Official version of the Unification Principles (Divine Principle)
This book became the standard text for studying the Unification Principles. It represents a revolutionary, clear, and logical explanation of God, human beings, and the universe. The text roughly consists of three main parts:
- God and his original ideal.
- How the ideal was destroyed, and evil entered the world.
- The long process that became necessary for us humans to find our way back to God and his original ideal.
The last of those main sections constitute the larger part of the text as it shows in detail the thousands of years of historical development and the principles underlying it.
Other themes the text deals with are our spiritual reality, the end times, the Messiah’s mission, resurrection, Christology, predestination, and the Second Coming.
The Korean title is Wolli Kangron. It was later translated into English as Divine Principle (1973). This English version was used to translate the Unification Principles into other Western languages. For a long time, there were no Western members who knew Korean. Therefore, there were also several concepts in Father Moon‘s teachings that were not understood correctly until long after the movement first came to the West.
A new and improved translation was published in 1996 as Exposition of the Divine Principle. At the same time, more and more people gained a better understanding of the original language and the new terms.
In 2006, a new version with colour codes was published. The colours first appeared in the 39th Korean version of Wolli Kangron. They had been prepared by Gil-ja Sa, the widow of the author Hyo-won Eu, and were approved by Father Moon himself.
Text sections highlighted in red, represent the core ideas of the Unification Principles. Sections shaded blue are second to the red parts in terms of significance, while the sections highlighted in yellow, come third. By reading all three colours, you get quite a rich understanding of the basic teachings. For a full picture, it is however recommended to study the whole content.
Nine years after Wolli Haeseol (원리해설 – literally Explanation of the Principles) was published in August 1957, Wolli Kangron (원리강론 – literally Exposition of the Principles) was published on 1st May 1966. The book explains in a more profound way and in greater detail the content of Wolli Haeseol, which was written as a new interpretation of and a new perspective on the 66 books of the Bible. Wolli Haeseol was only published in Korean.
Hyo-won Eu (1914-70), who joined the movement 24th December 1953, after receiving a thorough introduction to Sun Myung Moon‘s teachings, wrote most of the text of Wolli Kangron. Chang-Seong Ahn, Kwang-yeol Yu, and Yeong-chang Jang helped prepare the written material for printing.
Wolli Kangron was published by Segye Kidokyo Tongil Shillyeong Hyeophwe (Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity).
Text: Knut Holdhus
