동학농민혁명과 복음서에 나타난 "빚탕감"에 대한 연구

A Comparative Study on "Debt-Reduction" in 1894 Donghak Peasant Revolution and the Gospels

The theme of "debt-reduction"(or "debt-remission ), a pervasive perspective among texts, such as Luke's and Matthew's Gospels, Deuteronomy, Josephus, and Philo, more than anything else is a humanitarian awakening towards the poor and the outcasts of the community through the practices of humanistic morals, brotherhood, and family-like sharing, though the contexts and degrees of their expressions look more or less different and heterogeneous. In particular, Jesus' promulgation of "the Year of the Lord" in Luke 4:19, by which he would make the theme of debt-reduction a key concept for the Kingdom of God, is like a consummation or at least a revival of the ancient Jubilee code or the Sabbath code, so as to provide a "safety valve" for the down-trodden debtors and the bottom classes of society that had been seriously suppressed and fatally deprived. For example, the so-called "Lord's Prayer" is an adumbration of these groups outcries and troubles, to a degree that they had to fervently pray for their daily bread. The same urgency is strongly felt in Matthew's parable of the Angry King(Matt 18). However, the Matthean servant's stubbornness as to the king's order for debt-reduction is diagonally converted "wise"(or "good") by the Lukan steward(Lk 16). The steward's surprising practice of debt-reduction is concocted by Jesus the parable speaker. Likewise, the issue of Reformation bills (弊政改革案) by the Donghak Peasant Revolution was a struggle to recapture of the survival rights of the peasants, who had been critically vulnerable to public suppression and plunder, especially by resolving long-lasting debts and pillaging. Today's Korean society today is confronted with a serious debt problem of individuals and families, as well as the self-employed, to such a degree that the entire society is threatened with collapse in the near future. This paper suggests that debt-reduction be practiced under its modern context for a fundamental recovery of our community, and not just for an temporary application of the social welfare system. Overcoming the present-day greed of financial institutions and the perennial failure of the governmental policies, this proposal tries to solve serious debt problems, being based on the concepts of "one family" and "humanitarian respect and brotherhood" among individuals and families. It is thus called "Guarantee of Basic Income," which is essentially and ultimately executed as a form of redistribution. In other words, a true debt-reduction of the serious indebted class will be followed by the guarantee of basic income, various programs for their credit recovery, curtailment of labor hours, post-merchandization of labor, communalization of financial institution and lands. As for Jesus' followers, any religious justification of debt-reduction and redistribution will be the word of Luke 14:12-14, arguing that the supreme and ultimate benefactor is looking at us and that He will repay us.