오늘날 우리는 국내와 해외에서 다종교- 다문화사회에 선교해야만 하는 상황에 있다. 그러므로 자기 신앙의 정체성을 지킴과 동시에 나를 넘어 타종교인들에 대하여 이웃과 친구가 되어 복음을 전하려는 시도를 늘 해야 한다. 이런 점에서 에스라의 국제결혼을 금지시켰던 개혁에 대하여 선교적 빛에서 반추해 볼 필요가 있다. 그는 귀환 공동체 내에서 행해지는 이방여인과의 통혼을 깊이 슬퍼하며 개혁을 단행하였다. 에스라-느헤미야 개혁들 가운데 국제결혼문제는 핵심적 문제이며, 에스라의 귀환 직후 실시한 것이 국제결혼 문제의 개혁이었다. 에스라의 개혁을 신앙의 정체성을 지키려는 목적에서 보는 견해와 토지-경제적 이유에서의 개혁이란 견해가 있는데, 필자는 전자가 타당하다고 보았다. 그의 개혁은 당시 상황에서 꼭 필요했고, 유대인들을 각성시켜 종교적 순수성을 지키도록 강화하였다. 러나 이미 결혼하여 아이까지 낳은 여인들을 아이와 함께 추방시켰는데, 그것은 몇 가지 문제성, 즉 신명기 문서 등 율법에의 일치성 여부, 아이들까지 함께 추방한 윤리성, 결혼한 여인들에 대한 율법교육을 통한 개종의 기회를 부여하지 않음, 이웃 주민들과의 소통의 단절과 고립을 초래한 점들이다. 에스라 개혁의 목적은 자신들은 거룩한 백성이며, 이방인들은 ‘땅의 백성’이라는 이유 때문에 이방인과 단절하고자 했던 것이다. 그런 점은 아브라함의 집에 머무는 이방인들도 다 할례를 받도록 했던 하나님의 뜻, 그리고 이스라엘의 영향권 안에서 이방인들도 여호와의 백성으로 살았던 수많은 경우들과 비교한다면 지나친 면이 있다고 본다. 에스라의 ‘국제결혼 금지’는 그 이후 이스라엘을 배타주의적 유대주의로 가게 되고, 자신들을 주변 족속들과 나라들과 철저한 고립과 적대관계에 놓이게 만드는 전환점이 되었다. 오늘날 정체성과 소통이란 점은 기독교선교의 중요한 화두이다. 선교사는 자기 정체성을 잃지 말아야 하며, 동시에 이웃들과 소통하는 가운데 복음을 전해야 한다. 본고는 에스라 개혁 본문에 대한 주석학적, 사회학적 문헌들을 토대로 연구하며 오늘날 선교적 교회론적 적용으로 마무리할 것이다.

The purpose of this paper is to examine some religious reformers and mission ideas. There are some negative aspects on the mission ideas of Religious reformers until now. Except theologians of Roman Catholic Church, Gustav Warneck, who is the father of modern missiology, also evaluated that there were not any mission ideas and mission activities to religious reformers, for Luther did not recognize mission duty, compared with those Roman Catholic which made inroad and was active abroad more than before.However, the study that there was mission to religious reformers was presented by western and Korean scholars. Despite of this positive study, the center of criticism is that if they have mission ideas and theology, how their ideas and theology are systematic and have persuasive power. Therefore, the evaluation to them may be more negative judging from the circumstances resulted in the geographical expansion of gospel and numerical increase of believers because the mission of christianity after 19th century which was called as ‘The Great Century,’ produced a large number of missionaries abroad.Through the examination of results and a limit about the study on the mission ideas of religious reformers until now, this paper, on the other, presented the mission as ‘a witness.’ Jesus Christ gave Great Commission to his disciples, and all of them carried out their duties as the witness of gospel through religious martyrdom. The Latin ‘martyrium’ of ‘martyrdom’ came from the Hellas ‘μαρτυριον.’ The ‘μαρτυριον’ means originally the word ‘witness’ and ‘evidence.’ The etymology of the word ‘witness’ and ‘evidence’ is the same.The martyrdom is the ultimate evidence of gospel. Martyrs strongly impressed to christian community as the witnesses of gospel in their lives, and took the role of enthusiastic missionaries leading the others to faith. Consequently, this paper analyzed their practice more than their theory on the mission of religious reformers, that is, their lives as a martyr for the truth, Jesus Christ. This is because the martyrdom for gospel is the most obvious witness and mission of gospel at once.

