“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...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage Publ.
2021
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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 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
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. |
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ISSN: | 2044-2556 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology today
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0040573620968098 |