Theology of Wanderers

[문동환]

Theology of wanderers          Emmanuel college  Jan.20, 2008

   Lately I have been contemplating on the theology of wanderers. It is a kind of revision of the Minjung theology. The idea dawned upon to me since I came to live in the USA in 1992. Not long after I settled down in America, I happened to read a  story about an illegal immigrant from Mexico in The New York Times. Roberto and one of his friend were smuggled into the US from Mexico and headed for Long Island where they had a long time friend. This friend had written to them to come to  Long Island, saying that they could have good jobs and be able to send a good sum of money to their families. It was really a good news to them because they were struggling to survive financially. So they decided to give this a venture a day. Having successfully crossed the border, they started a long journey on foot, walking only at nights and resting during days in bushes or ruined houses. They survived by eating fruits or vegetables on the way. One of them, however, died bitten by a poison snake while they were resting in a bush. It took almost half a year for Roberto to reach the Long Island.

   Now he had to find his friend. While he was going around strange streets in a strange town with the address of his friend in his hand, he was caught by a policeman. Noticing that he was an illegal infiltrator, the policeman arrested him and tried to put him in his police car. Roberto struggled not to get into the car and begged the policeman telling his sad story that he had to work hard and send money to his starving family and the family of his friend. One NY Times reporter who happened to pass by the place wrote the story. The story really touched my heart. Since then I tried to pay close attention to stories of non documented immigrants and have read several books related to the issue..¹⁾

   According to the books, there are 20 million refugees, 30 million displaced persons, 150 million economic migrants throughout the world.²⁾ Tens of thousands refugees are moving to European countries from Africa by boats over the Mediterranean Sea and many of them die on the way. Thousands of refugees flow into Europe from Turkey and the region of former Yugoslavia also. There are 8 million refugees  in the USA most of whom are from Central America. The same things are happening in southeast Asia from Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Filipine. They flood into Japan and Korea. Quite a number of illegal immigrants from China, Mongolia, and Russia are found in Korea and in Japan. They also infiltrate into their neighboring countries.

   Many of these undocumented immigrants are brought into the developed and developing countries by illegal traffickers using dangerous and illegal practices, often using force, selling them  as slaves and prostitutes. Their lives are miserable. In fact, they are modern day slaves working at the bottom of the society without any kind of protection.

    According to the books, there are four major causes for these sad stories. First of all, the population explosion in the third world countries where much of their farm land is turning into desert, causing severe food shortages. Secondly, the repeated genocides between tribes in Africa add to the number of mass migrants. The real cause of such tragedies goes back to the long colonial rule in Africa by European nations. Under the colonial rule, the people in African were not able to develop into a modern nation and remained ignorant about birth control methods and ways of preserving their farm land from erosion. Thirdly, the spreading globalization drives third world people to a homeless life of wanderers. Globalization increases not only the gap between the first world and the third world, but also creates the gap between rich and the poor within each country. In addition, in case of many African regions, wealthy corporations move into the countries and start big farm industries using modern machines, and small farms cannot survive. Fourthly, rapid environmental change caused by the industries in the first world turns the central Asian farmlands into desert and brings a great flood to the third world nations along the line of the tropical zone such as the tsunami in Indonesia³⁾. Reading and hearing about these heartbreaking stories, the Bible became a new book. I am going to tell you what I found in the Bible.

    As I read and heard about the miserable stories of refugees and illegal immigrants far and near, I came to see God's love had been with these homeless wanderers and worked with them to bring about a new tomorrow. The story of Abraham tells us clearly what God's plan was with wanderers.⁴⁾ Abraham was a homeless wanderer driven out from Ur, the last capital of Sumerian Empire. He tried to settle down in Haran but God asked him to leave the place and become a wanderer again. There were thousands of wanderers in the Near East in those days who were called 'habiru'.⁵⁾

   According to J writer, God promised him threefold blessings. First, He/She promised him a fertile land where his descendants could settle down and live in peace.  Secondly, He/She promised him that his descendants would multiply like stars in the sky and sand on earth. Thirdly, He/She promised him a new tomorrow when the peoples of the world would bless one another through his descendants. If Abraham followed God's challenge with faith in Him, he would become the source of blessings for all humanity. Abraham accepted the challenge and faithfully kept the covenant. Actually the promises from God were exactly what all the wanderers wanted deep in their hearts. Without land, no one can survive. No one can have a happy and peaceful without a loving and caring community. No community can maintain its peace without the surrounding nations and peoples living peacefully and  blessing one another. Thus Abraham entered into the covenant relationship with God with a grateful heart and kept it faithfully.

    Later on , however, his descendants went to Egypt and joined with numerous other 'habiru from different parts of the world. For some time they seemed to have no problem in settling down by the riverside of the Nile. But that did not last long. With the ascension of a new tyrannical Pharaoh, the fate of the wanderers changed completely. For hundreds of  years, they were forced to serve the kingdom as helpless slaves and to lead a miserable life.

   As the pressure was getting worse, a baby Moses was born into a family of 'habiru.  He was saved from the murderous hands of Egyptians by a daughter of Pharaoh and grew to a mature age. As he grew maturer his sense of justice grew also and he killed Egyptians who tortured slaves. He tried to help his own people, but they did not understand him and rebelled against him. They were still not fully aware of the evilness of Pharaoh. Moses took flight and settled down in the wilderness of Midian.  

   Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness taking care of his father-in-law's sheep. Although he lived comfortably with his family, his heart was bleeding, as he heard about the terrible life of his own people in Egypt.

   One day he met the Lord God in a burning bush on a hillside of the Mt. Sinai. and discovered that the heart of God was also bleeding because of the suffering slaves in Egypt. The God called Yahweh urged  Moses to go to Egypt and deliver the suffering slaves. Moses could not respond to the request positively. How could he go to Egypt? Even his own people did not trust him. They wanted to survive there in spite of all the suffering and humiliation. But God persuaded him to go promising that He would be with him all the time. The zeal of Yahweh persuaded Moses. He made up his mind to take the challenge and went to Egypt. Kimjiha, a famous poet in Korea, called this action "Dan," cutting off(斷).⁶⁾

   He found there an amazing change in his people. Listening to the story of Moses they were willing to take a risk. To Moses' great surprise they became a new people. Through the long and terrible experiences as slaves, they finally came to see the evilness of Pharaoh and cruelness of his system. Then a strong yearning for a free and egalitarian society swelled in their hearts like a strong tide. Thus they made up to their minds to follow the lead of Moses. The experience of an extended suffering enabled the slaves to make a collective DAN. It is such a collective 'dan' which can bring a change in human history. Minjung theologians did not pay attention to this process of collective "dan".