Recently, most Christians in Korean have felt shame at watching the status quo of Korean protestantism. Almost everyday, we Christians faced unpleasant news about churches and clergies. At the same time, Christians feel the crisis of church growth and mission. At this moment, it would be significant and meaningful to search for the church reforms in the history of Christianity and to be taught from the past. For this reason, the writer investigated several historical events which caused the church reform consciously or unconsciously. As a result of this research, several types of church reform in the church history could be described as follows. The first case of church reform was accomplished for the purpose of the ecclesiastical and the social change by means of the political struggle. Second, for the purpose of the ecclesiastical and the social change by the revolutionary method. Third, for the purpose of structural subversion by the political struggle. Finally, for the purpose of structural subversion by the revolution. Among these four, because the second type of reform is illogical, the writer would consider the others. The rest of three cases of reform, however, whether it would be successful or not, had the limitation that could not have accomplished the fundamental reform of problems in their own era. For this, the writer has looked for the another way which was named as the fifth way of reformation and the writer considered it as true church reform. Also, it was regarded a genuine church reform as the most effective way of mission. As the fifth way of reform in the church history, the writer analyzed three historical events: the way of St. Francis and his mendicant movement in the twelfth century; the way of religious movement of Beguine in the thirteenth century; and the way of methodist movement of John Wesley in the eighteenth century. The characteristics of these movement would be as follows. First of all, these movements did not happen to struggle or criticize the existing church power and social structure directly. Secondly, even though there were leading persons in these movements, these movements were empowered by the anonymous laities. Thirdly, the participants of these movements proliferated and flourished very rapid within very limited times. Finally, They were so creative that they created new idea, theology, philosophy, and life styles. In conclusion, the writer proposed the fifth way as the ideal both for church reform and growth simultaneously. Through the fifth way, the people who are sick and tired to churches and protestantism in Korea might come into the world of hope, new spirituality, and creative life that they have never felt in the existing ecclesiastical structure. Then, new Christian communities will proliferate such as the above creative religious movements.

Christian population of Tamil Nadu and Kerala is between threefold and ten times higher than that of the rest of Indian states. A major reason is that these regions have become the epicenter of Bhakti movement roughly since 7 century AD. Hindu faith has been widely misconstrued by the outsiders or generalists as having impersonal multifarious Gods with no absolute dependence on God for their salvation. As it is partly true, it is also true that a majority Hindus believe personal monotheistic God with the salvation by faith. Dutch missionary scholar Johannes Bavinck, for example, pointed out that Bhakti concept of grace is totally different from that of Christian faith. The Bhakti faith is certainly different, and yet many common points can be located in the Bhakti literature which might be used as necessary contact points for missionary communication. According to soteriology of Southern school(Tengalais) of Bhakti faith, a kitten can be rescued only by yielding to its mother cat from the burning bushes just as Christians being saved only by the grace of God. Bhakti Gods are personal supreme Gods who demand their devotees an exclusive worship to themselves. Since the Bhakti Hindus found themselves as hopeless sinners, they repeat mantras and bathe into the holy rivers yearning for forgiveness. It is strikingly noteworthy in presenting Christian faith in relation to the indigenous faith and culture, although it is conflicting to Christian doctrines in many points. Korean reformed tradition is known to oppose the general revelation in the indigenous faith and culture. Yet what conflicts is not the reformed tradition, but the fundamentalist position in a strict sense. Although Bavinck supports the unique revelation in Christ, he does not necessarily deny the partial light or incomplete knowledge of God in non-Christian worlds as was given by God. Chai Eunsoo also acknowledges that Egyptian gold is also gold. Therefore, it should admit the function of common points between Bhakti faith and Christian faith as necessary starting points and ideas to present Christian gospel message to Bhakti Hindus, although differences should be carefully examined by specialists.

