UNDERSTANDING THE MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: FOCUSING ON THE PROBLEM OF THE STRANGER

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The economic integration and interdependence of national economies have increased through a rapid augmentation in cross-border movement of goods, services, technology and capital. The effects of Globalization exert intense influence on the social, political and economic condition of a given nation. Specifically, globalization accelerates to give birth to multicultural societies in countries who participate in the world market. Korea, for instance, is heading toward being a multicultural society. Due in part to the growing number of foreign brides, migrant workers and expats, the number of foreign residents exceeded the 1 million mark as of August 2007, according to immigration office data. The coexisting heterogeneous elements of the multicultural society could be causes for social conflicts and disputes. Among the problems of the current multicultural society the problem of immigrants is becoming one of the most important issues. In order to understand the multicultural society and to seek the biblical point of view concerning our problem, I will focus on the problem of the stranger (ger) in the Old Testament, which might shed light on the nature of modern multicultural societies and solving some of its problems. The goal of the study is to find positions regarding the problems of current societies that are theologically and practically sound, and to discover new ways and insights for dealing with social and political challenges.