    After escaping from Egypt miraculously, the exodus people reached Mt. Sinai and entered into a covenant relationship with the Lord Yahweh. Here we have to make a note that it was only a small part of 'habiru who rejected the rule of Pharaoh and came to Mr. Sinai. There were many more 'habiru still in Egypt under the evil rule of Pharaoh.

    The implication of the content of the covenant is very significant. There were ten "shall nots" which should not take place in the exodus community. The ten "shall nots" were the very evil things which they detested so much while they were in Egypt.⁷⁾

    1. "Thou shall not have other gods before me." Since it is the Lord God who delivered them from Egypt they must not have another god in their midst. This also means that they should not have 'kings' in their midst because kings exercised godly power like Pharaoh.

    2. "Thou shall not make for yourself  a graven image ,or likeness of anything." In Egypt there were multiple idols that they had been forced to worship.

    3. "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."  In Egypt, all the evil things were demanded in the name of Pharaoh who claimed himself to be a god. They shall not use the name of the Lord Yahweh except for love and justice.

    4. "Keep the sabbath day holy" and allow even slaves, animals, and  guests at your home to rest. They were to remember how they were forced to work year around without any rest.

    5. "Revere your parents", for they are going tell you the wonderful stories about how the Lord God delivered them from Egypt.

    6. "Thou shall not kill." So many slaves were murdered right and left by the hands of Egyptians, leaving their wives and children behind. They should not repeat the same evilness.

    7. "Thou shall not commit adultery." The home was the most precious place for the slaves and it was destroyed by adulterous acts of Egyptians.

    8. "Thou shall not steal." Egyptians stole all the fruits of their year around labour.

    9. "Thou shall not make false witnesses against your neighbors." It was always evil rulers who forced people to make false witnesses for their own greed.⁸⁾

    10. "Thou shall not covet your neighbor's property of any kind." Because coveting is the root of all the evils which they suffered in Egypt.

    Now what kind of principle should they have to build their new community? The answer came readily. They should build a community where widows, orphans, and wanderers find peace. All the suffering they had to go through was because they were wanderers. There were so many widows and orphans in their midst and they should find rest in the new community.

    Thus they created a peaceful new world according to the spirit of the covenant and led by elders who embodied the spirit of the covenant.. It was really a beautiful paradigm change.

   2. The kingdom which betrayed the covenant.      

   The new community, however, did not last long because it had retained an evil seed in their midst from previous community. That was the misuse of power. As they moved into the promised land, they used military force. They falsely believed that Yahweh was mighty one in war and massacred even women and children in the name of the holy war. But the swords invited swords. as Jesus said. Their military actions invited military attacks by the surrounding tribes and there was no peace among them, which was contrary to God's promise to Abraham.

   The worst attack came from the Philistines who had a strong standing army trained by a king armed with weapons made of iron while Israelites had weapons made of bronze. Driven to a desperate situation, the Israelites came to Samuel and begged for a king. Samuel tried to refuse their request reminding them of the covenant principle not to have any king among them. But he was unable to persuade the people and finally gave Saul as the first king to lead their military force.

   The Israelites went further away from the spirit of the covenant after David succeeded Saul as their king. Saul was a descendant of the exodus community who knew the spirit of the covenant, but David was not. He was a leader of farmers' revolutionary fighters  composed of 'habiru who had been fighting against the city states in Palestine. He was a very brave and wise leader, but did not know the spirit of the covenant. He had a prophet called Nathan who was very loyal to David. But he, too, did not know the covenant tradition.

   After David became the king of the United Kingdom, he misused the power like other neighboring kings. The first mistake he made was to commit adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of his faithful subject. After making her husband die in a war he  took Bathsheba as his favourite wife. After the rebuke by Nathan, he repented  but constant calamities fell upon his royal house. There were repeated  struggles between his sons for power. He himself was pushed out from the palace  by his rebellious son, Absalom.

   Although he promoted the Yahweh worship by bringing Ark of Yahweh to Jerusalem and keeping it in a tent he set up, it actually promoted the Baal worship by making people believe that Yahweh was only in the temple. Furthermore, his repeated conquest over neighboring countries created deep animosity between him and those places and there was no peace. He became a king just like other kings around him.

   As Solomon, a son from Bathsheba, was enthroned as a successor of David, he murdered all his brothers to safeguard his throne. Although he was praised by his royal historians as the wisest king that ever lived, his excessive actions of self glorification splitted the country in two, the kingdom of Israel and of Judea.

   Almost all the kings in succeeding generations misused their power gravely and brought miseries to their people, and God, through his prophets, delivered to them  His word of severe judgement upon them.

   But the spirit of the prophecies related to a future markedly different for the kingdom of Judea and that of the Northern kingdom. The prophets of the kingdom of Judea which kept the Davidic tradition prophesied a peaceful future when the long period of suffering was over. They told the people that a Messiah would come from the house of David and bring a wonderful age of peace.

   The hope for the Messiah from the lineage of David became stronger among the people of Judea after the fall of Jerusalem. They believed that God punished them because of they had had a close association with foreigners and worshipped their god Baal. They believed that if they repented their sins, kept the holy laws and worshiped the Lord God and offered sacrifices faithfully to Him, He would forgive their sins  and send the promised Messiah. They also decided not to have any contact with foreigners, and to keep themselves holy. Thus they created a strict Judaism and believed that if they followed Judaism faithfully, God would send the promised Messiah and restore the kingdom of David. This belief, however, had a grave pitfall because it is impossible to have a king from royal house who can understand the sufferings which homeless wanderers go through. This faith , however, flourished even at the time of Jesus.

   The view of the prophets of the Northern Kingdom about their future was quite  different. They believed that the people would become clearly aware of the will of God after they went through the valley of suffering. They believed that through the extended suffering which they brought upon themselves, they would come to know the will of God and become faithful to Him/Her like the exodus people were.

   We find a seed of such a hope in the story of prophet Hosea, a prophet of the Northern Kingdom. God  told him to  marry a whore and have children from her. Hosea married Gomer as he was instructed by God and had children from her.  Later on, however, Gomer left Hosea and became a temple prostitute breaking the heart of Hosea. Later on, God told  Hosea to go and redeem Gomer. But He told Hosea not to live with her for sometime. Let her live separately until she became purified. So Hosea followed the instruction. The story implied that God would wait for sometime until Israelites become purified through the extended period of suffering.

