This paper deals with the notion of community in Tongil theology forKorean reunification. In the 1980s, Tongil theology emerged in Korea as aresult of the increasingly developing conversations aimed at reunification. The principal theologians representing this movement are Park Soon-Kyung, Moon Ik-Hwan, and Noh Jong-Sun, among others. Its main focus isto provide religious understanding and motivation that will enable thecreation of a unified nation of people. Tongil theology is about reunification. From the Christian point of view this means communion/community. Iwork with the notion of community in Leonardo Boff and in Tongiltheologians, Park Soon-Kyung, Moon Ik-Hwan, and Noh Jong-Sun. Reunification, therefore, is not to be left only in the hands of politician but ithas to involve the Korean churches and the focus must be the creation ofone national community. It is not limited to political reunification, but seeksthe construction of a new society in which all people will live together in apeaceful and just society. In doing this I am claiming that the work ofreunification is not a matter of going back to what Korea was before it wasdivided, but that reunification is about a going forward to create a newcreation of a unified nation of people. The rich understandings that emergefrom the dialogue between Leonardo Boff and the three Korean Tongiltheologians I work with in this study will contribute, I believe, to adefinition of social justice that is not limited to political reunification, butaims to protect the dignity of every person and to contribute to the fullparticipation of all Koreans in one society. In thinking of the notion of community, I am reminded of a poem byMoon Ik-Hwan, “Two Skies, One Sky,”in which a father suffers because ofthe division of Korea. As he stands in the Demilitarized Zone on a cold,rainy night, he looks up to the sky as the morning light begins to shine. Withthe left eye he could see North Korea, and with the right eye he could seeSouth Korea. He cries as he realizes that these are not different skies but onesame sky, one same heaven.
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