An Examination on Ahn Byung-Mu’s Hermeneutics Today

The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches(WCC) held during 30th October ~ 8th November Busan in Korea, under the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”. The members of assembly discussed about the contemporary issues which the world churches were challenged from the waves of globalization and neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is characterized in terms of expansion of free trade, monopoly of financial capitalism, deregulation, enhanced privatization, and an overall reduction in government control of the economy.1 Ahn Byung-Mu is considered as a representative minjung theologian with Suh Nam-Dong and Kim Yong-bok. As the first generation of minjung theologians, they announced that Jesus was a minjung of his time of Palestine. The consequences of neoliberalism are producing massive number of temporary employees under the promoting the polarization of wealth. In this social, economic and political situation recalls the necessity of re-examination on minjung theology because the issues of minjung theology becomes again the valid agendas today. Therefore, this paper aims to re-examine minjung theology in the context of contemporary situation that neoliberalism dominates.