The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea [1 ed.] 1527587657, 9781527587656

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The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea

The Series for East Asian Religion and Culture (SEARAC) devotes itself to publishing creative and innovative editions of texts as well as outcomes of theoretical interpretation belonging to the field of History, Religion, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, New Religions, Culture, Heritage, Society, Philosophy, Colonialism, and regional traditions. Series Editor David W. Kim (Australian National University/Kookmin University, Seoul) Editorial Board Akira Nishimura (University of Tokyo, Japan), Song-Chong Lee (Seoul National University, Korea), Bart Dessein (Ghent University, Belgium), Christopher Hartney (University of Sydney, Australia), Chris White (Purdue University, USA), George D. Chryssides (York St John University, United Kingdom), John Powers (Melbourne University/ Deakin University, Australia), Joseph Tse-Hei Lee (Pace University, USA), Kevin Cawley (University College Cork, Ireland), Andrew Eungi Kim (Korea University, Korea), Midori Horiuchi (Tenri University, Japan), Thomas Michael (Beijing Normal University, China), Won-il Bang (Soongsil University/ Seoul National University, Korea), and Yuet Keung Lo (National University of Singapore).

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective By

Andrew Eungi Kim

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective Series: Studies in Modern East Asian Religion and Culture By Andrew Eungi Kim This book first published 2022 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2022 by Andrew Eungi Kim All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-8765-7 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-8765-6

In grateful memory of my parents for giving me the strength and courage to live and love, although they passed away when I was a child and my aunt for loving me like her own child, although she was a nun

CONTENTS

List of Tables .............................................................................................. x List of Figures........................................................................................... xii Preface ..................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ................................................................................. xvi Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Part One: History of Christianity in Korea Chapter One .............................................................................................. 30 Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century 1. Catholic Beginnings A. Introduction of Catholicism in the Late Eighteenth Century B. Persecutions Against the Catholics: 1785–1871 2. Introduction of Protestantism A. Protestant Beginnings from the Mid- to Late Nineteenth Century B. The Arrival of the First Missionary from the United States in 1884 C. Missionary Activities in Medical Care and Education D. Bible Translation E. The Struggle for Sovereignty and Nationwide Evangelical Campaigns, 1905–1910 F. Churches During the Japanese Colonial Rule, 1910–1945 G. The Liberation and the Post-war Korea, 1945–1960 H. Churches from the Early 1960s to the End of the 1980s in South Korea 3. Conclusion

viii

Contents

Part Two: Religious Factors for the Rise of Protestantism Chapter Two ........................................................................................... 130 A “Spiritual Vacuum” and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth Century Korea 1. Religious Void: Declining Influences of Traditional Religions 2. A Comparison with Japan A. The Meiji Restoration and Hostility Toward Christianity in Japan B. Anti-Christian Sentiments and Movement: Japanese Traditional Religions and Shinto Nationalism 3. Conclusion Chapter Three ......................................................................................... 149 Korean Religious Culture and Its Affinity to Christianity: Buddhism and Confucianism 1. Religious Syncretism: Buddhist Elements in Korean Protestantism 2. Confucian Elements in Korean Protestantism: Emphasis on Social Ethics and Family Values 3. Conclusion Chapter Four ........................................................................................... 168 Korean Religious Culture and Its Affinity to Christianity: Convergence of Shamanism and Korean Protestantism 1. Korean Shamanism: The Religious Basis of Korean Thoughts A. Shamans and Their Functions 2. “Shamanisation” of Christianity: Promise of Material Blessings A. The Image of God as the “Saviour” Who Grants Earthly Wishes B. This-worldly Inclination of Korean Protestants C. Faith Healing in Protestantism and Healing in Korean Shamanism 3. Conclusion Part Three: Socio-Political Factors for the Rise of Protestantism Chapter Five ........................................................................................... 208 Political Instability and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Korea 1. The Court’s Favourable Disposition Toward Western Powers and Things Western 2. The Missionaries’ Active Involvement with Social Services A. Comparison with Japan: The Missionary Efforts in Vain 3. Conclusion

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Chapter Six ............................................................................................. 244 The Rise of Christianity Amidst Rapid Urbanisation and Industrialisation 1. Rapid Urbanisation and Church Growth 2. Industrialisation, Economic Deprivation and Compensatory Role of Christianity 3. Conclusion Part Four: The Church Growth Movement and the Role of the Church Chapter Seven......................................................................................... 276 The Role of the Church in the Rise of Christianity: The Church Growth Movement, Effective Methods of Evangelism, and Church Individualism 1. The Church Growth Movement 2. Effective Methods of Evangelism and Church Growth A. Emphasis on Personal Evangelism B. Institutionalisation of the Bible Class System C. The Sunday School Programme D. Evangelism Through Home Cell Units E. Student Ministries F. Industrial Evangelism G. The Armed Forces Chaplaincy H. The Use of Mass Media: Radio Evangelism I. Cooperative Evangelism and Nation-wide Revivals 3. Church Individualism, Schisms and Church Growth 4. Conclusion Conclusion ............................................................................................. 323 1. The Rise of Protestantism in Korea: Religious, Socio-political, and Church-related Factors 2. Grayson’s Theory of Emplantation: An Assessment 3. Implications of the Study Bibliography ........................................................................................... 336 Index ....................................................................................................... 371

LIST OF TABLES

Introduction Table 0.1: Religious Population in South Korea (in thousands; percentage of total population) Table 0.2: The Number of Protestant Christians, 1950–2005 Chapter One: Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century Table 1.1: Social Status of the Martyred Table 1.2: The Gender Breakdown of the Martyred Table 1.3: Number of Korean Catholics in the Nineteenth Century Table 1.4: The First Mission Schools, 1886–1890 Table 1.5: Extent of the Circulation of the Bible (in part or whole) Table 1.6: Protestant Churches and Members in 1905 and 1907 Table 1.7: Comparison of Private Schools and Missionary Schools, 1910– 1923 Table 1.8: Religious Affiliation of Those Imprisoned for Involvement in the Independence Movement as of December 1919 Table 1.9: Number of Churches, 1913–1925 Table 1.10: Christian Population in Korea, 1916–1925 Table 1.11: The Number of Clergy, 1916–1925 Table 1.12: Number of Christians, 1925–1941 Table 1.13: Number of Missionaries in Korea in the 1950s Chapter Four: Korean Religious Culture and Its Affinity to Christianity: Convergence of Shamanism and Korean Protestantism Table 4.1: Responses to the Statement that “All the stories of miracles found in the Bible are true” Table 4.2: Responses to the Statement that “Hananim (God) fulfils all the wishes we pray for” Table 4.3: Proportion of Korean Christians Who Have Experienced the Holy Spirit

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Table 4.4: Reasons for Praying at the Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church, 1979 Chapter Five: Political Instability and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Korea Table 5.1: The Missionaries’ Involvement in Philanthropy Table 5.2: The Establishment of Missionary Schools Table 5.3: Number of Churches in Korean Provinces, 1910 Table 5.4: Number of Protestants in Selected Provinces, 1940 Chapter Six: The Rise of Christianity Amidst Rapid Urbanisation and Industrialisation Table 6.1: Changes in Urban/Rural Population, 1955–1990 Table 6.2: Place of Birth for the Laity, 1980 Table 6.3: Place Where the Laity Grew Up Until the Age of 14, 1980 Conclusion Table 8.1: Grayson’s Assessment of Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism in Relation to the Emplantation Theory

LIST OF FIGURES

Introduction Figure 0.1: Religious Population in South Korea in 2015 Figure 0.2: Expansion of Christian Population, 1794–1978 Figure 0.3: Number of Korean Missionaries Sent Abroad, 2006–2018 Chapter Seven: The Role of the Church in the Rise of Christianity: The Church Growth Movement, Effective Methods of Evangelism, and Church Individualism Figure 7.1: Structure of Home Cell Units

PREFACE When foreigners visit Korea, one of the things which they find interesting is that red neon crosses dot the skyline of Seoul at night. There is a good reason for the ubiquity of neon crosses—found not only on the top of church buildings but also on the roofs of small shopping plazas in which small churches are located—in Seoul. Christians, both Protestants and Catholics, today comprise nearly one-third of the Korean population. More specifically, Protestant Christianity is the country’s largest religion with nearly ten million adherents, comprising about 20 percent of the population. A large number of Catholics, whose total is now nearly 3.8 million or about 8 percent of the population, also adds to the Christian presence in Korea. The remarkable growth of Korean Protestantism in particular is attested to by the fact that Korea boasts some of the largest Protestant churches in the world, including Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world’s largest church with nearly 500,000 members today. The vigour of Korean Protestantism is also demonstrated by the fact that Korea now sends the second largest number of overseas missionaries in the world, second only to the United States. What is extraordinary about the “success” of Protestantism in Korea is that the new religion has established itself as the largest religion in the country in some 130 years since its introduction in 1884. Also striking is the fact that its growth has been achieved in a country with a rich religious tradition, replete with shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Korea also stands alone in international comparisons, for it is the only country in all of Asia where Protestantism has established itself as a major religion. The Korean case also contrasts sharply with its neighbouring countries, namely

xiv

Preface

China and Japan, where Christianity, both Catholicism and Protestantism, largely failed to make a lasting impact. The question is: What are the factors which account for the Christian “success story” in Korea? This study argues that there are both religious and non-religious factors which facilitated the rise of Protestantism as the largest religion in Korea today. More specifically, the study shows that the rise of Protestantism in the country has been made possible by the following historical, religious, cultural and social causes. First, one of the most important “religious” factors is that Protestantism was introduced to Korea when its traditional religions, except for Confucianism, had been severely weakened by centuries of government ban. In the absence of a powerful, organised religion in the host society, the new religion was able to grow. In the annals of Christianity, it is a well proven fact that the missionary religion largely failed to penetrate cultures where strong “religious opposition” existed, e.g., the Middle East (Islam) and India (Hinduism). Second, another religious factor for the success of Protestantism in Korea is that the imported faith and traditional religions of Korea share certain common grounds, albeit “artificially” underscored by Korean pastors. A third factor has to do with the timing of the introduction of Protestantism to Korea. At the time of its introduction in the late nineteenth century, the country was faced with a national crisis over its very existence, which prompted the Korean elite to become receptive to the new religion in wishing for Western help in preserving its sovereignty. This alone stands in stark contrast to the experience of Protestant missionaries in China and Japan, where they were generally met with suspicion and hostility. Fourth, from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, which is a period of the most rapid church growth in Korea, churches were able to achieve rapid growth, because they served as something akin to a “community centre”

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

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(similar to “ethnic churches” in North America) which provided not only an outlet for spiritual or emotional comfort but also fellowship, information, and practical help to converts and potential converts. These “services” were greatly attractive for those suffering from alienation, social displacement and the perceived sense of relative deprivation caused by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Lastly, an increasing competition among churches and from Buddhism galvanised Korean churches to develop efficient evangelical strategies to target potential converts. Their efforts were guided and justified by the ideology of church growth that became popular in the United States in the 1970s. This book thus demonstrates that a convergence of factors has facilitated the establishment of Protestantism as the largest religion in Korea. The study illustrates that both religious and non-religious factors have been equally important in making Koreans receptive to the new religion. As a way of closing, the applicability of James Grayson’s theory of “emplantation” to the Korean context is assessed. The study affirms the validity of the theory’s arguments that Protestantism succeeded in Korea partly due to the resolution of not only potential contradictions between the new doctrine and the core values of the receiving society but also potential conflicts between the new doctrine and the existing religions of the host society.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is published with the generous support of the International Center for Korean Studies, Korea University’s Center for research, publication, and development in Korean Studies. The International Center for Korean Studies was established in 2003 to support scholarship and exploration of Korea in the humanities and social sciences, and to promote new research in Korean Studies to a wide international audience. There are friends and colleagues whose ideas have shaped and stimulated my research on this topic. I would like to thank Professors Irving M. Zeitlin, Roger O’Toole, Joseph M. Bryant, and Paula Maurutto, all of whom have read the original draft and gave invaluable editorial and insightful comments. I would also like to thank Professor David W. Kim who, as the Editor for Series in East Asian Religion and Culture (SEARAC), was meticulous in helping me with the final preparation of the manuscript. I am also indebted to the anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions vastly improved the final draft of the manuscript. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Haewon, for her patience and understanding as I spent a lot of time at my desk working on the manuscript. Andrew Eungi Kim Korea University, Seoul

INTRODUCTION

The Rise of Protestant Christianity in South Korea South Korea (henceforth Korea) has no “official” religion—like the Anglican Church in England—nor is there one dominant religion. Shamanism, Buddhism, and Christianity as well as a whole spectrum of new religious movements co-exist peacefully in one of the most religiously pluralistic countries in the world. It is not hard to find expressions of shamanism in contemporary Korea: a shamanic ritual called gut, 1 in various forms and purposes, is still practiced and an estimated three million Koreans regularly consult shamans and fortune-tellers, whose numbers reportedly hover around 300,000 (Maeilgyeongje 2018). Confucianism, albeit more revered and practiced as a set of moral precepts, still attracts a considerable number of devotees: about 76,000 Koreans still identify Confucianism as their religion. Buddhism, which had been the country’s largest religion in terms of membership ever since census on religious population has been taken since 1985, is, according to the nation’s latest census in 2015, the second largest religion with 7.6 million followers or about 15 percent of the total population (National Statistical Office 2016).

1 Except for certain proper nouns and proper names, transliteration of Korean terms follows the Revised Romanisation of Korean adopted by the Korean government in 2000. What distinguishes the current Romanisation system from the previous versions is that it has eliminated pronunciation symbols and is more faithful to the actual Korean pronunciation.

2

Introduction

More interestingly, it is the rise of Protestant Christianity as the largest religion which sets Korea apart from all other countries in Asia. 2 According to the latest census in 2015, Protestantism, which was introduced to Korea in 1884, is the country’s largest religion with nearly ten million adherents, comprising about 20 percent of the country’s 49 million population (see Table 1 and Figure 1). 3 That is, about one in every five South Korean is Protestant. Adding to the Christian presence in Korea is a large number of Catholics whose total is now nearly 3.8 million or about 8 percent of the population. Together, Protestant and Catholic Christians comprise nearly a third of the Korean population. 4

2

Singapore is also known to have a sizable number of Protestants, with the latter accounting for about 10 percent of the total population, according to the 2020 census (CNA 2021). 3 A recent survey shows that the growth of Protestantism may be stagnating. For example, a 2021 survey by Gallup Korea (2021) finds that Protestant Christians comprised 17 percent of the Korean population, followed by Buddhists with 16 percent and Catholics with 6 percent. Another survey by Hankook Research in 2021, however, shows that the number of Protestants is not declining, as 20 percent of the Korean population identified themselves as adherents of the religion, followed by Buddhism with 17 percent and Catholics with 11 percent (Korea JoongAng Daily 2022). Notwithstanding the difference in these survey results, a decline in membership is predicted for Protestantism in the near future. Such projection will be either verified or refuted in the next census in 2025. 4 One noteworthy fact about the religious landscape in Korea is that more than a half of Koreans reportedly profess no religious affiliation. According to the 2015 census, for example, 56.1 percent of Koreans had no religious affiliation (see Table 1), while the 2021 Gallup Korea survey shows that 60 percent of its respondents were unaffiliated with any religion. Both figures are significantly higher than the world average, as only 16 percent of the world population was unaffiliated with any religion as of 2015 (Pew Research Center 2017).

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

3

Table 0.1: Religious Population in South Korea (in thousands; percentage of total population) 5 Religious Population in South Korea 1985

1995

2005

2015

40,448

43,834

46,352

49,052

6,489 (16.1%)

8,505 (19.4)

8,446 (18,2)

9,676 (19.7)

Buddhists

8,059 (19.9)

10,154 (23.2)

10,588 (22.8)

7,619 (15.5)

Catholics

1,865 (4.6)

2,885 (6.6)

5,015 (10.8)

3,890 (7.9)

Won Buddhists

92 (0.2)

86 (0.2)

129 (0.3)

84 (0.2)

Confucians

483 (1.2)

210 (0.5)

104 (0.2)

76 (0.2)

Others

212 (0.5)

260 (0.6)

245 (0.5)

208 (0.4)

No Religious Affiliation

23,216 (57.4)

21,735 (49.6)

21,826 (47.1)

27,499 (56.1)

Total Population Protestants

Source: National Statistical Office (1987, 1997, 2006, 2016).

5

Data for the religious population in Korea have been compiled by asking the question “What is your religion?”

Introduction

4

Figure 0.1: Religious Population in South Korea in 2015

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Source: National Statistical Office (2016).



The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

5

The growth of Protestantism had been particularly pronounced from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, the period of the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Since the early 1960s, when Korea’s Protestants scarcely topped the one million mark, the number of Protestant Christians increased faster than in any other country, nearly doubling every decade (see Table 2 and Figure 2). Industrialisation, which is usually believed to cause a decline in religion, seems to have helped spur the growth of the new religion in Korea. Protestantism in modern-era Korea is also an urban phenomenon, as a vast majority of Christians live in cities and urban centres. Table 0.2: The Number of Protestant Christians, 1950–2005 Year

Number of Growth Rate Total Population Members (%) (in thousands) 1950 500,198 20,412 1960 623,072 24.6 24,989 1970 3,192,621 512.4 31,435 1980 5,001,491 56.7 37,406 1985 6,489,282 29.8 40,419 1991 8,037,464 23.9 44,452 1995 8,760,336 9.0 44,553 2005 8,616,438 -1.6 47,041 Sources: For the 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980 data, see Korea Research Institute of Religion and Society (1993); for the 1985 datum, see National Statistical Office (1987); for the 1991, 1995 and 2005 data, see National Statistical Office (1991, 1997, 2006).

6

Introduction

Figure 0.2: Expansion of Christian Population, 1794–1978 6

Source: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 144).

6 While the numerical figures are not accurate, this figure gives you a “visual” image of the rapid growth of Christianity during the specified periods.

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

7

The phenomenal growth of Korean Protestantism is attested to by the fact that Korea boasts some of the largest Protestant churches in the world. Metropolitan Seoul is home to 23 of the 50 largest churches in the world, with many of these megachurches being characterised by Pentecostal theology and worship (Freston 2001, 62). In fact, five of the ten largest churches in the world are found in Seoul, a “city of churches” (Draper et al. 1994). Seoul is home to not only the world’s largest congregation—Yoido Full Gospel Church which currently boasts nearly 500,000 members—but also the world’s largest and second largest Presbyterian churches: Yeongnak Church (60,000 members in 2006) and Choonghyun Church (19,730 members in 2008). The world’s largest Methodist church— Geumnan Methodist Church (100,000 members in 2009)—and the largest Baptist church in the world—Seongnak Baptist Church (130,000 members in 2009)—are also found in the city (Shin 2015). 7 Partly as both a cause and consequence of the establishment of the large number of megachurches, there were, as of 2018, 126 denominations (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism 2018), and over 78,000 churches. 8 The largest denominations in terms of membership in Korea are Presbyterian (33 percent), Methodist (22 percent), Holiness (16 percent), Baptist (11 percent), and Full Gospel (8 percent). The rest, i.e., about ten percent of the total number of Protestant churches, comprises independent churches.

7

Korea also has a large number of megachurches, i.e., churches which have more than 2,000 people in average weekend attendance, estimated to total around 900 (Kim, J. 2020, 14). The United States reportedly boasts the largest number of megachurches in the world with more than 1,750. Given that the total number of churches in the latter is about five times larger than that of the former (350,000 vs 70,000), such large number of megachurches in Korea is noteworthy. 8 The reason for the existence of relatively many denominations in Korea is that the total includes many Presbyterian, Methodist, and Holiness sub-denominations.

Introduction

8

The dynamism of Protestantism in Korea is also attested to by the fact that Korean churches collectively now send more missionaries abroad than most other countries (see Figure 3). According to the data compiled by the Korea World Missions Association, as of the end of 2018, Korean churches sent 27,993 missionaries to 171 countries (Gidokilbo 2019). The total, which is second only to the United States, set the record for the highest number of Korean missionaries sent abroad since the group began compiling the relevant data since 2006. Nearly 60 percent of Korean missionaries who are sent overseas are stationed in other Asian countries. Korean churches began sending missionaries abroad in earnest since the early 1980s, and by 1998 Korea already had nearly 8,000 missionaries (4,700 ordained ministers and 3,200 lay evangelists) stationed overseas, which was the third highest in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom (Kukminilbo 1998). 9 One interesting aspect of missionary efforts from Korea, past and present, is that they are largely done by individual churches, with very little collective or joint effort from denominations. A compelling manifestation of the phenomenal expansion of Christianity, both Catholicism and Protestantism, is further demonstrated by the fact that a large proportion of the country’s heads of state, past and present, were and are Christians, at least nominally. Rhee Syngman (1875– 1965), who served as the first president of the Republic of Korea from 1948 to 1960, was Protestant, and his successor, Chang Myon (1899–1966), who served as the Prime Minister from 1960 to 1961, during which the country 9 Amazingly enough, Korea began sending missionaries overseas as early as 1912, less than three decades since the introduction of Protestantism into Korea. Three missionaries were sent to China in that year. In the post-war era, the first Korean missionary was sent overseas as early as 1956, when Youngnak Church sent a missionary to Taiwan.







    

Source: Gidokilbo (2019).

            











Figure 0.3: Number of Korean Missionaries Sent Abroad, 2006–2018

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective 9

10

Introduction

adopted a parliamentary system, was Roman Catholic. 10 Chun Doo-hwan (1931–2021), who served as the president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988 was Catholic, although he became a Buddhist in later life, while his successor Kim Young-Sam (1927–2015), who was in office from 1993 to 1998, was a Presbyterian elder. Former president Kim Dae-jung (1924– 2009), in office from 1998 to 2003, was Catholic, as was his immediate successor Roh Moo-hyun (1946–2009), in office from 2003-2008, known to have lapsed while practising some form of Buddhism in later years. Lee Myung-bak (b. 1941), who was in office from 2008 to 2013, is a Presbyterian elder. Moon Jae-in (b. 1953), who served as the country’s 12th president between 2017 and 2022, is Catholic, as is the incumbent president Yun Suk-yeol. What all of this means is that nine out of thirteen heads of state the country has ever had were and are Christians, either Catholic or Protestant, practicing or non-practicing. As for the characteristics of Korean Protestantism, its theological orientation in general has been “conservative” or “fundamental,” characterised by evangelical and charismatic Christianity, emphasising the belief in the will and power of God, the sinful estate of human being, salvation of individuals through the grace of God and redemption through Christ, and the need for personal conversion, i.e., being “born again.” Similar to its counterparts in other parts of the world, theological fundamentalism in Korea emphasises the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, stresses the importance of evangelism, and accentuates the ultimate authority and infallibility of the Bible, which is usually understood “literally” and is believed to be “inerrable.” While there are several reasons why Korean churches are theologically conservative, the most important 10 Yun Posun (1897–1990), who served as the president of the country from 1960 to 1962, was Protestant Christian.

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

11

factor is the overwhelming influence of the early missionaries, most of whom came from the United States, a country well-known for its Christian fundamentalism. According to Allen D. Clark (1987), a total of 1,952 foreign missionaries had worked in Korea from 1893 to 1983, out of which 1,710 were Americans, representing about 88 percent of the total. In other words, nearly nine out of every ten missionaries in Korea had been Americans, manifesting a very close relationship that existed between American Christianity and its counterpart in Korea. It is also worth noting that a large majority of the missionaries to Korea were sent by the conservative Presbyterian and Methodist mission bodies in the United States, particularly the former. Accordingly, American missionaries were largely informed by “theologically conservative Presbyterianism, especially that of Calvinistic theology, which held as its central tenets the belief in Christ’s atonement, premillennialist eschatology, and the inerrancy and supernatural authority of the Bible” (Chong 2008, 25). The early missionaries also disseminated only “simplified” theology to Koreans and insisted on strict adherence to the doctrine. As Deokju Lee (1997) argues, the theology of early missionaries from the United States and Canada was largely conservative and their faith was strongly rooted in Puritanism, pietism—with its emphasis on individual piety and a fervent Christian life—and evangelicalism. Other factors for the conservative nature of Korean theological orientation include a thorough permeation of the conservative Confucian tradition in Korean culture and society, the anxiety created by the presence of belligerent North Korea, the existence of a sizable number of North Korean refugees among the leadership of the Protestant community, a large number of Korean pastors who have been educated in conservative theological schools in the United States, and “the evolution of the church relatively isolated from Western

Introduction

12

theological developments, especially liberal Christianity” (Chong 2008, 25). Many Korean churches, irrespective of denominational affiliation, embrace faith healing and speaking in tongues, both of which are, strictly speaking, Pentecostal. In fact, theological distinctiveness among Korean denominations is rather blurred, as a large number of Korean churches, regardless of denominational ties, are Pentecostal in beliefs and practices as well as in theological outlook (Kim, A. 2013). As Cox (1995, 221) perceptively observes in Fire from Heaven, “the traditional western denominational labels mean very little” in discussing Korean Protestantism. The “Pentecostalisation” of Korean churches is clearly evident in their style of worship and preaching, as they largely believe in faith healing, pray for the sick, pray for supernatural miracles and encourage the congregation to speak in tongues. Most denominations and churches in Korea are socially and politically conservative as well. And anti-communism has played an important role. The communist regime’s brutality against Christians during the Korean War (1950–1953)—Christians in areas captured by invading communist forces were often killed or captured and marched to the north— hardened the enmity of Christians toward communism in general and the northern regime in particular. The influx of a large number of North Korean Christian refugees into the south prior to and during the Korean War further reinforced the conservatism of Korean Protestantism (Kang, I. 2004). This is why many Protestant Christians in South Korea have viewed communism as a mortal enemy, and this helps explain why most Korean Protestant churches had been loyal to the succession of anti-communist, authoritarian regimes from the 1950s to the 1980s, often ignoring anti-democratic nature of their rule.

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Another noteworthy fact about Korean Protestantism is its adherents’ devotional fervour and enthusiasm. In terms of the frequency of prayers and Bible reading, participation in Bible study, observance of the Sabbath, tithing, and participation in revival meetings, Korean Christians are said to be second to none, as indicated by many international surveys. The frequency of worship services is also notable. Most churches hold worship services several times on weekdays, with Wednesday and Friday worship services being the most common. Practically every Korean church also holds predawn prayer meetings between 4 and 6 in the morning every day. Fasting prayers and healing prayers, both of which are often held also at gidowon or prayer centres, are very popular among Korean Christians. The practice of fasting prayers in particular is seen as a demonstration of the depth of one’s faith. Another characteristic of Korean Protestantism is that, unlike North America and Europe where there is a wide gap between the number of people who identify themselves as Christians and church attendance, there is relatively much smaller gap between Christian identification and actual church attendance in Korea. As for the question of why it was Protestant Christianity rather than Catholic Christianity which was more successful in Korea, there are multiple causal factors. What gave Protestantism a particular advantage over Catholicism was that a much larger number of Protestant missionaries, pastors and churches in comparison to their Catholic counterparts allowed the former to outpace the latter in attracting people into its churches (Baker 2016). Other factors for the greater success of Protestantism in Korea include the following: Protestant identification with modern schools and hospitals and with anti-Japanese nationalism (because of its resistance to Shinto rituals), both of which will be discussed in greater detail below, the participatory nature of Protestant rituals (the Catholic mass was in Latin

14

Introduction

until the early 1960s), and the granting of important roles (and titles) to lay men and women in Protestant congregations.

Research Question and Aim of the Book What is remarkable about the “success story” of Protestantism in Korea is that the imported faith established itself as the largest religion in the country in some 130 years since its introduction in 1884. The fact that the new religion has successfully taken roots in a country which has a rich religious tradition, replete with time-honoured religions such as shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism, is also noteworthy. Another significant fact is that Korea is the only country in all of Asia where Protestant Christianity has established itself as a major religion, as nearly one-fifths of the population has converted to the new religion. The Christian success in Korea also contrasts sharply with the failure of Christianity, either Catholicism or Protestantism, to make a lasting impact in China and Japan, the neighbouring countries with strikingly similar social organisational arrangements and shared cultural traditions and practices, especially those pertaining to Confucian and Buddhist influences. Similar missionary efforts were made in these countries, but Christianity largely failed to “penetrate” the religious landscape of these countries. For example, the absolute number of Christians in China may be higher than that of Korea now, but the proportion of Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, in the total population of the former is believed to be less than four percent today. 11 The presence of Christianity in Japan is even more negligible, as the number of Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, is less than a million or about .8

11

In Taiwan, the proportion of Christians in the total population reportedly comprises about five percent.

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

15

percent of the total population of 125 million. Therefore, among the countries in Northeast Asia, which are not only closely located to one another but also share extensive religious and cultural traditions, Korea is the only country that has witnessed the most spectacular and sociologically significant Protestant expansion. This rapid rise of Protestantism took place in a country where the proportion of the population with a religious affiliation was negligible as late as the middle of the twentieth century. When Koreans were asked to identify their religious affiliation during the Japanese colonial rule (1910– 1945), most said they had none. Out of the 23.5 million population in 1941, for example, less than a million or 4.3 percent of the population said they had any particular religious affiliation (Baker 2003). In fact, even as late as 1964, the proportion of the Korean population professing to have a religious affiliation was relatively low, for only a little over 3.5 million Koreans or about 12 percent of the population of about 28 million said so (Ibid.). The situation was even more discouraging for Christianity, as Korean Christians reportedly comprised no more than two percent of the total population by the time the country was liberated from Japan in 1945. As to the question of whether Korean Protestants had another religion prior to their conversion to the new religion, studies show that only a small minority of them converted from another religion. For example, according to a survey by Gallup Korea (2004, 192), only 14.5 percent of the Protestant respondents said they switched to the new religion from another religion. Similar results were found in earlier surveys (Gallup Korea 1984, 250; Gallup Korea 1990a, 201; Gallup Korea 1998, 245). The key historical-sociological problematic raised by the success of Korean Protestantism is obvious: What confluence of historical, religious, cultural, and social structural conditions and factors account for

16

Introduction

the Christian “success story” in Korea, particularly in light of the corresponding “failure” of this imported Western religion to make similar progress in the adjacent countries of China, Taiwan and Japan? North Korea, where the presence of Christianity was much stronger than in the south before the de facto partition of the Korean peninsula into two states in 1945, is not discussed in this study, because Christianity is practically nonexistent in the country today. However, it is still worth noting that prior to 1945 a large majority of Korean Christians, especially Protestants, were living in the north. Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, was actually once the centre of Christianity in Northeast Asia, and by the early 1940s, “Pyongyang was by far the most Protestant of all major cities of Korea, with some 25Gդ 30 percent of its adult population being church-going Christians” (Asia Times 2005; see Martin and Bach 2011). The city had even earned the nickname of “Jerusalem of the East” for its vibrant Protestant community. While the Protestant missionary efforts begun in Seoul first, the religion flourished much more extensively in the north, especially in Pyongyang. There have of course been numerous important specialist studies on Korean Christianity (Wasson 1934; Shearer 1966; Palmer 1967; Paik 1971; Min, K. 1982; O 1973; Clark, A. 1971; Moffett 1962; Rhodes 1935; Grayson 1985; Park, C. 2003; Buswell Jr. and Lee 2005; Lee, T. 2009; Kim, S. C. H. and Kim 2015). For example, Alfred Wasson published Church Growth in Korea in 1934, which was a culmination of commission from the International Missionary Council to analyse the growth of Christianity in Korea. In contrast to what the missionaries typically identified as the factors for the growth of Christianity in Korea—i.e., God’s providence, the missionary efforts centred around the Nevius method, 12 and the enthusiasm 12 Named after the American Protestant missionary in China, John Livingstone Nevius, the Nevius method or the Nevius Plan advocates the principles of “self-

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

17

and prayers of Korean Christians—Wasson offered an argument that it was Korea’s political and social circumstances, complete with the Japanese annexation of the country and subsequent oppressive Japanese regime, which contributed to the growth of Christianity. Roy Shearer’s Wildfire: Church Growth in Korea (1966) approached the issue of church growth in Korea from the perspective of cultural anthropology. Shearer minimises the role of the Nevius method in the growth of Christianity in Korea; instead, he argues that it was shamanic cultural milieu and emphasis on family-centred conformity as well as people’s receptivity toward the Gospel as the reasons. His assertion about shamanism is very important, as it supports the view that Christianity can be very successful in cultures which are dominated by animism and shamanism. By extension, of course, it can be argued that Christianity has succeeded the most in cultures where there were no other dominant world religions, which are characterised as having, among others, priesthood, organisation, and regularised religious rituals. In Korea and Christianity: The Problem of Identification with Tradition (1967), Spencer Palmer argues that Korean shamanism, an animistic religion, somewhat paved the way for the acceptance of Christianity among Koreans. While he does not fully explore the connection between the two religions, some of the examples he provides are thoughtprovoking. For example, he contends that the Christian use of the term hananim, which is the term for traditionally revered god of Korean shamanism, as God in Christianity allowed shamanically-oriented Koreans to find a mirror image of their traditionally revered god in the new religion. Palmer also argues that there exists a certain level of congruence between propagation, self-government, and self-support” of local churches in new mission fields.

