Divine Principle
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The Divine Principle is the main theological textbook of the Unification Church, held to have the status of scripture by members of the movement. Between 1935 and 1946, Sun Myung Moon (not then going by "Reverend") just had scribbled notes in the margins of his Bible, and these notes formed the basis of the original concept of the work. The first written text was handwritten by Won Pil Kim, the first president of the Unification Church of Korea, as dictated by Moon (who also sharpened the pencils Kim used) and then written out in detail by a local middle school girl (who was not actually a member of the Unification Church).
The text was first translated into English in 1973. The text has been revised twice: in 1974, and again in 1996.
The term Divine Principle is a poor translation of Unification Principle (or Tongil Wolly). There have been several books explaining the Divine Principle by multiple authors. The two most authoritative are by the late Hyo Won Eu (first president of the Unification Church) and Chung Hwan Kwak (international director of education for the Church). Young Oon Kim (a female church theologian) and at least one other person (the first US church seminary president) each wrote unofficial texts; according to Church spokespersons, these are out of print.
External link
- Exposition of the Divine Principle (http://unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/index.html)