   The theme became more explicit in the story of Jeremiah who inherited the exodus tradition and knew the meaning of suffering of the people. When Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Babylon, Jeremiah advised the people of Judea not to fight against Babylon. He said that it was God's plan for them to scatter around the world and go through sufferings for an extended period of time. Later on he wrote a letter to those who were taken to Babylon already and yearning to come back to Jerusalem. He told them to be prepared to stay there for a long time, for it was God's plan that they should go through the valley of suffering for a long time. After awhile he told them that God would bring them back to Jerusalem and would establish a new covenant with them. He said, "deep within them I will plant my Law, writing them on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbors to try to teach neighbor, or brother to brother to say , "Learn to know Yahweh."⁹⁾

   Prophet Ezekiel spoke God's plan in a more poetic way. He said: "when the time came God would gather the scattered people and bring them back home and pour clean water over them and they would be cleansed.. . . I will give them a new heart, and put in them a new spirit. . . I shall remove from them the heart of stone and given them a heart of flesh. . . . They shall be my people I will be their God."¹⁰⁾  Through their extended life as wanderers they would be purified and learn the will of God and become faithful people of Yahweh.     

    The understanding of the mind of Yahweh was further deepened in the four servant songs of send Isaiah. They are chapters 42: 1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:14-53:12. In all these four songs God's concern was not only with the people of Israel but the people of all nations. The poets came to a deeper understanding of God's plan through the experience of suffering in Babylon. They came to know that they were chosen not only for the salvation of Israelites, but for all the peoples unto the end of the world. For that purpose they were trained through suffering and they were grateful for it. Every morning when they get up God taught them how to enlighten other oppressed peoples about the loving God who was on the side of the oppressed. This gave them so much joy so that they would not try to evade suffering. In the final song in chapter 53, the horrible scene of the suffering servant made the indifferent onlookers aware of their own sins for which the servant was suffering, Thus repenting, they came to the side of the servant.          

    Gottwald thinks that the poet could have been a political prisoner in Babylon who was put in the prison. In the prison he could have written the songs through the bitter experiences in the prison. ¹¹⁾ If that was the case, the poet could have had the experience of being acquainted with the political prisoners of other small nations and told them about Yahweh's gracious act of  delivering his ancestors from the hands of Pharaoh and his story could have given them great encouragement and let them to accept Yahweh as their God. Through such miserable suffering, fertile soil was readied among those who wandered around Mediterranean world to accept the good news coming from Galilee.            

   3. The New Kingdom's Movement from Galilee.

      There were multiple communities composed of wanderers in the first century around the Mediterranean world. The community of peace and justice was born in Galilee which was the seat of the Exodus community. Galilee had a fertile soil which produced 90% of farm products for the people living in Palestine, The land did not, however, belong to the farmers working on it. It belonged to the wealthy city dwellers. Farmers were either tenants or daily workers and extremely poor. As the farm population grew, many of them could not even find daily work on the farms  and became homeless wanderers. Many of them came to the cities, seeking daily work. Many of the young men joined the party of zealots.  Many of the young women became harlots. They were so poor that it was impossible for them to keep the laws and traditions. Thus they became social outcasts and condemned as sinners. Jesus was born in their midst.

   As a son of a carpenter, however, he must have been able to learn laws and traditions. The fact that he was often called rabbi means that he was well trained in the Jewish tradition. However, he identified himself completely with the suffering Galileans. Sharing their suffering and pains, he completely rejected the system of the time and sought after a solution where the oppressed might find peace.    

   When he became thirty, he decided to join the movement started by John the Baptist and  was baptized by John. After the baptism he went into the wilderness to meditate the mission he was to carry.

   The gospel traditions tell us that Jesus went through the three fold temptation from Satan in the wilderness. There he tackled the kind of temptations by which Satan misled most of the people, particularly kings and religious leaders. Jesus had to overcome those temptations in order to lead the people to a way of life. That is why the Holy Spirit led him to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.¹¹⁾

   When Jesus became hungry, Satan said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves." Satan was saying that to produce a wealth of material things was the solution for the problems of the world. Our consumption culture claims the same message and all the political leaders fall into this temptation.

   But Jesus, however, rejected the temptation. The real solution is not in the abundance of material things. We see that in our capitalistic world where rich become and become poorer.  The word that comes from the mouth of God is the solution. The word coming from God tells us to share god's gifts with one another  so that no one will worry about what to eat and what to wear. The spirit of sharing out of love is the solution.

   The devil took him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the temple and said "throw yourself down. God will send angels to protect you so that your feet will not get hurt." The tempter suggested that Jesus to use Judaism, particularly the religion of the temple, forcing God to protect him thereby making himself into the Messiah whom they had waited for so long time. In other words, he should use the religion to make himself a Messiah. Actually king David tried to use God for his political purposes by enshrining the ark of Moses in the temple in Jerusalem. Most of the other kings and religious leaders used gods for their own power and greed. This is an action against article three of the decalogue which forbids the use the name of God in vain. Thus Jesus rejected the temptation by saying "you must not put the Lord your God  to the test."

   Then the tempter took Jesus on a high mountain showing him all the kingdoms of the world and said "I will give you all of these, if you fall at my feet and worship me." Satan was using the power and its glory. Jesus knew the earthly power leads humanity to its destruction and rejected it by saying "You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone." Overcoming all the temptations which have been the source of all the evil things, Jesus made "dan" and started his ministry with the spirit of love and service.

    Jesus ministry started with a proclamation, saying "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Turn around from the path of materialism, misguided religions, and the worship of power which leads people to death. Instead follow the narrow path of loving, sharing, and forgiving. He lived what he preached and created communities of love and peace. He loved the wanderers who were condemned as sinners. He shared the meal with them, cured their diseases, created a loving community in which homeless found peace and joy. To this challenge, mass of wanderers responded including gentiles from trans Jordan area. They made a collective "dan" followed en mass. The community grew like a mustard seed and spread like leaven among wanderers. The prayer which Jesus taught  his disciples shows the heart of his teaching. He taught the disciples to call God "our father". God was a loving father to the members of the community. They were to pray the will of God to be realized in their midst. They were to pray for a community where no one would worry what to eat and what to wear. There would be an abundant spirit of forgiveness so much so that everyone will find peace in their mind.

    The ministry of Jesus was not only for the wanderers among Jews. It included all the people unto the end of the world. From the early stage of his ministry, people from Tyre and Sidon were among the crowd gathered around Jesus.¹²⁾ Thus God's promise to Abraham and the words of prophets were realized through the service of Jesus.

    While he was leading the wanderers to the path of life, he challenged the corrupt religious system. He challenged the system in order to reveal their hypocrisy to the people so that people may see clearly evilness of the system and turn around and join the kingdom's movement.