18

Introduction

the rituals found in the Old Testament and those of traditional Korean culture, including the ceremonial care of the dead. An edited volume by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Timothy Lee, entitled Christianity in Korea (2005), is a collection of essays which provide an overview on wide-ranging aspects of the history and current state of Korean Christianity. The essays range from discussions of the relations between Korean churches and colonial authorities during the Japanese colonial period to the sociopolitical background of the development of minjung theology, a Korean form of liberation theology. While the book touches on many interesting aspects of Christianity in Korea, its focus is not an analysis of the factors which account for the growth of Christianity in Korea. A main problem with the existing publications on the topic of the “Christian success” in Korea is that they offer essentially narrow historical treatments, with scant interest in the larger sociological questions regarding Christianity’s singular reception in the country. Indeed, there has to date been but very limited social scientific attention given to the subject. In an attempt to redress this imbalance, this study offers a systematic historical sociology of the processes of “Christianisation” in Korea, thereby bringing into sharper relief the determinant nexus of circumstances and factors that made possible Protestant Christianity’s phenomenal rise to social prominence from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. In a nutshell, the study argues that there are both religious and non-religious factors which facilitated the rise of Protestantism as the largest religion in Korea today. As we shall see, a full explication and proper understanding of this unique dynamic will necessarily draw upon Max Weber’s celebrated “elective affinity” principle, which he employed so effectively in tracing the complex interrelations between an emerging capitalist order and the rise of

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19

Protestantism (Weber 1930). As an analytical framework, elective affinity mandates attending to the congruence between “appeal” and “reception,” i.e., fitting together both the message and the audience. In this particular case, five lines of connection are of decisive importance: 1) an introduction of Protestantism in the “absence” of a powerful, organised religion in the host society has meant that the new religion practically faced no “religious opposition,” like in the Middle East (Islam) and India (Hinduism); 2) an affinity between Protestant Christianity and traditional religions of Korea, albeit “artificially” underscored by Korean pastors, magnified the appeal of the new religion to potential converts; 3) an introduction of Protestantism in the late nineteenth century coincided with a national crisis over a potential loss of sovereignty, prompting the Korean elite to become receptive to the new religion in the hope that Western countries, from where the missionaries came from, can help protect the country’s sovereignty; 4) from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, which is a period of the most rapid church growth in Korea, churches served as a refuge or “community centre” for those suffering from great anxiety, social displacement and the perceived sense of relative deprivation caused by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation; and 5) driven by the ideology of church growth that became popular in the 1970s, and in the face of competition from Buddhism, Korean Protestant churches developed and implemented highly efficient evangelical strategies to convert large numbers of Koreans. To elaborate on the above five points of convergence, the study argues first that a key factor which contributed significantly to the acceptance of Protestantism in Korea was the absence of resistance or opposition from the existing traditional religions against the new religion. Although shamanism represented the most pervasive belief system among the masses, its lack of any unifying institutional expression and lack of

Introduction

20

organised priesthood as well as its tolerance and syncretic tendencies toward other religions presented no difficulty for the spread of the imported faith in Korea. Buddhism, which had been largely banished to the countryside since the beginning of the Joseon dynasty in 1392, posed even less of a hazard to the spread of Protestantism, at least during the initial stage of the latter’s introduction in 1884. Its organisation was divested of any structural and financial means; its priesthood was extremely weak; and its temples were found only in remote areas. The decline of Buddhism at the time was induced by centuries of various anti-Buddhist measures. The decree of “Respect Confucianism and Oppose Buddhism” proscribed visits to Buddhist temples, prohibited participation in any form of Buddhist activity; and banned Buddhist monks from entering the capital and other cities, effectively driving Buddhism into the mountains and segregating monks from city life. Moreover, the confiscation of temple lands and the government’s supervision of existing monasteries seriously undermined the financial and organisational bases of Buddhism. All of this forced Buddhism to lose its social and religious significance throughout the Joseon dynasty (1392– 1910), although many people still offered Buddhist prayers in secrecy. While Confucianism, de facto the state religion during the Joseon dynasty, could have posed the biggest obstacle to the new religion, it did not present any problem for Christianity. A main reason for this was the unique role of Confucianism as a set of moral and social principles rather than as an organised religion, lacking a hierarchical leadership structure upholding a set of doctrines. Its nearly exclusive prominence as a set of social ethics and norms rather than as a conventional religious practice of the masses meant

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

21

that Confucianism 13 and Protestantism did not have to compete for religious dominance. These circumstances understandably prompted early missionaries and visitors to Korea to remark that the peninsula was a land without an organised religion (Griffis 1885, 161; Lowell 1886, 182; Miln 1895, 226). Henry Appenzeller, one of the pioneering Methodist missionaries to Korea, observed upon his arrival in August of 1885 that “people within the walls of this city [Seoul] are practically without a religion” and that “there is not a temple of any kind.” (cited from Hunt 1980, 81). William Elliot Griffis (1888, 371), an American Congregational minister and prolific writer, also noted that the “Koreans offer the spectacle of a nation without a religion and waiting for one.” Isabella Bird (1897, 63), in an account of her journeys to Korea in 1897, made a similar observation, saying that “when Buddhist priests and temples were prohibited in the walled towns three centuries ago, anything like a national faith disappeared from Korea, and it is only through ancestral worship and a form of ‘shamanism’ practiced by the lower and middle classes that any recognition of the unseen survives.” What all of this shows is that Protestantism prospered in Korea partly because of the absence of a strong, organised religion that could have made it difficult for the new religion to penetrate, as happened in India and the Middle East. The annals of Christian expansion clearly indicate that it succeeded in gaining large numbers of new converts in lands where there was no organised religion at the time of its introduction, i.e., Central and South America, and Africa. A second point of convergence between the imported religion and the host society pertains to the fact that traditional Korean religions, 13 The only religious element of Confucianism is mostly limited to the practice of ancestor worship, which is most often conducted in private, family settings.

22

Introduction

especially shamanism, provided several important points of contact with Protestant Christianity, hence, allowing for the ready adaptation of Christian beliefs and principles in the host society. An affinity between Korean religious culture and Protestantism, which was not only emphasised by the missionaries but also by Korean pastors, strengthened the appeal of the imported faith in the host society. In particular, Korean clergy, in an effort to make Protestantism more acceptable to potential converts, accentuated certain messages and doctrines of the new religion as having similar values, if not the same, as those of Confucianism and shamanism. Examples of convergence between Korean religious tradition and Protestantism abound, but the following themes stand out as the most important: a similarity between Confucian values and Christianity in emphasising the centrality of ethics and family values; and an affinity between shamanism and Christianity, as least in the way Korean pastors accentuated, in stressing the role and image of a supernatural being, be it spirit or god, who grants earthly wishes. In this regard, Korean shamanism, the enduring core of Korean religious and cultural thought, will be given special attention in order to explain how the imported faith not only emphasised certain doctrines which were congruent with the folk religion but also incorporated shamanic beliefs and practices in order to strengthen the appeal of the new religion in the host society. It must also be noted that a certain doctrine of Christianity, particularly the Christian view of afterlife, complete with its emphasis on heaven, appealed greatly to many potential converts. The “Christian heaven,” as stressed by Korean pastors, is a paradise where one enjoys eternal life in abundance, free from worries, hunger, misdeeds, persecution, pain or suffering, which are all the things Koreans desire for in this life but could not obtain. The Christian “alternative” thus offered a new and

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

23

fascinating view of afterlife utterly different from the traditional perception of death as something to be feared. For many Koreans who were burdened by the weight of pain and suffering from personal miseries, especially poverty as well as deep-seated anxiety in a world of rapid change, the Christian promise of heaven seemed to have held a great appeal. A third point of contact between Protestantism and Korean society regards certain peculiar circumstances of Korean history which afforded the new religion a unique opportunity to offer a compelling hope for national empowerment. The Protestant missionaries arrived in Korea in 1884 when the country’s sovereignty was in serious jeopardy, i.e., neighbouring countries such as China, Japan, and Russia vying for control of the peninsula. This prompted the court and the ruling elite to become largely receptive towards the missionaries and their religion, particularly in order to build a cordial relationship with strong Western powers, such as the United States and England, from which most of the missionaries came. Under the goodwill gestures of the government and with the government’s tacit approval, the missionaries were able to spread the word of God and provide various social services that were otherwise unavailable to the underprivileged, including medical care and education, all of which gradually won the hearts of many Koreans. For the Korean people, too, the phrase “human being’s extremity is God’s opportunity” could not have been more appropriate for the circumstances in Korea from 1884 to 1910. Acute feelings of despair engendered by the national crisis seem to have provided psychological impetus for a considerable number of Koreans to seek a satisfying response in the Christian faith. As the writings of the early missionaries reveal, a majority of early Korean Protestants acquired their faith out of deep-seated discontent and despair over the political tension and social strains. The situation at the turn of twentieth century

Introduction

24

Korea lends support to studies which show that chronic social problems or political instability and oppression often inspire people’s greater receptivity to religious or political ideas and action (Glock 1964; Barkun 1974, 1986; Lanternari 1963). A fourth point of convergence focuses on the new religion meeting the needs of the Korean people living under the alienating circumstances engendered by the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. That is, if the timing of the introduction of Protestantism in the late nineteenth century afforded the religion a unique opportunity to offer a compelling hope for national empowerment, the period of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, presented the new religion with the prospect of providing practical help, i.e., communal support, a sense of comfort, identity and belonging, and fellowship, to the people being faced with the alienating experience of urban lifestyles. Indeed, the massive rural-to-urban migration uprooted a large number of people from their traditional family structure and close-knit communities. In cities, they were faced with human relations that were characterised by largely transient, superficial, fragmented and anonymous contacts. Human relations were largely impersonal and were based on competition. A large majority of the new urban settlers had little education and were poor. They comprised a large pool of cheap labour supply for the burgeoning economy, working as factory workers and unskilled manual labourers, subjected to long hours of work and minimal income. In a harsh urban environment, many of them moved around without a permanent settlement due to the lack of affordable housing, with some resorting to living in slum areas or living as illegal squatters. Caught in utilitarian social and interpersonal relations, they felt alienated, experienced “loneliness in

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective

25

the crowd,” suffered from identity crisis, and longed for a sense of belonging. In the face of rapid urbanisation and its accompanying breakdown of traditional values, it was the church in urban areas which served as a refuge, something akin to an “ethnic church” or “immigrant church” in North America, 14 through which people sought to gain a sense of communal intimacy and individual identity. In addition to the provision of regular and frequent occasions for a meeting—i.e., Sunday services and a myriad of cell meetings, prayer meetings, and Bible study meetings held throughout the week—churches also offered a network of communal support through which Christians can expect actual assistance in everyday matters, such as for securing a job, finding a place to live, moving, and even acquiring a quick loan. No wonder then that this period marks the most rapid growth of Korean Protestantism, as its membership jumped more than 13fold, soaring from some 600,000 in 1960 to nearly eight million in 1989. As for the last point of convergence, Korean churches in due time were able to utilise their organisational and financial resources to develop efficient evangelical schemes which were appealing to a large number of Koreans. From as early as the 1970s, Korean churches adopted the church growth theory from the United States, which provided an ideological background, guideline and strategies for realising church growth. Denominations and churches not only initiated and operated very effective evangelical programmes for the purpose of building the membership but also trained pastors and lay persons to evangelise effectively. Churches changed the style of preaching and the nature of lay participation to suit the 14 Korean churches serving as something akin to immigrant churches during this period is attested to by the fact that the proportion of Korean-Americans who identify themselves as Christian, either Catholic or Protestant, is reportedly over 70 percent (Pew Research Center 2012), which is more than double the ratio found in Korea today.

26

Introduction

needs of the growing congregation. To become more efficient in ministry, churches expanded Sunday Schools, initiated various courses on religious education, institutionalised Bible study, expanded cell groups, and established new areas for evangelism, such as factories and the armed forces, and launched radio evangelism. Also, revivals, the Holy Spirit movement and healing movement at all levels of involvement, i.e., individual church, local, denominational, and national, were constantly held to expose the new religion to potential converts. In addition, the tendency of Korean churches to be very competitive in increasing memberships had ironically led to church growth, as each church put all the energy and effort into building a larger and more vibrant individual church. In summary, it is these distinct but interconnected elements—the weakness of traditional religions in the host society, an affinity between traditional religions of the host society and the new religion, the changing political and social contexts of the host society, and innovative strategies of the missionary and church organisations—that account for the comparative durability and success of Protestantism in Korea. This study thus demonstrates that while no one single factor can explain the readiness of Korea to accept Protestantism, a convergence of factors has allowed the imported faith to establish its dynamic presence in the country. It illustrates the analytical usefulness of the multiple factors, e.g., ideology (religious and/or cultural affinity), social context and organisation, in deciphering the key attributes of religious movements and social change. In fact, these factors are largely consistent with six basic conditions of Neil Smelser’s (1962) “value-added” model of collective behaviour. According to Smelser, there are six determinants, such as structural strains, generalised belief, precipitating factors, and mobilisation for action, that, taken together, provide a “necessary and sufficient” basis for collective behaviour to occur.

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27

While the study will not rigidly adhere to Smelser’s model, it will utilise this framework whenever appropriate. The study will also assess the applicability of James Grayson’s theory of “emplantation” to the Korean context. The theory asserts that the growth of a missionary religion in a host society is contingent upon five sets of related factors, including the resolution of contradictions between the new doctrine and the core values of the receiving society, and the resolution of conflict between the new doctrine and the existing religions of the host society (Grayson 1985, 130). This study uses the most recent research findings found in research journals and books, and when pertinent, cross-societal illustrations and references are made in order to highlight distinctive aspects of Korean Protestantism. Throughout the study, comparisons with the missionary efforts and their impact in other countries, especially Japan, are made to bring into sharper focus the uniqueness of Korea in providing a fertile ground from which the imported faith has been able to make a lasting impact. Indeed, while the manuscript’s focus is Korea, examples and data are drawn from other societies to provide a more balanced, comparative view.

Structure of the Book This study will first provide a brief survey of the history of Christianity in Korea, both Catholic and Protestant, from its very beginning in 1784 to the end of the 1980s. Second, the study explores the first factor for the rise of Christianity in Korea, arguing that the country offered a very unique religious circumstance in which its traditional religions were in total decline, meaning that they were not able to put up any kind of opposition to the spread of the imported faith, as happened in China and Japan, for example. Third, the study points to an affinity between Protestantism and

28

Introduction

Korean traditional religions, particularly shamanism, as a second point of convergence which facilitated the rise of Christianity in the country. Fourth, the study argues that political instability, complete with the looming potential loss of sovereignty, at the time of the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries in the late nineteenth century provided the third point of convergence. The ruling elite’s favourable disposition towards the missionaries was prompted by the need to seek Western help in the hope of protecting the country’s sovereignty. This alone stands in sharp contrast to the way the missionaries in most countries faced hostility from the members of the host society, especially the elite. Fifth, the study argues that the church’s role as something akin to a community centre in urban areas during the period of the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s served as the fourth point of convergence. Churches in cities catered to the needs of Koreans who were uprooted from the close-knit setting of rural life and who were faced with alienating circumstances, complete with cut-throat competition, low wages, unaffordable housing prices, and impersonal relationships. Sixth, the study shows that as the potential convert base grew, Korean churches were able to take full advantage of their organisational resources and skills to implement highly effective evangelical strategies and tactics to strengthen their appeal among the masses. Churches initiated vigorous church programmes, such as cell-group meetings, the Bible study groups, and the Sunday School, to reinforce church growth. Lastly, the study closes with implications of the findings in the broader debate in missionary studies and history of Christianity.

PART ONE: HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN KOREA

CHAPTER ONE CATHOLIC BEGINNINGS AND THE PROTESTANT CHURCH FROM THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1. Catholic Beginnings Following the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church turned its attention to overseas missionary works. In particular, such notable Catholic religious orders as the Jesuit (Society of Jesus), Franciscan, and Dominican sent many missionaries abroad, especially to Asia. As a result, the first Catholic missionary reached Japan in 1549 and China in 1583. While there is no record of Catholic missionaries in Korea before the middle of the eighteenth century, there are traces of contact with Catholicism as early as 1592. 1 It happened during the two Japanese invasions of Korea and ensuing battles on the Korean peninsula from 1592 to 1598. 2 Some members of the invading Japanese armies were converted Christians (Min 1982, 40–44), including the Japanese general Konishi Yukinaga (1558–1600), an ardent Roman Catholic. He asked the Jesuits in

1

For the literature on the history of the Catholic Church in Korea, see Dallet (1979a, 1979b, 1979c); Cho, K. (1984a, 1989); Lee, G. (1988); Choi, S. W. (1982, 1984); and Yu, H. (1975). 2 Also known as the Imjin War, the invasions were led by Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536–1598) who, upon unifying Japan by force, attempted to create an empire in East Asia (see Turnbull 2004). Hideyoshi had the professed goal of conquering China, but when the Joseon court refused his request to allow his troops to land and cross the peninsula, Korea became the first target of his military ambitions.

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Japan to send a priest to Korea, as the war was prolonged and as he wanted to lift up the spirit of soldiers who converted to Catholicism. The request was heeded and a Spanish Jesuit, Father Gregorio de Cespedes (1551– 1611), along with a Japanese Brother Foucan Eion, was sent to Korea in early 1594 (Dallet 1979a, 280–281). During his stay, which lasted a little more than a year, Cespedes is believed to have performed his duties only amongst the Japanese soldiers, and there is no evidence to suggest that their stay had any lasting effect on the Korean populace. Nonetheless, one consequence of the invasions was that many of the Korean prisoners of war taken to Japan, which is estimated to have totaled at least 50,000, had converted to Catholicism. About 7,000 of these prisoners reportedly became Catholics and one even studied theology formally in view of proselytising in Korea (Ibid., 289–291). A 1595 report from Louis Froës, a Jesuit priest based in Nagasaki, further attests to the kind of influence Catholicism had on Korean prisoners in Japan (Ibid., 283G դ 284): There are more than 300 Korean slaves, both men and women, here in Nagasaki. Many of them have been taught Christian doctrines this year. In fact, most of them were baptised two years ago and most of them gave their confessions. From our experience, it is clear than Joseon people are ready to accept our holy faith. They….were baptised in joyous spirit and they are happy about their conversion to Catholicism.

Such conversions of Koreans seem to have inspired the Jesuits in Japan to have great hopes for a missionary work in Korea; in fact, it is possible that the latter had hoped to propagate the gospel in Korea through these converted prisoners (Min 1982, 49). Such hope, however, was dashed

32

Chapter One

by not only a hostile relationship between the two countries but also persecutions of Catholics in Japan. Particularly damaging was Tokugawa’s decree in 1614 ordering all the missionaries to leave Japan and his harsh anti-Catholic policies. In the ensuing persecutions, Korean Catholics were among those first martyred in Japan (Dallet 1979a, 286). Nearly two centuries before the actual introduction of Catholicism was to begin in the late eighteenth century, therefore, two momentous events occurred in and outside Korea. First, a Catholic priest came and stayed in Korea for an extended period of time, although his stay had no impact on the Korean population. Second, many of the Korean prisoners taken to Japan converted to Catholicism, some of whom were among the first martyrs in Japanese Catholic history. Since the Hideyoshi invasions, there were other unsuccessful attempts to introduce Catholicism to Korea. The Dominicans in the Philippines did so in 1611 and 1616, but to no avail (Grayson 1985, 71). From China, Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), the famous convert of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), petitioned the Ming Emperor in 1620 and 1621 to permit him to go to Korea with the aim of propagating Christian doctrines, but his requests were refused on both occasions. The Jesuits in China also developed an interest in a missionary work in Korea as they encountered Korean envoys to the Imperial court in Beijing. More direct attempt at introducing Catholicism to Korea happened following the invasion of Korea by China in 1627 that ended with another invasion in 1636–1637. The victorious Manchus took Crown Prince Sohyeon (1612–1645), who was the oldest son of King Injo (1595–1649), the 16th King (r. 1623–1649) of the Joseon dynasty, and his brother as hostages. During their stay in Beijing, the crown prince became acquainted with the Jesuit priest Johann Adam Shall von Bell (1591–1666), who was interested in introducing Catholicism

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33

to Korea through the former (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 61). That wish did not materialise as the crown prince was sent back to Korea not long after they began to have meetings. For parting gifts, the priest gave him copies of literature on mathematics and astronomy as well as on the Catholic faith. However, the crown prince died of illness after about two months of his return to Korea. All of his belongings, including the books he brought back from China, were burnt, ending the Jesuits’ hope of spreading Catholicism in Korea through the crown prince. However, the information about the Jesuits’ warm attitude toward the crown prince spread to Europe, where the case was often used as a reason for sending more Catholic missionaries to Asia (Ibid., 64). For example, in calling for more support for overseas missions, a pamphlet in Paris included a “Story of the Joseon Prince,” describing the encounters between the crown prince and the Jesuit missionaries based in China. The case served as a catalyst for establishing the Société des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (Paris Foreign Missions Society) in 1658–63, which later became the supervising organisation of the Joseon parish that was eventually founded in 1830 (Ibid.). The introduction of literature on seohak or “Western learning,” including those on mathematics, astronomy, and geography as well as Christianity, all of which were written in Chinese and were brought from China to Korea as early as the early seventeenth century, is also an important piece of history for Korean Catholicism. Korean diplomatic delegations to China came in contact with the Jesuit missionaries in Beijing and read the literature on Western learning out of curiosity at first but found the materials interesting enough to bring them to Korea. The first Western learning material to be introduced to Korea was a world map drawn by Matteo Ricci, which was brought into Korea in 1603. In the next three decades, other

34

Chapter One

works prepared by the missionaries to China were introduced to Korea by the latter’s envoys to the Qing Dynasty (see Baker 1983). To Confucian scholars, the ideas contained in Western learning were an eye-opening as well as a shocking experience, for they challenged the assumptions of their Sino-centric Neo-Confucian worldview. 3 That was largely because the Joseon dynasty at the time subscribed to strict isolationist policy. After successive invasions by the neighbouring Japan (1592–1598) and Qing China (1627 and 1636–1637), Joseon practically limited its contact with only China, the country for which Korea became a tributary state. The isolationist policy, for which Joseon became later known as a “hermit kingdom,” 4 would continue until the late nineteenth century when the Treaty of Gangwha in 1876 forced open Korea for trade with Japan. During this period of isolation, Joseon was thus almost completely insulated from foreign influences, other than those of the Chinese, and Koreans’ initial interest in Western learning was shaped by their scholarly interest, not religious.

A. Introduction of Catholicism in the Late Eighteenth Century It was during the period of isolationist milieu that many Joseon scholars became interested in Western learning, as they became curious about the new ideas which were circulating in China, including new ways to calculate

3 GIt is also worth noting that Confucian scholars were initially interested in Catholicism not as religion, but more as an object of scholarly curiosity. 4 The first documented use of the term “hermit” to label the Joseon dynasty is found in a book by Willam Elliot Griffis, entitled Corea, the Hermit Nation, published in 1882. He wrote the book although he had never visited, and had no first-hand experience with, the country. The publication and circulation of the book contributed to implicit approval in the United States of Japan’s infiltration into Korea. The book was also used in justifying the Japanese actions by showing Koreans as uncultured and needing Japanese assistance and direction to “modernise.”

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the calendar and new methods of depicting the earth’s geography. Although these scholars did not have sufficient knowledge of the West, they nonetheless thought of it as offering some interesting ideas and useful technologies. In particular, a group of literati called Silhak scholars played an important role in this regard. Silhak or “practical learning”—sil means “actual” or “practical” and hak means “studies” or “learning”—refers to a reform-minded scholarship and a social reform movement that broadly began in the late seventeenth century (see Kalton 1975; Baker 1999; Shin, Y. 1997). 5 The rise of Silhak can be broadly traced to the aftermath of the Japanese invasions in the late sixteenth century and the Manchu invasions in the first half of the seventeenth century. As a progressive school of thought, Silhak was developed to challenge the blind faith in Confucian teachings and practices. Silhak scholars argued for, among others, alteration of the rigid Confucian social structure, land reforms to improve the lot of peasant farmers, promotion of Korea’s autonomous national identity and culture, a more Korea-centred view of history, a more bilateral relationship with China, and adapting Western knowledge, commerce and technologies (Choo 1996; Keum 2008). 6 Some Silhak scholars also became interested in Catholicism, especially as an extension of their understanding of the West. It was during this social milieu that Yi Byeok (1754–1786), a scholar who extensively read literature on Western learning, asked the son of an ambassador to China, Yi Seunghun (1756–1801), to visit the Catholic missionaries in China and to absorb all he could about this Western religion in 1783 (Dallet 1979a, 303–304). Yi sought out the priests in Beijing, who 5

Representative Silhak scholars include Yi Ik (1681–1764), Bak Jiwon (1737– 1805), and Jeong Yak-yong (1762–1836), also known as Dasan. 6 It is worth noting that the proponents of Silhak mostly comprised of scholars belonging to factions excluded from power and other disaffected, reform-minded scholars.

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were more than happy to give instructions on Catholicism, and he was eventually baptised (Paik 1970, 31). Yi returned to Korea in 1784 with the books and articles on Christian doctrines as well as religious items, e.g., crucifixes, which were given to him by the priests in Beijing. Yi Byeok read the books brought by Yi Seunghun and the former was convinced of the “truth” of Christianity, eventually confiding to those around him of his new faith. In due time, Yi Byeok and Gwon Ilsin (1742–1791), who was Yi Byeok’s acquaintance, were baptised by Yi Seunghun, and these three men became actively involved in proselytising Catholicism to other Koreans. Soon they began to teach about Catholicism not only to the literati class (yangban) 7 but also among the jungin, the intermediary class between the 7

The yangban were the educated class of individuals who formed a part of the ruling elite during the Joseon dynasty, which had a rigid hierarchical class system comprising broadly of four classes: yangban, chungin (intermediate class), sangmin (common people), and cheonmin (lowborn people) (see Choi, S. H. 2003). The name yangban literally means “two classes” or “groups” in reference to two types of class it comprises: munban, the literary class or civilian officials, and muban or military officials. Munban was always socially superior to muban. The yangban included extended family members of both literary and martial officials as well as scholars. The term yangban stemmed from the Goryeo dynasty (935–1392), when civil service examinations were held in the categories of mungwa (civilian) and mugwa (military). Yangban were educated in Confucian studies like the Goryeo nobles. In theory, anyone could become a yangban by passing the state examination, the results of which determined one’s placement in various civil positions. In practice, however, only the wealthy had the means to sustain themselves while studying for the exam; hence only those from wealthy families and the sons of yangban were the ones who passed the exam. Over time, in fact, they alone were entitled to take the civil service examinations. The yangban were granted many privileges by the state. The yangban who held government posts were given land and stipends according to their official status; were exempt from military duty and corvée labour; and were even allowed to have their slaves serve their own terms of punishment if convicted of any crime. Many yangban were also corrupt. They often received bribes and other illegal forms of compensation in exchange for promotions within the government and for positions in the royal court and the military. Corrupt yangban also imposed outrageously large taxes on the land in order to confiscate, under the pretense of unpaid taxes, from poor peasants. The yangban system, deemed corrupted and detrimental to social development, was abolished in 1894, when a wave of modern reforms was reshaping Joseon society.

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yangban and the commoner, thereby laying the foundations of the Catholic Church in Korea. The three men, in fact, formed a “church,” assuming certain priestly functions, including the sacrament of baptism. They were called sinbu or Catholic priest by the men they baptised, and the men who taught Catholic doctrines were called daebu or godfathers by their students. These leaders abandoned all the traditional, “pagan” rites and preached Catholicism openly, instructing their converts in the catechism and giving them Christian baptism (Kim, J. C. and Chung 1964, 18). The year 1784 is thus celebrated as the year in which the Catholic Church in Korea began, particularly in view of the formation of the indigenous “church.” This aspect of the history of Christian missions in Korea is particularly noteworthy, because it was the Koreans themselves who initiated and performed many functions of the church even before the formal introduction of Catholicism into the land via the arrival of the first missionary priest in 1836. Chinyoung Choe (1972, 91) writes: One of the most interesting chapters in the history of Catholicism in Korea concerns its origin. Unlike many other lands, where the Christian religion was first brought by foreign missionaries, in Korea it began with a kind of “self-study” (self-directed study) of Christian literature by natives.

Within one year of Yi Seunghun’s return from China, the Catholic faith spread to many parts of the Korean peninsula. The number of Catholics at this time of nascent expansion was reported to be around 1,000 by Yi Seunghun (Choi, S. W. 1982, 24). In due time, these scholar-turned-priests realised that their priestly functions and activities were improper, so they sent a letter to the Catholic Church in Beijing, asking for an advice. Upon reading the letter, Bishop

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Alexandre de Gouvéa (1751–1808) in Beijing was pleasantly shocked to learn that Catholicism was gaining a foothold in a country that had yet no missionary input. Still, the bishop made it clear that lay believers cannot perform sacraments other than baptism and relayed this information in a letter sent back to Korea. Korean church leaders accepted the bishop’s instruction and decided to ask for a priest to be sent to Korea. When a carrier of the second letter met the bishop in Beijing, the former asked many questions on behalf of Korean Catholics, most important of which was participation in ancestral rites or jesa. Bishop Gouvéa was emphatic that the Catholic Church proscribes ancestor worship, as it was deemed a form of idolatry. 8 This posed the first real problem for the emerging church. The news that Catholicism forbids ancestor worship prompted many Catholics to leave the church, including the first Korean to convert to Catholicism, Yi Seunghun. It was during this time that many intellectuals and government officials became suspicious about Western learning in general and Catholicism in particular, believing that they were heretic and posed threats to the basis of a Confucian society (Chung, C. 1971). They thought that many elements of Christian doctrines conflicted with the basic ethical

8

In fact, the Catholic ban on ancestor worship was based on the “Rites Controversy” in China, dating back to the seventeenth century. In contrast to the Jesuits who adapted to local customs and accepted ancestor worship as a social ceremony, Dominican missionaries condemned the latter as a form of idolatry. Pope Clementi XI officially condemned the Chinese rites and banned Catholic converts from participating in them. In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV reiterated Clementi’s decree. After nearly two centuries in which the Rites Controversy seriously hindered the spread of Catholicism in China, Pope Pius XII in 1939 ordered a relaxation of certain aspects of Clement XI’s and Benedict XIV’s decrees, permitting Chinese Catholics to participate in ancestral rites. Following the papal decree of 1939, the Korean Catholic Church too allowed participation in the ancestral ritual, deeming it as a cultural practice rather than a religious act. Later, the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) confirmed the 1939 decree.

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principles of Confucianism. All of this ultimately provoked government persecutions, i.e., a refusal to perform ancestral rites resulted in imprisonment or death. 9 Christianity commands ultimate loyalty to God. This uncompromising feature of the “prophetic” religion of the West brought about its official condemnation by the Confucian government, and this basic anti-Christian policy was to last to the next tragic century of the Catholic movement in Korea (Ibid., 71).

B. Persecutions Against the Catholics: 1785–1871 The incongruence between the teachings of the Catholic Church and Confucian practices, particularly ancestor worship, would lead to nearly a century of persecutions that resulted in more than 8,000 martyrs (Paek, S. 2007). The first such “persecution” occurred in the spring of 1785. Palace officials happened to pass by a house in which Catholicism was being explained to a group of scholars. The officials first thought that the men were gambling, but once they found out what was going on they confiscated all the Catholic literature and submitted them to the court. None of the participating scholars was arrested, although the owner of the house, Kim Beomu, a jungin, was. He was eventually exiled and he died a year later there, thereby becoming the “first martyr of the Korean Catholic Church” (Choi, S. W. 1982, 27). With this incident, the nature of the Catholic Church was exposed to the society at large and many Confucian scholars started to call for the prohibition against Catholicism. Those who were anti-Catholic

9

The records of the interrogation of the “offenders” reveal that the questioners were most concerned with filial piety, social propriety, and the protection of traditional customs (Lee, G. 1988).

