루카 복음서 19,1-10 자캐오의 회심으로 비추어 본 종교의 정의와 기능

Definition and Function of Religion in Light of Zacchaeus’ Conversion in Luke 19,1-10 :Christianity as an Object of Religious Sociology

It is absolutely unreasonable not only to deny pure religious(theological) aspects of Christianity, but also to understand it only sociologically. If we could accept a factum that Christianity is a result of God’s super-natural and super-historical revelation and human reaction to it, religio-sociological elements of Christianity would be acceptable without great opposition, because religion totally belongs to the sphere of human being. The researcher of this paper has tried to illustrate the biblical foundation of religio-sociological comprehension of Christianity from Luke 17,21 and Matthew 6,10. These two Bible texts lead us fully to comprehend real substance and function of religion as pursuit of absolute value combining personal dimension of faith with its social dimension. The writer of this paper, under such a precondition, is describing the on-going process from private side of religion(absolute freedom from desire and sin) to communal side(peace, justice, impartiality and coexistence of all member of the whole community) on a solid basis of narrative of Zacchaeus’ conversion in Luke 19,1-10. At the same time, he logically says further his explanation of various function of religion from religio-sociological point of view.