This thesis aims to Know the views of the religious reformers including Jan Hus, Martin Luther and Jean Calvin on missionary work, and to know if they actually partake in missionary activities themselves. How did their views on mission influence the way in which future generations conduct missionary work? To approach this theme, we must first establish a clear definition of what missionary work is. And lastly, according to Karl Hartenstein, missionary work is to participate in God’s mission, that is Missio Dei. The author of this paper is interested in the latter definition since this concept seems to have originated from the religious reformers. Jan Hus placed the authority of the Bible over the authority of the church. According to him, the missionary work is to reform the church, when it goes away from the truth of the Bible. According to Martin Luther, the missionary work is the salvation of the world by the promulgation of the Gospel: “only by the belief in Jesus Christ.” According to Jean Calvin, man’s salvation depends upon only God’s sovereignty. Therefore, only God can practice the missionary work by his sovereignty. Like Jan Hus, Luther made efforts to reform the church, when it went away from the truth of the Bible. Jean Calvin taught many theologians in Geneva and sent them to France and other European countries. The religious reformers exerted an important effect upon today’s church. They taught us what is the genuine meaning of missionary work and what must be the direction of today’s missionary work.

Diese Aufsatz untersucht die missionarische Bedeutung der Kirchenreform. Es ist deswegen notwendig, weil die koreanische Kirche trotz ihres großes Wachstums zur Zeit sich mit vielen Kritiken von innen und außen konfrontiert. Da aber in diesen Kritiken verschiedene Forderungen impliziert sind, die sowohl persőnliche moralische Probleme der koreanischen Christen als auch Őffentlichkeitsfrage der koreanische Kirche umfassen, műssen diese Kritiken vorsichtig berűcksichtigt werden. Es ist allerdings keine Frage, daß die koreanische Kirche sich reformieren soll. Wir wissen auch, daß die Frage der Kirchenreform in der Kirchengeschichte immer wichtige Aufgabe der Theologie und Kirche war. In der Selbstverständnis der Kirche gehőrte diese Frage zu wesentlicher Frage der Kirche(ecclesia semper reformanda). Deswegen geht es bei uns nicht darum, ob die Kirche sich reformieren soll oder nicht, sondern darum, auf welchem Grund sie stehen soll, in welche Richtung sie gehen soll. Das ist gerade darum der Grund, aus der Frage 'was ist die Kirche' ausszugehen. Wenn man diese Frage beantworten versucht, kann man einigermaßen den Grund der Kirchenreform und ihre Richtung feststellen. Es geht dabei vor allem um die scharfe Unterscheidung und die angemessene Beziehung zwischen der Entstehungs-(i.e. dem Grund) und Gestaltungsdynamik(i.e. der Richtung) der Kirche, weil es schwer ist, ohne dies genau zu erkennen, űber die Kirchenreform zu diskutieren. Da die Frage nach Kirchenreform nur auf diesem differenzierten Erkenntnis hin angemessen zu beantworten ist, ist dieser Erkenntnis auch sehr wichtig fűr die missionarische Kirchenreform, weil sie zuerst die angemessene Gestaltung der Kirchenstruktur im Bezug auf die missionarischen Aufgaben der Kirche in der sich verändernden Welt sichtbar zu machen bedeutet.