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kept on pressing the king to suppress Catholicism and this resulted in the latter ordering all the literature on Western learning to be burnt and banning the importation of such books from China. It was during this anti-Catholic milieu that Sinhae Persecution (䫪㊼䬊㟟) occurred (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 79– 81; see Kim, S. J. 1987; Han, Y. 2004). The persecution took place in 1791 in Jinsan, Jeolla Province, when members of yangban family ignored the time-honoured and obligatory Confucian funereal ritual and conducted the funeral according to a Catholic ceremony. When the news spread, the royal court, which was divided into a faction that was tolerant of Catholicism and another that was against the imported faith, engaged in heated debates over a proper response. The latter prevailed, criticising the new religion as a threat to, and violation of, the time-honoured Confucian practice. Accordingly, two Catholic converts from the family were arrested and later martyred for “causing disorder in social morals,” thereby becoming the first officially recorded martyrs in Korea. There is an important reason why the Joseon government went to the extreme of executing these two men. They were members of the ruling class and their refusal to perform the timehonoured Confucian rite was a subversive act against the yangban-led power structure. More importantly perhaps, their action was considered a traitorous act against Confucianism, a religio-ethical system that served as a pillar of Joseon politics and society. Following the executions of the two Catholics, moreover, the imported faith came to be identified as a religion disrespectful of the king, considered the father figure for the whole country, and parents. Besides the government persecution, the biggest problem facing the emerging church was to obtain a resident priest. Sympathising with the Koreans’ petitions for a priest, the Catholic hierarchy in China sent a

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Chinese priest, Zhou Wenmo (1752–1801), to Korea and he crossed the Yalu River (aka Amrok River), a river on the border between Korea and China, and reached the Korean peninsula in December 1794. The Shinyu Persecution of 1801 Following the death of King Jeongjo (1752–1800), who had been tolerant of Catholicism, Queen Regent ruled in place of his son, King Sunjo (1790– 1834), because the latter was a minor. One of the first things she did in her capacity as Queen Regent was to issue an edict ordering the adherents of the “evil learning” to be treated as being guilty of high treason. The edict associated Catholicism with many hideous “crimes,” including the suspension of traditional custom, destruction of morality, refusal to perform ancestral rites, heresy, the use of magic spells and incantations, and subversive anti-state activities (Chung, C. 1971, 73). The edict further stated that the head of the family was to denounce those members of the family who insisted in following the new religion. The promulgation of the edict was partly politically motivated, as Catholicism was popular among many prominent members of the politically ousted “Southerners” faction, which was considered subversive by the ruling authority at the time. A more important reason for the persecution of Catholics was their insistence that God’s commands overrode the dictates of the king, which amounted to a challenge to the authority of the monarch. Indeed, Catholics claimed, when interrogated, to be in accord with the Confucian moral code. However, by ultimately rejecting ancestor worship as a form of idolatry, as proscribed by the Catholic Church, they were condemned as being disloyal to the king and parents. The Shinyu Persecution (䫪䮜䬊㟟) of 1801 was the result of this edict (Min 1982, 68–71). The persecution, which involved a nationwide

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“search” for Catholics, took the lives of at least a hundred Catholic martyrs, including such notables as Yi Seunghun and two royal princesses. In this first major persecution against Catholicism, there were also over a thousand arrests and about 400 were exiled. One of the reasons why so many were martyred and imprisoned was because those who were caught were tortured to reveal the names of other Catholics and the cycle of “confession” resulted in the large number of Catholics getting incarcerated. Also, authorities made use of ogajaktongbeop (㊲㟢㌌䓺㺸) or Five Households Law, which originated in the late fifteenth century to organise all the households into groups of five for identification/census purposes and to oversee corvée labour, tax collection, etc., to suppress Catholicism. With the application of this law, if a household converted to Catholicism, the other families in the group were also subjected to punishment. The law prompted families to keep an eye on one another and aroused guilt in the minds of converts and potential converts. Of those who were caught and imprisoned, many had to renounce their faith in Catholicism to get released. Records show that many were tortured to give up their faith. Many died in prison due to maltreatment and torture. While most of the martyred were beheaded, some were put to death by dismemberment. The cruelty of the Shinyu Persecution can be partly explained by the disclosure of an indiscreet letter written by a young scholar, Hwang Sayeong (1775–1801) (Choe, C. 1972, 93). Hwang was a brilliant young scholar who passed the jinsa examination—the state examination for office—when he was only 16 years old. However, as a recognised leader in the Catholic movement, a warrant for his arrest was issued by the authority. He fled to the mountains nearby and wrote a lengthy letter to the Bishop of Beijing describing the state of the Catholic Church under harsh persecutions and asking for help. In the letter, he chronicled the martyrdom of Father

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Zhou, the first missionary priest to arrive in Korea, and other Catholics in Korea, and pleaded for Rome to intervene. What irked the authority the most was Hwang’s request for an intervention of Western armies in Korea. The letter, however, was intercepted, and the content reinforced the view that Catholicism was a subversive doctrine. Hwang, along with a handful of his associates, were all executed. The Queen Regent issued another edict which provided a legal foundation for the continued persecution of the Catholic Church until the latter half of the nineteenth century. Despite the cruelty of the Shinyu Persecution, which lasted for about a year, those who survived went into hiding in the mountainside in Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungcheong provinces. It is from this point that Catholicism ironically began to spread to wider areas of the peninsula. Also, this laid the foundation for the Catholic Church to make a transition from being a religion of the intellectuals to that of the masses, although a majority of Catholics were found only in the southwestern provinces of Chungcheong and Jeolla. The Shinyu Persecution officially ended in December 1801 and in the following decade, the church went underground, successfully avoiding conflicts with the royal court. Those who survived the persecution left everything behind to go hiding in the remote mountainous regions in many southern parts of Korea. They formed small Catholic communities and survived by developing slash-and-burn fields for vegetation and selling earthenware and charcoals to nearby villagers. Peaceful coexistence continued for about a decade before the beginning of random outbreaks of localised persecution in the second decade of the nineteenth century. The most severe ones were the Eulhae Persecution (㊛㊼䬊㟟) in 1815 and the Jeonghae Persecution (㉹㊼䬊㟟) in 1827 (Choi, M. 2001).

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In spite of the continuing persecutions, church leaders in Korea made numerous requests to the Bishop in Beijing for a resident priest in Korea. Their consistent requests for a priest finally bore fruit in January 1836 when Father Pierre Philibert Maubant (1801–1839) entered Korea, thereby becoming the first Western missionary priest to step on the Korean soil. In the next few years, two other French priests, namely Bishop Laurent Marie Joseph Imbert (1796–1839) and Father Jacques Chastan (1803– 1839), joined him, forming the most formidable Catholic presence in Korea thus far. Still under persecution, the lives of the French priests in Korea were not easy. They had to travel about wearing Korean mourning dress in order to hide their Western features, eat only the simplest of foods, and conduct their work only at night to avoid detection. With the contingency of two French priests and a Bishop actively involved in the proselytisation, the Catholic Church achieved an impressive growth. Its members rose from less than 6,000 in early 1836 to about 9,000 by the end of 1838 (Dallet 1979b, 377). An equally significant development at the time, at least from the perspective of the Korean church history, was the sending of three young Koreans to Macao for studies in theology, of whom two became the first native priests, Kim Daegeon (1822–1846) and Choe Yangeop (1821–1861). The Gihae Persecution in 1839 and Byeongo Persecution in 1846 Yet another persecution—that of Gihae in 1839—restrained the expansion of Catholicism (Chung, D. 1998). The royal court seemed to have been most concerned about the presence of illegal foreigners, i.e., French priests, and such a suspicion resulted in the proclamation that not only prohibited any further teaching of Catholicism but also gave the government a free reign in expelling and persecuting Catholics. King Heonjong (1827–1849) also made use of the Five Households Law to identify and persecute Catholics.

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A total of 119 Catholics died from this persecution, including Bishop Imbert, two French priests, and numerous church leaders. Executions were carried out throughout the country. One of the methods of persecution is believed to have been forced starvation; virtually every head of Christian household who was arrested died of starvation while the rest were sent into exile (Grayson 1985, 78). After the Gihae Persecution (㢯㊼䬊㟟), another noteworthy persecution took place in 1846, namely the Byeongo Persecution (㊆㓌䬊㟟). Among the martyred was Korea’s first native priest, Kim Daegeon, who returned to Korea in January 1845 after his ordination in Shanghai. While trying to help a French priest enter Korea along the coast of Hwanghae Province, Father Kim was captured in May 1846. He was martyred along with eight lay Catholics, most of whom were whipped to death. What expedited the persecution was the appearance of three French warships along the mid-western coast of the peninsula. The ships, which departed from China, arrived in Korean waters to deliver a letter of protest regarding the execution of three French clergies during the Gihae Persecution. The martyred were accused of being traitors who led these ships to Korea. In comparison to the Shinyu Persecution, the Gihae and Byeongo persecutions were carried out more extensively in geographical terms, affecting Seoul and every province in the southern half of the peninsula. Nonetheless, what is noteworthy about all of these persecutions is that they were not limited to any particular class (see Table 1.1; see also Cho, K. 1977; Choi, Y. 1988) and that a considerable number of martyrs comprised women (see Table 1.2).

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Table 1.1: Social Status of the Martyred Period

Status Yangban

Jungin

Sangmin

Cheonmin

(Commoners)

(Outcasts)

Others

Total

1784–

192

92

178

38

192

692

1801

(27.75%)

(13.29)

(25.72)

(5.49)

(27.75)

(100)

1802–

94

20

100

5

222

441

1846

(21.32)

(4.54)

(22.68)

(1.13)

(50.34)

(100)

Source: Cho, K. (1984b, 168).

Table 1.2: The Gender Breakdown of the Martyred Year

Men (%)

Women

Total

1784–1801

513 (74.0)

179 (26.0)

692 (100)

1802–1846

282 (63.95)

159 (36.05)

441 (100)

Source: Cho, K. (1984b, 158Gդ 165).

The Byongin Persecutions in 1866, 1868 and 1871 After the death of King Cheoljong in December 1863, a minor succeeded the throne for the third time in the nineteenth century, heralding yet another dark period for the church. Emperor Gojong (1852–1919) ascended to the throne in 1863 when he was only eleven years old. His father, Regent Heungseon Daewongun (1821–1898), ruled in his place until Gojong became an adult. And it was Daewongun who carried out the last and most severe persecution against the Catholics from 1866 to 1871. The Byeongin Persecutions (㊆㟪䬊㟟) entailed four periods of major crackdown against the Catholic Church: spring and summer-fall of 1866, 1868, and 1871. The persecutions took the lives of around eight thousand martyrs, more than onethird of the total of Catholic adherents in the country at the time (Institute

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of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 109). The martyrs included nine French missionaries secretly proselytising in Korea, including two French bishops. Departing from the internal, political motives of previous persecutions—i.e., Christianity’s threat, real or imagined, to the Confucianbased society and the prominence of Christianity among the politically ousted faction—what marked the latest series of persecution was that it was due to external pressures on Korea at the time. Because of numerous coastal confrontations between Korea and Western powers during this period, Christianity became identified with the Western “gunboat diplomacy,” and foreign Catholic missionaries, who were residing illegally in Korea, were perceived by the government as agents of foreign powers. In addition, the government was keenly aware of the situation in China where numerous political insurgencies had been associated with the alien religion. Initially, Daewongun passively accepted Catholicism, but he feared that Western powers would put Joseon’s sovereignty at risk. And there were several incidents that placed Catholicism in disfavour with the royal court. First, with the collapse of the central power in China and Japan’s opening to the West in the 1850s, the Western influence in Korea was seen as being imminent and unavoidable. Indeed, between 1866 and 1871, Korea faced what it perceived to be threats from three military powers: Russia, France, and the United States. In particular, Russian troops frequently crossed the Tuman River to request for a trade treaty, which made Daewongun nervous (Yu, H. 1984, 38–39). Second, the French Far Eastern Squadron carried out a small-scale invasion with seven ships and more than 1,000 soldiers in September 1866 as a retribution for the persecution of

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French bishops and priests. 10 The attack failed dismally, with about 70 casualties, including six deaths, for the French side, while Korea suffered only five casualties, including one death. The French incursion into the Korean territory and its seeming defeat prompted Daewongun to toughen the suppression of the Catholic Church. More importantly, the so-called General Sherman Incident is most intimately associated with the Byeongin Persecution (see Min, K. 1982, 64). In August 1866, an armed United States merchant ship, SS General Sherman, sailed into Korean waters in an attempt to negotiate with Korean officials for a trade treaty. While waiting for a decision from higher level government officials, hostile actions ensued. There are discrepant accounts as to what triggered the hostile action, but Koreans were able to set the General Sherman on fire and all the surviving crew who jumped into the water were all hacked to death (see Han, G. 1998). In retaliation, the United States sent an expedition in 1871, consisting of five ships and over 1,200 men, to Korea. However, the entrance of the United States fleet into the Han River triggered a hostile action on the part of the Korean side. At the time, foreign ships were not allowed to sail on the Han River, because it led straight to the capital. Warning shots were fired on the encroaching ships and the United States used the occasion to ask for an apology and compensation. When the Joseon government refused, the United States launched an attack, landing on Ganghwa Island. Koreans were no match to Americans who had superior rifles and artilleries. The battles left three Americans and about 350 Koreans dead. A minor military victory was won, but the United States failed to achieve its objective of opening up Korea for

10

As for the reasons why France took such an extreme measure, it is likely that the persecution of French priests provided an excellent excuse for the country to attack Korea to force open the latter for trade (Kane 1999).

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trade. What happened instead was that Daewongun became more fixated on his policy of isolation and became more convinced that Catholicism was a subversive force, leading him to carry out the severe persecutions. The persecution continued unabated until 1871, coming to an end only when Daewongun was removed by the State Council on December 22, 1873, and King Gojong (1852–1919) became the king in his own right (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 120). In spite of all the persecutions, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Catholics were found throughout the country. The Catholic Church in Korea started out as a religion of the literati class, but it eventually spread down to the commoner and outcast classes. Also noteworthy is the fact that in spite of all the persecutions and challenging situations, the Catholic Church steadily grew over the years (see Table 1.3). In 1884, which marked the hundredth year of Catholic missions in Korea, the number of Catholics was 17,577 (Clark, A. 1971, 55). Table 1.3: Number of Korean Catholics in the Nineteenth Century Year

Confession

Holy Communion

Number of Catholics 1846 3,484 4,225 – 1847 5,246 2,300 – 1856–1857 9,981 – 15,206 1859 11,114 – 16,700 1865 14,433 – 23,000 Source: Dallet (1979a, 1979b, 1979c; cited from Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 109).

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2. Introduction of Protestantism A. Protestant Beginnings from the Mid- to Late Nineteenth Century Missionary Efforts from China In parallel to the history of Catholicism in Korea, efforts to introduce Protestantism to the country were made from China decades before the formal mission work began in 1884 (Clark, A. 1971, 59–87; Min, K. 1982, 134–148; see also Brown, C. 1984; Hunt 1980). Largely ignorant of the development of the Catholic Church in Korea at the time, the first Protestant to make an evangelical effort in Korea was Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803–1851), a Germany-born missionary. 11 Gutzlaff was first associated with the Netherlands Missionary Society, but came to Korea on an assignment for the East India Company, which was in search of suitable harbors in northern China, Korea, southern Japan, and Taiwan (Paik 1973, 41). For the sea journey, which departed from Macao, Robert Morrison (1782–1834), an English missionary based in Macao who made several exploratory trips along the coast of Korea between 1831 and 1839, gave Gutzlaff copies of the Bible in Chinese and asked him to distribute. The East India Company ship landed in the coast of Hwanghae Province and later Choongcheong Province in July 1832, thereby making Gutzlaff the first Protestant missionary to visit Korea. During his one-month stay, he handed out gifts and evangelical literature to those who came aboard the ship. 11

The time of the very first contact between Protestant Christians and Koreans actually goes back to the seventeenth century (Ledyard 1971). In 1628, three sailors who belonged to the Dutch Reform Church were stranded on the Korean soil by a storm. They made Korea their home and one of them married a Korean woman. In 1653, another shipwreck involving a Dutch ship landed on Jeju Island in southern Korea. The survivors were captured and incarcerated, although eight of the captives escaped in 1666 and lived out the rest of their lives in Korea. However, there is no evidence of conversion among Koreans from these contacts.

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However, the court’s strict order against having contact with foreigners made it very difficult for Gutzlaff to have any meaningful contact with the locals. The request for trade was rejected on grounds that Joseon had to get permission from the emperor of China. While Gutzlaff was the first Protestant missionary to land on the Korean peninsula, the fact that he came as an agent of a trading company on mission to find usable harbors raises a question as to whether he qualifies as the first missionary to have visited Korea. Of many China-based missionaries who had an input into the introduction of Protestantism in Korea, the role of Alexander Williamson (1829G դ 1890) is noteworthy. He went to China as a missionary with the London Missionary Society in 1855, went back to his country after two years of service, and returned to China in 1863 as a missionary of the Scottish Bible Society. He had a deep interest in the mission work in Korea and persuaded several missionaries in China to visit Korea, one of whom was Robert Jermain Thomas (1839–1866), a Welsh Protestant missionary (Paik 1973, 47–51). For his first trip to Korea in 1865, Thomas took copies of the Bible which were given to him by Williamson, and during the two and a half months he spent traveling on a Chinese boat along Korea’s coast, he allegedly tossed a bundle of books onto the beach, without ever stepping on Korean soil. He went back to China in January 1866, only to return to Korea aboard the ill-fated General Sherman in August. He was reportedly fluent in Chinese and knew enough Korean to serve as an interpreter between the crew and Korean officials. He is also believed to have been in a position of power, perhaps captain, to decide the course of action for the crew (Han, G. 1998, 14). Thomas died in the General Sherman Incident and became the first Protestant “martyr” of Korean Christianity, although it is still debatable whether he qualifies as a martyr since his main purpose of

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the visit was commercial rather than evangelical. Indeed, the fact that he did not die because of a missionary activity makes it dubious whether he qualifies as a martyr. Two other missionaries who were greatly influenced by Williamson were John Ross (1842–1915) and John MacIntyre (1837–1905), both of whom arrived in China in 1872. Ross, aware of the Catholic presence in Korea as well as the “martyrdom” of Thomas, visited Goryeomun (乲佊䲗, the Korean Gate) or Byeonmun Gate (䭧䲗), located about 30 kilometers from the Yalu River, in 1874 (Choi, S. I. 1992a, 1992b). The Korean Gate, which was actually a place with a real gate, served as a point of entry for Koreans visiting China and there was a small market for Koreans and Chinese to trade with each other. The Koreans in the area, who would later play a major role in translating the Bible into Korean, were traders who were fluent in Chinese (Lee, G. 1979, 245). On his second trip to the Korean Gate in 1876, Ross found a Korean trader, namely Yi Eungchan, who taught him Korean, and with his help, Ross published a Korean language book entitled Corean Primer in Shanghai in 1877. This is when he began his translation of the Bible into Hangeul, an alphabetic writing system of the Korean language, with the help of Yi and a few other Koreans, some of whom became the first baptised Protestant Koreans, although baptisms took place outside of Korea, specifically in Manchuria. As a result, the Books of John and Mark were translated into Korean by the spring of 1878 and the translation of the whole Bible was completed nine years later. What must be noted here is that although Ross planned, coordinated and guided the translation, with some help from MacIntyre, most of the translation was done by Koreans, particularly Yi Eungchan (Yi, M. 1987a, 1987b, 1987c).

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So, the so-called “Ross Version” of the translated Bible may not be the most appropriate name for it. As important as the translation of the Bible into Korean were printing and distribution of biblical tracts, which began in earnest in late 1881. A translated version of the Book of Luke, a 51-page long text, was published in the following year in Manchuria, becoming the first publication of the Scripture in Korean. Later, the Book of John was published and 3,000 copies were printed for distribution. These publications in 1882 coincided with the signing of a treaty between Korea and the United States, which made Ross and other missionaries become much more hopeful for the launch of a missionary work in Korea. In the next few years, publications of other parts of the Bible continued and for each publication, thousands of prints were made for distribution. Even before the arrival of the first missionary to Korea in 1884, therefore, thousands of copies of the biblical tracts translated into Korean were already in circulation. 12 Also, before the official publication of the translated Bible by the missionaries in Korea in 1900, the Bible and tracts of the Bible published in Manchuria were in wide circulation in Korea, particularly in northern parts. Missionary Efforts from Japan While the missionary efforts from China were in full swing, complete with the translation of the Bible and baptisms of several Koreans, the missionary efforts from Japan toward Korea centred around Yi Sujeong (1842–1886),

12

The role of colporteurs or peddlers of religious books in the early history of Christianity in Korea is noteworthy (see Yi, M. 1990). They travelled all across the peninsula to sell the Bible, and, in the process, they acted as unofficial evangelists, teaching people about the Christian doctrines and the Bible. They also helped new converts to form fellowship groups, which eventually initiated the establishment of early churches.

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a literati who went to Japan in 1882 to learn about the modernisation process in Japan. During his stay, he met a Japanese agriculturalist who gave him a copy of the New Testament in Chinese. Yi read and studied it avidly and was eventually baptised in April 1883, becoming the first baptised Korean in Japan. His conversion and testimony gave the missionaries in Japan great hopes for launching a mission work in Korea. Immediately after his baptism, Yi began to proselytise among some 30 Korean students studying in Japan. These students also became acquainted with Protestant missionaries in Japan. 13 The missionaries taught English to these students, held Bible study classes, and gave sermons for weekend church services. Such efforts by the missionaries, along with those of Yi Sujeong, resulted in the conversion of more than a handful of students. By the end of 1883, a small Korean church was formed in Tokyo. In addition to proselytising among the Korean students, Yi also put a lot of effort in trying to persuade the missionaries in Japan to send a missionary to Korea. The missionaries, particularly Henry Loomis (1839– 1920) of the American Bible Society, became very sympathetic to his request and wrote to various mission boards in the United States, asking for the launch of a missionary work in Korea. The mission boards in the United States, however, were hesitant to start a mission work in Korea, because they were aware of not only the severe persecutions against the Catholics

13

The Protestant missionary work in Japan began in 1859, a year after Japan signed a treaty with the United States. In addition to missionaries from the United States, missionaries from China came to Japan. The missionaries first targeted the samurai for proselytisation, using the Bible translated into Chinese. Initially, the missionary effort was not successful. For example, the first Japanese conversion took place in 1864, five years after the arrival of the first American missionaries, and the number of Christians as of 1871 was only 11 (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 166).

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but also the lack of the guarantee of religious freedom to proselytise Christianity to Koreans (Paik 1970, 76). Yi also began translating the Bible into Korean in May 1883, barely a month after his baptism (Yi, M. 1988a, 1988b). He first began by adding Korean pronunciations to the Bible published in Chinese, which made it much easier for Koreans to read. He completed the New Testament in such a style in just two months of his undertaking. Toward the end of June 1883, Yi started to actually translate the Bible into Korean, completing the translation in April 1884. With the help from the American Bible Society, six thousand copies of the translated Bible were printed in Yokohama in February 1885.

B. The Arrival of the First Missionary from the United States in 1884 Missionaries based in China and Japan both attempted to evangelise Korea, but their efforts were indirect and were carried out mostly outside of Korea. At the height of missionary expansion in Asia in the late nineteenth century, Korea emerged naturally as a fertile ground for missionary efforts, especially as an extension of the China and Japan mission fields (see Moffett 2005; Koschorke et al. 2007; Phan 2012). As insinuated above, petitions from the missionaries based in China and Japan played a key role. More importantly, the signing of a treaty between Korea and the United States in May 1882 served as an important contributing factor that made Korea a natural choice for a new mission field. In fact, the signing of the treaty between the two countries was an unintended consequence of the signing of the Treaty of Ganghwa between Korea and Japan in February 1876 (see Lee,

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T. and Lee 2010). 14 The 1876 treaty not only ended centuries of isolationism for Korea but also led to the signing of a series of treaties with Western powers, including the United States, France, and England. The signing of the treaty between Korea and the United States was particularly important for Protestantism as it halted nearly a century of persecutions against Christianity, specifically Catholicism (see Kim, E. and Kim 1967). The 14article treaty also established, among others, mutual defence in case of an attack, most favoured trade nation status for Korea, extraterritorial rights for Americans living in Korea, and a guarantee of cultural and academic exchanges. Although the treaty did not specify the guarantee of religious freedom which would have allowed Christian missionaries to freely proselytise in Korea, it was still effective enough to stop the persecution against Christianity altogether. 15 The first missionary agencies to begin work in Korea were the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (Rhodes 1935) and the Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States (Stokes 1947; see Suh, K. 1985). These two organisations started their work almost simultaneously in Korea, operating their missions side by side and cooperating to some degree. The Presbyterian Church appointed John W. Heron (1856–1890) as the first missionary to Korea in spring of 1884, followed by the appointment of Horace G. Underwood (1859–1916) in July. The Methodist Church, on the other hand, appointed Dr. William. B. Scranton (1856–1922), his mother Mrs. Mary Scranton

14 The Ganghwa Treaty gave extraterritorial rights to the Japanese living in Korea and coerced the Joseon government to open the ports in Incheon, Wonsan and Busan to Japanese and foreign trade. The treaty laid the foundation for Japan to annex Korea in 1910. 15 In fact, it was a treaty with France in 1886 which finally granted foreigners the right to “teach” in Korea.

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(1832–1909), and Henry Appenzeller (1858–1902) as the first missionaries to Korea toward the end of the same year. However, the first missionary to actually arrive in Korea was Dr. Horace N. Allen (1858–1932), who was originally appointed as a medical missionary to China by the Presbyterian Church. He spent a year in Shanghai, without any notable achievement, before he was advised to seek ways to restart in Korea. He contacted an American working for the Korean government to see if there is a need for a physician to take care of Americans living in Korea. The reply was affirmative and Allen made his way to Korea, arriving in Jemulpo (now Incheon), on September 20, 1884, thereby becoming the first Protestant missionary to set foot on Korean soil and live. Underwood and Appenzeller, both teachers, along with the latter’s spouse, arrived together in Korea about a half year later in April 1895. In May 1885, Dr. Scranton arrived, followed by another medical missionary Dr. John W. Heron and his wife in June. Soon after Dr. Allen arrived in Korea, a significant event took place which would have a profound impact on the missionary work in Korea. Immediately following the Gapsin Coup (䇫䇬㮼䧝) of 1884, 16 Dr. Allen was called to treat the prince who was lying at the point of death, with arteries slashed and sword cuts to his head and body. The court doctors strongly objected to the application of Western medical care to the prince, but Dr. Allen persevered and his meticulous care over three months saved the prince’s life. This incident gave the royal court great confidence in 16

The Gapsin incident was a bloody palace coup led by a progressive reform group who wanted to overturn what they perceived to be a corrupt and impotent government (see Min, T. 1947). The court at the time also had been explicitly proChinese and had maintained a conservative policy. The revolutionists’ plan was to assassinate conservative leaders and capture the king. The time chosen for the coup was a banquet held on the night of December 4, 1884 to celebrate the opening of the first post office in Seoul. The coup was crushed after only three days when Chinese forces stationed in Seoul intervened.

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Western medicine and trust in an American alliance, prompting the court’s greater hospitality towards the missionaries. The incident also prompted the masses to develop respect for Western medicine, as rumors spread that the latter saved the prince’s life. As a consequence, Dr. Allen’s petition for the establishment of a hospital using Western medicine was readily granted by the royal court, which also provided a site for a hospital building. Prince Min rewarded Dr. Allen with a large sum of money for the hospital and the first general hospital was opened on April 10, 1885, bearing the name Gwanghyewon (㤘㧿䳞, “Universal Relief House”), which also became the first government hospital. 

From this auspicious beginning, missionaries from several mission

bodies based in the United States, England, and Canada, arrived, adding to the physical presence of Christianity. 17 The missionaries established medical clinics and schools and it was these clinics and schools, which will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter Five, that became the first points of contact between the missionaries and the Korean people. There remained, however, a degree of hostility towards foreigners and the new religion during the period of early arrivals of Protestant missionaries. Also, the missionaries were not permitted to openly engage in missionary activities, although they were given official ranks, were commissioned to work for the government and were allowed to serve as intermediaries between the Joseon government and the United States. In fact, it was only in June 1898 that the Joseon government gave an official permission to an American missionary,

17 Right from the beginning, missionaries came from many Protestant denominations, especially those based in the United States, and these denominations, with their own unique historical background and religious leaning, planted their own “brand” of Christianity in Korea. The denominational difference also led to increased competition, which contributed to church growth as a whole (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 192–193).

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namely William L. Swallen (1865–1954), to proselytise outside of Seoul, which came in the form of an expedition certificate. Until then, all the missionary works can be said to have been indirect, discreet, and hidden.

C. Missionary Activities in Medical Care and Education Involvement in Medical Care Because of lingering restrictions against Christianity, direct evangelisation of the populace was not possible; hence, medical and educational work preceded direct evangelical works. It was probably no coincidence that the early missionaries were virtually all medical doctors and educational workers. As noted above, the first Protestant missionary to arrive in Korea was a doctor, so it was natural that medical care became a key area of missionary work (see Yi, M. 2003; Cha, S. 2013). With the founding of Gwanghyewon (the name was later changed to Jejungwon,

㿵䢥䳞),

the

missionaries provided many vital medical services which would not have been available otherwise, particularly for the poor and women. The government provided generous support to Jeungwon and doctors at the hospital were conferred government honours. For example, Dr. Allen was awarded the highest decoration, Taegeukdaesujang, by King Gojong. 18 Helping Allen at the hospital were Drs. Scranton and Heron who worked tirelessly to care for patients. In 1886, Annie J. Ellers (1860–1938), a nurse,

18 Not everything Allen did is positively seen by Korean scholars. He is seen by some scholars as having had very personal, political ambitions, as exemplified by his appointments as secretary to the American legation in Seoul in 1890 and as United States consul general in 1897. He is also perceived as having had ulterior motives in serving American business interests. As a person who had a close relationship with King Gojong and high government officials, Allen made arrangements for American firms to, among others, build the country’s first electric and water works, trolley and railway systems and to gain mining rights, all of which were later proved to be highly profitable for the latter.

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who came to Korea upon a request from Allen, took charge of medical care for women, including the Queen and the court ladies as well as commoners. She was eventually placed in charge of the newly created women’s department at the government hospital. Later, Dr. Lillias Horton (1851– 1921) took over the responsibility in 1888 and became the trusted doctor of the Queen. Dr. Heron took over Allen’s position as the superintendent of the hospital during the latter’s leave of absence from 1887 to 1889, during which Allen spent his time in the United States to serve as an advisor to a Korean delegation. Heron was known to have worked ceaselessly to take care of patients, at times travelling to distant areas. On July 26, 1890, Heron died of his own illness, thereby becoming the first martyr among the Protestant missionaries. In 1891, Dr. C. C. Vinton (1856–1936) took charge of the hospital. A report for 1893 shows that the hospital treated nearly 4,000 patients in that year, including 1,241 revisiting patients (Choi, M. 1997, 141). In 1895, in the face of cholera outbreak, which claimed more than 5,000 lives in Seoul alone, the missionary doctors worked tirelessly and, as a result, most of the patients who were under their care recuperated (Yi, M. 1998, 270). Meanwhile, a momentous change also took place at Jejungwon in 1894. The management of the hospital was transferred from the government to the mission body of the Presbyterian Church, which meant that evangelical work can be freely carried out within the compound of the hospital. In addition to providing medical care, a Western-styled medical education for Korean students began in March 1886 (Yi, M. 1998, 255). Although the classes were not much more than giving practical instructions, they became the seed of what would later develop into a medical college. Allen and his colleagues’ efforts in medical work were buttressed by the founding of another hospital in June 1886. Dr. Scranton, who had

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worked for Allen at the government hospital and who began treating patients at his home as early as September 1885, began a new hospital for the Methodist Mission. Scranton’s language teacher posted the following sign in Chinese and Korean: “American Doctor’s Dispensary—old or young, male or female, everybody with whatever disease, come at 10 o’clock any day; bring an empty bottle, and see the American doctor” (Stokes 1947, 70). In recognition of the fact that Gwanghyewon was a government hospital that largely catered to the royal family and highranking officials and their families, he wanted to establish a hospital “where people are” and for the truly needy people. So he set up the hospital near Namdaemun (South Gate), one of the poorest areas in Seoul at the time (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 195). Medical treatment and medicine were offered for free to the poor, while minimal fees were charged to those who could afford to defray the cost. In 1887, the government bestowed the name Sibyeongwon, which was arbitrarily translated as Universal Hospital and is also known as Jeongdong Hospital. In an 1891 report, Scranton claimed that he treated about 20,000 patients in the last six years (Yi, M. 1998, 274). Fully aware of the custom that dictated strictly separate social spaces for men and women and in view of establishing a hospital for women and children, Scranton also asked the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Church to send a woman doctor. In October 1887, Dr. Meta Howard (1858–1932) arrived and the nation’s first woman’s hospital was founded in Jongro, Seoul, in the same month. Queen Min named it Bogunyeogwan (㍊㯃倭䷲, Salvation for All Women Hospital). From that time until Howard’s return to the United States in 1889 due to poor health, she treated 3,500 female patients (Choi, M. 1997, 139). In 1890, Dr. Rosetta Sherwood (1865–1951) succeeded Howard’s post. In the same year, Dr.

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William McGill was added to the Methodist medical staff, which facilitated the establishment of another hospital at Sandong near the South Gate. Involvement in Education The missionaries were also quick to get involved in education. Knowing the Koreans’ zeal for education and their new openness to Western ideas, and hoping to enable illiterate Koreans to read the Scriptures and religious tracts, the missionaries set about establishing schools for boys and for girls (see Table 1.4). The fact that even the king endorsed their plan made them all the more eager. The first and the most prominent missionary to engage in education was Appenzeller, 19 whose main credential for entering Korea was, as noted above, being a teacher. As of the end of 1885, he was already teaching two to three students while he was working at the government hospital. After getting permission to establish a school from King Gojong, Appenzeller opened the first school by the missionaries, namely Baejae Hakdang (“Baejae School”) in June 1886. As a boys’ school, it began with only two students, but grew to an enrolment of 20 by October of the same year. As Appenzeller notes in the following report, the Korean students’ main purpose for enrolling in the school in the beginning was to learn English: The enthusiasm for the study of English has always been great among the Koreans. A little knowledge of the new tongue was and still is a stepping stone to something higher. Ask a Korean ‘why do you wish to study

19 Henry Appenzeller was a Methodist missionary who arrived in Korea with his wife, Ella J. Dodge, in April 1885. He is best known for establishing the first modern Western-styled school in Korea, i.e., Baejae Hakdang. He drowned at the age of 44 in 1902 while travelling to the southern port city of Mokpo for a Bible translation meeting.

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English?’ and his almost invariable answer will be ‘to get rank’ (Paik 1970, 129).

Table 1.4: The First Mission Schools, 1886–1890 Year

Name

Type

1886 1886 1886 1890

Baejae Ewha Gyeongsin Jeongsin

Boys’ School Girls’ School Boys’ School Girls’ School

Founding Mission Methodist Methodist Presbyterian Presbyterian

Location Seoul Seoul Seoul Seoul

At about the same as the launch of the first boys’ school, the first girls’ school was founded by Mrs. Mary Scranton in May 1886. The school began with one student, but grew to an enrolment of seven students by 1887. The school was given the name of Ewha Hakdang (“Pear Blossom School”) by the Queen (Paik 1970, 127). The school would later become one of the most prestigious universities in Korea, namely Ewha Womans University. 20 Another girls’ school, Jeongsin or Jeongdong Yeohakdang (present-day Jeongsin Girls’ Middle and High School), was founded by Annie Ellers, who came to Korea as a medical missionary, in June 1887. Both schools had difficulty recruiting students at first, due to cultural norms of the time that permitted formal education only to boys. That is why most of the early students were widows, concubines, orphans and children of the poor. Another notable missionary involvement in education resulted in the founding of Gyeongsin Hakdang (present-day Gyeongsin Middle and High School). And Underwood, in his wish to establish an orphanage that served as an educational institute which taught skills to pupils, founded a school, which was variously called ranging from Underwood Hakdang to Yesugyo Hakdang (Christian School), began with one student in May 1886, but 20

This is not a typo, as it is the actual spelling of the university, past and present.

