A Diachronic Reflection on
the Cultural and Civilizational History of Humanity
and the Mission of KPGM Anthropocene Missiology

— From the Perspective of God’s Purpose in Creation
and Redemptive Providence —

Research Objective

This study aims to reflect diachronically on the cultural and civilizational history of humanity from the perspective of God’s purpose in creation and redemptive providence, based on the unified redemptive-historical narrative that runs throughout the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Through this reflection, it seeks to identify the comprehensive crisis of the present age, understood as the Anthropocene, and to explore directions for Christian theological and missiological responses to it.

       The crisis of the Anthropocene is fundamentally rooted in human sin, which has ruptured and distorted the relationship between humanity and God, relationships among human beings, and the relationship between humanity and the created world. As human culture and civilization have taken shape and unfolded throughout history, these ruptured and distorted relationships have led to greed and pride, disordered desires, the spread of materialism and consumerism, confusion in values and identity, the weakening of communities and cultural homogenization, the expansion of social inequality and structures of domination and exploitation, war and the risk of mass destruction, the concentration of technological power, the violation of human dignity, the instrumentalization of the created world and the excessive use of natural resources, emerging risks associated with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, the destruction of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, the climate crisis, and, further, the presently feared crisis of a sixth mass extinction. These crises are not a collection of separate and isolated problems. Rather, they constitute a comprehensive crisis that has taken shape through the accumulation and structural entrenchment of sin and injustice over the long course of history in which human culture and civilization have been formed and unfolded since the Fall.

Accordingly, this study seeks to reflect theologically, from a Christian perspective, on the historical process through which the comprehensive crisis of the Anthropocene has taken shape and intensified within the cultural and civilizational history of humanity. It also seeks to clarify the epochal mandate of Christian mission that the Church is called to fulfill in the face of the crises confronting humanity and the created world. Furthermore, the study aims to explore the direction in which human culture and civilization ought to proceed within God’s administration of redemption and to present the theological foundations and missiological directions for practice of KPGM Anthropocene Missiology, which seeks the restoration of all nations and all creation.

The Christian theological foundation for this study is God’s administration of redemption as testified to in Scripture: God’s purpose in creating the heavens and the earth and all creatures and in making human beings in His image; the responsibility entrusted to humanity to cultivate and care for the created world and to form communities; the Fall of humanity; the unfolding of the history of salvation through God’s covenants; the history of Israel; the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His atoning death on the cross, and His resurrection; the descent of the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church; the course of history in which the gospel is proclaimed to all nations and the time for the restoration of all things arrives; the return of Christ and the final judgment; and ultimately, the consummation of the new heavens and the new earth in which God’s righteousness dwells.

God created human beings in His image and endowed them with language and intellect, the capacity for work and artistic sensibility, the ability to form communities, technological creativity, and the wisdom to understand and care for the created world. Through these gifts, human beings were called to enter into a right relationship with God, build relationships and communities with their neighbors, and shape culture and civilization while cultivating and caring for the created world. Culture and civilization, therefore, should not be understood merely as achievements accomplished by humanity on its own, but as spheres of human life in which the creative calling entrusted to humanity by God has taken concrete form throughout history.