본능 자극 정치에 대응하는 본성 회복의 신학 - 신경과학의 극우화 원인 분석과 민주주의 위기 극복을 위한 신학적 제언 -

초록

This paper analyzes the global crisis of far-right populism and liberal democracy through an interdisciplinary lens that integrates neuroscience and Christian theology, proposing theological alternatives for restoring human dignity. The central mechanism of contemporary demagogic politics, exemplified by Trumpism, lies in what is termed ‘amygdala hijacking’—the deliberate stimulation of the brain’s amygdala to provoke primal responses of fear, hatred, and in-group tribalism. This process effectively paralyzes the rational and moral functions of the prefrontal cortex, reducing human beings from moral agents guided by reason to creatures driven by instinct. Drawing on the theological concept of the Imago Dei in Genesis 1:26–28, the paper employs Irenaeus’s distinction between imago (image) and similitudo (likeness) to interpret this regression as a theological atrophy of human nature. The paper further examines how neoliberal structural pressures—chronic cognitive overload, social fragmentation, and the individualization of risk—create a neuro-ecological soil in which amygdala politics flourishes. A critical case study focuses on the exclusive and inflammatory use of the word ‘오직’ (only) in Korean Protestant Bible translations, which has been weaponized by far-right Christianity as a tool of populist mobilization. In response, the paper proposes a theology of hospitality, sabbath, solidarity, and lament as counter-practices that rewire the social neurological network from fear to love, thereby recovering the full humanity of the Imago Dei in the political sphere.

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