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developed into a bona fide school by 1905, changing its name to Gyeongsin Hakdang. While the missionaries’ involvement in education in the beginning was met with suspicion and anxiety, the schools founded by them eventually began to gain the trust of the Korean populace. Accordingly, the missionaries opened a large number of schools throughout the country. The curriculum of these schools typically included such subjects as Chinese scripts, history, geography, math, and science as well as the Bible study. These schools at the time were the only educational institutions that offered modern education, complete with science and math. 21

D. Bible Translation There was a consensus among the missionaries that the existing Bible in Korean, i.e., the Ross Version, contained too many dialects of Pyeongan Provinces and other inconsistencies. To redress this problem, the missionaries established the Christian Literature Society of Korea in 1893 and launched the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to newly translate the Bible into Korean, i.e., Hangeul. The translation project at this time was subjected to rigorous reviews, with the missionaries and translators 21

Although there were non-missionary efforts to establish “modern” schools, none lasted more than a few years. For example, Paul Georg von Mollendorf, a German diplomat who served as an advisor to King Gojong, founded the School of Translation and Oratory in 1883, but it closed within a few years after he left Korea in 1885. The curriculum included English, Japanese, and mathematics. The first modern school established by the Korean government was Yukyounggongwon (The Government School or the School of Interpreters), which was founded in 1886, four years after Korea began signing a series of treaties with foreign powers. The curriculum included English, mathematics, natural science, and geography. The students were the sons of high-ranking officials, most of whom were reportedly preoccupied with their Confucian tradition and not readily open to new ideas. The school closed in 1894 when American instructors gradually broke ties with the school.

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checking each other’s work and revision. These efforts resulted in the completion of a new translation of the New Testament into Korean in 1900. After further revisions, an “Authorised Version” of the New Testament was published in 1906. The translation of the Old Testament began in 1900 and was completed by 1910. For these translation projects, efforts were consciously made to write in simple prose in view of enabling commoners to read with ease. In addition to the translation of the Bible, a large number of religious tracts, guides to Christian living, liturgical works, prayer books, and hymn books as well as church periodicals were published in Hangeul. As soon as the translation of the New Testament was complete, tens of thousands of copies of the Bible were printed for distribution (see Table 1.5). The wide circulation of the Bible was mainly due to the missionaries’ emphasis on the importance of the knowledge of the Bible for potential converts. To that end, they insisted that every Christian should have a copy of her or his own (Paik 1970, 347). As for the circulation itself, the Bible societies hired colporteurs and relied on the service of early “Bible women” who traveled on foot to remote areas all across the country to not only distribute the Bible but also proselytise (Yu, K. 2019, 21, 170–184). Bible women, who were typically older in age, originally illiterate, widows and from poor families, played an invaluable role in the early success of Protestant Christianity, as they possessed attributes with which fellow women could empathise with, i.e., shared experience as oppressed women and their utmost carefulness in not incurring hostility (Yu, K. 2019, 21). 22 Their usefulness and effectiveness derived partly from the fact that their outlier status as lower or lowest social class enabled them to travel freely 22 As for their number, there were 1,215 Korean Bible women from 1895 to 1945 (Strawn 2012, 118; cited from Yu 2019, 178).

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across the country, as opposed to women of nobility or higher class whose mobility was severely restricted. Their marginality enabled these Bible women to have access to a wider audience as they traversed the country on foot (Yu, K. 2019, 180).

Table 1.5: Extent of the Circulation of the Bible (in part or whole) Year 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 Source: Paik (1970, 347).

Total Circulation 2,997 6,335 34,813 43,121 38,006 16,814 28,716 28,751 52,003 98,498 127,269

While Bible women lacked proper training in evangelism—they also had no official role and “no acknowledged authority” (Chou 1995, 30– 35)—they did attend special Bible schools operated by the missionaries (Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 77). Many Bible women were reportedly former shamans or mudang and they apparently played roles akin to those of shamans, i.e., offering advices, exorcising evil spirits and performing healing ceremonies, all of which appealed greatly to fellow women (Strawn 2012, 126–129; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 77). Also, prayer meetings guided by Bible women can be said to have been “functional substitutes” for shamanic rituals (Huntley 1984, 123–125; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 77). Another role played by Bible women was that they provided crucial help to women missionaries by informing them about Korean women, culture and local customs, all of which helped the latter

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approach potential converts with greater cultural sensitivity (Yu, K. 2019, 179). All in all, Bible women “filled in to do anything that was needed” (Ibid., 166): The roles of Bible Women were many but evangelism and teaching, especially to other women, as understood to be their central emphasis. However, their flexible approach allowed them to work in the most diverse contexts: Bible Women led singing classes and prayer meetings, taught Korean language lessons in classrooms, preached sermons on Sundays, did visitations and called on the sick, worked as a house matron for girls at a school’s dormitory, led Bible studies and Sunday school classes, and assisted with orphanages. They were ready and willing to do everything, even menial tasks. They filled the gap on the mission field more than any other person in the church and mission organisation. It was not unusual for Bible Women to teach classes in the mornings and then travel to the countryside on evangelism trips on the afternoon (Ibid., 167).

In making use of Hangeul for all of its written materials, the Protestant Church played an instrumental role in giving new life to the Korean alphabet (Kim, C. 1982). In fact, it is not an exaggeration to claim that “the Korean Bible stands as the single most significant event in the history of the Korean language” (Jeon 1980, 142). It may have been for sheer necessity that the missionaries chose Hangeul over Chinese characters in translating the Bible and other Christian literature, but Protestant Christianity is credited with the revival and dissemination of the Korean writing system. Just as Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into vernacular German promoted the latter, the use of Hangeul became more widespread as the Christian faith began to become more popular. The translation of the Bible and religious tracts into Hangeul and the use of the

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latter in schools founded by the missionaries also gave respectability to the Korean alphabet. Also noted as an important factor for the growth of Protestantism in Korea is the Nevius method, a missionary method emphasising selfsupport, self-propagation, and self-governing of the church (Clark, C. 1930, 1937; Kwak 1994). The Nevius method is named after John L. Nevius (1829–1893), a missionary based in Shantung, China, who visited Korea in 1890 and advised the missionaries about the importance of the “three-self” (samja) strategy for church planting. As Palmer (1967, 27–28) outlines below, the Nevius method can be summarised as follows: (1) Personal evangelism and wide itineration by the missionaries. (2) The Bible central in every part of the work. (3) Self-propagation: every believer, including converts, a teacher of someone else, and a learner from someone else better fitted; every individual and group seeking by the “layering method” to extend the work. (4) Self-government: every group under its chosen unpaid leaders; circuits under their own paid helpers, who will later yield to pastors; circuit meetings training the people for later district, provincial and national leadership. (5) Self-support: with all chapels provided by the believers; each group, as soon as founded, beginning to pay towards to circuit helper’s salary; even schools to receive but partial subsidy, and that only when being founded; no pastors of single churches provided by foreign funds. (6) Systematic Bible study for every believer under his group leader and circuit helper; and for every leader and helper in the Bible classes.

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(7) Strict discipline enforced by Bible penalties. (8) Co-operation and union with other bodies, or at least territorial division. (9) Non-interference in lawsuits or any such matters… (10) General helpfulness where possible in the economic problems of the people. 23 In essence, the Nevius method was designed to foster churches that were supported and governed by new converts of the host society. Since foreign funds were severely limited at the time, the expansion of the missionary work in Korea would have been seriously constrained without the application of the Nevius method. Also, the prevailing notion was that “when the first contact of the convert has been with a professional evangelist supported by mission funds, there has been a disposition to look to the same source for continued assistance rather than to the development of an independent spirit” (Soltau 1932, 37). While the Nevius method was not popular neither in China nor in Japan, it was widely accepted by the missionaries in Korea. 24 The Presbyterian missions officially adopted the Nevius method in 1891, followed eventually by six other main missions in Korea, although the Methodists were less enthused about it (Clark, C. 1937, 86ࡳ 96; see Clark, A. 1971, 112–121; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015,

23

Along with the Nevius Method, a missionary method espoused by John Ross in Korea is also noteworthy. Ross, who was a close friend of Nevius and who wanted to improve the Nevius method, emphasised the importance of, among others, the indigenisation of the church in the host society, itineration to wide areas of the host society to spread the gospel, priority of evangelism over education, and recognition of and openness to other (traditional) religions (Oak 1998). 24 It is also worth noting that the Nevius method stood in stark contrast to the operation of the Catholic Church in Korea, which had its foreign missions under strict control and command from Rome.

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73). The missionaries readily embraced the Nevius method, because it saved them money and reduced their direct evangelistic work (Paik 1970, 219– 220, 291–299; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 74). However, while American missionaries generally recognised the Nevius method as an important contributing factor for the growth of Protestantism in Korea, many Korean scholars hold somewhat contrasting views (Yu, K. 2019, 16, 32–33; Yoo 2016). For example, doubts have been raised as to whether Koreans themselves were actually empowered to self-govern in the early period of Protestantism, e.g., from the 1890s to the first decade of the twentieth century. Even though the number of Protestant Christians increased substantially in due course, missionaries continued to dominate the Korean church administration during the period in question (Yu, K. 2019, 35–36; see Cha 2012). Other than the issue of self-governance, however, it is safe to say that the ideas of self-support and self-propagation have had a lasting impact on Korean Protestant churches. Entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining their own church and spreading the gospel, Korean Christians themselves were responsible for, among others, financially supporting their pastors, forming laity leadership, launching Bible study classes, pioneering new regions for evangelism, and preaching to the needy.

E. The Struggle for Sovereignty and Nationwide Evangelical Campaigns, 1905֙ 1910 Following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904ࡳ 1905, which was essentially a battle for control of Korea, the Japanese protectorate was established in Korea in 1905. Japan subsequently annexed Korea in 1910. Although the stated policy of the church to political matters was

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noninvolvement, this neutral attitude inclined more toward a passive acceptance of the Japanese rule in Korea. In spite of the political turmoil, the missionaries continued to expand their involvement with educational and medical activities. Missionary schools continued to perform strongly, attracting more and more students and gaining recognition. The demand for education was so overwhelming that schools had to be established practically all over Korea. By 1910, in fact, missionaries had founded about 800 schools of various grades, accommodating over 41,000 students, which was about twice the total enrollment of all the Korean government schools. It is not an exaggeration to claim that the church was in charge of the only complete educational system in Korea at the time—only the Protestant Church provided education from primary to college level (medical college). Complementing the importance of the missionaries’ involvement in education was the latter’s intimate link, intended or unintended, with Korean nationalism, particularly in light of the impending Japanese domination. As Grayson (1985, 112) notes, “Christians took a lead in the establishment of these schools which became the first link in the chain which bound together Korean nationalism and the new religion.” In tandem with the expanded engagement in education, the missionaries’ medical work also grew. Medical work too was in operation all across the peninsula and the first medical college, the Severance Union Medical College, was established in Seoul in 1904 with the specific aim of educating qualified Koreans in Western medicine. Within the church itself, intra- and inter-denominational cooperation and coordination became very active during this period. Common hymns were sung, and a church newspaper was jointly issued. A movement for the establishment of a formal indigenous church was

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launched in 1901 when two Koreans were ordained as deacons by the Methodist churches and when the Presbyterians established Union Theological Seminary in the same year. Although there had been attempts to launch Sunday Schools as early as the late 1890s, the programme was not firmly established until 1907, when the same curriculum was used for the whole Christian community (Grayson 1985, 118). As important as these missionary activities, however, were two momentous events in the annals of Korean church history that had a tremendous impact on the development of Protestantism in Korea, namely the Great Revival of 1907 and the “Million Souls for Christ Movement” in 1909–1910. The Pyongyang Great Revival of 1907 The Great Revival of 1907 was a series of religious meetings that is credited with having infused a strong religious fervour into the lives of Korean Christians. It began with a Bible training class held in Pyongyang in January 1907, but soon swept over the whole Christian population in the nation. The Great Revival of 1907 was part of worldwide revivals sweeping across many parts of the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 93). Most of the missionaries were influenced by a revivalistic faith and were imbued with emotional conversions, and they urged Koreans to experience the same (Ryu, D. Y. 2008, 393; Huntley 1984, 131; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 93). The Great Revival of 1907 also needs to be seen as an event intimately related to a national crisis facing Korea at the time (Rhodes 1935, 280–292; Clark, A. 1971, 159–166; Lee, B. 2003). The missionaries and Korean church leaders wanted Christians to stay focused on “spiritual matters” rather than politics (Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 93). Some saw the revival as an excellent opportunity to turn church members’ attention “from the national situation to their own

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personal relation with the Master” (Blair and Hunt 1977, 67; cited from Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 93). The missionaries also made an analogy between ancient Israel and Korea to inspire Koreans to believe that they were the chosen ones who could overcome the Japanese with God’s help (Kim, S. C. and Kim 2015, 93). The missionaries partly did this by pointing out that the Japanese Romanisation oI WKH FRXQWU\¶V QDPH &KǂVHQ ZDV almost identical to the English word “chosen,” proving that Koreans were selected for “salvific purpose” (Ibid.). The origin of the revival can be traced back to August 1903, when several missionaries gathered for a week of Bible study and prayer at Wonsan, Gangwon Province. Among those attending was Dr. Robert A. Hardie (1865ࡳ 1949), a Canadian medical missionary. In his testimony, he confessed his despair over his sense of failure in not being able to achieve anything in his mission field for the last three years. He also acknowledged that a reason for his failure was the lack of true faith and a sense of superiority and arrogance he had toward Koreans (Paik 1973, 157). The participants of the meeting reportedly were deeply moved by his testimony and empathised with him. The Bible and prayer meetings among the missionaries as well as among Korean Christians were repeated in Wonsan in January 1904 with a similar experience. The news spread and prayer meetings were held in many other parts of the country. In August 1906, the missionaries in Pyongyang invited Hardie to lead a Bible meeting in the city. All of this culminated in the Great Revival of 1907. It happened during the annual Bible Training Class of the Northern Presbyterian Mission in January 1907, held at Jangdaehyun Church in Pyongyang. The training session consisted of Bible studies during the day and special evangelical preaching in the evening. It was at one of these evening sessions that the beginning of the revival

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transpired. A series of public confessions and testimonies were made by the missionaries and Korean Christians alike. A noted preacher at the revival who is largely credited with the creation of heightened spirituality was Gil Seon-ju (1869–1935), who was about to be ordained as the first Korean minister of the Presbyterian Church. He led the attendees in predawn prayers, and his charismatic preaching captivated the spiritual longing of Korean Christians and brought about the deepening of their spiritual experience. Each day of the meeting was attended by hundreds of Christians, with some days having up to 2,000 attendees. Another notable feature of the revival was tongsonggido or praying aloud one’s prayer in unison with others, which further added to the sense of spiritual uplifting. William N. Blair (1957, 66–67), a missionary who witnessed it, observed as follows: After a short sermon, Mr. Lee took charge of the meeting and called for a prayer. So many began praying that Mr. Lee said, ‘If you want to pray like that, all pray,’ and the whole audience began to pray out loud, all together. The effect was indescribable. Not confusion, but a vast harmony of souls and spirit, a mingling together of souls moved by an irresistible impulse of prayer. The prayer sounded to me like the falling of many waters, an ocean of prayer beating against God’s throne…. As the prayer continued, a spirit of heaviness and sorrow came upon the audience. Over on one side, someone began to weep and, in a moment, the whole congregation was weeping.…Man after man would rise, confess his sin, break down and weep, and then throw himself to the floor and beat the floor with his fists in a perfect agony of conviction….Sometimes after a confession, the whole audience would break out in audible prayer and the effect….was something

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indescribable….And so the meeting went on until two o’clock a.m., with confession and weeping and praying.

The spirit of the revival soon spread to students enrolled in Christian schools in Pyongyang, including Soongsil College. Students in these institutions numbered around 2,500 and many participated actively in the revival meeting. In due time, the whole Christian community in the city, including women, became actively involved. Also, the missionaries stationed in other parts of Korea and Korean ministers, most notably Gil Seon-ju, began to hold revival meetings in different parts of the peninsula on a regular basis, thereby making what started as a local prayer meeting into a nation-wide revival. Designed to be a search for a heightened religious experience, the revival meetings featured public confessions of sin, followed by emotional sermons, loud prayers and other forms of collective emotional expressions. People are said to have threw themselves on the floor, confessing their sins in tears and asking for forgiveness through prayers. The meetings begin at seven p.m. Last night’s meeting closed at two a.m. One after another arose and confessed his sins—many of them suffering agony in fighting with the devil. We could see the fight going on and we could see victories won. ‘Awful’ is the only word that will express the feeling we had as we witnessed the struggle between God and His arch enemy yesterday evening. Some men confessed to having murdered fellowmen before they became Christians; many confessed to having broken every one of God’s laws; church officers had stolen (taken what some call a legitimate squeeze), and there were jealousies, and hatreds confessed; and elder had been holding hatred in his heart for a missionary and publically asked forgiveness for it. One man would cry out to another

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asking his forgiveness after having confessed the sin to God. Every man in the house was weeping…..(cited from Commission on Theological Concerns of the Christian Conference of Asia 1981, 91).

As such, the Great Revival of 1907 firmly planted Protestant Christianity in Korea and allowed the new religion to grow both quantitatively and qualitatively. There had been many local revival meetings in the past, but the Great Revival was a movement that swept the whole country and had the most important influence on the entire Christian movement as a whole up to this point and for generations to come. In a way, the revival was an expression of nationwide grief—and a release of pent-up emotions and feelings—over the impending national crisis, i.e., Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910: Scenes similar to those that accompanied the revival in Pyongyang were witnessed in churches everywhere. It is probable that much of the agony of confession came not only from a sense of individual unworthiness but from a deep-seated conviction that every Korean bore a responsibility for the tragedy that had befallen the nation….The utter helplessness of the nation and the individual made it easy to throw oneself unreservedly upon a God whose supreme revelation came in the bearing of a cross for the sins of all….God broke through the disillusionment and despair of countless Korean individuals and led their minds from the uncertainties of human institutions to the eternal stabilities (Huntley 1984; cited from Adams 1995, 20).

The despair over the impending loss of sovereignty created the situation in which “the popular state of mind” became “peculiarly receptive to a

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religious message” and was “impressionable” (Paik 1970, 369–370). J. R. Moose (1906, 51) of the Southern Methodist Mission observed as follows: It might not be the whole truth to say that this great awakening among the people is wholly and completely the result of preaching and book selling….The general unrest and lack of something to which they may cling is causing the people to turn to the missionary and the message he has, and they are trying to find out if we have something which they can trust.

Also, Donald Clark (2004, 83) maintains that all the accounts of the revival meetings emphasised three things: that the occasion was a deeply dreadful time during which Koreans in general were deeply upset by their material and political circumstances; that the “spirit” took over the congregations and created a kind of mass hysteria that appeared to be beyond normal human behavior or understanding; and that the life transformations that followed were radical in terms of renunciation of vices such as gambling, opium and alcohol, and customs such as ancestor worship (the chesa) and concubinage.

Clark (2004, 83) further argues that the revival had a distinctive long-term effect: “a pattern was set for charismatic worship in much of Korean Protestantism, based on fervent prayer, confession, and outward manifestations of changed ways of life.” The Great Revival of 1907 not only increased membership but also set the tone of the beliefs and practices of Korean Protestantism, i.e., emotional, Pentecostal, individualistic and the other-worldly (Lee, C. 2005). Lak-Geoon George Paik (1970, 374–378), a noted historian of Korean

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Protestantism, summarises the major impacts of the Great Revival on Protestantism as follows. First, it gave a new life to a religion that was beleaguered by lost momentum and slowed growth. Second, it led to a better understanding and a closer fellowship between the missionaries and Korean Protestants. Their relationship prior to the revival had been hampered by what the latter perceived to an arrogance and aloofness on the part of the former. The missionaries’ policy of political neutrality further added to the estrangement between the two sides. Through public confessions and testimonies, however, they shared each other’s concerns and developed a mutual understanding and appreciation for each other in the process. Third, the revival brought about a change in the moral tone of church communities, as Christians became more aware of righteousness and sin. Fourth, the revival reinforced the centrality of the Bible study and prayers in the religious habits of Korean Christians. Lastly, the “spiritual revivification” of Christians during the revival led to widespread evangelical efforts. The most convincing argument for the genuineness of the revival is in the result that followed. The great awakening marks the spiritual rebirth of the Korean Church. The religious experience of the people gave to the Christian Church in Korea a character which is its own. Following the revival, the new religious experience was severely tested, but it has survived as a moral and spiritual force. Korean Christians of today look back on the movement as the source of their spiritual life (Ibid., 374).

At a critical time, therefore, the Great Revival of 1907 prompted the missionaries to rededicate themselves to their mission, while offering for the Korean people an outlet for the expression of their nascent nationalism. And all of this led to a marked church growth. As Table 1.6 shows, a noticeable increase in the number of Protestant churches and

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members is evident between 1905 and 1907. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Great Revival of 1907 led to the Protestant community growing larger than the much older Catholic community, a position it has held ever since. Such growth is reflective of the great uncertainty of the time and the appeal of Protestantism to the masses who pined for psychological security and emancipation. Table 1.6: Protestant Churches and Members in 1905 and 1907 Year

Number of Churches 321 642 200

Number of Missionary Posts 470 1,045 222.3

Number of Baptised 9,761 18,964 194.2

Educated Believers

Funds (Korean won) 1,352,867 5,319,785 393.2

1905 30,136 1907 99,300 Increase 329.5 Rate (%) Source: Underwood, H. G. (1908, 146–148; cited from Min, K. 1982, 263).

The Great Revival of 1907 was followed by a countrywide evangelical campaign known as the “Million Souls for Christ” Movement (䉸䝭㔧㯃䵊䬽㒗) or simply the “Million Movement” in 1909–1910, which was a campaign for evangelisation of the whole country (see Lee, T. 2009, 23–24). It happened when the immediate impact of the Revival was waning and attempts were made by the missionaries to reignite the vigor of the church. It all began in 1909 when a missionary, before going on an itinerating tour, asked the Christians in his community to pray for conversions of 50,000 Koreans in that year. That led to the Annual Meeting of the Southern Methodist Mission in September adopting the slogan of “Two Hundred Thousand Souls for Christ” which, in turn, led to the General Council of the Evangelical Missions adopting the slogan of “A million Souls for Christ.” With only about 200 missionaries in the nation and only

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tens of thousands of Protestants, the goal of converting one million in a year may have been beyond reach, but it still inspired the missionaries and the Christian community to join the movement, renewing their religious fervour in the process. James Gale (1863–1937), a Canadian Presbyterian missionary, wrote: The great movement calls for special effort in Korea. Its watchword of “A Million Souls” rings out at a time of supreme national hopelessness. Wrecked and humiliated through her own failures, incapable of selfdefence or self-government, she had fallen to a place of contempt among all nations. Authority no longer rests with her, finances are out of her control, the world of graft and fraud in which lived has been spirited away, and today stripped and convicted and undone, she looks for a saviour. This is the supreme moment. We cannot reckon the future or foretell. Now is the moment, and it is here; the wide open door, the humbled people, the waiting heart….The missionaries are convinced that NOW is the hour of crisis for Korea (cited from Yoo, B. 1988, 91).

Although the movement fell short of success, many Christians made vigorous efforts to make the watchword a reality, and their involvement—many pledged what was called “day offering,” i.e., offering to avail themselves for evangelising work for certain number of days, while others distributed Christian literature whenever they could—gave them a sense of purpose, identity and belonging as well as dignity (Paik 1970, 386). It also raised the evangelical zeal of Korean Christians and set the tone for later evangelical movements. The American Presbyterian missionary Dr. William M. Baird (1911, 210) wrote:

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The whole church entered into the campaign with faith and unparalleled enthusiasm. The Gospel was preached as never before, all over Korea. We do not know how many were saved, but we do know that a great multitude have been persuaded to enter the churches and express a desire to believe. Personally, I believe that when all is known, more than a million souls will be found to date their interest in the kingdom from this Million Year.

In short, as a nation-wide effort for a speedy mass evangelisation of the country, the Million Movement as well as the Great Revival of 1907 not only had a profound impact on the propagation of Christianity but also offered an outlet for the expression of Korean nationalism. These two movements were induced in part by poor living conditions and the imminent loss of sovereignty, and such sense of crisis engendered an emotional wave which swept over the Christian communities all across the country.

F. Churches During the Japanese Colonial Rule, 1910–1945 The Conspiracy Trial of 1911 and the March 1st Independence Movement Korean Christianity entered a new era when the nation was annexed by the Japanese in 1910. Although the Japanese administrative policy toward Christians was seemingly friendly at first—precipitated, at least in part, by Japanese authorities’ recognition of the importance of Christian support to the success of its rule—it gradually developed into an open policy of hostility. The new government seemed to have perceived Korean churches as a whole to be an organisation, if not the only group, capable of resisting its rule. Accordingly, Japanese authorities enforced oppressive measures against the missionaries and their teachings in the first decade of its rule in Korea (Moffett 1962, 69). New medical provisions in 1913 made it very difficult for missionary physicians to procure licenses to practice in Korea.

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A new regulation regarding religions was promulgated, stipulating that churches must report on the content of their teachings, means of propagation, the qualification of ministers or evangelists, and vital statistics of new converts, among others (Yun, S. 1998, 111–116; see Lee, J. G. 1997). In the hope of curtailing the growth of Christianity, Japanese authorities imposed many regulations for establishing new churches and required permits for establishing them, making it very difficult for the missionaries and Korean Christians to freely set up churches wherever they wanted.

25

With new educational regulations implemented in 1915,

moreover, the Japanese government targeted Christian schools by prohibiting the teaching of religion and practice of religious services at school (see Lee, S. 2007). All private schools were required by law to register in the Department of Education, allowing, in effect, the government to censor textbooks, specify qualifications of teachers or close schools at will. As a result, the number of Christian schools was more than halved from 778 in 1910 to 279 in 1921 (Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1990, 85; see Table 1.7).

25

In order to undermine the influence of Christianity, Japanese authorities also supported the revival of Buddhism, which had been officially banned during the Joseon dynasty. Japanese monks were brought to Korea to help restore temples and to transplant Japanese Buddhism, particularly those of Zen, Nichiren, and Hongganji sects. Also, under the auspices of Japanese authorities, Korean and Japanese Buddhism established a cordial relationship, although disagreements ensued over the issue of celibacy for monks (Korean monks were, and are, required to be celibate while their Japanese counterparts were, and are, allowed to marry).

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Table 1.7: Comparison of Private Schools and Missionary Schools, 1910–1923 Year

Non-parochial Parochial Schools Private Schools 1910 1,302 778 1911 1,044 677 1912 817 545 1913 796 487 1914 769 473 1915 704 450 1916 624 421 1917 518 350 1918 461 317 1919 444 298 1920 410 279 1921 356 279 1922 352 262 1923 376 273 Source: Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 85).

Total 2,080 1,721 1,362 1,283 1,242 1,154 1,045 868 778 742 689 635 614 649

A more compelling reason for the increasingly hostile policy toward Christianity had to do with the prominence of Christians, especially Protestants, in the independence movement and Christianity’s association with the rise of Korean nationalism. Two events that forged the link between Christianity and Korean nationalism were the Conspiracy Trial of 1911 and the March 1st Movement of 1919 or Samilundong (㉽㉸䬽㒗). The Conspiracy Trial involved an outlandish claim by the new government that it had uncovered a plot to assassinate the Japanese Governor-General in Korea (Yun, G. 1988; Sun and Sun 2008). As a result, about 700 Koreans were arrested, all of whom were suspected of involvement in the independence movement. Among those arrested were teachers and students of Christian schools as well as church leaders. They were subjected to brutal and inhumane torture, including forced starvation. Subsequently, 123 were

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brought to trial. Although most of them were acquitted, the fact that a large proportion of the indicted men were Christians—94 out of 123 men (92 Protestants, including 5 ministers and 8 elders, and 2 Catholics) or about 76 percent of the total—left a lasting impression about the new religion in the minds of the Korean people (Paik 1973, 22). 26 The Conspiracy Trial of 1911 is thus considered the first persecution against Christianity carried out by Japanese authorities. Christians were targeted because they were playing a leading role in the independence movement and churches as whole posed a threat to the Japanese rule. The March 1st Movement of 1919 is also noted for the prominence of Christians, especially Protestants (Yi, M. 1979; Lee, T. 2000). The movement, which is also known as Samil (3–1) Movement, because it began on March 1st, lasted for about a year, during which millions of Koreans participated in peaceful demonstrations for independence throughout the country. The movement was prompted by not only their determination to express their hope for independence but also to express their resentment against the oppressive Japanese authorities, as the first decade of the latter’s rule was ruthless. Politically, Koreans were deprived of the freedom of assembly and all the publications were heavily censored. Legally, different standards of law were applied to the Japanese and Koreans. Socially, Koreans were discriminated in educational and job opportunities and received lower wages. Also, freedom of religion was curtailed and Koreans were deprived of the right to travel or study abroad.

26 This does not mean that there was no pro-Japanese faction within the church. For example, Merriman C. Harris, who was the Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church for both Japan and Korea, was notoriously pro-Japanese (see Kim, S. T. 2013).

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It was during this time of hardship that the March 1st Movement of 1919 took place. The movement began on March 1st in Seoul and nine other cities, but spread to all parts of the peninsula by March 4th. During the months of March, April and May, a total of 1,542 demonstrations took place throughout the country and over 2.5 million people reportedly participated. While the demonstrations were peaceful, Japanese reactions were brutal. According to official data, Japanese suppressions of the three-month long demonstrations resulted in 7,509 deaths, some 45,000 injuries, and nearly 50,000 indictments. Many buildings were demolished by the Japanese, including more than 700 houses, 59 churches, and 2 schools (Yi, M. 1997, 16). In total, demonstrations took place in some 340 areas, with Protestant Christians leading the demonstrations in 78 areas, followed by believers of Cheondogyo 27 in 66 areas, and combined efforts of Protestants and Cheondogyo adherents in 42 areas (Ibid.). Protestants were thus responsible, either solely or in joint effort with Cheondogyo followers, for organising around 35 percent of all the independence demonstrations during the period. Another reason Protestant Christianity is associated with the independence movement is that nearly half of those who signed the Declaration of Independence—16 of the 33 signees—were Protestants, and 24 out of 48 individuals who were responsible for the launch of the movement were Protestant Christians. The salience of Protestant Christians in the movement is further noted in the figure of those imprisoned for participating in the

27 Cheondogyo, literally “Religion of the Heavenly Way,” is a new religious movement that began in the 1860s (see Kim, Y. C. 1978; Weems 1964). The religion incorporates elements of traditional Korean religions, including shamanism, Buddhism and Taoism. Originally known as Donghak (Eastern Learning), the movement arose as a reaction to Christianity, emphasising the importance of personal cultivation, moral discipline and social welfare in this world.

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demonstration: the number of imprisoned Protestant Christians, as of June 30, 1919, comprised 2,087 out of 9,458, representing 22 percent of the total (Yi, M. 1991, 349). By the end of December 1919, the number of Protestant Christians imprisoned for their involvement in the independence movement totaled 3,373 out of the total of 19,525 individuals, representing more than 17 percent (see Table 1.8). Table 1.8: Religious Affiliation of Those Imprisoned for Involvement in the Independence Movement as of December 1919 Male Cheondogyo 2,268 Shicheongyo 15 Buddhism 220 Confucianism 346 Methodist 518 Presbyterian 2,254 Congregational 7 Other Protestants 286 Catholics 54 Other religions 21 No religious affiliation 9,255 Unknown 3,809 Total 19,054 Source: Palmer (1967, 65–66).

Female 15 – – – 42 232 – 34 1 – 49 98 471

Total 2,283 14 220 346 560 2,486 7 320 55 21 9,304 3,907 19,525

Indeed, more Protestant Christians were apprehended for partaking in the movement than any other religious group and that is the reason the Japanese censured Protestant Christians more than all other groups and became increasingly apprehensive about the latter’s activities (Palmer 1967, 65). This was all the more astonishing given the fact that Protestant Christians comprised only about 200,000 or 1.3 per cent of the total population of 16 million at the time (Yi, M. 1997, 16). All of this shows that

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Christians playing a major role in the March 1st Movement were mostly Protestant Christians. Catholics played only a minimal rule: no Catholic signed the Declaration of Independence; and as shown in Figure 1.8 there were more far more Buddhists and Confucians arrested than Catholics. As the above data indicate, Christians, especially Protestants, played a pivotal role in the March 1st Movement, as they were intimately involved right from the planning stage. They also provided a nationwide organisational basis to carry out the movement. It is not an exaggeration to say that the March 1st Movement could not have happened without the input of Protestant participants, including ministers, elders and evangelists. And as a leading organisation of the demonstration, Protestant churches as a whole became special targets of Japanese military reprisals in 1919. Fortyseven churches were burned down, and hundreds of Christians perished in the demonstration, while thousands, including women, were subjected to brutal interrogation (Min, K. 1982, 311, 313). The brutal suppression of the demonstration and the prominence of Protestant Christians among those prosecuted thus produced a strong link between Protestantism and Korean nationalism. While many Korean Protestants were protesting against the Japanese, the official stance of the missionaries, as they were instructed by their mission boards in their home countries, was that of political neutrality (Kim, S. T. 2006). A general attitude of the most missionaries, irrespective of whatever personal viewpoints they may have had about the Japanese rule, turned into that of passive acceptance and compliance, which is ironic because it was the missionaries themselves who exposed Koreans to the ideas of liberty and democracy. There were exceptions, of course. One such figure was Homer B. Hulbert (1863–1949), who came to Korea as an educational missionary in 1886. For 23 years, until he was deported by

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Japanese authorities in 1907, he wrote about Korean history, customs and language (see Hulbert 1905, 1906) and exposed the suffering of Koreans under the Japanese rule to the West through such publications as The Korean Repository and The Korean Review. He was also actively involved in Koreans’ diplomatic efforts in Washington, making contacts with American officials on behalf of Korea. Partly due to Hulbert’s efforts, international condemnation of the Japanese brutality ensued, prompting the Japanese government to adopt more tolerant policies toward Korean churches in the 1920s. However, various anti-Christian measures were still enforced. So, it is remarkable that Protestant Christianity continued to grow during this period of severe oppression against it. The following data compiled by the Japanese Government-General of Korea amply demonstrate this (see Tables 1.9, 1.10 and 1.11).

