Recently Korean artists and literary men have been concerned about Han which is one of the Korean people's native emotions. Han has seriously influenced the social, cultural, artistical, and religious aspects of Korea, as well as our christian faith a...
Recently Korean artists and literary men have been concerned about Han which is one of the Korean people's native emotions. Han has seriously influenced the social, cultural, artistical, and religious aspects of Korea, as well as our christian faith and christian unity and even our daily life for a long time. Because Han involves many wrongful emotions, for example, Korean racial sentimentalism, nihilism, defeatism, and so forth, it is difficult for Christians to mature in their faith if they are bound by this emotion.
Han has a long history, but it is not easy to explain its meaning. Many people who have studied it try to understand it by means of art rather than philosophy. And the Korean church has not paid attention to Han, but some theologians have started to pay attention to it. Those who have been interested in Han recently are called "Minjung Theologians". They define Han as something regrettable due to unfortunate circumstances in that the poor and the uneducated, the Minjung, were persecuted by the ruling class. Therefore they did not seek a solution for Han on a biblical basis, but tried to solve it through eliminating many sociopolitical problems. Their point of view is not Christian but one of social revolutions.
How can we think of this Han? From the standpoint of biblical counseling, how does Christianity analyze and interpret it? Here I try to answer these questions. In addition to criticizing the Minjung Theologian's Han-Thought, I state the biblical approach of pastoral counseling along with understanding Hawpyung (psychological melancholia) and the physical symptoms caused by Han. In order to grasp the spiritual situation of Christians about Han, I researched their attitude concerning it with help of four churches.
In biblical counseling, one of the most important points is to establish the human theory to which the Bible refers. Those who bear a grudge (Han) have a conception that they are sufferers themselves. The Bible does not deny that human beings are sufferers and victims,; therefore, Jesus came to us in order to console those who suffer from evil social institutions, evil environments, the stresses of life, unfair relationships, etc.
Nevertheless, the important point that we have to remember in biblical counseling is that the human beings must hold himself or herself responsible for sin. Biblical counseling have to deal with these two facts at the same time. But most humanistic counselors (Freudianism, Behaviorism, Rogerianism) as well as Minjung theologians do not admit that human beings should accept responsibility for sin, but they have emphasized that human beings are victims. So Minjung theologians assert that those who bear grudges suffer without acknowledging their own sins. Therefore, in biblical counseling, acknowledgement of sin is the starting point. Pastoral counselors must call to mind that counseling is a fight against sin when they counsel persons who bear grudges.
Also in biblical counseling, another point is to deal with the problems of Han by means of religious cures. The methods of religious cures consist of worship, praise, and prayer. Nowadays church worship is so formal that many Christians tend to be come tired of it. We must remember that worship functions as a celebration. So I suggest that many pastors should seek to renew worship, utilize the counseling preaching (Life-Situation Preaching) and perfect the biblical self, the creative self.
Finally I want to emphasize that the counselee who bears a grudge will continue to be related to God as counseling for Han. The solution for the Christian's Han must begin by recovering in sin through a relationship between God and human beings. Only this way is a fundamental and essential cure.
In approaching Han, we should have a critical, analytical attitude, but we must try to understand it first. And we must regard those who bear grudges as people who need God's cure. We should let them know not only that they are victims but they are also responsible for their sins. And we must emphasize that it is impossible to solve Han without solving people's sins through a relationship between God and humans and forgiveness being freely given. I hope this study will be a stepping stone of pastoral counseling for Han.