SunYoung Park’s Thought of the Religious Education

ABSTRACT

[Objective] The purpose of this study is to explore the religious education thought of the late professor SunYoung Park, the first president of the Korean Association for the Study of Religious Education (KARES). The goal to be revealed in this article is to specifically evaluate professor Park’s biographical history and the characteristics and achievements of his studies.[Contents] To accomplish this purpose, the contents of this article is composed three parts. The first is prof. Park’s biography, who shared secular with a monk. The Second is the characteristic of his studies based on Buddhism and Education. Third third is the evaluation of his academic achievements.[Conclusions] Based on the results of the study, professor SunYoung Park proposed Buddhistic Education in a new field of education at the early times of 1980’s in Korean Academism. And so, his viewpoints of religious education attempted to create a typical model of the oriental education through acceptance of various religions and studies, centering on Buddhism. His religious education can be evaluated as providing a kind of typical model that shows the possibility of joining religion and education.