하나님의 형상 믿음의 향상

• 영문명: The Hebrew Bible and Metaverse
• 발행기관: 한신대학교 신학사상연구소
• 간행물 정보: 『신학사상』신학사상 197집(2022년 여름호), 9~35쪽, 전체 27쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기독교신학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2022.06.30

국문 초록

메타버스에 관한 논의가 뜨겁다. 인류는 벌써 기본 경제활동은 물론 문화, 여가 생활, 심지어 종교생활까지 메타버스 상황에 산다. 가상과 현실이 융합되고 시간과 공간의 경계를 넘나드는 플랫폼에서 사람과 물산이 만난다. 메타버스 시민이 탄생하여 새로운 문명을 꿈꾸고 있다. 성서는 사람끼리의 연결과 소통에 대한 열망이 비극을 불러온 예를 보여주었다. 바벨탑 사건이다. 인류 역사에 수많은 바벨탑이 있었다. 메타버스 역시 또 다른 바벨탑이 될 것인가? 타나크의 결말은 뜻밖에도 고레스의 칙령으로 끝난다(대하 36:22-23). 예루살렘 귀환과 성전건축이 허락된 상태에서 구약성서가 끝나는 것이다. 여기에는 긍정적 마무리와 열린 종결이라는 타나크의 신학이 함축되어 있다. 우리 앞에 메타버스라는 아직까지 본 적도 없고 들은 적도 없는 세상이 펼쳐진다. 허구와 실재가 공존하며 교육과 놀이와 생활이 한 플랫폼에서 융합되고, 물리적 삶이 증강현실로 확장되며 마치 거울로 보듯 현실보다 더 몰입되는 경험과 상호작용이 일어난다. 이렇듯 메타버스에 관한 희망적인 기대가 높아질수록 메타버스 사회에서 주체가 누구인지, 어떻게 믿음을 지킬지 진지하게 묻고 성찰해야 한다. 과학기술이 사람을 대체하거나 압도할 수 없는 인간의 본질을 인식하고 인간학적 문해력을 갖춰야 한다. 어제까지 메타버스는 상상의 세계였지만 이제는 상생의 현실이다. 유니버스는 한자로 ‘집’[宇宙]을 뜻하는데 메타버스는 ‘元宇宙’, 곧 인류의 ‘으뜸집’이라는 뜻이다. 메타버스는 과학기술로 세워진 바벨탑이나 도피성이 아니라 하나님의 형상으로 태어난 인류가 서로 온기를 나누며 믿음의 향상을 꾀해야 할 ‘으뜸집’이며 삶의 자리여야 한다.

영문 초록

Metaverse has emerged as one of the hottest academic and social topics within a short span of two to three years. According to its critics, the metaverse is made up of information and communications technology. The metaverse is a playground for Gen Zs and millennials in which reality and virtual reality meet each other and people and all products gather together. It is the opinion of some that it will become the norm, not only to engage in leisure and cultural experiences in the metaverse, but also participate in religious activities. The metaverse is a meta-society that goes beyond the boundaries of nations, ethnic groups and generations. Once dismissed as sheer nonsense and a subject of scientific fiction, the metaverse has now become a platform of coexistence in which many people live together. Coincidentally, the metaverse in Chinese is Yuán yǔzhòu (元宇宙) which refers to the ‘first house’ literally, and the ‘primary universe’ semantically. In other words, the metaverse is a prime space where people made in the divine image live fully. It is perceived not as a dystopian Babel tower (Genesis 11) or cities of refuge (Numbers 35:6,11), but as a utopia. The metaverse, in such views, should be the first house and Sitz im Leben where all humans love each other, improve the quality of their lives, and pursue desire and curiosity. Tanach, or the Hebrew Bible, ends somewhat abruptly with the Persian king of Cyrus making a proclamation to free Jews from the Babylonian exile (2 Kings 36:22-23). In the edict, Cyrus permitted the Judean people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Yet it remains to be seen whether the restoration would be fully accomplished. Tanach’s ending has two significant theological implications: an optimistic view of the future with an open-ended conclusion of what future holds. The metaverse, once viewed with caution and suspicion, is increasingly hailed as a thing of the future for much of its potentials; the virtual and the real coexist in it, education and play are merged on the same platform and physical life is extended into augmented reality. Despite hopeful blueprints, however, the future of the metaverse remains an open-ended question and necessitates comprehensive reflections. This paper is aimed at critiquing the concept and application of the metaverse theologically. The Hebrew Bible will serve as a lens through which to critique the metaverse. Metaverse as something that is more real than what is real is specifically associated with the temporality of the Old Testament, which views time not as a linear and physical but as a contemporary and synchronistic. Real-time immersive experiences in metaverse are reminiscent of the biblical concept of a revelatory moment, the eternal present which was vividly experienced by Moses and Israel. While directness and sustainable mutuality in metaverse are not necessarily equal to a revelatory moment, they raise the need for theological reflection and discussions on whether metaverse assists in the experience and understanding of archetypal sites of revelation in the Bible. “Technological literacy,” “data literacy,” and “human literacy” as expounded in humanics, a metaverse-proof pedagogic approach proposed by Joseph Aoun. These are designed to foster human qualities that cannot be replaced by robots and machines and resonate with the Bible’s affinity for universal literacy. The statement “You will be a kingdom of priests” in Exodus 19 is viewed as advocacy for the public dissemination of letters that were once deemed as a divine privilege and envisions a world in which knowledge and information, including of God’s revelation, are not monopolized but understood and shared by everyone. Another possible connection between the Old Testament and metaverse concerns the definition of what it is to be human. The Book of Genesis says human beings were created in the image of God. In the era of metaverse where artifici

목차

Ⅰ. 서설

Ⅱ. 허구 ‘메타버스’, 현실이 되다

Ⅲ. ‘시뮬라크르’ ― 실재보다 실감나는 메타버스

Ⅳ. 메타버스 시민의 탄생: 하나님의 형상과 믿음의 향상

Ⅴ. 결어

참고문헌

키워드

메타버스 인간 문해력 하나님의 형상 가상현실 메타버스 시민 Metaverse Human Literacy Divine Image Virtual Reality Metavese Citizen