Tue 1 Nov 2022, Day 50/61. Some scholars claim the oldest book printed by moveable metal type is not the Korean Jikji of 1377 but a 1239 Korean Buddhist text, the Jeungdoga. Gutenberg’s 42 line bible was printed c 1455.

https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20221028000652

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. Arira documentary about the remarkable librarian & historian Park Byeongseon,박병선, whose perseverance led to the return to Korea of the Uigwe, 의궤, a huge collection of books, looted by the French, detailing rituals of the Joseon dynasty. It’s clearly partisan & the dramatised sequences are not always convincing. But it’s a fascinating story & the interviews are worth seeing. https://youtu.be/o6f8FgcBcX8 via @YouTube.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. TV News in English from Arirang as the nation tries to come to terms with what happened in Itaewong. youtu.be/h2LA-QeLta0

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. How to offend me in a Korean restaurant, Lesson 1: See my Western face & immediately give me a fork without waiting to see if I can use chopsticks. Korean chopsticks are often steel, unlike Chinese or Japanese.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. I discovered today – by reading theology!- that possibly 100,000 Koreans forcibly moved to Japan were killed by atomic bombs. The experience of Koreans in Japan is at the heart of Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko. Also now a TV series.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. Gifts from the Church in Korea to help me learn the language, both with texts familar to me in English. On the left, the 1999 version of the 1977 ecumenical Common Translation Bible; on the right the Anglican Church’s 2004 liturgy.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61, 3/3. It’s best to use Kim Yong-Bock’s own words in describing what Minjung Theology is. A big question now is what theology is relevant in a South Korea which is more prosperous and has a democratically elected government.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61, 2/3. Kim Yong-Bock, 김용복, whose essays I’m reading, was one of the leading Minjung theologians. He died earlier this year. My neighbour this week from Myanmar is studying Minjung theology during his time here.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61, 1/3. I’m taking the opportunity of being here to learn a little about the distinctive Minjung Theology (민중신학, people’s theology), which gained popularity in South Korea during the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee in the 1970s.

Mon 31 Oct 2022, Day 49/61. This poster on my corridor should be familiar to Anglicans outside Korea.