    Finally He went up to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple. He knew this would bring him his death. He also knew that through his death people would come to see the evilness of the system and its leaders, and that they would made "dan" and  join the kingdom of God. This happened after his resurrection. Thousands of people in Jerusaalem turned around and joined the community of love and peace.

    Unfortunately, however, the followers of Jesus were split into two different communities. One was the community in Jerusalem headed by Peter. John and James, a brother of Jesus. The other was the community started in Galilee composed of noly Galileans but also many  gentiles.

    The community in Jerusalem believed that the risen Lord would come back to Jerusalem and restore the Kingdom of David. Believing in Davidic tradition, they awaited the coming of Jesus in Jerusalem which is the city of David. The community in Galilee which followed the exodus tradition met the risen Lord in Galilee. With the spirit of the risen Lord.  They continued to believe that the risen Lord would come to Galilee where wanderers were waiting for a new world where peace and justice would abound. Thus the community in Galilee became a seed for the kingdom of God which grew like a mustard seed and spread among the wanderers in the Mediterranean world. The story of Paul tells clearly how the community spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Mediterranean world. Paul met Christ on his way to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus right after martyrdom of Stephen. This means that there were already a community of the followers of Jesus was in Damascus. Furthermore wherever Paul went to spread the Gospel, he found Christians there already. Although many christians scattered around Palestine at the time when Stephen was stoned and spread the good news, the church in Jerusalem waited for the second coming of the risen Lord in Jerusalem until the city was destroyed by Roman military forces in AD 70.

    Later on, however, the teaching propagated from Jerusalem dominated Christendom because of the apostolic authority headed by Peter. It was really unfortunate that the teaching of Jesus was misled by Jerusalem tradition into messianic expectation. This expectation was further influenced by Hellenistic dualism as the church entered into the world dominated by Greek thought. Since then the letters written by Paul became the core of the Christian theology and the story of the life of Jesus was practically ignored. The story of Jesus of Nazareth came back as the center of the Christian theology, however, after the end of the Second World War and the people in the third world became free from the colonial powers. As the theologians in the third world read the Bible from the vantage point of  the oppressed it became clear that God was on the side of the oppressed and Jesus was the anointed one to create God's kingdom with the oppressed. Thus various theologies of liberation came into being. Minjung theology was one of them.

    Theologians so far have not seen the importance of wanderers in God's redemptive work in the world. However, with the emergence of the multitude of wanderers all over the world, it has become clear that God's concern was with them and works in human history to deliver them from the curse of globalization driven by multinational corporations, which is the modern day Egypt. God's encounter is for a new world where peace and justice will abound. According to what we have learned from the Bible, God will work with the wanderers who are going through the valley of suffering, by making them aware the evilness of  globalizaton which is driven by misuse of power for the greed of the ruling class. The challenge now is to find out how the church is going to participate in God's mission in today's world. 

Conclusion 

    As the 21st century unfolds, we see millions of homeless wanderers crying out all over the world. The wanderers are suffering under the exploitation of 21st Egypt, globalization, engineered by wealthy nations. The cries of the wanderers call forth urgently for another exodus. Professor Paul Kennedy of Yale university mentioned the problem of the wanderers as one of the major issues which politicians of 21st century should tackle.¹³⁾

   The study of the Bible shows clearly the road we should take. First, the wanderers should be able to see through the evilness of the capitalistic consumption culture which gave birth to globalization conflicts between nations. They should reject it and make collective "dan" to the system of greed and power which even uses religions to achieve its goal. At the same  time, a new culture which can value life and foster peace and justice among men. It seems that the wanderers in South America seem to have made their 'dan' and crossed over the red sea.  The chosen people who share the pain with God should listen to their cries and respond to God's call for the exodus of 21st century.

    The Church as the community of disciples of Jesus should make "dan" as her Lord Jesus Christ did and raise her voice declaring the impending judgment of history and urge the people of the  world to turn around from the path of destruction. At the same time the church should promote the creation of new communities of peace and justice where the spirit of sharing and forgiving prevail.

    The Church should remember the teaching of Jesus that the kingdom starts like a mustard seed and spreads like leaven, giving the light of hope to the world through her testimony. Therefore the Church should examine her life constantly if she is not fallen into the three fold temptation of the tempter.

   The community should be inclusive, embracing the peoples of the world with the spirit of understanding and cooperation in order to create global peace and harmony.

It  should keep communion with other religions and try to create a global ecumenism in order to create a "global dan" which is absolutely necessary to  create a global peace and justice.¹⁴⁾

    It is also fundamental for the Church to keep the faith in God who is the Lord of history. The evil system of today seems to be overwhelming like the Egyptian empire four thousand years ago. But the Lord God will accomplish His/Her will on earth as He/She has delivered 'habiru from Egypt.

Bibliography

Suh, Namdong: Search for Minjung theology, Hangil co. Seoul, Korea 1983 (Korean)

Ahn, Pyungmoo: Jesus of Galilee, Institute of Korean Theology, Seoul, Korea,1990  

             (Korean)

Moon, Ikhwan: History of Hebrew Minjung, Samin co. Seoul, Korea 1990(Korean)

Moon, Tonghwan: Education of Arirang Hill, Institute of Korean Theology, Seoul,            Korea, 1985(korean)

 Moon, Tonghwan: Life Centered Community and Kihwa Education, Institute of               Korean Theology, Seoul, Korea. 1997 (Korean)

Paul Kennedy: Preparing for the Twenty First Century,

    Vintage Book, new York,1993

W.Fisher & Thomas Ponniah (ed.) Another World is Possible,           

    Fernwood Publication LTD.Nova Scotia, 2003

The Office of UN High commissioner for Rfugees: The State of the WORLD'S

    REFUGEES, Oxford press, 2006

Dick Chase Eldredge: Crowded Land of Liberty,

    Bridge Works  Publishing, New York, 2001

Michelle Malkin: Invasion, Reggnery Publishing, INC.                   

    Washington, DC. 2002

David L. Bender & Bruno Leone (ed.) Immigration,

    Opposing  Viewpoints Series, Greenhaven Press,1990

http://home.att.net/Illegal "immigratio

Theology of wanderers          Emmanuel college  Jan.20, 2008

   Lately I have been contemplating on the theology of wanderers. It is a kind of revision of the Minjung theology. The idea dawned upon to me since I came to live in the USA in 1992. Not long after I settled down in America, I happened to read a  story about an illegal immigrant from Mexico in The New York Times. Roberto and one of his friend were smuggled into the US from Mexico and headed for Long Island where they had a long time friend. This friend had written to them to come to  Long Island, saying that they could have good jobs and be able to send a good sum of money to their families. It was really a good news to them because they were struggling to survive financially. So they decided to give this a venture a day. Having successfully crossed the border, they started a long journey on foot, walking only at nights and resting during days in bushes or ruined houses. They survived by eating fruits or vegetables on the way. One of them, however, died bitten by a poison snake while they were resting in a bush. It took almost half a year for Roberto to reach the Long Island.

