janghwan Oh; which provides a spiritual response for the wholeness of modern Korea. The freedom of religion came from Joseon’s dynasty and as a result, the western style churches were built with bell towers. At the time, churches were not only a new style of an edifice, but a new sense of sound of a bell. Joseon’s bell is stroke from the outside of its body by wooden mallets in the deep mountain, while western style church bells ring from the inside of its body by a metal clapper on top of private houses. The new sound of bell gives a new sound culture of noon in Joseon. This paper will show evidence of the bell’s Soundscape which symbolizes wholeness and perfection in the period. For example, March’s first movement started with the church bell’s ring. And the poetry also showed the moment of realization by its meeting.
In the year of 1741, the controversial debates about Calvin’s doctrine of predestination had been discussed intensely among methodists. John and Charles Wesley, who are against this doctrine, published Hymns on God’s Everlasting Love series in 1741. Through these hymn books, Charles Wesley, who is considered to be the main author of these two books, continually criticizes Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, especially regarding the elected and the reprobates, and strongly shouts for God’s general love for all mankind. Even though these two hymn books are valuable books for tracing the consolidation of Charles Wesley’s theology about Calvin’s doctrine of predestination and God’s universal love for all, they have not been studied enough because these books are considered to be only hymn books. This thesis studies on Wesley’s theology about Calvin’s doctrine of predestination and God’s universal love for all, through analyzing five major poems.
The ideologic novel, Gwang-Jang, utilizes many mythical motifs such as the “possession” of Lee Myung Jun and the “Sea-gull.” The ‘possession’ is related with the suppressive modern civilization. The “possession” means the flood of “the Semiotic” followed by the weakened restriction of “the Symbolic.” The most important re-writing of Gwang-Jang is the transition of beloved-sea gull to daughter-sea gull. Through this adaptation, the journey of Myung-jun Lee that abandon the real world and leave beyond the world is interpreted as a pursue for the essence of life. The sea gull, “Heaven Bird” breaks the unification of “the Symbolic.” Before 1976, the Gwang-Jang was the text showing the total failure of paternal principle based on “Exchange Relation.” However, After adaptation in 1976, the meaning of the text has changed to the vitality of maternal principle based on “Donation Relation.”
Both religions and literature/the arts have the same purpose--to liberate our mind from the limited ontological domain of the ego and reach infinity, the dimension of genuine love, and thus to attain true wisdom beyond the binary opposition of will, intention, and concepts that cause conflicts and struggle. The goal of religions and literature is to make us to deeply experience the real Self, which is the ultimate reality or universal Truth. This paper first discusses the Buddhist notion of Emptiness and Levinas, whose theory embraces Judaism and Christianity. Then the Kantian sublime is discussed as the most profound aesthetic impetus on the reader’s mind. The last part presents my reading of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde. By showing the disappearance of the polar opposites, Jecyll and Hyde, the novella leads the reader to the sphere of the sublime where the reader experiences the spiritual feeling that detaches her/him from ontological perception and conceptualization.