Abstract
The thesis examines the thought of the Korean theologian Ryu Yongmo, who
committed his life to developing a local Korean interpretation of Christian faith that
engaged openly with the religious pluralism that has defined Korean culture through
many centuries. The contribution of Ryu Yongmo to the history of Christian theology
in Korea has largely been neglected in critical scholarship. His theology is advocated
by a small group of loyal disciples, but it has been ignored by the Korean Protestant
churches which generally favour an exclusivist approach to the question of Christianity
and religious pluralism. The thesis aims to remedy this oversight and to offer a critical
analysis of Ryu Yongmo's thinking, steering a course between the apologetical acclaim
of his disciples and the polemical resistance of mainline Christianity.
The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part traces the history ofreligious
pluralism in Korea as the context into which Christianity was introduced by Catholic
and Protestant missionaries. The main argument of this part of the thesis is that
religious pluralism is inherently part ofKorean culture in which shamanism,
Confucianism and Buddhism form interactive layers of society, with the result that
Koreans integrate elements of these three religious traditions in their social and
individual identity. Missionary Christianity from the West regarded this as syncretistic
and introduced the concept of Christian exclusivism. The study of the life experience
ofRyu Yongmo demonstrates his growing disaffection with the missionary
Christianity of his early life, leading to his break with the institutional church and his
struggle to build a local theology that enables Christianity to engage with the religious
pluralism of Korea.
Part Two examines the theological ideas of Ryu Yongmo as expressed in the extensive
diaries that he wrote over the last twenty years of his life. Much of this material is
written in poetic style, often in the form of meditative notes. Systematic interpretation
is facilitated by reference to notes of his public lectures that have been preserved by
various of his disciples. These sources enable the main chapters of the thesis to focus
on three central ideas in Ryu Yongmo's thought: his concept of God expressed in the
term Han 'uhnim; his understanding of Jesus and Christ as expressed in the term Ol\
and his vision of Christian faith and living as 'returning to the One' as expressed in the
term Kwi-il.
In its third part the thesis attempts a critical evaluation of Ryu Yongmo's thought in
terms of constructing a local theology ofreligious pluralism which addresses Korean
religious realities and adopts Korean methods ofreligious knowledge. A comparison
of the ways in which Ryu Yongmo deals with religious pluralism, and those of John
Hick, John B. Cobb and Paul F. Knitter in the West, demonstrates that Ryu Yongmo's
theology, while being genuinely local, is potentially of significance for Christian
theology in its global dimensions. The thesis concludes that dialogue between Korean
and other local theologies can be of reciprocal enrichment, especially in facing the
common challenge of re-thinking the Christian relationship with other religions.