Timothy Richard(1845-1919), a Welsh missionary, acted as the spearhead of the missionaries in China who were interested in the reform of the late Qing society. Being sent by the Baptist Missionary Society, he worked in the areas including North China and Shanghai from 1870 to 1916 and his works included relief, literature, education, and social reform as well as evangelism. Sublating the hagiographical writings on him published in the first decades following his death and the socialist historiography utterly criticizing him as the agent of imperialism from the other side, this study tries to take a look both at his missionary motivation for the reform of Chinese society and politics and at his problematic toleration of the imperialistic Western Powers that was implied in his suggestions. Richard was convinced that Western civilization was benefited from the discovery of “the workings of God in Nature.” Communicating with the highest Chinese officials like Zhang Zidong and Li Hongzhang of the Self-Strengthening Movement, which was started in the 1860s, he made an effort to provide the society with scientific education and reform ideas in many areas including agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, education, and religious education. Serving as the general secretary of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese (SDK/SDCGK) since 1891, he had a great opportunity to help the Chinese society with writing essays, translating books, publishing books and periodicals. Especially, his translation of History of Nineteenth Century and the periodical titled The Review of the Times edited by Young J. Allen were very popular among the Chinese intellectuals seeking the ways to reform Chinese society. It is important to note that, in terms of the ideology of reform, he did not agree on the overriding Chinese motto of reform, ‘zhong-ti-si-yong,’ which meant ‘the Chinese in mindset and the Western in technology.’ Rather, his idea started from the Western Civilization, not Chinese traditional value system. His suggestion was based on his conviction that Western civilization, comprising of the materialistic development based on natural sciences and ‘the true Christian civilization,’ was superior to Chinese civilization. Thus, his suggestion tends to be a universal reform including modernization, opening of the nation to foreign nations, improvement in commerce and international trades, Western education in sciences, and toleration of Christian education. Even though he did not deny the classical education coming from Chinese tradition and only did ask adding Western subjects to the current education, his respect for Chinese tradition rather came from missiological considerations and his reform ideas came from Western and Christian influences. Furthermore, at the base of Richard’s political activism was his evangelical conviction that made him a missionary to China. In addition to his evangelical faith, through his experiences in China, he developed a type of social gospel emphasizing the Kingdom of God seeking for the salvation of both ‘body’ and ‘soul’ and both ‘individuals’ and ‘nation.’ His effort of reform was at its peak at the 1898 Reform Movement, in which the young rising reformers like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao co-operated with the Emperor Guangxu to drive forward more progressive reforms following after the Chinese’s defeat at the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). He was very influential to the top leaders of the movement in many directions. However, a series of foudroyant ideas that he suggested were not accepted or administered by the leaders and the Court. For example, he suggested 1) a protectorate by the Powers, 2) an annexation or union of China with Japan, the United States, and the British Empire at least in some areas including defence and diplomacy, and 3) a united cabinet with the same number of Chinese and foreign representatives. His ideas were shared by Chinese officials and, in fact, even some similar ideas were coined by Chinese themselves in the great crisis of the fall of the Empire in the encroachments by imperialist Western Powers. His ideas listed above, in spite of the consideration of the context, had implications of Western colonialism trespassing Chinese sovereignty. They especially show the lack of his understanding in the commercial expansion of the Western colonialists. However, despite this point, it does not seem that he was directly connected to the officials or colonialists of the Britain or other Western countries. His idea of protectorate, annexation, or united cabinet was foreign to the current British position in diplomacy. In conclusion, Richard’s reform idea, first, came from his revised evangelical faith including the idea of the Kingdom of God and missiological consideration seeking for cultural adaptation. second, he contributed to the late Qing reform movement in promoting the discourse of reform and educating the younger reformers. Third, his reform had limitations due to his own political and cultural identities as a British subject. He, in his imperialists-friendly suggestions, came to be in the line of supporting the Western colonialists and he never approached republican ideas, which some progressive Chinese already had in their mind by the end of the century.