   Now he had to find his friend. While he was going around strange streets in a strange town with the address of his friend in his hand, he was caught by a policeman. Noticing that he was an illegal infiltrator, the policeman arrested him and tried to put him in his police car. Roberto struggled not to get into the car and begged the policeman telling his sad story that he had to work hard and send money to his starving family and the family of his friend. One NY Times reporter who happened to pass by the place wrote the story. The story really touched my heart. Since then I tried to pay close attention to stories of non documented immigrants and have read several books related to the issue..¹⁾

   According to the books, there are 20 million refugees, 30 million displaced persons, 150 million economic migrants throughout the world.²⁾ Tens of thousands refugees are moving to European countries from Africa by boats over the Mediterranean Sea and many of them die on the way. Thousands of refugees flow into Europe from Turkey and the region of former Yugoslavia also. There are 8 million refugees  in the USA most of whom are from Central America. The same things are happening in southeast Asia from Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Filipine. They flood into Japan and Korea. Quite a number of illegal immigrants from China, Mongolia, and Russia are found in Korea and in Japan. They also infiltrate into their neighboring countries.

   Many of these undocumented immigrants are brought into the developed and developing countries by illegal traffickers using dangerous and illegal practices, often using force, selling them  as slaves and prostitutes. Their lives are miserable. In fact, they are modern day slaves working at the bottom of the society without any kind of protection.

    According to the books, there are four major causes for these sad stories. First of all, the population explosion in the third world countries where much of their farm land is turning into desert, causing severe food shortages. Secondly, the repeated genocides between tribes in Africa add to the number of mass migrants. The real cause of such tragedies goes back to the long colonial rule in Africa by European nations. Under the colonial rule, the people in African were not able to develop into a modern nation and remained ignorant about birth control methods and ways of preserving their farm land from erosion. Thirdly, the spreading globalization drives third world people to a homeless life of wanderers. Globalization increases not only the gap between the first world and the third world, but also creates the gap between rich and the poor within each country. In addition, in case of many African regions, wealthy corporations move into the countries and start big farm industries using modern machines, and small farms cannot survive. Fourthly, rapid environmental change caused by the industries in the first world turns the central Asian farmlands into desert and brings a great flood to the third world nations along the line of the tropical zone such as the tsunami in Indonesia³⁾. Reading and hearing about these heartbreaking stories, the Bible became a new book. I am going to tell you what I found in the Bible.

    As I read and heard about the miserable stories of refugees and illegal immigrants far and near, I came to see God's love had been with these homeless wanderers and worked with them to bring about a new tomorrow. The story of Abraham tells us clearly what God's plan was with wanderers.⁴⁾ Abraham was a homeless wanderer driven out from Ur, the last capital of Sumerian Empire. He tried to settle down in Haran but God asked him to leave the place and become a wanderer again. There were thousands of wanderers in the Near East in those days who were called 'habiru'.⁵⁾

   According to J writer, God promised him threefold blessings. First, He/She promised him a fertile land where his descendants could settle down and live in peace.  Secondly, He/She promised him that his descendants would multiply like stars in the sky and sand on earth. Thirdly, He/She promised him a new tomorrow when the peoples of the world would bless one another through his descendants. If Abraham followed God's challenge with faith in Him, he would become the source of blessings for all humanity. Abraham accepted the challenge and faithfully kept the covenant. Actually the promises from God were exactly what all the wanderers wanted deep in their hearts. Without land, no one can survive. No one can have a happy and peaceful without a loving and caring community. No community can maintain its peace without the surrounding nations and peoples living peacefully and  blessing one another. Thus Abraham entered into the covenant relationship with God with a grateful heart and kept it faithfully.

    Later on , however, his descendants went to Egypt and joined with numerous other 'habiru from different parts of the world. For some time they seemed to have no problem in settling down by the riverside of the Nile. But that did not last long. With the ascension of a new tyrannical Pharaoh, the fate of the wanderers changed completely. For hundreds of  years, they were forced to serve the kingdom as helpless slaves and to lead a miserable life.

   As the pressure was getting worse, a baby Moses was born into a family of 'habiru.  He was saved from the murderous hands of Egyptians by a daughter of Pharaoh and grew to a mature age. As he grew maturer his sense of justice grew also and he killed Egyptians who tortured slaves. He tried to help his own people, but they did not understand him and rebelled against him. They were still not fully aware of the evilness of Pharaoh. Moses took flight and settled down in the wilderness of Midian.  

   Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness taking care of his father-in-law's sheep. Although he lived comfortably with his family, his heart was bleeding, as he heard about the terrible life of his own people in Egypt.

   One day he met the Lord God in a burning bush on a hillside of the Mt. Sinai. and discovered that the heart of God was also bleeding because of the suffering slaves in Egypt. The God called Yahweh urged  Moses to go to Egypt and deliver the suffering slaves. Moses could not respond to the request positively. How could he go to Egypt? Even his own people did not trust him. They wanted to survive there in spite of all the suffering and humiliation. But God persuaded him to go promising that He would be with him all the time. The zeal of Yahweh persuaded Moses. He made up his mind to take the challenge and went to Egypt. Kimjiha, a famous poet in Korea, called this action "Dan," cutting off(斷).⁶⁾

   He found there an amazing change in his people. Listening to the story of Moses they were willing to take a risk. To Moses' great surprise they became a new people. Through the long and terrible experiences as slaves, they finally came to see the evilness of Pharaoh and cruelness of his system. Then a strong yearning for a free and egalitarian society swelled in their hearts like a strong tide. Thus they made up to their minds to follow the lead of Moses. The experience of an extended suffering enabled the slaves to make a collective DAN. It is such a collective 'dan' which can bring a change in human history. Minjung theologians did not pay attention to this process of collective "dan".

    After escaping from Egypt miraculously, the exodus people reached Mt. Sinai and entered into a covenant relationship with the Lord Yahweh. Here we have to make a note that it was only a small part of 'habiru who rejected the rule of Pharaoh and came to Mr. Sinai. There were many more 'habiru still in Egypt under the evil rule of Pharaoh.

