Yong-mo Yu (1890-1981) was a supporter of religious pluralism in Korea, advocating for a syncretistic conception of God; and for interfaith spiritual renewal, during a period marked by the rejection of these concepts. A study of his work enriches our conception of the 20th century Korean Christianity. The main goal of my dissertation is to first analyze Yu's theological understanding of God and examine it in relation to the three East Asian major religious traditions as well as a Western ontological understanding of the ultimate reality; and second, through such analyses, to discuss the significance and challenges of Yu's pluralistic theology and spirituality. Yu's own definition of God as Opshi-gyeshin-Haneunim (God who exists as Non-Being) is an ontological understanding of the ultimate reality, which is very different from conservative Korean Protestantism's understanding of God. Yu's understanding of God is very similar to Robert C. Neville's understanding of God as the creator in that both of them define the ultimate reality as absolute Nothingness or Emptiness transcending both being and non-being. Yu's understanding of God was also based on the East Asian religious traditions which are Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Therefore, Yu defines Christian God as T'ai-chi and Wu-chi, nothingness, and Tao which are concepts that Yu borrows from the East Asian religions. Yu's concept of God as Opshi-gyeshin-Haneunim was formed and developed based on his own spiritual experiences, for example, his experience of spiritual union with God. At the same time, his theological reflection on the ultimate reality also had great effect on his spirituality. In the same tenor, the pluralistic characteristics of Yu's theology and spirituality are the result of Yu's creative combination of his ontological understanding of the ultimate reality transcending various religious contexts and the East Asian spirituality focusing on spiritual discipline to develop the divine power given to human beings. Yu's creative integration of the ontological analysis of God and the East Asian spiritual tradition can provide a new perspective to Korean conservative Protestantism in understanding other religions, and suggest a new type Christian spirituality in plural Korean contexts. / 2017-01-12T00:00:00Z

The writings of the American pragmatist thinker Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) provide resources for what this thesis calls the “nested continua model” of theological interpretation. A diagrammatic demonstration of iconic relational logic akin to Peirce’s Existential Graphs, the nested continua model is imagined as a series of concentric circles graphed upon a two-dimensional plane. When faced with some problem of interpretation, one may draw discrete markings that signify that problem’s logical distinctions, then represent in the form of circles successive contexts by which these distinctions may be examined in relation to one another, arranged ordinally at relative degrees of specificity and vagueness, aesthetic intensity and concrete reasonableness. Drawing from Peter Ochs’s Scriptural Reasoning model of interfaith dialogue and Robert C. Neville’s axiology of thinking—each of which makes creative use of Peirce’s logic—this project aims to achieve an analytical unity between these two thinkers’ projects, which can then be addressed to further theological ends. The model hinges between diagrammatic and ameliorative functions, honing its logic to disclose contexts in which its theological or metaphysical claims might, if needed, be revised. Such metaphysical claims include love as that which unites feeling with intelligibility, hell as imprisonment within an opaque circle of interpretation whose distorted reflections render violence upon oneself and others, and the divine as both the center of aesthetic creativity and outermost horizon from which our many layers of interpretive criteria emerge. These are claims made from a particular identity in a particular cultural context, but the logical rules upon which they are based are accessible to all, and the hope of the model is to help people overcome problems of interpretation and orient themselves toward eternity without ignoring the world around them.