Christianity in Korea

Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul

Overview

Over the past century, Christianity has grown dramatically in South Korea. About eighteen percent of the population professed themselves Protestant and around ten percent Roman Catholic in the year 2005^[1].

Seoul, the capital, has eleven of the world's twelve largest Christian congregations. South Korea is the world's second largest missionary sending nation (after the United States), and South Korean missionaries are especially well represented in nations hostile to Americans and Europeans.

In 2000, 10,646 Korean Protestant missionaries served in 156 countries, along with a large number of Catholic missionaries. The impact of Christianity on the Korean culture has been considerable, contributing to the influence of Buddhism, Shamanism and Confucianism.

A number of Korean Christians, including David Yonggi Cho (조용기), senior pastor of the colossal Yoido Full Gospel Church have attained worldwide prominence.

The 1984 John Paul II conducted the first canonization ceremony held outside of Rome, canonizing 105 saints into the Roman Catholic Church. Only Italy has more canonized saints than Korea.

Unless otherwise stated, all references in this article to "Korea," "Korean people," and "Korean church" after 1945 apply to South Korea only. Prior to the Korean War of 1950–1953, two thirds of the country's Christians lived in the North, but most subsequently fled to the South.^[2] It is not known how many Christians remain in the North.

Beginning of Christianity in Korea: 1593-1784

Father Gregorious de Cespedes, a Jesuit priest arrived in Korea in 1593 to work among Japanese expatriates but with a prohibition against proselytizing Koreans.^[3] A decade later, the Korean diplomat Yi Kwangjong (이광정) returned from Beijing carrying a world atlas and several theological books written by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China.^[4] Ricci's books provoked immediate academic controversy; early in the seventeenth century, Yi Sugwang (이수광; a court scholar) and Yu Mongin (유몽인; a cabinet minister) wrote highly critical commentaries on Ricci's works. Over the ensuing two centuries, academic criticism of Christian beliefs continued unabated.

During the period when Korea closed to foreigners thousands of Catholics suffered [[martyrdom], among them Andrew Kim Taegon, who suffered beheading at the age of 25.

The Silhak school. Some scholars converted and promoted Christianity. Members of the Silhak (실학; "practical learning") school promoted the egalitarian values of Christianity.^[5] Advocating a social structure based on merit rather than birth, Silhak scholars (often bitterly opposed by the establishment) saw Christianity as providing an ideological basis for their beliefs. Thus, when Catholicism initially established in 1784, many scholars accepted the faith. Their support and advocacy helped spread of the Catholic faith in the 1790s.^[6] An 1801 report stated that fifty-five percent of all Catholics had family ties to the Silhak school.^[7]

Lay leadership. Christianity in Korea began as an indigenous lay movement, and independent from a ecclesiastical hierarchy. The first Catholic prayer-house was founded in 1784 at Pyongyang (평양 - now the capital of North Korea) by Yi Sung-hun (이승훈), a diplomat who had been baptized in Beijing.^[8] In 1786, Yi proceeded to establish a hierarchy of lay-priests.^[9] Although the Vatican later ruled (in 1789) that the appointment of lay-priests violated Canon Law, the fact remains that indigenous lay-workers, not by the host country's prelates introduced Christianity into Korea.

Parallels in Korean tradition. Korean churches used and built upon Korean tradition. Unlike the Chinese or Japanese, the Shamanist Koreans had an essentially monotheistic concept of a Creator-God,^[10] whom they called Hwan-in (환인) or Haneu-nim (하느님) (later also Hana-nim (하나님)). According to an ancient myth, Hwan-in had a son named Hwan-ung (환웅), who, in turn, had fathered a human son named Tangun (단군) in 2333 B.C.E.^[11][12][13] Tangun founded the Korean nation and, so the story goes, taught his people the elements of civilization during his thousand-year reign.^[14] Several variants of this myth, including one of which depicts Tangun as having been born of a virgin^[15], mesh with Christian doctrine. That may have been a later Christian embellishment. Some modern theologians have even attempted to explain the Christian concept of the Trinity in terms of the three divine characters in the Tangun myth.^[16] Although only a myth, the Korean people had been psychologically prepared for the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. The practice of the Church to graft Christian theology onto existing beliefs continues.

