The 2000 inter-Korean summit: The road to reconciliation?

The inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang between 13 and 15 June 2000 was an unprecedented event. It was the first time the leaders of North and South have met face to face since the formal partitioning of Korea in 1948. This article examines the main reasons why the 2000 summit occurred, what the summit produced, and its implications for inter-Korean relations in the early part of the 21st century. Although the summit could well be an important step towards breaking down the long-standing barriers of suspicion and mistrust between Pyongyang and Seoul, it is premature to conclude (as some observers have) that the summit has heightened the prospects for reunification on the Korean peninsula. Instead of grandly portraying the 2000 summit as heralding a transition to reunification, it is far more accurate to view it as a positive step towards the more modest objective of longer-term reconciliation between the two Koreas.     

The European Union—a Reflection: The Theological Challenge

Abstract

The advisor on religious affairs of the European Commission's President recently suggested the need for a European political theology. He was acknowledging Christianity's past impact on European culture. He was also intimating that a creative Christian contribution to the making of Europe's future might partly depend upon some systematic theologically informed reflection upon the nature of the challenges which the continent currently confronts. This paper does not purport to supply such a theology which, by the nature of things, must be the fruit of a long-term collaborative exercise. It does, however, seek to provide a few pointers that might become the subject of further discussion. Following clues provided by Vatican II we may seek to discern some of those "signs of the times" which might disclose the issues at stake and which, in the light of general Christian understandings, may ultimately provide some guides for subsequent action.     

The vanity of dogmatizing: The three ‘versions’

This essay reevaluates the Weimar writings of Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss, specifically, their intellectual efforts to replace the political authority of Kantian liberalism with, respectively, a ‘political theology’ and ‘Biblical atheism’ derived from the thought of early-modern state theorists like Hobbes and Spinoza. Schmitt and Strauss each insisted that post-Kantian Enlightenment rationality was unraveling into a way of thinking that violently rejected ‘form’ of any kind, fixated myopically on material things and lacked any conception of the external constraints that invariably condition the possibilities of philosophy, morality and politics. They considered Kantian reason and liberal politics to pose serious threats to ‘genuine’ expressions of rationality and as dangerous obfuscations of the necessity of political order—of the brute fact that human beings stand in need of ‘being ruled,’ as such.     

The ‘Self-Positing’ Self in Kierkegaard's The Sickness unto Death

In response to the claim that Kierkegaard's highly compressed definition of the self, given near the beginning of The Sickness unto Death, should be understood in Hegelian terms, I show that it can be better understood in terms of an earlier development in the history of German idealism, namely, Fichte's theory of self-consciousness. The notion that the self “posits” itself found in this theory will be used to explain Kierkegaard's definition of the self, including his rejection of the idea that the self posits itself absolutely. I go on to show how this conception of the self relates to certain features of the concept of despair described in The Sickness unto Death. This in turn allows me to indicate some implications of this conception of the self in relation to Kierkegaard's attitude towards the social and political forces shaping the modern world.     

The Legendary Zhaxi Oiser

Ｔｈｅ　Ｌｅｇｅｎｄａｒｙ　Ｚｈａｘｉ　ＯｉｓｅｒＴｈｅＬｅｇｅｎｄａｒｙＺｈａｘｉＯｉｓｅｒ￥ｂｙＴｕｂｄａｉｎＡｎｅｔｈｎｉｃｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｓｄｅｖｅｌｏｐ－ｍｅｎｔｃｏｍｐａｎｙｌｏｃａｔｅｄｉｎＮａｇｑｕｉｎｎｏｒｔｈＴｉｂｅｔｈａｓｇａｔｈ...     

The Longwu Tiger Dance

Ｔｈｅ　Ｌｏｎｇｗｕ　Ｔｉｇｅｒ　ＤａｎｃｅＴｈｅＬｏｎｇｗｕＴｉｇｅｒＤａｎｃｅ￥ｂｙＱｉｎｇＹａｎｇＲｅｓｉｄｅｎｔｓｉｎＬｏｎｇｗｕＴｏｗｎｉｎｔｈｅＨｕａｎｇｎａｎＴｉｂｅｔａｎＡｕｔｏｎｏｍｏｕｓＰｒｅｆｅｃｔｕｒｅ，ＱｉｎｇｈａｉＰｒｏｖ...     

The Valley of Beauty

~~The Valley of Beauty~~     

Snapshots of The Himalayas

Ｓｎａｐｓｈｏｔｓ　ｏｆ　Ｔｈｅ　ＨｉｍａｌａｙａｓＳｎａｐｓｈｏｔｓｏｆＴｈｅＨｉｍａｌａｙａｓ￥ＮＡＭＧＹＡＩ＆ＤＵＯＭＡＡｖｉｓｉｔｔｏｔｈｅＨｉｍａｌａｙａｎｍｏｕｎｔａｉｎｒａｎｇｅｌｅｆｔｕｓｗｉｔｈａｄｅｅｐｉｍｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎｏｆｄｅ...     

The Eelam endgame?

The ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 between the LTTE/Tamil Tigers and the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) now lies in complete disarray. The civil war has restarted; at least 3,500 lives have been lost in 2006 as a result and ‘disappearances’ are also increasing. This is a particularly difficult time for the civilian population trapped between the two sides. It is not clear whether or not either side has taken clear‐cut strategic decisions or know what they hope to achieve during this unfortunate chapter in the civil war. Does the LTTE regard this phase as a prelude to somethingbigger, seeking to demoralize and weaken the GoSL security forces prior to a major offensive? Or is this a frustrated reaction to a failed peace process and a major split in the LTTE ranks? What aims are the GoSL seeking to achieve by paying so little attention to the impact of their assaultson innocent civilians in the north and east? Moreover, where does the international community turnnext? If there is to be a signi. cant victory by either side, the major obstacle and challenge in the future will be legitimacy on the one hand and governance on the other.     

Collation of The 'Tripitaka'

ＣｏｌｌａｔｉｏｎｏｆＴｈｅ＇Ｔｒｉｐｉｔａｋａ＇￥ｂｙＺｈａｘｉＮｙｉｍａＴｈｅｅｆｆｏｒｔｔｏｃｏｌｌａｔｅｔｈｅＴｉｂｅ－ｔａｎｅｄｉｔｉｏｎｏｆＣｈｉｎａ＇ｓＴｒｉｐｉｔａｋａｂｅｇａｎｉｎＳｅｐｔｅｍｂｅｒＴｈｅＴｉｂｅｔａｎｅｄｉｔｉｏｎ...     

The Book of Job – The Cyclical Progression of the Aporia

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relation between aesthetics and theology in the Book of Job. The overall aim of the article is to explain the relationship between centre and periphery (poetry and prose) and its significance for the theology of the book. The article claims that Job's problem is not the attainment of wisdom but how to reconcile wisdom with suffering—how to relate to suffering. And this theological theme is propagated through aesthetics—including stylistic, narrative, compositional and structural features.

It is impossible to point out a preferential reading in the Book of Job because of the fundamental and structural dissonance of the text. This destabilized, ambiguous, paradoxical, ironical and dissonance-producing text is the hermeneutical starting point. Qua dissonance-producing text this feature is used as foundation for the interpretative task. And to get a comprehensive grip on the book two instruments are used: the literary and compositional means are analyzed, and the structural elements are evaluated in their relation between frame and centre. Following this line of interpretation reveals that the stylistic differences of the work manifest crucial theological distinctions. In the book of Job, shape and aesthetics are meaning and theology.