The Martial as the Mystical: Taekwondo as Orthodox Christian Contemplative Practice

INTRODUCTION

This article explores the potential for interpreting taekwondo as an Orthodox Christian contemplative practice. Certainly it is not an obvious connection given the disparate origins of the Korean martial art and the various Eastern Christian traditions. Yet, viewing the former in light of the latter seems both viable and valuable. Taekwondo is currently the most popular martial art in the world, exceeding seventy million practitioners in over two hundred countries; it is also a core sport in the Olympic Games. Eastern Christians around the world train and compete in taekwondo at all levels. Even so, to what extent is the distinctive ethos of Orthodox spirituality generally amenable to the practice of martial arts? Further, how do the specific characteristics of taekwondo favor its integration into an Eastern Christian Weltanschauung?

BACKGROUND

Such questions invite engagement with a lively conversation currently taking place concerning the place of sport within Christian spirituality.¹ In A Brief Theology of Sport, Lincoln Harvey provides an adroit reading of the historical ambivalence of the church towards sport, including European martial arts. Saint Paul made conspicuous use of multiple athletic metaphors, contending, “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8 English Standard Version). Nevertheless, the Christian tradition has been reluctant to affirm a “full-bodied” appreciation of sport. Harvey observes that a dissonant chord resonates, whether one sounds out the New Testament, the patristic period, the Middle Ages or the Reformation. This chord results from three “notes”: the modest use of sport as a source for the rhetoric of Christian discipleship, or even as a practical tool for bodily health (“instrumentalism”); the critique of sport as marred by pagan associations, conducive to the inflammation of the passions at best and idolatry at worst (“opposition”); and a reluctant approbation of sport as an intractable dimension of human experience which had to be tolerated, and might even be co-opted (“popularity”).² Harvey’s “historical soundings,” particularly the ambiguous approach of the church to the jousting tournaments of medieval knights, invite reflection on how one might approach taekwondo as a sport similarly characterized by martial play.

Adriano Biriba

© 2017 João Saidler Fotografia.

Following his review of the relevant history, Harvey elaborates an original theoretical paradigm. It is one that inspires the present probing of “the martial as the mystical” (although the author does not himself proceed in this direction). His thesis is that sport can be fruitfully conceived of as a “liturgical celebration of contingency,” as an activity which enables people to have a communal experience of gratuitousness. The uniqueness of sport consists in its being “autotelic,” such as serving no purpose but itself (namely, the arbitrary internal aims of any given game). Sports are played, as we like to say, “just for fun,” even if they often leave numerous personal and social goods in their wake.³ In response to his recognition of the need for further thought on the matter, I would argue that martial arts, in contrast, can be seen as occupying a distinct space on the margins of sport, between sports themselves and certain cardinal activities which lie beyond it.

Taekwondo as “played” within the Olympics, for example, certainly fulfills Allen Guttmann’s definition of sport, which Harvey cites approvingly: “a regulated, physical contest that serves its own ends.” Nonetheless, its distinct provenance and purpose are belied by what actually transpires. Consider that while it is a ball that is kicked (or head-butted) in soccer; or bumped, smashed and blocked in volleyball; hit in baseball (with a stick); or thrown and caught in football, it is other people who are the object of such actions in martial arts and this reveals that these pursuits lack the element of arbitrariness characteristic of sport. In some quarters, like the Korean military, taekwondo is still officially practiced as a preparation for actual combat; in other quarters its primary end is physical...