1914 297 (99; 9; 189) 996 (434; 86; 476) 338 (99; 42; 197) 77 (19; 15; 43) 235 (38; 6; 191) 6 (4; 0; 2)

6 (1; 0; 5) 13 (2; 0 ; 11) 41 (14; 6; 21)

2,304 (745; 180; 1,379)

1913

260 (91; 34; 135)

1,044 (436; 99; 509) 327 (115; 10; 202) 16 (2; 0; 14) 207 (41; 6; 160) 7 (6; 1; 0)

14 (2; 7; 5) 33 (9; 4; 20)

2,136 (733; 205; 1,198)

1915

89

These figures were compiled from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, 1913–1925 (Note: Data for 1915 are missing from the original source).

The figures in parentheses represent, in the order of appearance, the number of churches, assembly halls, and other meeting places.

Year Denomination Catholic Presbyterian Methodist Episcopal Anglican Southern Methodist Russian Orthodox Japanese Christian Japanese Methodist Japanese Congregational Seventh-day Adventist Oriental Missionary Society Salvation Army Joseon Christian Holiness Congregational Others Total

Table 1.9: Number of Churches, 1913–1925

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Year 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 Denomination Catholic 206 215 222 224 233 237 Presbyterian 1,885 1,908 1,896 1,899 1,916 2,031 Methodist Episcopal 553 578 565 564 563 562 Anglican 70 72 72 71 63 62 Southern Methodist 258 259 252 224 259 317 Russian Orthodox 6 6 6 6 7 6 Japanese Christian 9 10 10 10 10 10 Japanese Methodist 11 11 11 11 11 11 Japanese Congregational 38 48 58 59 54 7 Seventh-day Adventist 36 49 44 44 47 57 Oriental Missionary 10 11 13 16 18 25 Society Salvation Army 81 84 103 97 97 100 Joseon Christian Holiness 1 2 Congregational 35 Others 16 Total 3,163 3,251 3,252 3,225 3,279 3,478 Source: Yun, S. (1998, 124); Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 95).

90

1923 249 2,095 530 62 407 6 16 15 8 63 40 155 2 22 15 3,685

1922 243 2,095 548 61 348 6 10 11 5 54 27 100 2 27 17 3,554

3 22 20 3,814

158

243 2,197 534 67 423 6 15 16 8 64 38

1924

3,896

163 19 3 22

250 2,165 543 70 493 6 16 17 8 64 57

1925

1917

80,613 114,106 37,609

4,621 16,074

553 18 1

11,280

868

1,182

1916

83,893 124,170 40,361

5,465 8,606

553 8 1

11,280

832

501

570

859

13,541

549 114 1

4,622 10,722

82,843 156,628 40,722

1918

850

839

14,387

558 113 1

4,264 9,442

81,504 141,044 34,414

1919

1,500

1,039

14,254

562

3,900 12,578

88,574 155,400 36,673

1920

2,000

1,044

550

3,863 20,058

91,320 181,298 39,972

1921

1,833

953

3

559

4,127 23,453

91,320 194,037 40,659

1922

4,371

1,273

2

556

4,492 21,486

85,508 189,785 42,301

1923

2,710

1,398

3

585

4,683 13,705

88,987 186,785 32,682

1924

5,413

1,542

6

595 15

4,805 22,097

89,798 182,650 35,337

1925

91

These figures were compiled from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, 1916–1925. Also, the number of Christians between 1911 and 1915 were as follows: 200,674 in 1911; 275,402 in 1912; 175,585 in 1913; 193,001 in 1914; and 267,484 in 1915. Given that the population in Korea was estimated to be between 17 million and 19 million in the 1910–1925 period, the proportion of Christians in the Korean population ranged between 1.3–1.5 percent.

Year Denomination Catholic Presbyterian Methodist Episcopal Anglican Southern Methodist Russian Orthodox Japanese Christian Japanese Methodist Japanese Congregational Seventh-day Adventist Oriental Missionary Society

Table 1.10: Christian Population in Korea, 1916–1925

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319,359

4,878

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Salvation Army 3,916 3,825 4,176 4,725 Joseon Christian Holiness Congregational Others Total 279,586 270,698 315,377 292,141 Source: Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 96).

92

366,270

3,608

2,955 349,399

5,718

5,718

357,887

3,369

7,739

342,716

1 3,369

7,808

355,383

3,369

8,509 1,147



76 1,382 602 67 202 5 9 11 3 48 60 82 1 49 17 2,614

76 1,319 592 70 164 5 14 10 70 46 45 65 1

2,447

1921

1920

1 23 24 2,622

86 1,396 608 67 222 5 6 8 3 44 61 68

1922

2 36 8 2,656

114 1,468 413 59 231 4 11 13 4 40 71 182

1923

1 37 4 2,683

106 1,411 513 69 233 3 10 14 4 43 77 158

1924

These figures were compiled from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, 1912–1925.

Year 1916 1917 1918 1919 Denomination Catholic 49 52 56 64 Presbyterian 1,187 1,290 1,340 1,150 Methodist Episcopal 574 574 575 583 Anglican 82 81 93 84 Southern Methodist 148 155 149 153 Russian Orthodox 6 8 5 5 Japanese Christian 9 11 12 14 Japanese Methodist 11 9 11 10 Japanese Congregational 78 84 88 80 Seventh-day Adventist 77 68 47 49 Oriental Missionary Society 6 27 34 40 Salvation Army 70 69 74 68 Joseon Christian Holiness Church Congregational Others Total 2,297 2,428 2,484 2,300 Source: Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 97).

Table 1.11: The Number of Clergy, 1916–1925

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2,120

123 774 523 69 225 4 9 15 4 30 86 217 4 3 34

1925

93

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The Shinto Shrine Controversy and Japanese Oppression The Korean church faced yet another period of hardship from the early 1930s on when Japan invaded Manchuria, China, in September 1931 and eventually established the puppet state of Manchukuo by February 1932. For Japan, the creation of its own state of Manchuria placed Korea in a very strategic place with respect to the defence, communications and economies of the Japanese empire. Furthermore, after Japan began a total war against China in 1937, Japan was determined to establish the peninsula as its own secure base on the Asian mainland. Korea was seen as a key to Japan’s thrust into Asia, providing a direct overland route into Manchuria and China. Japan thus attempted to assimilate Korea and its people as part of the Japanese empire through the policy of “Japanisation.” For Koreans, this period marked the beginning of a “Dark Age” which lasted until the liberation in 1945. Under the banner of war, the Japanese government confiscated at will the materials, buildings and facilities belonging to Koreans and conscripted a large number of young males and females to be sent to either labour or war camps. Many young Korean men were posted in Japan’s front lines, while many women and teenage girls were sent to battle fronts as “comfort women” or sex slaves. Under the Japanisation programme, an attempt was made to obliterate the Korean identity, hence strictly enforcing the sole use of the Japanese language, while thoroughly suppressing the use of the Korean language. All Koreans were required to abandon their family names and adopt Japanese ones. Because admissions to government schools and opportunities for employment were virtually impossible without the Japanese last name, about 80 percent of Koreans changed their family names by September 1940. Churches were also ordered to change their names to Japanese ones.

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Out of many measures of the Japanisation programme, it was the Shinto shrine issue that became the most challenging and controversial problem for the church (Lee, K. 1966; Kim, S. 1991; Kim, S. G. 1997). Japanese authorities had actually been attempting to impose participation in Shinto shrine ceremonies on the Korean populace as soon as it assumed power in 1910, but strong resistance from Koreans and Christian leaders nullified their attempt. However, all of that changed in the early 1930s. Japanese nationalists realised that, in order to conquer the Chinese mainland, they needed not only an army but also a faith to achieve their goal. They found that faith in State Shinto (ᅜ㟢䍲䭄 or 㘨㟢䍲䭄), which was Imperial Japan’s (1868–1947) ideological use of the Japanese indigenous religion, Shinto (䍲䭄). Unlike Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion which focuses on “maintaining communal, ceremonial traditions for the purpose of human (communal) well-being” (Offner 1979, 198), State Shinto worships the Japanese emperor as a divine being (Fridell 1976, 547). In using Shinto as “an agency of political and military control” (Holtom 1963, 168) and to bind the whole empire into a loyal and dutiful force for Japan’s conquest of Asia, Japan attempted to impose the faith on all of its people, including Koreans. Accordingly, in 1935 Japanese authorities ordered all educational establishments in Korea, including Christian schools, to participate in the ceremonies at Shinto shrines, which were instituted in every town (Rhodes and Campbell 1964, 140). Eventually, practically all the educators and schools complied. Those teachers who opposed were immediately dismissed from their posts, some of whom were imprisoned.

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Schools which opposed participation in Shinto shrine ceremonies were subject to forcible closure. 42 Japanese authorities also attempted to force Christian leaders to approve and encourage Christian attendance in Shinto shrine ceremonies, which ran counter to Christian teachings against idolatry. In stressing that a Shinto ceremony was not a religious ritual but a show of respect to ancestors, the Japanese government threatened to close churches or to imprison pastors if they refused to comply with the Japanese policy. The missionaries and churches were divided over the issue. Those opposed to the Shinto shrine obeisance viewed it as a form of idolatry, while those who were affirmative of the Japanese policy viewed it as a cultural practice or an expression of Japanese nationalism. After lengthy deliberations, the Methodists, the second largest denomination in Korea at the time, and then the Presbyterians, the largest Protestant group, passed a resolution in 1938 to approve participation in Shinto shrine ceremonies. This “official approval” of participation in shrine ceremonies by the most influential and the largest Protestant denominations in Korea undoubtedly provided a powerful ideological justification for the suppression of any resistance against Shinto shrine worship. 43 Between 1938 and 1945, about 2,000 Protestant Koreans were arrested for noncompliance with Shinto worship and the ensuing incarceration resulted in the martyrdom of up to 50 people.

42 All non-Christian schools in Korea are known to have complied, requiring their students to participate in Shinto rituals. 43 It is interesting to note that Japanese Christians had a fundamentally different view about the Shinto shrine controversy (see Lee, K. 1966). For the Japanese, Shinto is a part of their culture, and hence, attendance at Shinto rituals, whether Christian or non-Christian, meant nothing more than an act of customary ritual and patriotism (Clark, A. 1971, 221–232). Also, during the time of the war in the late 1930s, when ultra-nationalism gripped Japan, Japanese Christians seemed to have found it necessary to “appear” as patriotic as their non-Christian counterparts.

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The missionaries who refused the Japanese demand were summarily deported, including George McCune and Samuel Moffett in 1935. Besides imposing a participation in Shinto ceremonies, Japanese authorities also tried to “Japanise” Christianity in Korea by forcing all the churches to do away with any denominational distinction or affiliation and form one united church under the leadership of Japanese Christians (Grayson 1985, 118–120; Shearer 1966, 69–79). A key reason for attempting to amalgamate all the Protestant churches in Korea and Japan, under the leadership of the latter, was to use Christianity as a means in the assimilation campaign. In 1940, the puppet leadership of the Presbyterian and Methodist denominations passed a resolution which called for the breaking of ties with Western churches and the establishment of Japanesecontrolled Christianity in Korea. What happened with the Methodist denomination compellingly illustrates this point. Following a visit by the Japanese Methodist Bishop Abe, a reform plan to “Japanise the Church” was formally implemented. The plan not only called for the union of Japanese and Korean Methodist churches but also recognised the teaching of Shinto and military instruction in the seminary. All foreign sources of funding were rejected and foreigners were removed from positions of authority. With further reorganisations, the puppet bishop virtually became the dictator of the Methodist Church by 1941. In the following year, moreover, the unchecked authority was used to suspend twelve of the most prominent clergy for their “anti-Japanese activities.” More outrageously, a Methodist church in Seoul was refurbished as a Shinto shrine. Japanese authorities thus attempted to undermine Korean Christianity by removing the missionaries from positions of power within the church leadership and to ultimately deport them (Shearer 1966, 77–79). That was because the missionaries as a whole not only posed a potential

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threat to Japanese endeavor to dominate the Church but also served as an outlet for Korean Christians’ contact with the outside world. Beginning around 1937, Japanese authorities even began a campaign warning Koreans not to have any contact with foreigners, i.e., the missionaries—anyone who had a contact with the latter was considered a spy and faced a possible prosecution. By late 1940, the situation had become so inimical that it was almost impossible for Koreans to be seen associating with foreigners without police harassment. Consequently, nearly 90 percent of the missionaries left Korea by Christmas of that year. The remaining missionaries were harassed incessantly by the Japanese government. For example, two missionaries were given ten-month sentences for removing Shinto house-shrines from the homes of Korean Christians. An English missionary was given the same prison sentence for listening to a short-wave radio. By April 1941, all the Protestant missions except the northern Presbyterian withdrew from Korea, and the remaining Protestant missionaries potentially faced detention and eventual deportation. 44 Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, Japanese authorities became even most hostile to Christianity, particularly Protestantism. Korean Protestant churches were by then completely under Japanese control and the former could not even hold meetings without 44 Compared to the Protestant Church, the Catholic Church was relatively less affected by the Japanese rule. One of the reasons, as argued by Gyongsuk Min (1971), was that the Catholic Church complied with many of the Japanese government demands, including the Christian attendance in Shinto ceremonies. The Vatican maintained that the participation in Shinto ceremonies was merely political and not religious, and that Catholics in Korea had the obligation to observe the laws of the state. This stance, however, was all the more ironic in light of the strong position taken by the Catholic Church against ancestor worship in the nineteenth century. The only harsh treatment the Catholic Church encountered happened during the last five years of the Japanese rule. Still, there were over 100 foreign priests (54 German, 38 French, 10 Irish, and one Japanese) in Korea by 1945, the year Korea was liberated from Japan (Baker 2013, 24).

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police permission. The Japanese government frequently interfered with church affairs, citing any activities as excuses to imprison church leaders and Christians, ordered the placement of portable Shinto shrines in churches, and used many church buildings as lodgings for soldiers. Such strict policy against Protestant Christianity owed in no small part to the appointment of Koiso Kuniaki, an ardent Shintoist and militarist, as the Governor-general of Korea. Under his direction, the new administration freely arrested and tortured pastors for failure to make obeisance at Shinto shrines. During Kuniaki’s tenure, for example, 3,000 Christian leaders were imprisoned for professing faith that was considered anti-Japanese, and as many as 50 of those incarcerated suffered martyrdom, primarily through mistreatment in prisons. In 1943, moreover, the new administration completely suspended three Korean denominations—the Holiness Church, the Seventh Day Adventists, and Fenwick’s East Asian Christian Church— for their emphasis on the Second Coming. The Japanese Governor-general seemed to have believed that the return of Christ insinuated an end to the Japanese empire (Moffett 1962, 75). On July 29, 1945, just two weeks before the liberation, all the Protestant churches were given an order to eliminate denominational distinctions and to create a united Korean Japanese Christian Church. A few days later, large numbers of church leaders were arrested, but released on the day of the Japanese surrender, August 15, 1945. It was learned later that the Japanese army was actually ordered to execute them on August 18, out of fear that these Korean Christians will have aided the allies if they were to land in Korea during the war (Moffett 1962, 76; Blair 1957, 111). In spite of all the challenges and tribulations, particularly owing to Japanese authorities’ draconian policies against Christianity for 36 years,

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the new religion survived and endured, although the total number of Christians somewhat fluctuated from 1925 until the end of the Japanese rule in 1945 (see Table 1.12).



77 30

–

–

–

15

–

Churches of Christ Joseon Mission

Christian Pentecostal

Churches of Christ

Japan Christian Church Brethren Church

–

–

–

3,396

8,509

2,337

2,561

Salvation Army

1,542

Seventh-day Adventist

5,121

5,413

4,805

Anglican

144,898 46,528

Oriental Missionary Society (Evangelical Holiness)

182,650 58,434

Presbyterian Methodist

1927 48,760 608

13

73

–

–

–

4,281

3,229

4,967

6,716

174,312 47,831

1929 58,699 719

145

95

–

–

–

4,173

5,626

4,202

6,448

197,528 45,142

1931 66,626 765

365

21

–

–

144

5,053

9,385

4,741

6,018

239,127 48,278

1933 94,387 188

71

16

–

113

127

5,502

9,659

5,018

7,804

260,821 53,634

1935 105,324 237

82

16

46

173

350

6,586

13,078

4,802

7,962

287,082 54,574

1937 112,610 186

63

533

245

99

737

6,057

11,135

17,984

8,016

286,268 53,002

1939 113,562 86

These figures were compiled from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, 1925–1941.

Japanese Denominations

Foreign Denominations

1925 89,798 595

Denomination Catholic Russian Orthodox

Table 1.12: Number of Christians, 1925–1941

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth Century to the Late Twentieth Century

88

683

285

80

518

4,536

9,165

4,510

7,535

256,575 50,286

1941 108,079 83

101

–

–

Christ Full Gospel

Donga Christian

362,141

–

Nazareth Church

–

Church of Christ

–

–

Church of God

Seongju

3,369

Joseon Congregation Church of Christ

–

1,147

Joseon Christian Church

Christian Gospel

–

Oriental Missionary Society (Holiness)

–

–

United Japanese Christian Church

Christ Church

–

Japanese Methodist

265,075

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

2,511

1,884

363

–

–

312,645

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

3,968

985

1,056

–

7

– 422,580

345,261

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

4,537

1,381

961

12

44

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

4,816

2,216

642

15

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Source: Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 260–261).

Total

Korean Denomina– tions

102

469,242

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

4,820

3,907

2,055

15

808

499,323

–

–

–

–

–

–

236

527

983

2,796

163

1

11

508,944

–

–

–

–

–

–

99

981

560

2,471

61

262

120

459,301

1,311

106

86

122

416

137

140

968

550

1,415

–

–

–

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 103 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

G. The Liberation and the Post-war Korea, 1945–1960 With the defeat of Japan in World War II, Korea was liberated on August 15, 1945. All the Christians who were imprisoned for their faith were freed and those who worked underground began to engage in evangelical efforts openly for the rehabilitation of the Church. However, the celebration was short-lived owing to international intervention in Korean affairs. That is because the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to participate jointly in the surrender of Japan in Korea, which effectively split the country into two sides. The United States established a military government in the south, while its Soviet counterpart took control of the north. The two sides became deadlocked over the type of political system Korea should have, as the peninsula became a stage for Cold War politics. Besides the struggle between the two superpowers, Korea was also faced with immense internal problems, including the collapse of the economy which had been thoroughly exploited by the Japanese and a violent struggle among political groups. In the “divided” Korea, Christians were subjected to markedly different experiences in north and south Korea. In the north, where a large majority of Christians had lived prior to the division, the newly established communist government did not welcome the prominence of Christian leaders in local politics (Kim, G. 1993). For example, immediately after the liberation, organisations bearing such names as Self-government Societies, and National Establishment Preparatory Societies emerged in the north and Christian leaders played leading roles in these movements. The communists saw these groups as a threat to their dominance, prompting them to ban their activities. The creation of Christian political parties further agitated the communists. For example, Gidokgyo Sahoe Minjudang (Christian Social Democratic Party) was formed in September 1945 by Korean pastors in Sinwiju. The party comprised of Christians in Pyongan Province and was

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the first political party to emerge in Korea, north and south. Also known as the Social Democratic Party, it aimed to establish a democratic government and to reform society in accordance to Christian ideals (Clark, A. 1971, 240). The party did not survive long, however, as its meetings were attacked by the communists and as church buildings and homes of the executive committee members were badly damaged. Another party led by Christian leaders, Gidokgyo Jayudang (Christian Liberal Party), was about to be launched in Pyongyang, but the communists learned of the plan and arrested 40 people, most of whom either died in prison or disappeared. As with Japanese authorities, therefore, the de facto communist government in the north came to see Christianity, particularly Protestantism, as a threat to its rule and banned Christian activities altogether. Also, every type of religious or political activities other than those of the communist party were banned. There were other clashes between the communists and Protestant Christianity in the north. The first major clash between the two sides occurred in March 1946 over local churches’ plan to hold the first commemoration of the March 1st Movement of 1919. The communists, who planned to turn the day into something special for their own cause in scheduling a meeting for the People’s Assembly, prohibited the churches’ plan. Numerous arrests were made, but participating churches went ahead and held commemorative services anyway. After the service, thousands of Christians poured onto the streets and held spontaneous demonstrations throughout Pyongyang. Thereafter, the communist government deliberately conducted all their important affairs on Sundays to interfere with church activities. For example, the election day for Kim Il-Sung’s puppet assembly was set for Sunday. The communist government also created a counterChristian organisation called the Joseon gidokgyo gyodoyeonmaeng (the Christian League) in 1946 to create dissensions within the Protestant

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 105 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

Church. When it failed to attract many Christians, the communist government gradually intensified the pressure until membership in the Christian League was required of all church workers and officers in 1948. The league was formed at local, provincial and national levels under an organisational umbrella of the Christian League General Assembly (Clark, A. 1971, 243). By 1950, the officers of the Joint Presbytery were arrested, and church leaders and workers who did not join the league were arrested and incarcerated. The Christian League General Assembly subsequently took control of all the churches in the north and took over church buildings for government use. Shortly before the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, many Christians would escape to the south, while many of those who remained were arrested and executed en masse. Eventually, the number of Christians in the north would decline from about 300,000 in 1945 to 15,000 at the end of the 20th century. 45 Although the situation in the south was more amicable, the religious circumstance was complex. With the new found religious freedom, the missionaries, who had been absent in Korea since 1941, started to return. American missionaries began to arrive in Korea as early as 1946, beginning with a Methodist missionary. In the following years, other mission bodies in the United States sent missionaries to Korea (see Table 1.13). Many churches reopened, including those of the Holiness Church, the Seventh Day Adventists, and East Asia Christian Church as well as the Salvation Army, all of which had been closed by the Japanese during the height of World War II. There was, however, strong disagreement regarding the retainment of the Japanese-imposed structure of the church union.

45

North Korea is officially an atheist state, although shamanism and Chondoism are said to be popular among the populace. Also, there are reportedly small number of Christians and Buddhists.

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Confrontations between the Japanese “collaborators” and nationalists would trouble the church in the south for many years thereafter, leaving the church divided permanently. Subsequently, there emerged many separate subMethodist and sub-Presbyterian denominations. Table 1.13: Number of Missionaries in Korea in the 1950s Denomination Year of Establishment Northern Presbyterian 1885 Methodist 1885 Australian Presbyterian 1890 Southern Presbyterian 1892 Canadian Presbyterian 1898 Seventh-day Adventist 1904 Oriental Missionary 1907 Society (Evangelical Holiness) Salvation Army 1908 Watch Tower Bible and 1950 Tract Society Southern Baptist 1951 Assemblies of God 1953 Friend Service Unit 1953 Mennonites 1953 Nazareth Church 1954 Church of Christ 1954 Bible Baptist 1955 Lutheran Church 1958 Independent ? Presbyterian Church of God ? Evangelical Union ? Source: Kang, I. (1996, 115).

Missionaries (Year) 68 (1955) 61 (1955) 7 (1955) 64 (1955) 28 (1960) 20 (1955) 10 (1955)

6 (1957) 3 (1957) 16 (1955) 2 (1953) 10 (1957) 11 (1955) 2 (1957) 4 (1954) 3 (1957) 3 (1958) 6 (1955) 2 (1957) 18 (1957)

Korea became officially divided after a series of efforts to hold a nationwide general election failed. Prominent politicians at the time,

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 107 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

including Kim Gu (1876–1949), tried to hammer out an agreement between the two sides to ensure that national elections can be held, but all attempts failed. Even the UN intervened, passing a resolution to hold national elections under its supervision, but to no avail. These efforts failed largely because the leaders on both sides of the border, who were backed by two superpowers with widely different political and economic agendas, held irreconcilable views on the country’s future. Besides the ideological difference, another issue that troubled the north was its much smaller population size in comparison with the south. That is, the population in the north at the time amounted to only about a half of that of the south and the communist-controlled north had no chance of gaining political power in a “unified” Korea. After much political wrangling, the south went ahead with its own election on May 10, 1948, and the Republic of Korea was established on August 15, 1948, on the third anniversary of liberation from Japan. 46 North Korea staged its own elections ten days later, launching a government of its own in September. Therefore, in just two months in 1948, there emerged two governments claiming to be the sole, legitimate government for the whole Korean peninsula. The division of the country culminated in the invasion from the communist North on June 25, 1950, which followed a string of bloody skirmishes along the border (see Cumings 1981, 1990, 2011). Armed with military equipment supplied by the Soviet Union, North Korean forces aimed for a quick victory, claiming 90 percent of the south in less than three months since the war began. A counter-attack by the United Nations

46

The first president of the Republic of Korea was Rhee Syngman who, as a Methodist, attempted to “Christianise” the country by, among others, making Christmas a national holiday and allowing Protestant and Catholic military chaplains for the Korean armed forces while excluding their counterparts from other religions.

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Command, a multinational military force led by the United States, in September stopped the North Korean advance, pushing them back into the north. In late October, when the former approached the Yalu River, which is the river that forms the boundary between the Northeast region of China and North Korea, Chinese troops intervened in the war. The two sides engaged in hard-fought battles onto the early next year, with Seoul changing hands for a fourth time in March 1951 when UN forces recaptured the capital. The first truce talks between the UN and the communists took place in July 1951, but the fighting continued for two more years. The two sides finally agreed to an armistice to end hostilities, thus effectively ending the war. The Korean War inflicted severe damages on the peninsula, as armed conflicts destroyed practically all the infrastructure, commercial facilities and factories as well as causing nearly one million casualties in the south alone. 47 Despite the signing of an armistice intended to end hostilities, the two Koreas have technically been at war against each other ever since. This fact is said to have undermined the development of democracy and social harmony in the south, as the ideology of anti-communism had been often mobilised to suppress not only the democratisation movement but also calls for social reform. Economic hardships brought on by the devastation of the Korean War prompted Korean churches to rely on a generous support from American mission bodies (see Yun 2015). Both Presbyterian and Methodist mission bodies in the United States provided millions of dollars in funding to Korean churches, which was an enormous amount of money at the time, amounting to more than 90 percent of the total budget of many churches. 47 The number of casualties in the north is reportedly higher, totaling more than 1.5 million.

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 109 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

Also, large quantities of humanitarian aid from foreign mission bodies and Christian organisations poured into South Korea and were distributed to the needy, including non-Christians. Rice, flour, powdered milk and clothing were especially welcomed and aids went to both rural and urban churches which in turn provided not only donated goods but also various services to war-torn families. In addition to providing aid to the needy, Korean churches began to rebuild themselves. One major problem facing Korean churches at this time was the actual reconstruction of churches, as most churches were totally or partially destroyed during the war. Statistics show that 620 Presbyterian and 239 Methodist churches were entirely or partially destroyed during the war (Grayson 1985, 123). Many tent churches sprang up in crowded areas of Seoul, which was attracting large numbers of migrants from the countryside. Refugee churches, some of which were founded during wartime, were begun in urban centres, as a large number of north Korean Christians fled to the south before and during the war. In 1954, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the mission work in Korea, the Presbyterians and Methodists joined together to undertake nationwide evangelistic campaigns (Clark, A. 1971, 250). The Presbyterians, for example, launched a five-year plan to establish a new church in each of the nearly 500 towns which had no church.

H. Churches from the Early 1960s to the End of the 1980s in South Korea Park Chung-hee (1917–1979) was elected president in 1963 after leading a military coup in May 1961. To justify his military coup and to legitimise his administration, Park focused on economic development as the most important national goal, hoping to eradicate hunger and poverty and to

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strengthen sovereignty. He implemented a series of economic policies, including import substitution and heavy-chemical industry drive, which ultimately brought about rapid economic growth, achieving what was later known as “the Miracle on the Han River.” 48 It was during this period of rapid industrialisation that the country also went through rapid urbanisation. The period of the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation is also marked by the expansion of church involvement with the wider society from the 1960s and to the 1980s, resulting in an extraordinary church growth. The number of Protestant Christians, which was reportedly some 620,000 in 1960, jumped about five times to over 3.1 million in 1970, rising to over 5 million in 1980 and reaching over the 8 million mark by 1991. Churches themselves experienced significant developments. An ecumenical movement emerged in the 1960s, undertaking a new translation of the Bible that can be used by all the churches, Catholic and Protestant. The New Testament was published in 1971, followed by the publication of the Old Testament in 1977. 49 Another significant development was the increased emphasis on the role of mass communication in evangelical work. By the early 1960s, the Christian Broadcasting System (CBS), the Protestant Christian radio network that began in the early 1950s, established local stations in major cities, including Busan, Daegu, and Kwangju. Broadcasting sermons and Christian music

48 This term is coined after the expression the “Miracle on the Rhine,” which is used in reference to the rapid reconstruction and economic development of West Germany and Austria after their devastations during World War II. 49 Although the effort to translate the Bible that can be used by both Catholic and Protestant churches was noble, the new version was largely rejected by conservative Protestant denominations, which were the most numerous. One problem had to do with a disagreement over the Korean terminology for god: the new translation used the term hanunim (also spelled as haneunim) rather than hananim, which is favoured by conservative Protestants.

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 111 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

and dramas as well as church-related news, CBS became an important means of evangelism in Korea. Programmes of industrial chaplaincy and army chaplaincy—established by both Catholic and Protestant churches in the 1950s—became more prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. Within factories and mines, industrial chaplaincy was established to spread Christianity among ever increasing number of industrial workers. By placing worker-evangelists in the workplace amongst the workers, the programme allowed evangelistic work to be carried out in an informal setting. With the burgeoning Korean economy and concomitant increase in the industrial labour force, industrial chaplaincy became one of the most important areas of evangelical work. The role of chaplains’ corps in the armed forces became equally important. Military service has been mandatory for men in South Korea since the end of the Korean war in 1953, and numerous studies show that many soldiers converted to Christianity, especially Protestantism, during their military service. By the late 1960s, large denominations began to operate their own seminaries to train their clergy. Korean Protestant churches and related institutions became mostly independent from the missionaries’ influence. Korean theologians attempted to develop their own theology as well. For example, minjung theology, literally meaning “theology of the people,” which is a form of liberation theology with a Korean slant, became an important theological tradition in Korea in the 1970sand 1980s (Lee, J. Y. 1988a; Commission on Theological Concerns of the Christian Conference of Asia 1981; Ahn, B. 1985, 1993; Suh, K. 1991). In full agreement with liberation theology, minjung theology evaluates social reality from the viewpoint of the oppressed and argues that the goal of spiritual salvation cannot be separated from this-worldly actions for the emancipation of the oppressed (Gutierrez 1973; Segundo 1976; Cone 1975). In addition,

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minjung theology maintains that “the history of the Korean people is a history of oppression, of sadness and frustration which has given rise to a unique mind-set called han,” which is a pent-up anger about the unfairness and injustice of life (Clark, D. 1986, 44). As such, minjung theology represented an ideology of protest and served to legitimise political struggle and social action as a biblical act. Proponents of minjung theology included foreign-trained theologians and young scholars, although most mainstream Protestant churches were not too comfortable being associated with the theology. As a theological tradition committed to the promotion of justice and the prevention of exploitation and oppression, minjung theology redefined the role of Christianity by articulating, and sympathising with, the economic and social concerns of the underprivileged and by championing the country’s democratic movement (Kim, Y. 1981, 1983). It also became associated with both student and labour activism in Korea. By 1969, Protestant churches in Korea began to send missionaries overseas, including Japan, Taiwan, Bolivia, and Pakistan. Korean pastors were also sent to overseas Korean communities in the United States, Canada, Vietnam, Brazil, and other countries in Asia. The missionary-sending movement became even more fervent in the 1980s as the government lifted restrictions on currency exchange, which allowed mission bodies in Korea to financially support the missionaries abroad. The 1986 Directory of Korean Missionaries and Mission Societies (Nelson 1986, xiv–xv) listed 505 missionaries abroad, excluding those sent by Yoido Full Gospel Church and those not wishing to be listed, and in 1988, Yoido Full Gospel Church alone had 261 missionaries in 27 countries, although a majority of the missionaries in both cases were deployed for ministering to overseas Korean communities in developed countries, including the United States and West Germany (Clark, D. 1997, 185). In due time, Korean churches had sent far

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 113 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

larger numbers of missionaries to the “third world” in the following decades. This is partly due to the fact that there has been a strong emphasis on overseas missionary work, as it became “an expression of pride and ‘coming of age’ as a player in the world stage” (Ibid., 189) and an apt role for the “chosen people.” The Succession of Authoritarian Regimes and Dissensions Within the Church These church-related developments aside, political circumstances in Korea from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s created further opportunities for Protestantism to make more impact on Korean society. The succession of authoritarian regimes beginning with country’s first president in 1948, Rhee Syngman, inspired Koreans’ desire for democracy and Christians played a leading role in the country’s democratisation movement. By amending the constitution twice, Rhee served three terms as the president from 1948 to 1960, but the corruption-ridden presidential election in 1960 led to the April Revolution, eventually leading to the resignation of Rhee in April 1960. Soon after the fall of Rhee, the opposition Democratic Party came to power. Under the new constitution, which bestowed more power to the prime minister over the president, Chang Myon (1899–1966), a devout Catholic, became the prime minister. The Chang administration, however, failed to address the most pressing problems of the time, including political unrest, economic instability, and poverty. As noted above, on May 16, 1961, the army general Park Chung-hee staged a military coup and overthrew the existing government. The new military government, which chose Park as chairman of the Supreme Committee of the Military Revolutionary Council, abolished the National Assembly and temporarily prohibited political activities. In October 1963, Park narrowly beat his

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opponent and was elected president. He was re-elected in 1967 and after amending the constitution that limited the president to two terms in office, Park was re-elected to his third term in office in 1971, which prompted many university students to hold street demonstrations. In October 1972, Park declared martial law and proclaimed the so-called October Revitalisation decree (the Yushin reforms) to continue his hold on power. The martial law dissolved the National Assembly, closed universities, placed all mass media operations under strict government control, and restricted dissident activities. A heavily rigged national referendum 50 on November 21, 1972 approved an amended constitution which extended the tenure of presidency from four years to six, with no limits to re-election. The new constitution also gave the president an absolute power over all branches of government. In the following months, the election of the president was transferred to an electoral college, the National Conference for Unification, which had Park as the chairman and comprised of some 2,000 individuals chosen by Park himself and his cronies. The committee unanimously elected Park as president in 1972 and re-elected him in 1978 with no opposition. Park’s presidency ended abruptly in October 1979 when he was shot dead by the then-director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. After Park was assassinated, Chun Doo-hwan seized power in December of the same year with the help of Roh Tae-woo (1932–2021) and other military academy graduates. In May 1980, Chun invoked martial law, which led to a democratic uprising in Gwangju. Hundreds of civilians were massacred. In September 1980, Chun was elected president by the National Conference for Unification. Chun’s presidency marked the second straight 50 The official figures for the referendum are as follows: 92.9 percent of eligible voters participated, with 91.5 percent approving the referendum.