Use of the Korean alphabet. Christians used the Korean language and the easily-learned hangul (한글) script enabling the faith to spread outside the elite (among whom the literary language was Chinese). The Catholic Church officially recognized value of hangul before the Korean government.^[17] As early as the 1780s, portions of the Gospels appeared in hangul; doctrinal books such as the Chugyo Yogi (주교여기) in the 1790s, and a Catholic hymnary around 1800.

Protestantism

The Founding of American-style Schools

Protestantism was introduced into Korea in 1884 by two Americans: Henry Apenzeller, a Methodist, and Horace Underwood, a Presbyterian.^[18] Emphasizing the mass-circulation of the Bible (which had been translated into Korean between 1881 and 1887 by the Reverend John Ross, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in Manchuria), the Protestant pioneers also established the first modern educational institutes in Korea.^[19] Appenzeller founded the Methodist Paichai School (배재고등학교) for boys in 1885, and Mary Scranton founded the Methodist Ehwa girls' school (이화여자고등학교) the following year. These, and similar schools established soon afterwards, facilitated the rapid expansion of Protestantism among the common people, and in time enabled the Protestant faith to overtake Catholicism as the leading Christian voice in Korea.

Korean Independence

Many Christians identified with Korean's independence movement during the Japanese occupation (1905-1945). The Korean people suffered greatly during that period, with seven million people exiled or deported from their homeland by the Japanese,^[20] and a systematic campaign of cultural assimilation. In 1938, Japan even outlawed the Korean language.^[21]

On 1 March, 1919, an assembly of thirty-three religious and professional leaders passed a Declaration of Independence (March 1st Movement). Although organized by leaders of the Chondogyo (천도교) religion, fifteen of the thirty-three signatories professed Christianity^[22], many of whom suffered imprisonment for their role. 1919 also saw the establishment of the predominantly Catholic Ulmindan (울민단) ("Righteous People's Army")^[23], a pro-independence movement, and the establishment of a China-based government-in-exile by Syngman Rhee (이승만), a Methodist.^[24] But the refusal by many Christians to participate in the worship of the Japanese Emperor, compulsory in the 1930s, proved the primary catalyst that linked Christianity with the patriotic cause in the eyes of many Koreans.^[25][26] Although their refusal to worship the emperor arose from theological rather than political convictions, the consequent imprisonment of many Christians blended their faith with the cause of Korean nationalism and resistance to the Japanese occupation in the eyes of many Koreans.

The impact of Christianity on Korean society

Christianity has played an important role in Korea's transformation from a feudal to a modern society.

Education and literacy

The early impact of the introduction of Christianity on education has already been mentioned. The promotion of the phonetic and easily learned Hangul script, through the dissemination of Christian literature and through the network of schools established by Christian missions, resulted in a sharp rise in the literacy rate. Hangul, although invented as far back as 1446 by scholars in the court of King Sejong (세종대왕)^[27][28] was little used for several centuries because of the perceived cultural superiority of Chinese. The Catholic Church recognized the value of Hangul, and Bishop Berneux (martyred in 1866) instructed that all Catholic children be taught to read it.^[29] Protestant churches, too, made literacy in Hangul a prerequisite for admission to Holy Communion.^[30] Female literacy also rose sharply; women had traditionally been excluded from the educational system.^[31]

Economic Effects

While the constitution of South Korea guarantees freedom of religion as well as separation of church and state, the government has been favorable to Christianity, regarding the religion as an ideological bulwark against Communism. According to U.S. government figures, about 26% of the Korean population professed Christianity in 1995 [32] while the Religious Yearbook 1995 of a Protestant research group puts the figure at over 40% [33]. Many South Korean Christians view their religious faith as a factor in the country's dramatic economic growth over the past three decades, believing that success and prosperity are indications of God's blessing.