    The implication of the content of the covenant is very significant. There were ten "shall nots" which should not take place in the exodus community. The ten "shall nots" were the very evil things which they detested so much while they were in Egypt.⁷⁾

    1. "Thou shall not have other gods before me." Since it is the Lord God who delivered them from Egypt they must not have another god in their midst. This also means that they should not have 'kings' in their midst because kings exercised godly power like Pharaoh.

    2. "Thou shall not make for yourself  a graven image ,or likeness of anything." In Egypt there were multiple idols that they had been forced to worship.

    3. "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."  In Egypt, all the evil things were demanded in the name of Pharaoh who claimed himself to be a god. They shall not use the name of the Lord Yahweh except for love and justice.

    4. "Keep the sabbath day holy" and allow even slaves, animals, and  guests at your home to rest. They were to remember how they were forced to work year around without any rest.

    5. "Revere your parents", for they are going tell you the wonderful stories about how the Lord God delivered them from Egypt.

    6. "Thou shall not kill." So many slaves were murdered right and left by the hands of Egyptians, leaving their wives and children behind. They should not repeat the same evilness.

    7. "Thou shall not commit adultery." The home was the most precious place for the slaves and it was destroyed by adulterous acts of Egyptians.

    8. "Thou shall not steal." Egyptians stole all the fruits of their year around labour.

    9. "Thou shall not make false witnesses against your neighbors." It was always evil rulers who forced people to make false witnesses for their own greed.⁸⁾

    10. "Thou shall not covet your neighbor's property of any kind." Because coveting is the root of all the evils which they suffered in Egypt.

    Now what kind of principle should they have to build their new community? The answer came readily. They should build a community where widows, orphans, and wanderers find peace. All the suffering they had to go through was because they were wanderers. There were so many widows and orphans in their midst and they should find rest in the new community.

    Thus they created a peaceful new world according to the spirit of the covenant and led by elders who embodied the spirit of the covenant.. It was really a beautiful paradigm change.

   2. The kingdom which betrayed the covenant.      

   The new community, however, did not last long because it had retained an evil seed in their midst from previous community. That was the misuse of power. As they moved into the promised land, they used military force. They falsely believed that Yahweh was mighty one in war and massacred even women and children in the name of the holy war. But the swords invited swords. as Jesus said. Their military actions invited military attacks by the surrounding tribes and there was no peace among them, which was contrary to God's promise to Abraham.

   The worst attack came from the Philistines who had a strong standing army trained by a king armed with weapons made of iron while Israelites had weapons made of bronze. Driven to a desperate situation, the Israelites came to Samuel and begged for a king. Samuel tried to refuse their request reminding them of the covenant principle not to have any king among them. But he was unable to persuade the people and finally gave Saul as the first king to lead their military force.

   The Israelites went further away from the spirit of the covenant after David succeeded Saul as their king. Saul was a descendant of the exodus community who knew the spirit of the covenant, but David was not. He was a leader of farmers' revolutionary fighters  composed of 'habiru who had been fighting against the city states in Palestine. He was a very brave and wise leader, but did not know the spirit of the covenant. He had a prophet called Nathan who was very loyal to David. But he, too, did not know the covenant tradition.

   After David became the king of the United Kingdom, he misused the power like other neighboring kings. The first mistake he made was to commit adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of his faithful subject. After making her husband die in a war he  took Bathsheba as his favourite wife. After the rebuke by Nathan, he repented  but constant calamities fell upon his royal house. There were repeated  struggles between his sons for power. He himself was pushed out from the palace  by his rebellious son, Absalom.

   Although he promoted the Yahweh worship by bringing Ark of Yahweh to Jerusalem and keeping it in a tent he set up, it actually promoted the Baal worship by making people believe that Yahweh was only in the temple. Furthermore, his repeated conquest over neighboring countries created deep animosity between him and those places and there was no peace. He became a king just like other kings around him.

   As Solomon, a son from Bathsheba, was enthroned as a successor of David, he murdered all his brothers to safeguard his throne. Although he was praised by his royal historians as the wisest king that ever lived, his excessive actions of self glorification splitted the country in two, the kingdom of Israel and of Judea.

   Almost all the kings in succeeding generations misused their power gravely and brought miseries to their people, and God, through his prophets, delivered to them  His word of severe judgement upon them.

   But the spirit of the prophecies related to a future markedly different for the kingdom of Judea and that of the Northern kingdom. The prophets of the kingdom of Judea which kept the Davidic tradition prophesied a peaceful future when the long period of suffering was over. They told the people that a Messiah would come from the house of David and bring a wonderful age of peace.

   The hope for the Messiah from the lineage of David became stronger among the people of Judea after the fall of Jerusalem. They believed that God punished them because of they had had a close association with foreigners and worshipped their god Baal. They believed that if they repented their sins, kept the holy laws and worshiped the Lord God and offered sacrifices faithfully to Him, He would forgive their sins  and send the promised Messiah. They also decided not to have any contact with foreigners, and to keep themselves holy. Thus they created a strict Judaism and believed that if they followed Judaism faithfully, God would send the promised Messiah and restore the kingdom of David. This belief, however, had a grave pitfall because it is impossible to have a king from royal house who can understand the sufferings which homeless wanderers go through. This faith , however, flourished even at the time of Jesus.

   The view of the prophets of the Northern Kingdom about their future was quite  different. They believed that the people would become clearly aware of the will of God after they went through the valley of suffering. They believed that through the extended suffering which they brought upon themselves, they would come to know the will of God and become faithful to Him/Her like the exodus people were.

   We find a seed of such a hope in the story of prophet Hosea, a prophet of the Northern Kingdom. God  told him to  marry a whore and have children from her. Hosea married Gomer as he was instructed by God and had children from her.  Later on, however, Gomer left Hosea and became a temple prostitute breaking the heart of Hosea. Later on, God told  Hosea to go and redeem Gomer. But He told Hosea not to live with her for sometime. Let her live separately until she became purified. So Hosea followed the instruction. The story implied that God would wait for sometime until Israelites become purified through the extended period of suffering.

   The theme became more explicit in the story of Jeremiah who inherited the exodus tradition and knew the meaning of suffering of the people. When Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Babylon, Jeremiah advised the people of Judea not to fight against Babylon. He said that it was God's plan for them to scatter around the world and go through sufferings for an extended period of time. Later on he wrote a letter to those who were taken to Babylon already and yearning to come back to Jerusalem. He told them to be prepared to stay there for a long time, for it was God's plan that they should go through the valley of suffering for a long time. After awhile he told them that God would bring them back to Jerusalem and would establish a new covenant with them. He said, "deep within them I will plant my Law, writing them on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbors to try to teach neighbor, or brother to brother to say , "Learn to know Yahweh."⁹⁾

   Prophet Ezekiel spoke God's plan in a more poetic way. He said: "when the time came God would gather the scattered people and bring them back home and pour clean water over them and they would be cleansed.. . . I will give them a new heart, and put in them a new spirit. . . I shall remove from them the heart of stone and given them a heart of flesh. . . . They shall be my people I will be their God."¹⁰⁾  Through their extended life as wanderers they would be purified and learn the will of God and become faithful people of Yahweh.     