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 115 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

military rule and a fourth decade of authoritarian regime. In October 1987, under heavy pressure from the public, particularly students, labour activists, and Christians who staged daily street demonstrations en masse, the National Assembly passed a new constitution allowing for direct presidential elections. During these times of political oppression from the 1960s to the 1980s, the National Security Act, which defined subversion very broad and vague, was often used as a means to eliminate potential rivals, make arbitrary arrests, torture political prisoners and suppress virtually any kind of opposition. Labour union activism and the political activity of labour unions were prohibited. The news media as well as other forms of media, including music, movie, and books, were heavily censored. The government often manipulated the psychology of the fear of north’s attack, real or imagined, to justify its draconian rules. Korean churches’ reactions to these government actions were divided. In general, churches remained “neutral,” as they were, and still are, dominated by conservative pastors and church leaders. For example, during the April Revolution in 1960, church communities, which had been closely associated with the Rhee’s regime, kept silent. And these conservative church leaders declared political neutrality throughout the succession of authoritarian regimes from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, although they tacitly supported government ideologies and policies, particularly those pertaining to anti-communism. At the same time, they were critical of such ecumenical church organisations as Hangukgidokgyogyohoehyeopuihoe (Korean National Council of Churches or KNCC) as a political tool of leftists and communism. They held similar views on church leaders who were members of the World Council of Churches. To counter the KNCC, conservative church leaders founded Hangukgidokgyojidoja-

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hyeopuihoe (Korean Christian Leaders’ Association or KCLA) in 1975. The KCLA was supposedly formed with the encouragement of the government, as the latter wanted an inter-denominational umbrella group which not only supports government policies but also could ultimately replace the KNCC (Kang, W. 1997, 96). Using the rhetoric of “national survival,” conservative church leaders actively engaged in anti-communist movements, although their official stance had always been political neutrality. Much smaller in number but much more powerful in political efficacy were Christian leaders and organisations which protested against the succession of authoritarian regimes. Their dissent became more intense after 1968, when the change in constitution facilitated Park’s third term as president. Such distinguished Christian leaders as Reverends Moon Ik Hwan (1918–1994), Kim Chai Choon (1901–1987), and Park Hyung Gyu (1923–2016), along with other like-minded Protestant Christians, launched the Committee to Oppose the Change of the Constitution and Prevent the Third Term of the Presidency. Another ad-hoc organisation, entitled the National Council for the Preservation of Democracy, was organised by such eminent Christian leaders as Ham Seokheon (1901–1989) to protest against the Park Chung-hee’s regime. As the dissent of Christian leaders and organisations became stronger, Park’s government responded sternly, placing certain churches under surveillance, auditing their finances, and checking the pastors’ sermons. The government also arrested several church leaders in the latter part of 1972. As insinuated above, Christian activism also extended to workplaces. In particular, the Urban Industrial Mission was actively involved in the improvement of working conditions of labourers, including their wages and rights. In February 1973, the government arrested two pastors of the Urban Industrial Mission for not complying with the

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 117 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

government order to stop their activities among factory workers. Viewing such government intimidations against Christian mission work as an infringement of religious freedom, Christian scholars and church leaders secretly formulated and distributed abroad a declaration called the Theological Declaration of Korean Christians in May 1973. The declaration revealed the extent of de facto dictatorship in Korea, including the lack of freedom of expression and religious belief, systematic deception and indoctrination of the masses. In response to the declaration and other Christian dissent, the government arrested several church leaders in June 1973, including a prominent Presbyterian pastor Park Hyunggyu (1923–2016), and leaders of Christian student organisations, including Na Sanggi, the then president of the Korean Student Christian Federation. 51 They were all arrested on suspicion of organising an insurrection, for being associated with individuals who had put up placards that denounced the government’s dictatorial rule at an outdoor Easter Service. Many churches in major cities held vigils and prayer meetings to protest against the arrests and to demand for their immediate release. In December 1973, fifteen eminent religious leaders, including Cardinal Kim Suhwan (1922–2009) of the Roman Catholic Church, and Rev. Kim Gwansuk (1922–2002), the General Secretary of the KNCC, issued a statement demanding a restoration of full democracy, including the reinstatement of the National Assembly. Another noteworthy Christian political dissent took place in March 1976. In commemoration of the 57th anniversary of the March 1st

51 Late Catholic Bishop Tji Hak-soun (1921–1993) also deserves mention here. In August 1974, Bishop Tji was given a 15-year prison sentence for publicly denouncing the Yushin Constitution (1972). He was released after several months in prison as protests by religious readers demanding his release were intensifying.

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Movement of 1919, Catholic and Protestant leaders jointly proclaimed the Declaration for National Salvation and Democracy. The declaration called for the resignation of Park Chung-hee from his presidency. Within a week, a total of 27 church leaders were arrested, including several Catholic priests. The government charged that the March 1st commemorative event was a subversive act, a plot to bring down the government. The March 1st incident of 1976 brought renewed international attention to the Christian involvement in Korea’s democratisation movement. The police crackdown on church organisations continued in May and June of the same year, when the police arrested 18 church leaders working with the Seoul Metropolitan Community Organisation, which was formed by pastors and evangelists in 1971 with the aim of protecting the rights of the poor and carrying out mission work among the poor in the slum areas of Seoul. Many Christian college students joined the Seoul Metropolitan Community Organisation, which was supported by the KNCC, the Christian Conference of Asia, and the World Council of Churches. The arrests typified the government actions against members of any Christian organisation that opposed the government. Christian dissension against the government took place yet again in 1979. In August, factory workers held a sit-in demonstration in the office of the main opposition, the New Democratic Party. The sit-in demonstration followed their strike in April during which police intervened by raiding a factory occupied by hundreds of striking workers, most of whom were young women. Around 200 workers were injured in the raid. Against the August sit-in demonstration by 250 women, 1,000 riot police were mobilised. One worker died, numerous were injured and many were arrested. Following the August 11 incident, the KNCC released a statement denouncing

police

brutality.

Some

churches

sponsored

sit-in

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 119 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

demonstrations in their own churches to show support for the workers. On August 20, Cardinal Kim held a mass for over 10,000 people at Myongdong Cathedral in Seoul in support of the striking workers and for a peaceful solution. Demonstrations by Christians and students over the incident continued unabated until Park was assassinated on October 26, 1979. A large majority of Christian leaders and churches may have taken a passive stance toward the succession of authoritarian regimes, but church leaders and Christian organisations that partook in the democratic movement represented, as a whole, along with student and labour organisations, the most important force in the democratisation process of Korea from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s. They were champions of human rights and democracy, some of whom worked in factories to teach the workers their rights, and they provided services to the poor in slum areas. Korean Christian Movement Towards Reunification On the issue of reunification, the first Christian initiative came from overseas Korean Christians in the early 1980s (Lee, S. G. 1995). 52 In October 1980, for example, they reacted positively to a North Korean proposal to work toward reunification by recognising a confederation of two governmental systems, forming one unified team to partake in international athletic events, and scaling down the size of the military. These overseas Korean Christians eventually contacted the Korean Christian Federation of North Korea and agreed to have the first meeting in November 1981 at the Albert Schweizer House in Vienna, Austria. Following this historic first meeting, representatives of the two sides met on a regular basis almost every year throughout the 1980s, mostly in Vienna or Helsinki. 52 This section on Korean Christians’ engagement with the issue of reunification is a summary of Han and Kim (2006).

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Within South Korea, the KNCC founded the Reunification Research Centre in 1982 and sought the support of churches around the world (Yeon 2000, 427; cited from Han, G. and Kim 2006, 239). The KNCC “realised that the Korean government’s monopoly of the issue of reunification was a major drawback in bringing about peace on the peninsula, and argued that the whole Korean people not just the government was responsible for achieving reunification” (Ibid.; cited from Han, G. and Kim 2006, 239). The World Council of Churches (WCC) agreed with the KNCC that reunification of the two Koreas would be crucial for realising peace in the world. The WCC subsequently organised a meeting on the theme of “Consultation on Peace and Justice in North East Asia” in Tozanzo, Japan, in late 1984. The meeting elevated the issue of Korean reunification onto the international stage (Yi 2006, 245; cited from Han, G. and Kim 2006, 240). The Tozanzo Conference produced the so-called Tozanzo Report, declaring “that peaceful reunification of the two Koreas must be achieved through the practice of the gospel of reconciliation; that peaceful reunification is the common task of both South and North Korean churches; and that reunification of the Korean peninsula is a responsibility of the entire world church body (Ibid.; cited from Han, G. and Kim 2006, 240). The Tozanzo Report is considered a landmark “event” that elevated the role of the Korean church in the reunifcation movement to the forefront at the time. In following the spirit of the Tozanzo Conference, the KNCC released the “Declaration for Peaceful Reunification by Korean Christianity” in 1985. The 1985 declaration argued that the issue of reunification cannot be monopolised by the government and that Korean Christians have the responsibility to participate in the reunification process.

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The WCC followed up the Tozanzo Conference by initiating the first meeting between South and North Korean church leaders at Glion, Switzerland, in September 1986. The historical significance of the meeting, of course, was that it marked the first outlet of dialogue between church leaders of the two sides (Yeon 2000, 434). The second and third Glion meetings were held in 1988 and 1990, respectively. The KNCC worked closely with churches around the world and such efforts led to the “WCC Conference for Peace on the Korean Peninsula” in Seoul in 1988. The 1988 conference resulted in the “Declaration of the Churches of Korea on National Reunification and Peace” by the KNCC, which is recognised as the most comprehensive non-governmental principles on achieving the reunification of the two Koreas (Ahn, J. 1998, 13). The declaration consisted of six chapters, which are self-telling: “‘Korean Christian missiological tradition to advocate justice and peace’; ‘The current state of the divided peninsula’; ‘Confession of the hatred of fellow North Koreans since the division of the peninsula’; ‘Korean Christianity’s fundamental principles for peaceful reunification’; ‘Korean Christianity’s suggestions to the North and South Korean governments’; and ‘Korean Christianity’s tasks to achieve peaceful reunification’” (Han, G. and Kim 2006, 242). The 1988 Declaration also suggested five basic principles for peace and reunification on the peninsula, including those calling for “independent Korean efforts” and “democratic participation” (Lee, S. 1988, 27–30). The declaration further called for the allowance of visits among the separated families in the North and South and for greater mutual exchanges of academic, sports, cultural and economic activities. The 1988 Declaration played an important role in prompting the Roh Tae-woo administration to issue the July 7 Declaration, which outlined a reconciliatory approach to the inter-Korean relations. It was during this

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period of reconciliatory mood that Reverend Moon Ikhwan, a progressive pastor, visited North Korea in March 1989 when he was invited by Kim Il Sung. Moon’s visit is considered a significant symbolic achievement for Christian involvement in the reunification movement. Although he was arrested immediately upon his return to Seoul, his visit to the north had a significant impact in “disseminating the reunification discussion, which had to date been confined within the Protestant church, out into the public at large, and enhancing its spread” (Yi, M. 2006, 248; cited from Han and Kim 2006, 245). For example, Moon’s visit is said to have inspired the August visit to North Korea by a Roman Catholic priest and a student, Im Sugyeong. Nonetheless, the KNCC declaration stirred huge controversies not only among Korean Christians but also among the general populace. For example, progressive churches and church organisations welcomed the declaration, while conservative church groups denounced it. Many conservative Christian organisations and churches as well as conservative Christians expressed their dismay through public statements and through magazine or journal articles. 53 In the 1990s, meetings between Christian leaders and scholars from North and South Korea continued outside Korea. For example, such meetings took place in various locations in 1991, e.g., Los Angeles in March, Stony Point, New York, in May, Tokyo in July, and Toronto in October. Participants from the two sides also participated in the Fourth

53

Their arguments can be categorised under three broad themes: “(1) that the KNCC is not and cannot be representing the view and wish of the whole Christian community; (2) that the KNCC reunification declaration’s assertion regarding the denuclearisation and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea is not acceptable given the presence of the belligerent North; and (3) that the North Korean Christian association cannot be considered a legitimate partner for dialogue, since nothing is certain about the ‘reality’ of Christian life and practice in North Korea” (Chung, S. 2003, 277–279; cited from Han, G. and Kim 2006, 245–246).

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 123 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

International Christian Consultation in Kyoto, Japan, in March 1995 and in a conference organised by the United States National Council of Churches in New York in 1997 (Han, G. and Kim 2006, 244). On all these occasions, the participants engaged actively in discussions of a wide range of topics, including tactics for arms reduction on the peninsula and humanitarian aids. The last meeting between the two sides was held in Germany in January 1991. The significance of their meetings as a whole should not be underestimated, for they marked the first non-governmental channel of communication for dialogue on reunification.

3. Conclusion The Catholic Church gained its initial foothold in Korea under extremely extraordinary circumstances. Its early growth in a very hostile environment, complete with series of persecutions that resulted in more than 8,000 deaths, is remarkable. What is noteworthy about the persecutions is that earlier ones were politically oriented, i.e., Catholicism was associated with the politically ousted faction and the faction in power was successful in portraying the new religion as a threat to Joseon society. The later persecutions, on the other hand, were precipitated by the changing international circumstances, e.g., pressures from neighbouring countries vying for control of Korea. In spite of all the challenges, the Korean Catholic Church had 52 priests, including 12 native clergies, 41 churches, and 42,000 adherents by the beginning of the twentieth century (Grayson 1985, 88). Protestantism was introduced to Korea in 1884, just two years after Korea signed a treaty with the United States. Early missionaries, most of whom were physicians and educators, established schools and small hospitals in many parts of the peninsula. Hospitals and schools thus became invaluable evangelical tools for the missionaries. By the end of the

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nineteenth century, the Protestant Church in Korea had firmly established itself: several mission stations were established, the number of hospitals and schools increased conspicuously, and the translation of the Bible was actively pursued. During the early phase of the missionary efforts, the most fertile area for Christian propagation was the northern half of the peninsula, particularly Pyeongan and Hamgyeong Provinces. Given their geographical proximity to China, people in those provinces were believed to be more hospitable to foreign ideas, as the northern area as a whole had more contacts with, and was more exposed to, the outside world. In fact, a more pronounced popularity of Christianity in the north manifests a certain pattern in the way new ideas had traditionally spread from the north to the rest of the peninsula: 54 The pattern of [the] growth in the church has been complex. Geographically it followed Korea’s traditional culture flow from the northwest to the central and southern regions, with the latest, and sometimes that highest flowering in the conservative valleys of the southeast. This was true of the spread of Buddhism, first, and later of Confucianism. It now seems to be true of Christianity. After twenty years of Protestant work, for example, the northwest, though containing only one-fourth of the Protestant missionaries in Korea, reports about half of the baptisms, adherents, and church contributions of the whole country (Moffett 1962, 50).

54

There is another reason for the relatively greater success of Protestantism in the north: the deeply felt sense of relative deprivation as a region, i.e., the nobility of southern Koreans dominated the royal court for centuries.

Catholic Beginnings and the Protestant Church from the Late Eighteenth 125 Century to the Late Twentieth Century

Also, it is claimed that three-fourths of all Korean Presbyterians were found in the North by 1910 and that, by 1945, ten percent of the residents of Pyongyang, known as the “Jerusalem of the East,” were Christian, and that a half of the residents of the city of Seoncheon were Christian (Ro 1983, 160). Notwithstanding the regional difference in receptivity to the new religion, the most outstanding fact about the beginning of Protestantism in Korea is that it largely began through the efforts of Koreans. From early on, Koreans themselves played a major role in the introduction and establishment of Protestantism in Korea, which is exactly the same thing their Catholic counterparts did a century earlier. This differs remarkably from the way Christianity is typically introduced to foreign lands. For example, the history of Christianity in Latin America and Africa is intricately linked to their colonial history, as Christian missionaries typically accompanied or led the colonial expansion of European countries. From its auspicious beginning, the period between the early and the middle of the twentieth century marked a time of turbulence for Korea and the Protestant Church. Just as the latter was gaining foothold on Korea, the country was annexed by Japan in 1910. Japanese authorities adopted anti-Christian policies that ultimately stifled church growth. However, the Protestant Christians’ prominence in the independence movement and the missionaries’ provision of education and medical service did leave a positive impression in the minds of the populace. Korea was liberated in 1945 after more than three decades of brutal Japanese rule, but the country became divided as the Soviet-backed communist North and the United Statesbacked South could not agree on the type of government to have for all of Korea. The division culminated in a civil war that devastated the country,

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but it did provide ample opportunities for churches and mission bodies to provide humanitarian aids to the masses. From the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, which was the period of the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, marks the period of the most rapid church growth. The period was also marked by a succession of authoritarian regimes, and during this period of political oppression, churches became an active democratic force in Korea and church leaders themselves moved to the forefront of the movement for democracy. Just like their counterparts under the Japanese rule, a large percentage of those arrested for anti-government activities in Korea during this period were Christians, further adding to the popular notion of Christianity as the champion of the people and justice. Reflecting the churches’ salience in Korean politics and social services as well as their effective propagation during this period was the conspicuous increase in membership. From 1960, when Korea’s Protestant population numbered only about 600,000, to the end of the 1980s, the number of Protestants nearly doubled every decade, growing faster than in any other country. What we learn from this brief historical overview of the rise of Christianity in Korea is that the Christian “success story” is intricately linked with Korea’s history, political climate and social circumstances, all of which have been marked by adversities, national and individual, and opportunities for the new religion. Indeed, Korea’s major historical events—i.e., the Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War, the official division of the country into north and south, etc.—all have served as key turning points in favour of the growth of Protestant Christianity in South Korea. In view of this intimate relationship between the new religion and Korean history, the following observations are made: 1) that the changing dynamics of international relations in which the neighbouring countries vied

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for a control of Korea created a milieu favourable for the propagation of Christianity; 2) that the missionaries’ provision of medical care and education left a positive impression on many Koreans; 3) that Koreans’ identification of Protestantism with the independence movement was a key to its later success; 4) that the Korean War, which allowed churches to maximise their relief efforts, afforded the latter a maximum exposure; 5) that Korean Protestants’ prominent role in the democratic movement added credibility to the new religion as a champion of justice; and 6) that Protestants’ active role in the unification movement heralded the beginning of the increasing role of NGOs on the issue. All of these, together with rapid social changes accompanied by massive urban migration and rapid industrialisation, made the imported Christian “alternative,” with its promise of eternal life and worldly success, all the more appealing to the growing number of Koreans burdened by a troubled past and anxious over uncertainty about the future in a world of rapid change.

PART TWO: RELIGIOUS FACTORS FOR THE RISE OF PROTESTANTISM

CHAPTER TWO A “SPIRITUAL VACUUM” AND THE RISE OF PROTESTANTISM IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY KOREA

In this part, two “religious factors” which facilitated the Koreans’ receptivity toward Protestant Christianity are examined. First, it is argued here that the prolonged decline of traditional religions at the time of the introduction of Protestantism in the late nineteenth century created a religious “void” or “spiritual vacuum” which facilitated the early success of Protestantism in Korea. Second, an affinity between the new religion and traditional Korean religious values, especially those shaped by Buddhism, Confucianism and Korean shamanism, made Protestantism more appealing to potential converts. The focus of this chapter is the first point, that the initial acceptance of Protestantism in Korea rested heavily on the fact that Korean traditional religions did not have enough organisational power to oppose the new religion. It can also be said that the new religion filled the spiritual vacuum created by the weakness of the existing religions of the host society. This was particularly true at the time of its introduction in the late nineteenth century. Confucianism was practised more as a set of ethics rather than as a religion per se; Buddhism was totally weakened following the centuries of oppression; and shamanism was practised much like a folk religion without any institutional structure. Protestantism thus did not face any opposition

A “Spiritual Vacuum” and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth 131 Century Korea

from the religious sector when it was introduced to Korea, which was unique in comparison with the neighbouring countries, namely China and Japan. In the latter two countries, Christianity, both Catholicism and Protestantism, failed to take roots, partly because of the strong opposition from traditional religions in both countries. The Korean case is congruent with the rise of Christianity during the history of the Roman Empire. One of the main reasons for the extraordinary success of Christianity by the end of the fourth century in the Roman Empire is that it “filled the spiritual vacuum created by the collapse of paganism” (Ehrman 2018, 106; see Stark 1996, 2011). In his multivolume analysis, A History of the Expansion of Christianity (1937–1945), Kenneth Scott Latourette (1937, 11; cited from Ehrman 2018, 106) wrote of “the decay of the older faiths,” i.e., Christianity luckily emerged on the scene when “the traditional state and family cults of Greece and Rome had been losing their hold.” In his classic study, Pagans and Christian in an Age of Anxiety, E. R. Dodds (1965, 132; cited from Ehrman 2018, 106) also observed: “One reason for the success of Christianity was simply the weakness and weariness of the opposition.” The Korean case is also consistent with the established pattern in the annals of world religions which shows that missionary religions like Christianity have been most successful in areas which had no strong presence of other world religions. Accordingly, Christianity has been most successful in penetrating Central and South America as well as many parts of Africa, precisely because the countries in these continents did not have any organised religion that could have opposed the spread of the new religion. In contrast, Christianity has failed to penetrate areas where other world religions had maintained a stranglehold, e.g., the Middle East and India. The spread of Islam followed a similar pattern.

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The examples of Korea and Japan provide excellent contrasts regarding the above observations. Traditional religions existed at the time of the introduction of Protestantism in Korea, but none was organisationally strong enough to oppose the spread of the new religion. In Japan, Christianity failed to penetrate, partly because of the vibrancy of its traditional religions, including Shinto and Buddhism. In what follows, the nature of the religious void which had been a key factor in the initial and later successes of Protestantism in Korea is discussed. A contrast with Japan is provided to bring into sharper relief the unique religious circumstances of Korea that allowed the imported faith to take roots in the latter. 1

1. Religious Void: Declining Influences of Traditional Religions As insinuated above, the absence of potential antagonism between the new religion and the traditional religions of the host society contributed to the initial and later acceptance of Protestantism in Korea.

2

Although

shamanism represented the most pervasive belief system among the masses, it lacked any unifying institutional expression, as it was a folk religion practised on a very personal level. Unlike world religions which require institutional structures and social organisation to execute the necessary functions of worship and leadership as well as to preserve established teachings and practices, shamanism was devoid of any organisational structure, for both shamans and its believers. Indeed, the religion lacked a

1

Although a comparison with China is beyond the scope of this book, it is worth noting that Protestant Christianity in the beginning encountered strong opposition from the Chinese, especially the educated gentry and local elites, whose belief and mindset were largely shaped by Confucianism (see Cohen 1963). 2 This chapter on “spiritual vacuum” as a factor for the success of Protestantism in Korea is based on Kim, A. (2001, 2005a).

A “Spiritual Vacuum” and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth 133 Century Korea

leadership organisation for shamans, i.e., something akin to a priesthood organisation in world religions, e.g., Catholicism and Buddhism, meaning that shamans did not have an organisational power to oppose the new religion even if they wanted to. Also, the lack of a community of believers in shamanism, i.e., whereby the belief system is shared and its ideals are practiced by a group and whereby a sense of identity and belonging is instilled among members, meant that there was no organised laity akin to those in world religions. The lack of community of believers in shamanism also meant that there was no sense of fellowship among its believers and no need to place the shamanic community at the centre of their lives. This is partly due to the fact that there are no regularly held rituals for shamanism, i.e., believers did not join together with like-minded adherents to worship on a regular basis, and the absence of regularly held rituals meant that the religion lacked places of worship, like temples for Buddhists and churches for Christians. Another characteristic of shamanism which facilitated the growth of Protestantism is that the former is not a missionary religion needing to propagate itself through the recruitment of new members. As such, it did not have practitioners, including shamans, who had religious or other motives to oppose the imported faith. As a polytheistic religion, moreover, shamanism’s tolerance and syncretic tendencies toward other religions presented no difficulty for the spread of the new religion in Korea. Confucianism, too, did not pose a threat to the propagation of Protestantism in Korea. Similar to shamanism, Confucianism did not have clergy who can be “politically” motivated to deter the spread of the new religion. Also, Confucianism was considered by many to be an ethical tradition which provided directions for personal and inter-personal behaviour in regard to propriety, etiquette and norms as well as rituals. At the time of the introduction of Protestantism in the late nineteenth century,

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therefore, Confucianism manifested a strong social presence in Korea, but its exclusive prominence as a set of ethics negated the possibility of its role as a potential opposing force. Furthermore, Confucian scholars shared the stance of the Joseon court in being tolerant of the missionaries and their religion. Buddhism, which had been out of the court’s favour since the beginning of the Joseon dynasty in 1392, posed even less of a threat to Christianity: its organisation was divested of any structural and financial means; its priesthood was weak; and its temples were only found in remote areas, e.g., in the mountains. Buddhism’s weakness at the time was induced by the implementation of various anti-Buddhist measures of the Joseon dynasty, which adopted Confucianism as its ruling ideology. The Joseon elites were determined to exonerate the influence of Buddhism that had become flagrantly corrupt and abusive of its power in the previous dynasty (Goryeo dynasty, 918–1392). The corruption of Buddhism was due largely to the fact that it had enjoyed the support of the elites for centuries. Buddhism was de facto state religion under Unified Silla (668–935), during which the religion as accepted as an “officially sponsored faith.” Silla kings adopted Buddhist names and portrayed themselves as Buddhist-kings. A large number of temples were built, many of which were financed by highranking nobilities. Buddhism flourished even more during the Goryeo dynasty, becoming a “religion of the state” and receiving extensive financial support from the Goryeo court and the elite. Many kings of the dynasty were staunch patrons of the religion, providing funds for building countless number of temples. For their part, Buddhist monks regularly conducted elaborate “state protection” rituals. Buddhism also became a political force, as it became deeply involved with the ruling family and powerful elite. Buddhist temples and monks themselves also enjoyed extensive privileges.

A “Spiritual Vacuum” and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth 135 Century Korea

For example, Buddhist temples during this period became socially and politically influential hubs, replete with military cadre, tenants, slaves and commercial ventures. However, the government expenditure on Buddhist temples became excessive, and monks, having long enjoyed extensive privileges, were involved in many types of corruption. Centuries of Buddhist dominance came to an end with the collapse of the Goryeo dynasty in 1392. Under the decree of “Respect Confucianism and Oppose Buddhism” (seungyu eokbul,

ᓫ൲ᢚష),

the

Confucian government was merciless toward Buddhism, forcing the latter to suffer a long period of decline, particularly during the last two hundred years of the Joseon dynasty. The decree proscribed visits to Buddhist temples and participation in any form of Buddhist activity. It banned Buddhist monks from entering the capital and other cities, effectively driving Buddhism into the mountains and segregating the monks from the life of the cities. The location of the temples in the remote countryside— usually on the top of the mountains—not only alienated the general populace but also forced Buddhism to rely exclusively on the rural peasants for support. The status of a monk, once one of the most esteemed, especially during the Goryeo dynasty, fell to the level of outcasts, similar to those of servants, butchers and concubines, and temples had to rely on poor peasants for recruitment of new monks. Moreover, the confiscation of temple lands and the government’s supervision of the existing temples seriously undermined the financial and organisational bases of Buddhism. These circumstances forced the Buddhists to lose their social and spiritual significance and to endure prolonged impoverishment during the Joseon dynasty. Divested of any power and religious influence, Buddhism posed no problem to the spread of Christianity.

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These circumstances understandably prompted the early missionaries and visitors to Korea to observe that the country seemed like a land without an organised religion (Griffis 1885, 161; Lowell 1886, 182; Miln 1895, 226). Henry Appenzeller (1858–1902), a Methodist missionary who arrived in Korea in August 1885 remarked that “people within the walls of this city [Seoul] are practically without a religion” and that “there is not a temple of any kind and Buddhist and Roman Catholic priests go about like thieves in the night” (cited from Hunt 1980, 81). William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928), an early missionary to Korea, also observed that “Koreans offer the spectacle of a nation without a religion and waiting for one” (Griffis 1888, 371). The nineteenth-century British explorer and writer Isabella Bird (1831–1904) made a similar observation in her account of journeys to Korea, saying that “when Buddhist priests and temples were prohibited in the walled towns three centuries ago, anything like a national faith disappeared from Korea, and it is only through ancestral worship and a form of ‘Shamanism’ practiced by the lower and middle classes that any recognition of the unseen survives” (Bird 1897, 63). As a result, the missionaries were optimistic about their work in Korea: while Korea was seen as a country without an established religion, the people were perceived to be full of religious enthusiasm, as evident in their practice of shamanism. It was a kind of fervour that, as the missionaries hoped, can be channeled into faith in Christianity, which can turn Korea into the most successful mission field in Asia (Lee, J. G. 1995, 149). At the time of the introduction of Protestantism, therefore, the weakness of traditional religions, in combination with mounting disaffection with rigid Confucianism, engendered a religious vacuum that nourished the people’s need for a new religion. Korea was in crisis at the time of the introduction of Protestantism in the late nineteenth century, as neighbouring

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countries were vying for control of the country. With the fear of the loss of the country’s sovereignty gripping the nation, Korean were disaffected with the status quo, questioning the rightfulness of the existing social institutions, including their traditional religions. The main reason a considerable number of Koreans turned to the new religion at the time was their perceived irrelevance of the traditional religions. Unable to make sense of their harsh realities within the framework of traditional worldviews and values, many Koreans embraced the imported faith, which provided a new sense of purpose in a troubled world. In desperate need of a new dogma, a certainty, and a new hope to rid them of their profound sense of discontent and hopelessness, the early converts turned to Protestant Christianity, embracing it not only as a new spiritual means to shed their sense of defeat but also as a dynamic and energetic spiritual foundation of life which could inspire a new beginning. This situation seems to lend support to the theory which argues that new faiths prosper only from the weakness of old faiths. As Stark and Bainbridge (1985) point out, new religions appear constantly in all societies, but their successes are contingent upon opportunity, which usually involves social crises. What this means is that new religions make their way against long-established counterparts only when the latter fail to serve the needs of a significant number of people. And the Korean case is a good example of this. While not refuting the Stark and Bainbridge’s thesis, what has engendered in Korea is that the new religion prospered not because traditional religions failed to serve the needs of the people, but rather because there was no powerfully organised religion which can strongly oppose the spread of the imported faith.

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2. A Comparison with Japan As insinuated above, the vibrancy of Protestantism in Korea stands in stark contrast to the virtual oblivion of the religion in Japan. Christianity was introduced to Japan earlier than in Korea and a substantially larger number of missionaries were sent to Japan and the missionaries in Japan engaged extensively in such social services as medical care and education. Given the similarities in the cultural makeup of the two countries as well as the missionaries’ efforts, it would be interesting to examine the factors which galvanised the people of one country to convert to Protestantism en masse while making the people of the other largely disregard it. In what follows, religious circumstances in late nineteenth century Japan which hampered the spread of Christianity are discussed.