Koreans appreciate the growth, impressive organization, and buildings of Christianity [34]. Surveys have shown [35] South Korean Christians are active in their religion, quite often exceeding their American counterparts in such areas as frequency of attendance at group worship services.

Assessing the effects of Christianity from other influences such as indigenous cultural values and work ethic, a strong alliance with the USA and the infusion of foreign capital presents a challenge. Neighboring Japan has achieved comparable economic strength in parallel with Korea, but with a miniscule proportion of Christians (less than 1% of its population) [36]. Even so, at least one study [37],[38] suggests a correlation which may buttress the contention that Christianity has played a major role in the economic success of the nation.

Social relationships

Perhaps nowhere have Christian values had a more revolutionary effect than in the area of social relationships. Traditional Korean society was hierarchically arranged according to Confucian principles under the semi-divine emperor. Women had no social rights,^[39] children were totally subservient to their parents,^[40] and individuals had no rights except as defined by the overall social system. This structure was radically challenged by the Christian teaching that all men are created in the "Image of God" (Genesis 1.26-27) and thus that every individual has implicit worth. Closely lined to this concept was the emphasis on the right to own private property.^[41] Christians also regarded the emperor as a mere man as much subject to God as were his own subjects, and were taught to regard the authority of God as being above that of the emperor.^[42] The diffusion of Christian values also contributed to the social emancipation of women and children.^[43][44] From its inception in 1784, the Catholic Church permitted the remarriage of widows (not traditionally allowed in East Asian societies), prohibited concubinage and polygamy, and forbade cruelty to or desertion of wives. Catholic parents were taught to regard their children as gifts from God, and were required to educate them.^[45] Arranged child marriages, and the neglect of daughters (who, in Asian society were often regarded as less "desirable" than sons) were prohibited. Nonetheless, it must be recalled that in "Christian" societies of previous centuries, for instance in medieval Europe, such rights of individuals, women, children, and the like, were also much more limited than those of the West of recent centuries. Thus it is not completely appropriate to compare the Korea of that former time to the West after the Renaissance.

Minjung theology and the human rights struggle

The Christian concept of individual worth has also found expression in a long struggle for human rights and democracy. In recent years, this has taken the form of Minjung theology. Based on the "Image of God" concept, but also incorporating the traditional Korean doctrine of han (한) (a word with no accurate English translation, but denoting a sense of inconsolable pain and utter helplessness), Minjung Theology depicts the Korean people themselves as the rightful masters of their own destiny. Emphasizing nationalism as well as human rights, Minjung Theology appeals increasingly to both right and left in Korean society. Two of the country's best known political leaders, Kim Young-sam (김영삼) and Kim Dae-jung (김대중) subscribe to Minjung Theology.^[46] Both men spent decades opposing military-led governments in South Korea, and were frequently imprisoned. Kim Young-sam, a Presbyterian, and Kim Dae-jung, a Roman Catholic, each later served terms as President of the Republic after democracy was restored in 1988.

One manifestation of Minjung Theology in the final years of the Park Chung-hee (박정희) regime (1961-1979) was the rise of several Christian missions, such as the Catholic Farmers Movement and the (Protestant) Urban Industrial Mission, which campaigned for better wages and working conditions for agricultural and industrial workers. Seeing such movements as a threat to social stability, the government arrested and imprisoned many of their leaders. This struggle coincided with a period of popular unrest which culminated in the assassination of President Park on October 26, 1979.^[47]

Controversies

Some non-Christian Koreans, as well as some non-Korean Christians, claim that Korean Christianity operates like a business, or even a cult.^{[citation needed]} Some Christian leaders in Korea have allegedly had extramarital affairs with members of their churches. One such highly publicized incident occurred on 1 December 2003, when Rev. Jang Hyo-Hee, the leader of the Christian Council of Korea (한국기독교총연합회), Korea's largest Christian organization, jumped to his death from an office block as the husband of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair was trying to enter the room. There have also been cases of Christian leaders in Korea have passing on the leadership of their church to their sons, which is considered inappropriate by many Christians, notwithstanding the fact that such occurrences are also common in other countries, including the United States.