    The understanding of the mind of Yahweh was further deepened in the four servant songs of send Isaiah. They are chapters 42: 1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:14-53:12. In all these four songs God's concern was not only with the people of Israel but the people of all nations. The poets came to a deeper understanding of God's plan through the experience of suffering in Babylon. They came to know that they were chosen not only for the salvation of Israelites, but for all the peoples unto the end of the world. For that purpose they were trained through suffering and they were grateful for it. Every morning when they get up God taught them how to enlighten other oppressed peoples about the loving God who was on the side of the oppressed. This gave them so much joy so that they would not try to evade suffering. In the final song in chapter 53, the horrible scene of the suffering servant made the indifferent onlookers aware of their own sins for which the servant was suffering, Thus repenting, they came to the side of the servant.          

    Gottwald thinks that the poet could have been a political prisoner in Babylon who was put in the prison. In the prison he could have written the songs through the bitter experiences in the prison. ¹¹⁾ If that was the case, the poet could have had the experience of being acquainted with the political prisoners of other small nations and told them about Yahweh's gracious act of  delivering his ancestors from the hands of Pharaoh and his story could have given them great encouragement and let them to accept Yahweh as their God. Through such miserable suffering, fertile soil was readied among those who wandered around Mediterranean world to accept the good news coming from Galilee.            

   3. The New Kingdom's Movement from Galilee.

      There were multiple communities composed of wanderers in the first century around the Mediterranean world. The community of peace and justice was born in Galilee which was the seat of the Exodus community. Galilee had a fertile soil which produced 90% of farm products for the people living in Palestine, The land did not, however, belong to the farmers working on it. It belonged to the wealthy city dwellers. Farmers were either tenants or daily workers and extremely poor. As the farm population grew, many of them could not even find daily work on the farms  and became homeless wanderers. Many of them came to the cities, seeking daily work. Many of the young men joined the party of zealots.  Many of the young women became harlots. They were so poor that it was impossible for them to keep the laws and traditions. Thus they became social outcasts and condemned as sinners. Jesus was born in their midst.

   As a son of a carpenter, however, he must have been able to learn laws and traditions. The fact that he was often called rabbi means that he was well trained in the Jewish tradition. However, he identified himself completely with the suffering Galileans. Sharing their suffering and pains, he completely rejected the system of the time and sought after a solution where the oppressed might find peace.    

   When he became thirty, he decided to join the movement started by John the Baptist and  was baptized by John. After the baptism he went into the wilderness to meditate the mission he was to carry.

   The gospel traditions tell us that Jesus went through the three fold temptation from Satan in the wilderness. There he tackled the kind of temptations by which Satan misled most of the people, particularly kings and religious leaders. Jesus had to overcome those temptations in order to lead the people to a way of life. That is why the Holy Spirit led him to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.¹¹⁾

   When Jesus became hungry, Satan said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves." Satan was saying that to produce a wealth of material things was the solution for the problems of the world. Our consumption culture claims the same message and all the political leaders fall into this temptation.

   But Jesus, however, rejected the temptation. The real solution is not in the abundance of material things. We see that in our capitalistic world where rich become and become poorer.  The word that comes from the mouth of God is the solution. The word coming from God tells us to share god's gifts with one another  so that no one will worry about what to eat and what to wear. The spirit of sharing out of love is the solution.

   The devil took him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the temple and said "throw yourself down. God will send angels to protect you so that your feet will not get hurt." The tempter suggested that Jesus to use Judaism, particularly the religion of the temple, forcing God to protect him thereby making himself into the Messiah whom they had waited for so long time. In other words, he should use the religion to make himself a Messiah. Actually king David tried to use God for his political purposes by enshrining the ark of Moses in the temple in Jerusalem. Most of the other kings and religious leaders used gods for their own power and greed. This is an action against article three of the decalogue which forbids the use the name of God in vain. Thus Jesus rejected the temptation by saying "you must not put the Lord your God  to the test."

   Then the tempter took Jesus on a high mountain showing him all the kingdoms of the world and said "I will give you all of these, if you fall at my feet and worship me." Satan was using the power and its glory. Jesus knew the earthly power leads humanity to its destruction and rejected it by saying "You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone." Overcoming all the temptations which have been the source of all the evil things, Jesus made "dan" and started his ministry with the spirit of love and service.

    Jesus ministry started with a proclamation, saying "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Turn around from the path of materialism, misguided religions, and the worship of power which leads people to death. Instead follow the narrow path of loving, sharing, and forgiving. He lived what he preached and created communities of love and peace. He loved the wanderers who were condemned as sinners. He shared the meal with them, cured their diseases, created a loving community in which homeless found peace and joy. To this challenge, mass of wanderers responded including gentiles from trans Jordan area. They made a collective "dan" followed en mass. The community grew like a mustard seed and spread like leaven among wanderers. The prayer which Jesus taught  his disciples shows the heart of his teaching. He taught the disciples to call God "our father". God was a loving father to the members of the community. They were to pray the will of God to be realized in their midst. They were to pray for a community where no one would worry what to eat and what to wear. There would be an abundant spirit of forgiveness so much so that everyone will find peace in their mind.

    The ministry of Jesus was not only for the wanderers among Jews. It included all the people unto the end of the world. From the early stage of his ministry, people from Tyre and Sidon were among the crowd gathered around Jesus.¹²⁾ Thus God's promise to Abraham and the words of prophets were realized through the service of Jesus.

    While he was leading the wanderers to the path of life, he challenged the corrupt religious system. He challenged the system in order to reveal their hypocrisy to the people so that people may see clearly evilness of the system and turn around and join the kingdom's movement.

    Finally He went up to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple. He knew this would bring him his death. He also knew that through his death people would come to see the evilness of the system and its leaders, and that they would made "dan" and  join the kingdom of God. This happened after his resurrection. Thousands of people in Jerusaalem turned around and joined the community of love and peace.

    Unfortunately, however, the followers of Jesus were split into two different communities. One was the community in Jerusalem headed by Peter. John and James, a brother of Jesus. The other was the community started in Galilee composed of noly Galileans but also many  gentiles.