A. The Meiji Restoration and Hostility Toward Christianity in Japan The Protestant missionaries first arrived in Japan in 1859, but the sociopolitical climate as well as the religious milieu was generally inhospitable for the propagation of their religion (see Boxer 1951; Iglehart 1959; Cary 1976; Mullins 1998; Lee, S. 2014). 3 It was a time of great political and economic upheaval, as the two hundred year reign of the Tokugawa rulers was coming to an end and as the declining economy brought widespread suffering. The political instability ended with the beginning of the Meiji era (1868–1912), which marks the departure of Japan from the feudal period to a modern era. One of the most distinguishing features of the Meiji era is the restoration of the emperor (Meiji) as head of state, hence the eponymous 3

It is true that during periods of social anxiety—i.e., the initial phase of the Meiji era and post-World War II—this “foreign” creed had relatively greater appeal, but once the social stability was restored, its appeal swiftly waned.

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period name. Other changes brought on by the Meiji Restoration fundamentally transformed Japanese society: the government was reorganised along the lines of a nation-state; a centralised government with a constitution and elected lawmakers was in place; the feudal domains were replaced by prefectures, which administered local governments that acted as branches of the central authority; a modern system of education was established; Tokyo was established as the new capital; a national tax system was implemented; and feudal armies were replaced with a national army (Earhart 1982, 151; Beasley 1972; Jansen 1995). The Meiji Restoration also brought about significant changes in religion. First, state patronage of Buddhism, which was implemented during Tokugawa times (1600–1867), was terminated. The Meiji architects wanted to curb the power of Buddhism not only because it had been an ideological force of the Tokugawa feudal government but also because it had been tied to various types of corruption (Ketelaar 1993). Second, Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion, was patronised as the new state religion. The rationale was that the rightful restoration of the emperor as head of state should be consummated with the restoration of Shinto as the state religion. There was even an attempt to establish Shinto as the only religion in Japan, but the renewed vigour of Buddhism and foreign pressure for religious freedom persuaded the government to disavow its fanatic enthusiasm for Shinto. Nonetheless, the government provided financial support to Shinto shrines— which were found in every village throughout the country—and granted official status to their priests, all of which continued until the end of WWII. 4 In addition, people were encouraged to install private Shinto shrines at their homes and perform obeisance. Third, the ban against Christianity was lifted 4 During times of war, in particular, the masses were expected to display their patriotism by attending ceremonies at the shrine.

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in 1873. Until that time, the Tokugawa prohibition against Christianity was still in place, but the government, wishing to establish amiable relations with Western nations, particularly to adopt their knowledge and technology, had to comply with Western diplomats’ pleas for the reintroduction of Christianity into Japan (Mullins 1998, 17). The Meiji government and later governments granted religious freedom, but their intent was far from allowing Christianity to take roots in Japan. For example, in the tradition of the ninth-century slogan, “Chinese knowledge, Japanese spirit,” the Meiji era followed the formula of “Eastern ethics, Western science,” reflecting the overall attitude of the nation that wanted to import and adapt Western knowledge and technology while hoping to keep its religio-cultural influence at bay. Accordingly, the government implemented a policy in 1871 which required its citizens to register at a local Shinto shrine for birth and change of residence, seriously testing the faith of Christians and undermining the autonomy of the Christian community. Furthermore, the government implemented a policy which prohibited religious teachings at school, which was designed to weaken the potential impact of Protestant Christianity. That was because the missionaries had founded many parochial schools. The government allowed Shinto to circumvent such policy by declaring it to be nonreligious—a 1882 law divided Shinto into the “nonreligious” shrine Shinto, the so-called state Shinto, and sect Shinto. 5 Such development cleared the way for Shinto’s nationalistic and patriotic tenets to be taught at every school every day, i.e., Shinto principles and, to a lesser extent, Confucian ethics, were used in

5 Most of the existing Shinto shrines fell under the category of shrine Shinto. From 1882, only the place of shrine Shinto was called jinja or shrine, while the buildings of sect Shinto were called kyokai, which can be translated as “church.” Moreover, sect Shinto had the identical religious status as Buddhism and Christianity.

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Japanese schools to inculcate veneration for the emperor and absolute loyalty to the state. From 1868 to the turn of the twentieth century, therefore, Japan’s energies were focused on nation-building and on strengthening nationalism and militarism. 6 At the centre of this process was Shinto. While paying lip service to religious freedom and by giving the impression of separating religion and state, the Japanese government’s true intention was to mobilise the supposedly nonreligious shrine Shinto to reinforce the people’s patriotic fervour. Such effort, intended for nation-building at first and then the imperialistic endeavor, was to have a lasting, negative impact on the spread of Christianity.

B. Anti-Christian Sentiments and Movement: Japanese Traditional Religions and Shinto Nationalism In contrast to the absence of religious opposition in Korea, which allowed Protestantism to fill certain religious void, the unwavering influence of traditional religions in Japan, i.e., Buddhism, Confucianism and the statesponsored Shinto, left little opportunity for the new religion to grow (see Koyama 1984). Furthermore, proponents of the three religions in Japan actively engaged in anti-Christian campaigns. Buddhists in Japan, for example, including prominent Buddhist intellectuals such as Sesso and Shosan Suzuki, carried out a concerted, fervent anti-Christian campaigns, brandishing the “foreign religion” as being morally corrupted. Many Buddhist sects also warned of the dangers of Christianity by reviving anti-

6

Nation-building is often mentioned in contrast to state building, which pertains to the development of a country’s authoritative, utilitarian organisation for conducting its internal and external affairs, such as the development of bureaucracy, infrastructure, military, etc. Nation building, on the other hand, refers to developing a country’s sense of identity and sense of belonging and solidarity.

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23333ghvvvvvvvvbq23Christian literature from the Tokugawa period and printing a large number of books that denounced Christianity (Murakami 1980, 37). Although Japanese Buddhism was suffering from declining influence, it still rallied to make its own mark in the movement against Christianity. In fact, Buddhism of the Meiji era became more forceful than Shinto in staging a systematic and extensive critique against Christianity. Confucian scholars were also antagonistic toward Christianity. Renowned Confucian scholars like Razan Hayashi and Hakuseki Atai portrayed Christian doctrines as inferior equivalents of Buddhist teachings (Fujita 1991, 260). What is noteworthy here is that such denunciation of Christianity was expressed in support of the nationalistic Shinto. This shows that the Chinese tradition of Confucianism had become so Japanised that it had come to identify with the nationalistic worldview of Shinto. As a result of such hostility towards Christianity, the missionaries in Japan never really tried to find points of contact between Christianity and traditional religions of the host society. For example, some missionaries did study Buddhism seriously, but they did so primarily to refute it, rather than to find points of convergence (Ibid., 262). More than any other Japanese traditional religions, it was Shinto 7 that hindered, both directly and indirectly, the propagation of Christianity in Japan (Holtom 1947, 1963; Hardacre et al. 1991). Shinto protagonists felt

7

Without its political garb, Shinto, “the way of the gods,” has the following characteristics: it is a polytheistic religion, as it is believed to worship over 8 million deities; it has no developed theology; has its roots in the animistic beliefs of the antiquity; has developed into a community religion, complete with local shrines and local guardian gods; deifies and worships local and national heroes; and worships the spirits of family ancestors. Shinto is intimately tied to Japanese lives, as important events of life cycle, such as the birth of a baby, the third, fifth and seventh birthdays, and the official beginning of adulthood at age twenty, are often marked by visits to a Shinto shrine (Ono 1962; Littleton 2002; Hardacre 2016).

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threatened by the imported faith which stipulated the absolute authority of God over all others, including the emperor. Also, the main tenets of Shinto are found to be inconsistent with Christian doctrines. Central to Shinto is the belief in the myth of the divine origin of not only the Imperial Family but also the Japanese people. In Shinto, the notion of the emperor being sacred is particularly strong. In fact, the emperor is considered not only an absolute ruler but also divine authority, a sort of living demigod (Hartz 2009, 13). The Shinto ideology went to the extreme of stipulating that the basis of morality was loyalty to the emperor. Also, one of the most important concepts tied to Shinto is the notion of shinkoku (“the land of the gods”), which was central to a kind of nationalism first fostered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) that had strongly influenced the shaping of modern Japanese nationalism. This “shinkoku ideology,” which had bestowed religious qualities to national identity and citizenship, is intimately linked to what can be called “Japanism” (Fujita 1991, 259; see Isaiah 1972). Japanism is “nationalistic” in the sense that it “ascribes a supreme value to the deeply felt sentiment which arises out of the shared human relationships one holds as a Japanese” (Fujita 1991, 267). As the national cult of Japan, Shinto has been an integral part of Japanism. Buddhism and Confucianism, albeit of foreign origin, also came to be incorporated into this “Japanism.” Razan Hayashi, for example, succeeded in making neo-Confucianism a component of the ruling ideology of Tokugawa reign by identifying the Confucian concept of taikyoku, Lord of Heaven or the Great Ultimate, with the Shinto deity. Similar to Japanism is a Japanese “national entity” called kokutai (ᅜ㌄), which expresses the uniqueness and superiority of Japan as a political and religious unity (see Hall 1949). The term kokutai, which consists of the idea that a mystical force resides in the Japanese nation according to the

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divine revelation of Amaterasu (Sun Goddess), was used by scholars integrating Neo-Confucian and Shinto thoughts during the Tokugawa period. According to kokutai thought, Japan is a patriarchal state, in which everyone is related and the imperial house is the main or head family. The emperor is the supreme father, and loyalty to him, or patriotism, becomes the highest form of Filial Piety. Because of the command of Amaterasu, this structure is both sacred and eternal; compliance with its requirements is the obligation and deepest wish of every Japanese (Earl 1964, 236–237).

Defined as Japan’s emperor- or state-centred cult of ultra-nationalism and, to a lesser extent, militarism, the kokutai cult consisted of the following essentials required of all Japanese: 1) acceptance of the doctrine of the sacredness of the emperor; 2) worship of the spirits of imperial ancestors and unquestioned acceptance of imperial decrees; 3) unconditional acceptance of ancient myths and their nationalistic interpretations found in such works as textbooks; 4) the observance of culturally significant national holidays, especially those focusing on the exaltation of the imperial line; 5) worship of kami or Shinto deities at shrines and at home; and 6) provision of monetary support for local shrines and festivals (Woodard 1972, 11). All of these Shinto-centred nationalistic ideologies characterised the essence of Japanese spirituality. And Shinto was at the heart of religious devotion that glorified Japan’s history, culture and peoplehood. It provided not only a spiritual basis that integrated practically every aspect of national life with almost a religious devotion but also a collective identity, sense of belonging, pride of history and nationhood. One of the most unique and chief elements in Shinto-sponsored nationalism is the conviction that they

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possess distinctive divine qualities as an ethnic group and that they have a sacred calling or mission to fulfil in the world. This conviction had contributed immensely to the development of the insular, ethnocentric attitude of the Japanese, making them extremely conscious of their national and cultural character to the extent of believing that their “race” and culture are superior to all others. Enveloped in this kind of mindset, the encounter with Western culture, especially its religions, seems to have actually heightened these insular tendencies and made them become even more preoccupied with the preservation of their cultural identity. It goes without saying that such an inward-looking nationalistic mentality made the Japanese to become unreceptive to Christianity. Because of its powerful presence in Japanese mentality, Shinto had been the force that has debilitated the spread of the imported faith. More specifically, the reverential, virtually religious character of the people’s attitude toward their nation, which was shaped by Shinto, hindered the spread of Christianity in Japan (Takenaka 1957, 25). Since 1895, Japan had gone to war about every ten years until the end of World War II, and during this period, ultraconservative nationalist sentiments permeated every sphere of society, making the Japanese to become even more hostile to Western culture, especially its religion. For the Japanese, there was no real escape from embracing nationalistic values and duties; they were never really free to pursue ideologies or religions which differed from the officially sanctioned line of thought. So strong was the attachment to these beliefs that Christianity was not able to penetrate the religious fabric of Japanese society. In this religio-cultural and political milieu, Shinto-sponsored nationalism encouraged xenophobic hostility toward Christianity. Christianity and Christians were seen by many Japanese as a potential threat to national unity. Christians were “accused of being antinational because they claimed

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in the Christian God an authority superior to the Emperor” (Ibid., 74). No wonder then that “throughout the Tokugawa era and even the period from the Meiji government until the end of World War II, Christians were often suspected and accused of a questionable loyalty to their country” (Fujita 1991, 259). As Mark R. Mullins (1998, 19) perceptively observes: Although the Meiji Constitution guaranteed religious freedom, by the late 1930s the government became increasingly totalitarian, requiring members of every religious group to participate in civil religious rituals and conform to the state-defined orthodoxy. The national religion created by the government bureaucrats was largely an “invention of tradition” projected back on Japanese history; though nominally Shinto, it differed considerably from the previous forms of Shinto belief and practice. It was used, nevertheless, to unify and integrate the heterogeneous population and mobilise the people for nation-building, modernisation, and military expansion. The authorities defined Shinto as a “nonreligious” institution of the state, and participation in its rituals came to be viewed as the “patriotic” duty of all Japanese regardless of personal religious convictions. These civil religious demands coalesced with traditional religious obligations in the wartime period to create an almost unbearable tension for Christian churches. Christians who did not comply with the government directive to worship at the shrines of State Shinto—the duty of all loyal citizens—faced not only persecution but constant suspicion concerning their identity as Japanese.

The antagonism towards Christianity was particularly strong during World War II, as the Japanese linked the religion with the nation at war with Japan, namely the United States. Indeed, Christianity was increasingly being seen as just a religion of the enemy, as the Japanese

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generally perceived the missionaries’ activities as being a part of Western colonial scheme. Churches in Japan were also subjected to various forms of oppression: the government pressured various denominations to amalgamate into a united church; missionaries were compelled to leave or were deported; Christian institutions were under constant surveillance; Christians were subjected to frequent questioning; and sermon topics were subjected to reviews by authorities. As a result, church membership and attendance, which had never been impressive to begin with, dropped significantly during the war. Whereas nationalism in Korea was linked with the growth of Christianity, the opposite was true for Japan. With the growing nationalism, the Japanese became more absorbed in things their own and Christianity never really had a chance to establish a rapport with the Japanese.

3. Conclusion In late nineteenth century Korea, there was no religious opposition to the spread of Protestantism, for the traditional religions, either because they were weakened or had no organised presence, posed no problem for the imported faith. In Japan, on the other hand, the chance of Christianity to make a lasting impression was severely limited by the succession of governments that had been openly hostile to the new religion, not least because of their goal of promoting insular nationalism. From the time of nation-building during the Meiji era to the end of World War II, the Japanese government had been bent on unifying the Japanese with their de facto national religion, Shinto. So strong was the Japanese attachment to this nationalistic ideology that Christianity was not able to penetrate their religious sensibility. With the spiritual security offered by Shinto, the Japanese felt no need for a new religion. Faced with the all-embracing,

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nationalistic Shinto combined with anti-Christian stance of other traditional religions of Japan, Christianity had not been able to find points of contact with the religious inclination of the Japanese. Christian expansion in Japan was anticipated after World War II, as their defeat was believed to make the Japanese lose faith in their old religions and become more receptive to a new religion, i.e., Christianity (Iglehart 1959, 343). This never happened, because even in defeat the Japanese’ faith in Shinto remained intact: “Though most Japanese would have been unable precisely to say who or what the Gods were, the shrine system was their own, Japanese and precious, and participation in its ceremonies were an essential element of community living” (Ibid., 344). What all of this shows is that the presence or absence of world religions and their sociocultural influence in the host society, or lack thereof, is a determining factor for the success or failure of a missionary religion to make a lasting impact in new mission fields. In the Korean context, the religious void itself was not enough to ensure the success of Protestant Christianity. The missionaries perceptively recognised that, in spite of the weakness of traditional religions in Korea, the new religion had to be advanced as having certain affinity with the core religious beliefs and social ethics of the host society. And that is the focus of the next two chapters.

 

CHAPTER THREE KOREAN RELIGIOUS CULTURE AND ITS AFFINITY TO CHRISTIANITY: BUDDHISM AND CONFUCIANISM

For a new religion to appeal to potential converts, it has to establish common ground with the existing religious beliefs and practices of the latter. 1 That is because it would be difficult for an imported faith to make a lasting impression if it is presented as completely strange and different. Syncretism, which means the fusion of two or more different belief systems, is one of the ways in which a new religion can be viewed as understandable and familiar to potential converts. It is also agreed that “in the conversion of peoples to new doctrines which are products of more complex cultures than their own, the newly accepted ideas often undergo considerable change” (O’Dea 1983, 73–74). In arguing that syncretism is necessary for the survival and renewal of religions, Harrison (2014, 10) contends as follows: Syncretism….is both normal and necessary, a part of all religious life; in the long run, religions cannot survive without it….syncretism is also a good thing. The most successful religions, and the ones most genuinely faithful to their core principles, tend to be ones that are good at engaging with other religions and learning from them. Failure to do so leads rapidly to irrelevance....Life has a tendency to require new resources in order to

1 This chapter on the affinity between Buddhism and Confucianism on the one hand and Christianity on the other is based on Kim, A. (2005b).

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Chapter Three answer new questions. Syncretism is a tremendously important and helpful way to acquire those resources. Thus, syncretism can bring a kind of hybrid vigour to religions that might otherwise become too narrow in their mindset or too disconnected from the world in which they exist. This is true for all religions….Consequently, it is a good thing that religions pick up elements from other religions: otherwise they might easily become one-sided or stale. So, people branch out, incorporating bits of ancient or contemporary wisdom from different sources.

Traditionally, the religious reality of Korea manifested syncretism on a massive scale (Chung, D. 2001; Chung, C. 1982a; Lee, H. 2009). Elements of Mahayana Buddhism, ethics and rites from the Confucian classics, and Taoist magic were all synthesised throughout Korean history, and were mixed with native animistic beliefs and practices to constitute what can be called Koreans’ traditional religious values today. To a considerable degree, Protestantism met the same fate, for the Christian belief and practice have been coloured to a certain degree by Korean religious tradition and expression. 2 And it is an unmistakable fact that such syncretisation was more than just an accidental assimilation of religious aspirations of the indigenous culture; it was the result of conscious efforts from both Korean clergy and the laity to better communicate the imported

2

As Baird (1971, 143) argues, syncretism, which appears in the missionary process of religion, needs to be distinguished between its incarnation as a “theological phenomenon” and a “historical phenomenon.” That is because syncretism has been an important issue throughout Christian history, as missionaries have constantly struggled with it, i.e., the addition of local beliefs and practices to Christian traditions. Notwithstanding the resistance against it, syncretism can be said to be “both normal and necessary, a part of all religious life,” as argued by Harrison (2014, 10) above.

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faith to a wide audience. 3 As Lak-Geoon George Paik (1970, 26–27) perceptively observes: ....religious syncretism [in Korea] seems to reveal....that the average Korean is largely guided by selfish interest and seeks in all three religions [Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism] that which meets his want. Superstition may be another reason—more divinities bring more blessings. And above all, eclecticism, an idea that truth may be found by combining different beliefs, has played a large part in this phenomenon. However, this syncretism has a deeper significance: it is a sign of the demand for a universal religion which can offer all that other religions can offer—the highly ethical and moral standard of Confucianism, the religious inspiration of Buddhism, and the mysteries of life and death and of the spiritual world of Shamanism. On the surface, the religious syncretism of the Korean people may seem an indication of a total indifference and undue tolerance toward religion, but examined more closely it shows a religious hunger.

In full agreement with Paik, Homer Hulbert (1906, 403) argues that: As a general thing, we may say that the all-round Korean will be a Confucianist when is in society, a Buddhist when he philosophises, and a spirit worshipper when he is in trouble.

3

The absence of organised religion or the weakness of traditional religions, which is argued as a factor for the rise of Protestantism in Korea in Chapter Two, is not irreconcilable with the argument in this chapter that syncretism of Protestantism, i.e., its “mixture” with the existing religions, is also a contributing factor. That is because although the traditional religions of Korea were weakened by centuries of prohibition, ordinary Koreans were still deeply influenced by the beliefs and practices of time-honoured religions, namely Buddhism, Confucianism and shamanism.

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A massive pre-Christian religious syncretism in Korea also left very strong impressions on the early missionaries and foreign visitors. James Gale (1909, 70) remarks that: Korea’s is a strange religion, a mixing of ancestor worship with Buddhism, Taoism, spirit cults, divination, magic, geomancy, astrology, and fetishism. Dragons play a part, devils or natural gods are abundant; “tokgabi” (elfs, imps, goblins) are legion.

In view of the above observations, this chapter argues that the dramatic progress of Protestantism in Korea is also partly due to the way the imported faith converged with certain concepts and practices of traditional Korean religions, particularly those of Buddhism, Confucianism and shamanism. 4 The convergence between Protestant Christianity on the one hand and Korean traditional religions on the other were apparent in two ways: first, some concepts and values of traditional religions of Korea were inherently congruent with those of Protestant Christianity; 5 and second, syncretism of elements from Korean traditional religions and the new religion. The missionaries and Korean pastors perceptively recognised that, in spite of the weakness of traditional religions in Korea, the new religion

4 It must be noted, however, that the primary aim of this study is to examine the basic religious values embedded in the uniquely Korean psycho-cultural dynamics, rather than attempting to offer a comprehensive survey of traditional religions in Korea. Virtually all Koreans who converted to Protestant Christianity did not convert from another religion nor did they have any ties to a religious organisation before they became Protestants. They were, nonetheless, deeply imbued with traditional religious values: spiritually, a shamanic value system strongly influenced many aspects of people’s consciousness; and socially, quasi-religious Confucianism governed almost all aspects of social interaction and personal interrelationship. 5 Initially, the missionaries generally did disdain the traditional religions of Korea, especially superstitious elements of shamanism and ancestor worship of Confucianism.

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had to be advanced as having certain affinity with the core religious beliefs and social ethics of the host society. That is why Protestantism was advanced as, among others, sharing the same values as Confucian precepts regarding family and filial piety. In an effort to make Protestantism more acceptable to potential converts, moreover, Korean clergy did their part in accentuating certain messages and doctrines of Christianity, particularly those pertaining to the shamanic worldview, and absorbed elements from Korean traditional religions. Examples of convergence between Korean religious tradition and Protestantism abound, but the following themes or examples stand out as the most important: Buddhist prayer practices extant in Protestantism; the centrality of family values and ethical norms in both Confucianism and Protestantism; and the view of god as a supernatural being who grants earthly wishes. In this chapter, the points of contact between Protestant Christianity on the one hand and Buddhism and Confucianism are discussed. The chapter also examines how Protestantism incorporated Buddhist and Confucian elements.

1. Religious Syncretism: Buddhist Elements in Korean Protestantism The are several Christian devotional practices in Korea which are practised widely with great intensity that have affinity with Buddhist practices, most notably saebyeokgidohoe (predawn prayer meetings), cheolyagido (nightlong prayers), and geumsikgido (fasting prayers). 6 One of the most visible Buddhist influences evident in Korean Protestantism is the daily 6 It is worth noting that Christianity did not unilaterally incorporate Buddhist elements. Buddhism, too, borrowed from Christianity, particularly its practices. Having witnessed the importance of regular Sunday services for building a strong congregation, temples in urban areas now hold regular weekend “meetings,” complete with “sermons” by monks.

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predawn prayer meeting—usually held at 5 o’clock in the morning in the summer and at 5:30 in the morning in the winter. This form of prayer in Christianity began in 1906, but the predawn prayer became a regular ritual for many churches only after the Korean War ended (see Rhinow 2012). In Buddhism, the dawn meditation and prayers have been long valued for their invocation of the purity and clarity of mind, and Korean Christians who initiated the tradition of predawn prayers were most likely inspired by this belief. The Buddhist practice itself is believed to have certain affinity with the shamanic custom of praying before purified water. Korean Protestants reason enthusiastically that the predawn prayer is essential to Christian life not only because one has pure and clear mind in the early morning but also because one’s communication with God should be the first priority of the day. Accordingly, practically every church in Korea holds a predawn prayer meeting daily, and a considerable number of Christians make their way to church every day to pray, establishing the predawn prayer as an important feature of Korean Protestantism. Lasting for about 30 minutes, the predawn prayer meeting typically comprises singing of hymns, a reading of the scripture, a sermon, and tongsonggido, in which everyone loudly chants his or her prayers simultaneously. Afterwards, one stays for a private prayer for any length of time. For the private prayer session, pastors typically make themselves available for ansugido, a prayer involving laying-on-of-hands, which is especially patronised by those suffering from an illness or stress. The attendance for predawn prayer meetings can be very small, ranging from a handful to a dozen, although the number of attendees can rise conspicuously around the time of important events, such as the test day for college entrance examination, Easter, Christmas, the New Year, and the Lunar New Year. Churches also host extended predawn prayer meetings which can last from

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a week to more than a month. Announced as special events, such as SevenDay Predawn Prayer Meetings or Forty-Day Predawn Prayer Meetings, pastors urge the congregation to attend the meeting every day for the specified period and to invite guests. A church famous for its fervent predawn prayer meeting is Myeongseong Church in Seoul. In the 1970s and 1980s, the church held two predawn prayer meetings a day at 4:30 and 5:30 AM, each of which was reportedly attended by more than a thousand people. The extent to which the predawn prayer meeting has become an essential part of Korean Protestant tradition is found in the way the overwhelming majority of Christians believe, past and present, in the importance of the practice for Christian life. According to a survey of Korean Protestants by the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 66), 92.8 percent of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that “Devout Christians must participate in predawn daily prayer meetings.” The nightlong prayer or cheolyagido can be said to be another instance of a Buddhist element extant in Protestant Christianity. Although not as popularly practised as the predawn prayer, it comprises an important part of devotional practices for Korean Protestants. Like the predawn prayer, it is believed to have begun around the time of the Great Revival of 1907 and became a fixture of Protestant Christian life in Korea since the end of the Korean War. This type of prayer is typically held as either a weekly or monthly practice, although a few large churches reportedly hosted the nightlong prayer every day for a certain period of their history. The nightlong prayer is usually held on Fridays, starting between 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM and lasting until 2:00 to 5:00 AM. More importantly perhaps, allnight prayers are often held for special events, e.g., to pray for a gravely ill church member. For this particular occasion, a plan for the nightlong prayer

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is announced through the church bulletin board and through personal calls to church members. Cheolyagido is also commonly held at revival meetings. The widespread popularity of fasting prayers, although the practice itself is accounted for in the Bible, also shares certain affinity with Buddhism. For the adherents of Buddhism, the first and fifteenth days of the first, fifth and ninth lunar months are observed for fasting. On those days and others, meditation and fasting prayer are always accorded a strict obeisance by monks and, to a lesser extent, by devout followers of Buddhism. Such combined practice of fasting and praying has been observed even more faithfully by many Korean Protestants, particularly during times of personal hardship. As in Buddhism, the virtue of fasting prayer is that as one sacrifices her/himself in fasting, she/he can have better self-control. For Christians, an added appeal of fasting prayer is said to be that it allows the practitioner to engage in passionate prayer to God and experience fellowship with God. As such, fasting prayer is a venerable form of sacrifice for, and dedication to, God and there are many prayer centres in Korea that cater specifically to this type of devotion, where all the participants are expected to fast for one to two days while praying. Also revealing a Buddhist element is the practice of baekilgido (“a hundred-day prayer”), through which Korean Christians entreat to God for an extended period of time. The reason why the 100-day prayer became the norm in Buddhism and later in Christianity is because of the cultural meanings attached to the number 100. In Korean culture, the number 100 is not just a number as it also means a completion, abundance, and totality, as in baeknyeongayak (literally “a hundred-year promise” in reference to a conjugal tie), baekjeonbaekseung (literally “hundred battles and hundred wins” in reference to a perennial winner), and baekbaesajoe (literally “to ask for forgiveness by apologising hundred times” in reference to one’s

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sincere apology). Therefore, the underlying meaning of praying for 100 days is that participants pour out their soul, spare no pains and demonstrate their wholehearted sincerity and devotion in praying for something important. For major events like the college entrance exam, for example, churches to this day organise and host baekilgido for concerned parents. Participants would gather at their church at specified time every day to pray together for one to two hours for 100 straight days. 7 This type of prayer was also held whenever the country faced a crisis, e.g., 1997–98 Asian Financial Crisis. Another practice which displays an unmistakable Buddhist imprint is the way many Korean churches have prayer centres called gidowon in the mountains, much like Buddhist temples situated deep in the mountains. 8 Mountains are traditionally considered sacred for two reasons: they are the medial point of the earth-heaven continuum; and they are the habitat of benevolent spirits. Much like Korean Buddhist monks who lived in the mountains, many Christians seek the serenity of the mountainside by visiting prayer centres located deep in the mountains. Seemingly collectivistic, as they engage in praying activities together, praying at gidowon is ultimately very personal and private, with each participant praying to God for personal wishes. Because prayer centres are located in the mountains, some pray under rocks, leaning against trees or hugging the trees. The Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church also has

7 There is even a book which contains a full description as to how one should conduct a 100-day prayer (see Kim, J. G. 2008). 8 The popularity of gidowon manifests the influences of both shamanism and Buddhism. While the fervour and the content of prayers and the practice of faith healing at gidowon reveal shamanic characteristics, the location of prayer centres and the practice of meditation reflect Buddhist imprints.

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prayer caves (gidogul) where one can stay alone in a cave to pray. 9 Many prayer centres are owned by individual churches, but some are interdenominational. People have a choice of staying at a prayer centre for a few days or just a day. For some big churches, roundtrip shuttle bus services to and from churches to prayer centres are offered on a daily basis. Using such service, people are able get there in the morning and return in the evening, as many full-time homemakers do. It is also true that many Christians go there just to get away from the stress of living in a very stressful society. Korean Protestants’ fondness for praying at prayer centres has established gidowon as a unique and vibrant form of Korean Protestantism. Accordingly, the number of prayer centres has grown substantially. Between 1956 and 1965 alone, 45 new ones were established. The trend reached its peak during the 1970s when 146 new prayer centres were founded, comprising 69 percent of the total at the time (Park, H. 1990, 13). By 1989, there were more than 400 gidowon located throughout the country, with the capacity of each ranging from few hundreds to thousands. 10 The increase in the number of prayer centres reveals their immense popularity among Korean Protestants. For example, a record from the Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church shows that a total of 1,754,374 visitors had stayed at the centre between 1973 and 1979 (cited from Chung, J. 1982, 138). Another example of convergence between Buddhism and Protestantism, albeit not an instance of syncretism, is how a considerable number of Korean Protestants have Buddhist inclinations. For example, in 9 The Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church is reportedly the world’s largest prayer centre, as it can accommodate up to 10,000 people, complete with 300 prayer caves (Kukminilbo 2020). The prayer centre is visited by believers from across denominations and is believed to attract an increasing number of foreigners. 10 There are reportedly about 1,000 prayer centres in operation today.

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the 1984 Gallup Korea Polls, 21.4 percent of Protestant respondents agreed with the following statement: “People are reincarnated in one form or another after death.” Reincarnation, of course, is one of the central doctrines of Buddhism and Korean Protestants’ belief in it clearly deviates from the Christian teaching on salvation and eternal life. Although the figure dropped to 19.8 percent in a 1989 survey by Gallup Korea (1990a), the proportion of Protestant respondents who answered affirmatively to the same question jumped to 24.7 percent in the 1997 survey (Gallup Korea 1998).

2. Confucian Elements in Korean Protestantism: Emphasis on Social Ethics and Family Values The ethical and social philosophy of Confucianism figures prominently in the mental landscape of Koreans, and the early missionaries and Korean clergy stressed the similarities between Christian and Confucian teachings on the matter of practical morality and ethics. The missionaries presented Protestantism as a system of ethics in full agreement with the Confuciancentred moral values of Koreans (Grayson 1985, 139). They argued that Christianity’s ethnical teachings on righteousness, trustworthiness, and benevolence, among others, are the same values upheld by Confucianism. Also, Christianity’s messages against dishonesty and moral depravity were advanced as being congruent with Confucian ideals and that the church’s stance against such anti-social behaviours as gambling, decadence and drunkenness, although not readily related to Confucian values, have the same normative value in upholding society’s morality. More importantly, the missionaries and Korean clergy emphatically argued that even for thoroughly Confucianised Koreans, there is little to give up in accepting the Ten Commandments. In particular, the fifth commandment—“Honour your father and your mother”—was stressed, for filial piety has been one of the

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most important values, if not the most important, of Koreans. Filial piety prescribes that children should be eternally indebted to their parents for bringing them to this world, that they must strictly obey their parents, that they must take care of their parents when the latter get old or when in need, and that they must venerate their parents by conducting ancestral rites after they die. As such, filial piety has always exerted an integrating influence, pulling together not only the patriarchal, extended family but also all the descendants of the same ancestors. Being aware of the centrality of filial piety in Koreans’ mindset, the missionaries and Korean clergy repeatedly emphasised how Christianity upholds the same value of respecting one’s parents. Accordingly, Jesus’ command to honour one’s parents has been one of the most salient themes of sermons and Sunday School programmes in Korea. Korean clergy even went to the extent of pointing out that being faithful to filial piety can bring about worldly blessings, referring to the following verse in the Bible: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honour your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth’” (Ephesians 6:1–3). In addition to emphasising the sameness of the two religious traditions in upholding the value of filial piety, Protestant Christianity was also advanced as sharing the same values as Confucianism regarding the family (Park, B. 1966). Indeed, the former’s emphasis on filial piety often went hand in hand with its emphasis on family life, complete with harmonious relationships between husband and wife and among siblings. In Confucianism, too, the family serves as a model and foundation of harmonious social relationships. To encourage obedience to the mother-inlaw, as the traditional custom in Korea demanded, Korean churches stressed the story of Ruth in the Old Testament, in which her dedication to the care

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of her mother-in-law is recounted. The Confucian ideal of the subordination of wife to husband is also emphasised as being consistent with the Christian exaltation of wife’s submission to husband, as in “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:22–23). Although the role of the Church in improving women’s social status in Korean society cannot be underestimated, it has generally maintained a conservative interpretation concerning the rights of women in relation to men. The Church has held, in congruence with the centuries-old male hegemony of Buddhism and Confucianism, that women are to obey men, thereby making it justifiable for the existence of inequality between men and women in Korea. Another Confucian element found in Korean Protestantism, albeit controversial, is ancestor worship. Ancestor worship, of course, has been the most pervasive and persistent religious influence of both shamanism and Confucianism in Korea. Ancestor worship is based on the principle of the immortality of deceased ancestors and the ability of the latter to usher in good fortune or misfortune to their descendants (see Janelli and Janelli 1982). 11 As a demonstration of filial piety, ancestor worship is often viewed as a ritualisation of the moral importance of filial piety. The obligation to practice this form of filial piety is extended to encompass several generations past—wipae or wooden tablets inscribed with names of paternal

11 In Christian understanding, there is an unequivocal separation between life and death; the dead are clearly cut off from the living as the former are believed to be in either heaven or hell. The living do not worry about the dead and the latter are not believed to have a continuous relationship with the living. The Korean understanding of death is different. Informed by Confucianism, Koreans understand death as somehow connected to life, i.e., the dead and their descendants continue to maintain a “relationship.” It is also understood that their spirits exert influence on the wellbeing of the living. That is why holding a commemoration service for deceased parents is important even for devout Christians in Korea.