Kim Hong-Do, the chief pastor of Kumran Church at Mangwoo-dong, Seoul, was indicted on charges of fraud and embezzlement (3.2 billion won) on 28 April 2006. He is trying to transfer leadership of his church to his son, who currently serves as Associate. The same Kim Hong-Do had aroused controversy in 2004 for claiming that victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake, which devastated much of South Asia, died as a punishment from God for not believing in Christianity.

Summary

Christianity finally became established on Korean soil only after nearly two hundred years of constant setbacks. Beginning as a lay-movement among Silhak scholars who saw Christianity as an ideological catalyst for their egalitarian values, the faith managed to assimilate, and be assimilated by, Korean culture, through its ability to make effective use of existing traditions. The distinctly Korean nature of the Church was reinforced during forty years of Japanese occupation by virtue of the imprisonment of many Korean Christians who refused to participate in Japanese emperor-worship. This stand enabled Christian leaders to describe their faith as being no longer a "foreign" religion.

Looking ahead

South Korea's transition from forty years of authoritarianism (interrupted only once, in the short-lived Second Republic (1960-61)^[48] to a more liberal, democratic regime in 1988, left Korea's churches facing a new challenge. Their strong stand for human rights and democracy had been a significant part of their appeal to the Korean population, and had helped facilitate the exponential growth of many churches in the 1970s and early 1980s. The coming of democracy, which made Christians a part of the establishment as never before, left many Christians feeling that the Church had become a victim of its own success, as freedom and prosperity led to widespread complacency and a loss of the churches' "cutting edge." Church growth tapered off, for the first time in decades.

In the early years of the twenty-first century, however, many Christians have found a renewed determination to evangelize the nation, with the bold goal of establishing the Korean Peninsula as a bastion of Christianity on the Asian mainland, and this vision necessarily encompasses North Korea. Furthermore, with a possible economic and political collapse of the North Korean regime looming, the South Korean churches are developing contingency plans to mobilize both spiritual and humanitarian resources to aid the North.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Korean Buddhism
• Korean Shamanism
• Islam in Korea
• Roman Catholicism in Korea
• Protestantism in Korea
• Unification Church
• Christianity in China
• Christianity in Japan
• Reformed churches
• Korean Contemporary Christian music

Sources

Numbered references

1. ^  Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World, Carlisle, Cumbria, and Waynesboro, GA., 2001, pp. 387-390.
2. ^  CHOI Suk-woo, 'Korean Catholicism Yesterday and Today', Korean Journal XXIV, 8, August 1984, p. 4.
3. ^  KIM Han-sik, 'The Influence of Christianity', Korean Journal XXIII, 12, December 1983, p. 5.
4. ^  Ibid., pp. 6-7.
5. ^  Ibid., p. 6.
6. ^  KIM Ok-hy, 'Women in the History of Catholicism in Korea', Korean Journal XXIV, 8, August 1984, p. 30.
7. ^  CHOI Suk-Woo, pp. 5-6.
8. ^  National Unification Board, The Identity of the Korean People, Seoul, 1983, pp. 132-136.
9. ^  Seoul International Publishing House, Focus on Korea, Korean History, Seoul, 1983, pp. 7-8.
10. ^  Seoul International Publishing House, Focus on Korea, Korean History, Seoul, 1983, pp. 7-8.
11. ^  The Identity of the Korean People, pp. 132-136.
12. ^  Ilyon, tr. HA Tae-hung and Grafton K. Minz, Samguk Yusa, Seoul 1972, pp. 32-33.
13. ^  Marguerite Johnson, 'The Culture', in Pico Iyer (ed.) 'An Ancient Nation on the Eve of a Modern Spectacle: SOUTH KOREA', Time CXXXII, 10, 5 September 1988, p. 48.
14. ^  Ibid., p. 48.
15. ^  Focus on Korea, pp. 7-8.
16. ^  CHO Kwang, 'The Meaning of Catholicism in Korean History', Korean Journal XXIV, 8, August 1984, pp. 20-21.
17. ^  Colin Whittaker, Korea Miracle, Eastbourne, 1988, p. 133.
18. ^  Andrew C. Nah, A Panorama of 5000 Years: Korean History, Seoul, 1983, p. 81.
19. ^  Whittaker, p. 62.
20. ^  Ibid., p. 65.
21. ^  Ibid., p. 63.
22. ^  CHOI Suk-woo, p. 10.
23. ^  Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 23, Danbury, Conn., 1988, p. 464.
24. ^  CHO Kwang, p. 11.
25. ^  Whittaker, p. 65.
26. ^  Merit Students Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, New York and London, 1980, p. 440.
27. ^  Whittaker, p. 34.
28. ^  CHO Kwang, pp. 20-21.
29. ^  Whittaker, p. 40.
30. ^  KIM Ok-hy, p. 34.
31. ^  CHO Kwang, pp. 16-18.
32. ^  Ibid., pp. 18-19.
33. ^  KIM Han-sik, pp. 11-12.
34. ^  CHOI Suk-woo, p. 7.
35. ^  CHO Kwang, pp. 16-18.
36. ^  Ibid., pp. 18-19.
37. ^  Ibid., pp. 16-19.
38. ^  Michael Lee, 'Korean Churches Pursue Social and Political Justice', in Brian Heavy (Ed.), Accent III, 3 Auckland, May 1988, pp. 19-20.
39. ^  Kessing's Contemporary Archives, London, 25 April 1980, p. 30216.
40. ^  J. Earnest Fisher, Pioneers of Modern Korea, Seoul, 1977, pp. 65-74.

