Star, Mass-Media, Religious Education

ABSTRACT

Religion is one of the most important factors determining the identity of a society as the ultimate value and belief system. The identity of Korean had been formed by the religios such as Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. We investigated interaction between the Catholic doctrines and the Confucianistic tradition which caused extreme conflict in the late ChoSun dynasty when the Catholic and Western culture were first introduced.The historical introductory process of the Catholic is briefly reviewed, and the identity conflicts were considered in theology, ethics, human relations in society. In the conflict-period dichotomic thoughts prevailed to choose only one of two conflicting belief-systems. However, in the late 20th century more mutually admissive mind has arised, and mutual understanding and benefit between the traditional culture and the Catholic teachings has been slowly appreciated to develop matured religious education and inculturation of Catholicism.Now in the 21st century Koreans have experienced identity crisis which is caused by the fast development of material civilization and industrialigation one hand, and the whirlwind of various cultures and religions on the other hand. Based upon the long experience of religious education in the Catholic one should contribute with renewed identity formation and maturation for Korean society.Everybody wants to be a star, and everybody in fact tries to be a star consciously or unconsciously. This is way Marshall McLuhan said that “the stars are so big, the earth is so small.”But we have to notice that a star is not necessarily a respected or loved person from the mass. He may be so famous that he can make lots of money to the extent that many ordinary people are very envious of him, but he can still remain as a stranger. For example, the man who discovers a new law to replace Einstein's relativity principle will be surely famous enough to receive a Nobel prize, but it is still possible that most people don't care about him very much.This paper consist of three parts. In the first part, I explain briefly some main characteristics of a star, how he is born to be a star, and some of our misunderstandings we usually have toward a star.In the second part, I explain complicated relationships between a star and massmedia. Here I specially emphasize a tremendous power of mass media. There are not many modern men who can live without paying any attention to the mass media. Mass media are within us. Here I also emphasize two peculiar characteristics of mass media, i. e., that medium itself is the message, and that there is always a possibity of manipulation by the mass media.In the third part, I explain a seemingly remote but in fact close relationshipsbetween mass media and general education. Here I conclude that religious education is a part general education, and that there can be no general education which rejects all functions of mass media. This is why religious education must work together with mass media, although there are many obstacles we have to overcome.