“Our Tongue-Cut God, Respond to Us”: Prayer of Righteous Anger and Communal Lament as Theology of the Oppressed

This article offers a theological reflection on prayer of anger and lament as a formative source for the oppressed in constructing and embodying their own theology. For this purpose, particular attention is paid to Kim Heunggyum’s scandalous prayer-song “The Father of Minjung,” which was widely sung...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shin, Wonchul (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage Publ. 2021
In: Theology today
Year: 2021, Volume: 78, Issue: 1, Pages: 29-42
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
CG Christianity and Politics
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBM Asia
Further subjects:B Anger
B Political Resistance
B incarnational theology
B the oppressed
B Critical Theology
B Lament
B tongue-cut God
B Minjung
B Affections
B Prayer
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Description
Summary:This article offers a theological reflection on prayer of anger and lament as a formative source for the oppressed in constructing and embodying their own theology. For this purpose, particular attention is paid to Kim Heunggyum’s scandalous prayer-song “The Father of Minjung,” which was widely sung by Korean minjung amid their political resistance against the authoritarian regimes in the 1980s. This article historically traces this prayer-song’s original context and developmental stages and analyzes its use of cross-genre that blends the styles and structures of the minjung-gayo and the lament psalms. Theological reflection on this prayer-song focuses on particular religious affections, righteous anger and communal lament, shaped by the Korean minjung’s collective performance to sing this prayer-song as a means of political resistance. By drawing on Audre Lorde, Johann Baptist Metz, and Emmanuel Levinas, this article points out limitations of Barth’s theology of prayer and presents how Kim’s prayer-song that evokes righteous anger and communal lament served as a formative source for the Korean minjung in doing their own critical and incarnational theology.
ISSN:2044-2556
Contains:Enthalten in: Theology today
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0040573620968098