    The community in Jerusalem believed that the risen Lord would come back to Jerusalem and restore the Kingdom of David. Believing in Davidic tradition, they awaited the coming of Jesus in Jerusalem which is the city of David. The community in Galilee which followed the exodus tradition met the risen Lord in Galilee. With the spirit of the risen Lord.  They continued to believe that the risen Lord would come to Galilee where wanderers were waiting for a new world where peace and justice would abound. Thus the community in Galilee became a seed for the kingdom of God which grew like a mustard seed and spread among the wanderers in the Mediterranean world. The story of Paul tells clearly how the community spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Mediterranean world. Paul met Christ on his way to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus right after martyrdom of Stephen. This means that there were already a community of the followers of Jesus was in Damascus. Furthermore wherever Paul went to spread the Gospel, he found Christians there already. Although many christians scattered around Palestine at the time when Stephen was stoned and spread the good news, the church in Jerusalem waited for the second coming of the risen Lord in Jerusalem until the city was destroyed by Roman military forces in AD 70.

    Later on, however, the teaching propagated from Jerusalem dominated Christendom because of the apostolic authority headed by Peter. It was really unfortunate that the teaching of Jesus was misled by Jerusalem tradition into messianic expectation. This expectation was further influenced by Hellenistic dualism as the church entered into the world dominated by Greek thought. Since then the letters written by Paul became the core of the Christian theology and the story of the life of Jesus was practically ignored. The story of Jesus of Nazareth came back as the center of the Christian theology, however, after the end of the Second World War and the people in the third world became free from the colonial powers. As the theologians in the third world read the Bible from the vantage point of  the oppressed it became clear that God was on the side of the oppressed and Jesus was the anointed one to create God's kingdom with the oppressed. Thus various theologies of liberation came into being. Minjung theology was one of them.

    Theologians so far have not seen the importance of wanderers in God's redemptive work in the world. However, with the emergence of the multitude of wanderers all over the world, it has become clear that God's concern was with them and works in human history to deliver them from the curse of globalization driven by multinational corporations, which is the modern day Egypt. God's encounter is for a new world where peace and justice will abound. According to what we have learned from the Bible, God will work with the wanderers who are going through the valley of suffering, by making them aware the evilness of  globalizaton which is driven by misuse of power for the greed of the ruling class. The challenge now is to find out how the church is going to participate in God's mission in today's world. 

Conclusion 

    As the 21st century unfolds, we see millions of homeless wanderers crying out all over the world. The wanderers are suffering under the exploitation of 21st Egypt, globalization, engineered by wealthy nations. The cries of the wanderers call forth urgently for another exodus. Professor Paul Kennedy of Yale university mentioned the problem of the wanderers as one of the major issues which politicians of 21st century should tackle.¹³⁾

   The study of the Bible shows clearly the road we should take. First, the wanderers should be able to see through the evilness of the capitalistic consumption culture which gave birth to globalization conflicts between nations. They should reject it and make collective "dan" to the system of greed and power which even uses religions to achieve its goal. At the same  time, a new culture which can value life and foster peace and justice among men. It seems that the wanderers in South America seem to have made their 'dan' and crossed over the red sea.  The chosen people who share the pain with God should listen to their cries and respond to God's call for the exodus of 21st century.

    The Church as the community of disciples of Jesus should make "dan" as her Lord Jesus Christ did and raise her voice declaring the impending judgment of history and urge the people of the  world to turn around from the path of destruction. At the same time the church should promote the creation of new communities of peace and justice where the spirit of sharing and forgiving prevail.

    The Church should remember the teaching of Jesus that the kingdom starts like a mustard seed and spreads like leaven, giving the light of hope to the world through her testimony. Therefore the Church should examine her life constantly if she is not fallen into the three fold temptation of the tempter.

   The community should be inclusive, embracing the peoples of the world with the spirit of understanding and cooperation in order to create global peace and harmony.

It  should keep communion with other religions and try to create a global ecumenism in order to create a "global dan" which is absolutely necessary to  create a global peace and justice.¹⁴⁾

    It is also fundamental for the Church to keep the faith in God who is the Lord of history. The evil system of today seems to be overwhelming like the Egyptian empire four thousand years ago. But the Lord God will accomplish His/Her will on earth as He/She has delivered 'habiru from Egypt.

Bibliography

Suh, Namdong: Search for Minjung theology, Hangil co. Seoul, Korea 1983 (Korean)

Ahn, Pyungmoo: Jesus of Galilee, Institute of Korean Theology, Seoul, Korea,1990  

             (Korean)

Moon, Ikhwan: History of Hebrew Minjung, Samin co. Seoul, Korea 1990(Korean)

Moon, Tonghwan: Education of Arirang Hill, Institute of Korean Theology, Seoul,            Korea, 1985(korean)

 Moon, Tonghwan: Life Centered Community and Kihwa Education, Institute of               Korean Theology, Seoul, Korea. 1997 (Korean)

Paul Kennedy: Preparing for the Twenty First Century,

    Vintage Book, new York,1993

W.Fisher & Thomas Ponniah (ed.) Another World is Possible,           

    Fernwood Publication LTD.Nova Scotia, 2003

The Office of UN High commissioner for Rfugees: The State of the WORLD'S

    REFUGEES, Oxford press, 2006

Dick Chase Eldredge: Crowded Land of Liberty,

    Bridge Works  Publishing, New York, 2001

Michelle Malkin: Invasion, Reggnery Publishing, INC.                   

    Washington, DC. 2002

David L. Bender & Bruno Leone (ed.) Immigration,

    Opposing  Viewpoints Series, Greenhaven Press,1990

http://home.att.net/Illegal "immigration at home and abroad

an ongoing, multi-faceted problem."

Christopher Caldwell" FE, 28, 2005: "A Sweden Dilemma"

Kim, Hakzoon: "Dream of Bolibart: Dream of Central-South America possible?"            Hangyure press, 2,7,2006

Kim, Youngkil "Dream of chaves: Revolution of Bolivia" Pressian, (2006/1/23): Kim, Kim, Youngkil: "Central-South America has future without USA" Pressian, 1,31,2006

n at home and abroad

an ongoing, multi-faceted problem."

Christopher Caldwell" FE, 28, 2005: "A Sweden Dilemma"

Kim, Hakzoon: "Dream of Bolibart: Dream of Central-South America possible?"            Hangyure press, 2,7,2006

Kim, Youngkil "Dream of chaves: Revolution of Bolivia" Pressian, (2006/1/23): Kim, Kim, Youngkil: "Central-South America has future without USA" Pressian, 1,31,2006