| Symbols are vital media of cultural expression, and they function as interactional media between a culture and a community's life. This investigation probes the symbolic encounter of the Korean culture and the traditional Christian eucharistic elements. It examines the image of Korean rice farming culture as the matrix of Korean consciousness, which consistently evokes kwi-so-bon-neung, "the homing instincts" for Koreans. This examination leads to new avenues of understanding of the Korean rice farming culture and its symbolic aspects. The detailed significance of these cultural aspects have the potential of providing symbolic enrichment and amplification of Korean Protestant worship through the inculturation of the Christian eucharistic elements.;To develop a theoretical foundation for this task, the writer explores the symbolic dimensions in human beings, through the Homo Symbolicus, and its relationship with worship which is a sum totality of corporate symbolic actions. The word, symballein in Greek refers to "a coin cut in half", which has value when it is joined together with its other half. This etymological fulcrum is an important point of departure for the inculturational encounter of the Christian eucharist with the Korean cultural values which have been disregarded from the onset of the early Protestant mission era to Korea.;In this study, the writer analyzes, specifically, annual ceremonies or customs and rites of passage in the Korean rice farming culture as the prototypal womb of the Korean consciousness and their rich symbolism. This descriptive analysis probes two major aspects in the Korean rice farming culture: a horizontal relationship with the people and a vertical relationship with God, respectively, in the experience of the common meal and sacred consumption through the medium of rice. These two aspects, which are embodied in the kyung-chun-ae-in spirit, meaning "worship heaven or God and love people," provide a point of contact with the detailed meanings of the Christian eucharist. Inculturation of the eucharistic elements can renew three signifiers in Korean Protestant worship--the sermon, the assembly and the eucharist. The conclusion reaffirms the position that Korean Protestant worship needs to recover the excluded symbolism and thus enhance the symbolic function in worship. |