Bibliography

• Cho, Kwang (August 1984). The Meaning of Catholicism in Korean History. Korea Journal 24 (8): pp. 14-27. ISSN 0023-3900.
• Choi, Suk-Woo (August 1984). Korean Catholicism Yesterday and Today. Korea Journal 24 (8): pp. 4-13. ISSN 0023-3900.
• Encyclopedia Americana (1986). Vol. 23, Danbury, Conn.: Grolier. ISBN 0-7172-0117-1 (set).
• Fisher, J. Earnest (1977). Pioneers of Modern Korea. Seoul: Christian Literature Society of Korea. 
• Focus on Korea (1986). Vol. 2, "Korean History", Seoul: Seoul International Pub. House.
• Ilyon (1972). Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea, trans. Tae-Hung Ha and Grafton K. Mintz, Seoul: Yonsei University Press. 
• Johnson, Marguerite, "An Ancient Nation on the Eve of a Modern Spectacle", Time, 1988-09-05.
• Johnson, Patrick and and Mandryk, Jason (2001). Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to the Nations, Peoples, and Cities of the World. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Global Mapping International (CD-ROM). 
• Keesing's (1979). Keesing's Contemporary Archives 25: p. 30216. ISSN 0022-9679.
• Kim, Han-Sik (December 1983). The Influence of Christianity on Modern Korean Political Thought. Korea Journal 23 (12): pp. 4-17. ISSN 0023-3900.
• Kim, Ok-Hy (August 1984). Women in the History of Catholicism in Korea. Korea Journal 24 (8): pp. 28-40. ISSN 0023-3900.
• Lee, Michael (May 1981). Korean Churches Pursue Social and Political Justice. Accent 3 (3).
• Merit Students Encyclopedia (1980). Vol. 10, New York: Macmillan Educational.
• Suh, Kuk-sung (et al.) (1983). The Identity of the Korean People: A History of Legitimacy on the Korean Peninsula, trans. Chung Chung, Seoul: National Unification Board. 
• Whittaker, Colin (1988). Korea Miracle. Eastbourne, Sussex: Kingsway. ISBN 0-86065-522-9. 

External links

• Christian Broadcasting Korea
• Pressure of Buddhism from Christianity in Korea
• Profile:History of the growing fundamental Christian bodies in the world
• Effects of Christianity on the Koreans
• Questions for Buddhist and Christian Cooperation in Korea
• CIA The World Factbook - Korea, South
• Constitution of the Republic of Korea (South Korea)
• Confucian No Longer

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