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ancestors up to five generations would be kept in homes of descendants. On culturally significant holidays such as chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and seolnal (Lunar New Year’s Day) and on death anniversaries of parents or grandparents, ancestral rituals called jesa, traditionally performed only by male descendants, would be held before these tablets, which are believed necessary to secure the prosperity of the family. Traditionally, the extent to which women were involved in the ritual of ancestor worship was limited to the preparation of food. From the beginning, the Protestant Church banned ancestor worship and its ritual, but survey results have repeatedly shown that a considerable number of Korean Protestants still perform the latter, albeit in syncretised forms. The time-honoured tradition has been also mired in controversies, as different interpretations exist among Korean Protestants, both the clergy and the laity, in regard to many of its aspects. At issues have been whether or not the act of deifying ancestral tablets is a form of idolatry; whether or not prostration before ancestral tablets is an act of idolatry; whether or not incenses can be burnt; whether or not foods should be prepared; and whether or not the foods prepared for the ritual should be eaten after the ceremony. Korean pastors themselves are reportedly divided on the issue, as many are tolerant of the ancestral ritual, viewing it as a cultural practice. One of the most heated controversies regarding jesa took place in the early 1980s after David Yonggi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church expressed his advocacy of traditional ancestral rituals during his sermon on December 19, 1979: Ancestral rites are nothing but honouring one’s parents. I do not understand why people say it is idolatry….Parents are parents whether

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they are alive or dead. Isn’t it our custom to visit our living parents and prepare food for them?....It is quite natural that we think of our deceased parents on such days as of their birth or death. It is quite all right to prepare food thinking of our deceased parents as if they were present, erect a cross instead of ancestral tablet, and bow down….We honour our parents with bowing down. It is not a sin to bow down to deceased parents. It is not an idol….Our deceased parents have gone either to heaven or hell. Even though they have gone to hell, they are our parents. Having an affectionate remembrance of them is keeping God’s commandment….To perform ancestral rites is really a good thing. In the past we performed sacrificial rites to God (Suh, J. 1996).

The sermon provoked intense debates among pastors, theologians, and church leaders across the country throughout the 1980s. The lack of consensus on the issue has led to a considerable number of Korean Protestants to practice ancestral rituals, especially among those who attended churches headed by pastors who accepted jesa as a timehonoured custom. 12 In his survey of Korean Protestants regarding ancestor worship, Soonha Ryu (1987, 200) found that more than 68 percent did not consider Confucian ancestral rites to be a form of idolatry and that more than 64 percent of those surveyed conducted syncretised rituals of ancestral worship either at home or gravesite. For example, some respondents, in a

12 For funereal rituals, too, Korean Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, have retained many traditional practices. Although the ritual as a whole is Christian, complete with praying, singing of hymns, and reading of the scripture, practically every in-between practices of the funeral ritual is traditionally Korean, hence Confucian, including the use of funereal goods prepared according to traditional specifications, lighting of candles, and burning of incenses. Korean denominations and churches also allow Protestant Christians to practise samiljang—holding a funeral on the third day after a person’s death—or 5iljang— holding a funeral on the fifth day after a person’s death, both of which have Confucian imprints.

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manner consistent with Confucian rituals, prepared food items and set them in front of the graves, before holding a private service according to a Christian convention. Others held a Christian-styled ceremony with candles placed in front of a picture of the deceased. The preparation of food and the placement of the picture of the deceased (instead of tablets containing the names of ancestors) are, of course, main elements of Confucian rituals of ancestor worship. While the above acts do not amount to proper ancestral rites of Confucianism, they are nevertheless Korean Protestants’ own way of paying tribute to their ancestors. By tacitly tolerating the time-honoured rite, albeit syncretised, Korean Protestantism has successfully evaded the potential clash of values, thereby helping the imported faith to achieve its dramatic growth in Korea. 13 In fact, by subtly permitting ancestral rites to be conducted, Korean Protestantism evaded successfully the potential alienation of the tradition-bound Koreans, ensuring, for the adherents, a sense of continuity with the past. Another Confucian commemorative ceremony which is practised by many Protestants pertains to the practice of samwuje, which is held to “comfort” the spirit of the deceased. Traditionally, Koreans held three such rituals immediately following the funeral: on the day of the funeral, they held a rite called chou, followed by second such rite called jaewu the next day and a third post-funeral rite called samwu, which is held on the third day after the funeral at the gravesite. Families usually prepare ritual foods

13

Ancestor worship is still popular in contemporary Korea. According to a survey by Gallup Korea (2008), a combined total of over 90 percent of the respondents participated in some forms of ancestor worship: 75.2 percent of the respondents participated in ancestral rites in a Confucian way, i.e., prostrating in front of the tablet, while 15.7 percent of the respondents took part in Christian-styled ancestral rites, i.e., prayer or moment of silence. Given the fact that Protestant Christians comprise around 18 percent of the total population at the time, a large number of Korean Protestants can be said to be still partaking in Confucian ancestral rituals.

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for samwu. Korean Protestants who practice samwuje hold it in a syncretised manner, as they hold a Christian-styled ceremony at the gravesite, reading verses from the Bible, singing hymns, and praying. Some find it ironic that the latter is tacitly accepted by the church given the fact that the rite, when held for parents or grandparents, can easily be turned into a form of ancestor worship. Following the Buddhist and Confucian customs, moreover, many Protestant Christians even hold special prayers on the 49th and 100th day following the death of an immediate family member. In addition to participating in various forms of ancestral rituals, Korean Protestants also perform chudoyebae (commemorative ceremony or service) which is nearly identical to ancestral ritual in content and feeling. Like ancestral rituals, chudoyebae is typically held at home or at gravesite and on culturally significant holidays and on death anniversaries. Denominations have used different names to refer to basically the same ritual: chudoyebae, chudoshik or chudohoe (grieving ritual), chumosik (memorial rite), gililyebae (“death anniversary rite”), bumonim chudosik (commemoration ritual for deceased parents) and bumonim giil ginyeomsik (memorial rite on the death anniversary of a parent) (Grayson 2009; see Jang, H. 2007). The Methodist Church was the first denomination to formally recognise and practise this type of commemorative ritual and the Church included the ritual in its liturgical book by the mid-1930s. The Presbyterians followed suit in due course. Undoubtedly, this commemorative ceremony represents a Confucianisation of Protestant ritual, paying homage to a key Korean value and norm, i.e., filial piety. For some Protestant Christians, the difference between chudoyebae and ancestral ritual is perceived to be minimal: the only thing the participants in the former do not perform is prostration before the pictures of the deceased, which is interpreted as a symbolic gesture of ancestor worship. Instead of prostration,

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they pray and read passages from the Bible. 14 But many do prepare foods, even place a picture of the deceased at the head table, and partake in a communal meal after the ceremony. Lastly, a Confucian influence is also evident in the structure and organisational culture of Korean churches, as cultural conservatism informed by Confucian ideology resulted in “the authoritarian and hierarchical nature of interpersonal relations within the church, epitomised by the intense leader orientation of most churches, and strict hierarchical gender relations” (Chong 2008, 29). The strong pastor-oriented leadership culture is evident, which derives from the paternalistic and familistic structure of practically all Korean churches, bestowing upon the pastor the kind of unchallenged authority and powers only a family patriarch would have. In the tradition of Confucian interpersonal relations, the laity, as subordinates in interpersonal relations with pastors, are expected to generally show blind deference and obedience to the latter. The hierarchical relationships among the laity also exists, as elders and deacons have relatively much higher status and authority over those without any leadership

roles.

David

Martin

(1990,

142)

observed

such

“Confucianisation” of Christianity in Korea: The further indigenisation of Presbyterianism was pushed forward, perhaps all too easily, by allowing the church to approximate to the Confucian ideal of the five cardinal relations between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, and so on….Pastors and elders try to stay above the laity and insist on enjoying superior privileges. Thus the

14

While participating in chudoyebae, it is possible that many Korean Christians actually address their ancestors through prayers, asking them to usher in prosperity and material blessings.

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universal brotherhood of Christianity is rather too successfully toned down to limited and particular relationships.

As insinuated above, Korean churches remain largely male-dominated. A large majority of the lay leadership was, and still is, occupied by men, especially at the level of greater decision-making power, i.e., elders. A majority of denominations in Korea still prohibit the ordination of women.

3. Conclusion The above discussions reveal how a congruence between Korean traditional religions and Protestantism has been an important factor for the establishment of the latter as a major religion in Korea. In the case of the affinity between Korean Buddhism and Protestantism, it has been the latter’s absorption of certain key practices of the former. In the case of the link between Confucianism and Protestantism, there existed an inherent affinity between the two religions, especially their emphasis on filial piety and the centrality of family as the foundation of all other social relationships. In both cases, the Korean Church endeavoured to reconcile its ideals with those of the host culture to strengthen its appeal to the masses and its efforts engendered the birth of a unique type of Korean Protestantism. While this chapter’s discussion on the congruence between Korean religious traditions and Protestantism focused on Buddhism and Confucianism, an affinity between Korean shamanism and Protestantism, which can be said to be more significant for the success of the latter, is the focus of the next chapter. 

CHAPTER FOUR KOREAN RELIGIOUS CULTURE AND ITS AFFINITY TO CHRISTIANITY: CONVERGENCE OF SHAMANISM AND KOREAN PROTESTANTISM

More than any of the syncretised elements from traditional Korean religions and more than any other points of convergence between Korean Buddhism and Confucianism on the one hand and Protestant Christianity on the other, it is from shamanism that the new religion incorporated the most important religious worldviews and values of Koreans. 1 That is because shamanism, from time immemorial, has traditionally exerted the most profound influence upon the religious worldviews and practices of Koreans. As the enduring core of Korean religious thought, the beliefs and rituals of shamanism have formed the basis of the religious life of the Korean people. As the most pervasive religious influence affecting Koreans, no imported religion survived, not to mention flourish, unless it incorporated shamanic elements. In fact, it can be said that while many religions exist in Korea on the surface, only one religion exists at the core. And that is shamanism. Shamanism is the primitive ethos of the Korean people. It is the basic instinct of the masses….All Korean religious ideas and ceremonies are influenced by it, and at some point coalesce with it. All successful 1 This chapter on an affinity between Korean shamanism and Protestantism is based on Kim, A. (2000a, 2005b, 2013).

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religious movements in Korean history have drawn upon strong shamanic underpinnings. And such is certainly true of the New Religions [Christianity] (Palmer 1967, 5).

Like other religions before it, Korean Protestantism incorporated or emphasised many aspects of the shamanic tradition, especially the beliefs and practices pertaining to the realisation of this-worldly wishes (Yun, S. 1964; Ryu, D. 1965). The “shamanisation” or “Koreanisation” of Korean Protestantism came about due to a “cultural colourisation” of Christian experience by Koreans with strong shamanic background (Harvey 1987). The syncretism of Korean Protestantism was necessitated by the fact that new religions, whether imported or generated from within, had historically failed to survive among Koreans unless shamanic traits were incorporated on a large scale. Concepts and values of shamanism that are congruent with Christian doctrines are indeed many, prompting some scholars to argue that the former has even prepared Koreans to accept Protestantism (Shearer 1966, 26–31, 217–19; Ryu, D. 1965; Yun, S. 1964). The affinity between the two religions was noted early by a keen observer: Korea presents a unique opportunity for a comparison of Christianity, the most highly developed, with spirit-worship, the least systematic of all religions. Probably nowhere else in the world has the Christian missionary effort met with such immediate success as in the Hermit Kingdom....This fact is due no doubt to the sudden awakening on the part of the people to the value of the Western civilisation....But to a still greater extent the warm reception accorded to the great Western religion grew out of the numerous points of contact between the Korean faith and that of the missionaries (Hartman 1917, 20, 33–44).

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Dongshik Ryu (1975) also argues that Korean Protestants understand the Christian message from a mental landscape which is informed by shamanic imprints and that the stories and messages in the Bible find their parallels in the vocabulary of the shamanic tradition. Kwangsun Suh (1983, 50–51) agrees, arguing that Protestant Christianity, in the way it has been subjected to shamanic influences, simply provided a new, novel way to express basically shamanic beliefs and that the communion with the Holy Spirit is in congruence with the Korean understanding of shamanic spiritual world: When Christianity was accepted by the Korean people and the Korean minjung, it was accepted within the mind-set of Korean shamanism, for Korean shamanism is the religion of the Korean people and the Korean minjung. For the powerless minjung, the power of the spirit, more particularly the power of the Holy Ghost, is most respected and awed. To become a Christian is to believe in the power of the Holy Ghost which is much more powerful than their shaman spirits. Korean Christians have made the Christian worship service more casual and freer than traditional Western style worship. They sing loudly and well, like in a mudang [shaman] kut [shamanic ritual]. There is a sense of joy in their service and even the sense of festivity they experience in the mudang kut. They experience a close sense of community, relatedness and togetherness with other persons in the service, as in the case of the mudang kut. They share their sorrows, suffering and pains as the poor and deprived and oppressed, and they also share a sense of liberation and salvation in the act of sharing. The mudang pathos is embodied in Christian worship and Christian pastoral care. A young Korean Presbyterian pastor who works in a Seoul slum church once remarked that he is not ashamed of being a “Christian mudang.” He does not want to seduce and manipulate religiously the spirit of the people. He

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acts as a Christian mudang to take care of the “han” [grief] of the people. He would be with the people, suffering together with them in the midst of their everyday existence and sharing their tears and laughter. He would exorcise the evil in people and the evil spirits in the politics of society, to set free the oppressed and deprived, the poor and the sick.

Youngsook Kim Harvey (1987, 152) writes: To individuals with little control over their lives, shamanism offered avenues for direct negotiations with the supernatural. This mode of religious behaviour proved an advantage to the missionaries. Stylistically, it predisposed the Koreans to Pentecostal, fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, and the Christian concept of the Holy Ghost was compatible with the shamanic concept of spirit possession.

By incorporating and consciously manipulating the shamanic religious consciousness and practice of the Korean people, therefore, Korean evangelists considerably “shamanised” Protestantism. For Koreans, the ideas and values of the new religion were not altogether new. The congruence of the religious message of Protestantism with shamanic religious beliefs, at least in the way the former was presented to the masses, made potential converts become receptive to the new religion. Examples of convergence between shamanism and Protestantism, as stressed by Korean clergy and evangelists, are many, but the following themes are the most important: an emphasis on this-worldly life; the image of God as a supernatural being who grants earthly wishes; and the primacy of faith healing. There is also an unmistakable Pentecostal bent in Korean Protestantism, even among non-evangelical churches. Many Korean churches, regardless of denominational ties, are Pentecostal in theological

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outlook and in their beliefs and practices as well as in their style of worship and preaching. They believe in faith healing, encourage the congregation to speak in tongues, and pray for supernatural miracles. In what follows, it is argued that an affinity between Korean shamanism and Protestantism has been a paramount factor that accounts for the phenomenal growth of the latter in Korea. The chapter first discusses the unique characteristics of Korean shamanism and then examines many points of contact between the time-honoured religion and Protestantism. The chapter also analyses how certain Christian messages were modified or emphasised by Korean pastors to maximise their appeal to the masses and how this shaped or reshaped the spirituality of Korean Protestants. 2

1. Korean Shamanism: The Religious Basis of Korean Thoughts Korean shamanism, which is called mu, musok, or mugyo in Korean, encompasses a wide range of indigenous or “folk” religious beliefs and practices (Kim, T. 1981; Moon, S. 1975; Jo, H. 1983, 1990; Park, I. 1999). 3 Korean shamanism is basically a primitive form of spirit worship of nature, comprising animatism, animism and ancestor worship. Central to shamanism is the belief that every animate being and inanimate object, such

2

Biblical passages are cited throughout this chapter to support my arguments. Citations of these biblical passages are not only based on my observation as a regular churchgoer but also on the examination of literature on the sermons of leading Protestant churches in Korea. 3 There have been some debates about the terminology of Korean shamanism. Many scholars claim that Korean shamanism should be called by its own distinct name, including mu, musok, mugyo, and muism, arguing that it is significantly different from the form of shamanism from which it originated, i.e., Siberian shamanism. Also, they argue that the term shamanism is used disparagingly and that it is also inappropriate to refer to Korean shamanism as a folk religion (see Park, T. 2000; Jo, H. 1990).

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as animals, plants, the sun, the moon, stars, mountains, streams, and rocks as well as ancestors, has spirit and that these spirits wield power on the shifting fortunes of each individual. As a polytheistic religion, shamanism worships a great number of spirits. For example, there are some 270 different kinds of deity in Korean shamanism, which can be roughly categorised into four groups: heavenly spirits or gods, earthly gods, human gods, and evil spirits (Kim, T. 1981, 285). Some shamans even maintain that there are over 18,000 spirits that are associated with Korean shamanism, which is the reason why shamans in Korea are sometimes called mansin, literally meaning “a shaman serving ten thousand spirits.” The nonexclusivistic nature of what can be considered or worshipped as spirits in Korean shamanism has allowed the religion to incorporate many new spirits over time, including gods or spirits of other religions: “Just as Pantheon accepts all kinds of spirits as long as they are spirits, almost all of the spirits in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are accepted as spirits in shamanism” (Moon, S. 1982, 28). Shamanism also believes in the continuity between the spiritual world and this world, which is the reason powerful kings and military heroes have become influential spirits in the religion. Shamans usually deify these eminent figures from Korean legends and history to invoke their spiritual power for ushering in blessings or warding off evil spirits. 4 As insinuated above, shamanism believes that spirits have a profound influence upon the fate of each individual in this world, i.e., spirits determine the outcome of all events and occurrences in human life. Basic to shamanism is the idea that human life, health, illness, death and all other

4

Some shamans even worship the spirit of the American general Douglas McArthur, considered a military hero in South Korea for freeing the south from North Korean control during the early stage of the Korean War.

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vicissitudes of fortune and misfortune are dependent on the spirits. While there are both good spirits and bad spirits, their benevolence or malevolence is believed to be determined by the way they are “treated” or “served” by the living. Not surprisingly, what has concerned the shamanically-inclined Koreans the most are malevolent acts, real or imagined, of evil spirits. Of all the spirits, the most vicious evil spirits in Korean shamanism are believed to be the spirits of those who died with grievances, e.g., those who were murdered, suffered injustice or mistreated before death, and such spirits are believed to cause all kinds of misfortune, including grave illness and death. And people believe that shamans are the only ones capable of communicating with such spirits and that an elaborate shamanic ritual or gut is the only way to appease the spirits causing havocs. In addition to holding shamanic rituals at times of trouble, Korean mothers, as the representative practitioners of shamanism, traditionally prayed to various house gods, including those for the main entrance, living room and kitchen, for the well-being and fortune of the family members (Chang, Y. 1982, 30). Korean mothers dutifully offered prayers to these gods on a regular basis throughout the year for the protection and welfare of the family and for keeping out evil spirits that may cause misfortunes (Ibid., 32).

A. Shamans and Their Functions In essence, shamanism is a religion based on the spiritual experiences of shamans. A shaman, most often referred to as mudang, serves as an intermediary between spirits and human beings or the mundane world. There are three kinds of shamans in Korea, which are classified according to the process through which they become shamans: 1) hereditary shamans who inherit their profession from their parent; 2) spirit-appointed shamans

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who experience “spirit sickness” or “spirit possession” (shinbyeong or shindeullim); and 3) trained shamans who learn the profession from a shaman as “apprentices” (Moon, S. 1982, 22). 5 There are 22 different names that refer to female shamans, including mudang, mansin, munyeo, and dangol, and 28 names which designate male shamans, including baksu and soksa (Ibid.). One interesting fact about Korean shamans is that they consist mostly of women: about 95 percent of practicing shamans are females, and an equal proportion of their customers for shamanic rituals are also women (Covell 1983, 10). Furthermore, male shamans dress in female shamans’ outfits when performing shamanic rituals. Korean shamans play four distinctive roles or functions: 1) the priestly function—playing an intermediary role between human beings and spirits; 2) the prophetic function—conveying the will of the divine spirit to the followers or predicting, with the help of the spirit, changes in the fortune or misfortune of a person; 3) the clinical function—diagnosing illnesses of, and healing, the patrons by exorcising evil spirits from the latter’s bodies; and 4) the recreational function—singing and dancing which entertain the spectators. All of these functions of the shaman are most evident in gut— usually entailing an elaborate setting of foods and shaman’s dance and music—which is held or hosted by patrons when misfortunes, believed to be caused by evil spirits, occur or when they wish to implore spirits for good fortunes, e.g., plentiful harvest. Indeed, while there are local differences in

5

Around the end of the 1970s, the Korean Mudang Association had 63,000 registered members. Counting only the registered members, there was one mudang for every 635 people in Korea at the time. Its high ratio can be seen in the following comparison: 1982 census reported some 35,000 Protestant ministers and 20,755 Buddhist monks, meaning that there was one Protestant minister for every 1,143 people and one Buddhist monk for every 2,000 people in Korea. This statistical comparison alone manifests how shamanism is deeply rooted in the spiritual life of the Korean people.

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the actual performance of gut, the basic function of the shaman is to dispel evil spirits believed to be causing misfortune and to invoke spirits, especially ancestral spirits, in bringing about good fortunes. While shamans conduct rites for all occasions, including birth, sickness and funeral, their rituals can be broadly grouped into three categories: 1) gibokje, held in hopes of ushering in blessings; 2) byeonggut, which is held to expel evil spirits and cure sickness; and 3) seongryeongje, held to comfort and cleanse the souls of the dead in order to initiate their journey to the other world so that they do not cause any problem in this world (Ryu, D. 1973, 16). Shamanic rituals consist of four general stages: an appeal to the spirit; singing and dancing for the spirit; listening to the spirit’s will; and a sendoff of the spirit. Through the mechanical repetition of such shamanic acts as singing, dancing, chanting, convulsion, etc., shamans fulfill their roles as a healer, fortune-teller, protector and officiator of various ceremonies. In accordance to the multiple forms of gut, various spirits and gods are invoked in shamanic rituals, including ancestor spirits, the god of good fortune, the god of long life, the god of the dead who consoles the departed soul, and the god of the birth. Gut, along with rites in smaller scale called pudakgeori, salpuri, and gosa, is thus the most salient expression of Korean shamanism. Out of a wide array of shamanic rites, one of the most popular rituals is jaesugut, also known as cheonsingut and gyeongsagut in certain regions, which is held to wish for the fulfillment of material wishes. The word jaesu literally means “luck” and this particular ritual is held to pray not only for the wellbeing and prosperity of the individual and the group, including one’s family, but also for overcoming ill-health and other personal letdowns. The persistent influence of shamanism today is evident in the way many Koreans still hold shamanic rituals and patronise the fortune-telling

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service of shamans. It is not too difficult to witness a gosa, a shortened form of jaesugut, complete with an elaborate setting of foods and rice wine, being held for launching a new business, a ground-breaking or dedication ceremony. The ritual is also held for expensive business equipment, such as those for medical diagnosis and broadcasting, in the hope that they operate properly. Individuals whose livelihood depend on driving, e.g., truck drivers and taxi drivers, also host this ritual when they buy new trucks and taxis. In addition, producers of films and television shows as well as managers of professional sports teams reportedly hold gosa. For example, before the shooting begins for a new movie, actors and staff are invited to participate in the ritual in the hope that the making of the movie is completed accidentfree and that the movie enjoys box office success. Gosa is also typically held before the shooting of a new television drama for the same purposes: that production gets completed without any accident and that the drama enjoys high viewer ratings. The wish for good luck also prompts many managers of professional sports teams to hold the ritual with players and staff on the Lunar New Year’s Day. Indeed, in the hope of having a winning season, with the ultimate wish for winning a championship in mind, participants in the ritual earnestly pray for a spirit’s benevolence. Today, these rituals discussed above typically take place in the absence of a shaman, as participants themselves prepare ritual foods and take turns prostrating in front of the table set with foods, including, in most cases, a pig’s head, offering wine to a spirit while praying. 6 Koreans’ strong belief in shamanic rituals, complete with their overarching purpose of realising material wishes, is also evident in the way Korean hikers hold sisanje, which is a ceremony held at or near the base of 6 Many people reportedly no longer prepare ritual foods themselves, as they can order a set menu from catering companies that specialise in ritual foods.

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a mountain in the beginning of a mountain hiking season in the spring each year for the safety of hikers. It is a ceremony dedicated to the spirit of the mountain, complete with various foods and rice wine. Sisanje can be said to involve the largest number of participants for a shamanic ritual given the fact that hiking is Koreans’ favourite sports activity and pastime. Sangryangsik, which is a ceremony celebrating the completion of the framework of a building, also deserves a mention, as it is “shamanic” ritual held ultimately to appease a deity believed to govern the wellbeing of the “household.” This particular ritual also entails elaborate setting of foods and rice wine. As a pragmatic belief system par excellence, therefore, shamanism is primarily concerned with the invocation of spirits to usher in good fortunes. In this sense, shamanic rites have been rather like magical rituals through which people sought to have their earthly wishes fulfilled. The most striking characteristic of this folk religion is indeed its preoccupation with, and emphasis on, the fulfillment of material wishes, hence its popularly known label, giboksinang (literally meaning “faith of material blessings”) (see Kim, C. 2003; Howard 1998). 7 The fundamental purpose of shamanism is to fulfill practical needs: People solicit the services of a shaman in hopes of realising their material wishes, such as longevity, health, success, wealth, and male births. With its emphasis on the existence of spirits that are

7 While there is a general consensus that giboksinang largely derives from Korean shamanism, Heungsu Kim (1997) argues that the Korean War largely shaped the markedly this-worldly orientation of the Korean church and Korean Protestants. It was the war which galvanised Korean pastors to emphasise the comforting function of Christianity and God’s power to grant material wishes. When people were fighting for survival, were psychologically scarred by the devastation of the war, and were deprived of even the basic necessities such as food and shelter, Protestant Christianity offered not only comfort and relief but also promised healing and material successes.

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believed to wield power on shifting fortunes of each individual, shamanism has catered to this-worldly, materialistic, fatalistic, magical and even utilitarian tendencies of Koreans. Besides its conspicuous impact on the mental landscape of Koreans, shamanism has also functioned as a psychological and cultural basis of reception for foreign religions. Because the strength of shamanic imprints in the minds of the Korean people have been so overwhelming, new religions—Buddhism, Confucianism, and more recently, Protestant Christianity—all had to assimilate and embrace some elements of shamanism in order to be accepted by the masses in Korea. And it is the quality of Korean shamanism as this-worldly religion, i.e., the promise of the fulfillment of materialistic wishes, which had been incorporated most conspicuously by Protestantism to strengthen its appeal to Koreans.

2. “Shamanisation” of Christianity: Promise of Material Blessings As insinuated above, Protestant Christianity had to be “shamanised” considerably in order to be made more agreeable to the religious imagination of the Korean people. Protestant churches selectively stressed Christian doctrines that are similar to shamanic beliefs and incorporated many aspects of shamanic rituals. In catering to the material interests of the traditional belief system, Korean Protestantism consciously and deliberately assumed the form of a magical religion, accentuating the present and thisworldly rewards. 8 The utopia that was emphasised by a large majority of Protestant churches in Korea was not only a paradise in the next life but also a material and economic paradise to be realised in this life (Ryu, D. 1965; 8 Despite their contempt for shamanism, early missionaries also emphatically advanced their religion as granting material wishes (Baek 2003).

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Yun, S. 1964; Lee, J. S. 1977). Much emphasis was accorded to this-worldly aspect of the Kingdom of God, projecting a society in which the will of God is done and in which a bounteous life would be a privilege for all. 9 While these are the ideals which Korean churches called upon the adherents to strive to attain with an undivided devotion, too often these ideals were understood to be the ultimate promise of Protestant Christianity. Jung Young Lee (1997, 80) observes: [Koreans] understand the blessings of this world in terms of personal and material rewards rather than social justice and ethical living; and they perceive heavenly blessings as spiritual manifestations of worldly blessings. This kind of interpretation comes from the Korean culture, especially from shamanic thinking.

Indeed, Korean Christians’ perception of blessings were almost exclusively about fulfilment of very personal and material wishes, such as longevity, health and wealth, rather than the blessings of more “public” nature, such as peace, charity toward others, love, justice, and goodness. What must be also noted is that Korean Christians’ wish for personal and material blessings is paralleled by their wish for heavenly rewards: Koreans have a tendency to think that there is continuity between earthly blessings and heavenly rewards. Because we believe that the blessings in this life stem from [their] faith in Christ, we believe that we will also be blessed in heaven. If faith makes us wealthy in this life, then the same faith must also make us wealthy in heaven. By this logic, the more blessings we 9 This-worldly tendency was so pervasive that even some names of Korean churches carried terms traditionally associated with material wishes, such as plenty (e.g., “The Church of Plenty”), blessing (e.g., “The Church of the Blessed”), happiness, and hope.

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have in this world, the more heavenly blessings we will receive, for both forms of blessings derive from our faith. The heavenly realm is simply an extension of this world. Obviously, this kind of thinking is deeply influenced by the shamanic worldview, where matter is interchangeable with spirit. The more spiritual we are, the more material we can possess, and vice versa. Because of the continuity between the spiritual world and this world, when powerful heroes and great officials die, they become powerful and influential spirits in the spiritual world (Lee, J. Y. 1997, 82).

Analyses of large churches in Korea have shown that this kind of affinity between shamanism and Protestant Christianity had been one of the main reasons for their success. For example, in his analysis of Youngnak Church in Seoul, which had grown remarkably since the end of the Korean War to become the world’s largest Presbyterian church, Wansang Han (1979) argues that the Christian message of God’s omnipotence in granting material wishes went hand in hand with the strong undercurrent of shamanic orientation extant in the minds of the members of the congregation. Also, Yoido Full Gospel Church grew rapidly since the early 1960s to become the world’s largest church with members exceeding 800,000 at one point largely due to an alluring doctrine of its founder, David Yonggi Cho. 10 Cho’s message that appealed immensely to large audiences, and inspired countless number of other pastors to emulate, is the threefold blessings of Christ, i.e., health, prosperity and salvation (Donald 2006; Rodrigo 2006). Also dubbed “prosperity theology,” Cho argued that these blessing are based on biblical messages, as he referred to, for example, the second verse of the third epistle of John: “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good

10 Cho died in September 2021 at the age of 85 after battling complications from a stroke.

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health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” Cho interpreted the above verse as follows: the word on “enjoy good health” is self-evident; “all may go well with you” refers to success and prosperity in worldly matters; and “your soul is getting along well” means salvation. In emphasising the power of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus performed healings and miracles, the latter was advanced as a “nice Jesus” who performs the “miracle of making money” (Chung, J. 1982, 148; see Twelftree 1999; Van der Loos 1965). In justifying his message of thisworldly blessings, David Yonggi Cho (1996, 188) writes: Poor people of our neighbourhood are not interested in heaven or hell. They are living hand to mouth everyday and they are tired of making a living. That is why they are only concerned with putting food on the table next day. They don’t have time to think about the future. Whichever house I visited, a common thing everybody wanted was to have just enough to get by.

Having started his church in a tent in a poor neighbourhood, Cho constantly met poor people and he provided them with “practical hope,” emphasising the “benefit,” i.e., material blessings, of accepting Christ as the Saviour: After the war, people were subjected to absolute poverty and disease; life’s shackles and alienation made their lives miserable; and they were denied the most basic human rights and dignity. When they flocked to the church and share their stories of daily hardship, what kind of message do they need? The faith of the cross, hope for heaven, ethical admonition, repentance and eternal life….They were already in hell, so they were no longer afraid of going to hell. What they desperately needed was the strength and will to live. That resolve could have only come about by

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providing them with ‘practical hope.’ They suffer great pain and sorrow, but I tell them that their suffering is just temporary and is according to God’s plan. Blessing will be bestowed upon them soon and they will be relieved of life’s shackles. Since God’s blessing is imminent, do not lose hope and pray. Pray hard and try hard, then the hungry will be fed, the sick will get up and be healthy. Only such messages of blessing, i.e., ‘as with the wellness of the soul all things may go well with you,’ consoled them and served as words of hope. 11

And the message of “as with the wellness of the soul all things may go well with you” had been a fixture in Cho’s sermons since the mid-1960s (see Cho, D. 1965). 12 As Korea began to industrialise and as Korean society became even more materialistic, pastors began to cater to the materialistic wishes of their congregation members, associating wealth as a symbol of God’s blessing. In this way, God was understood as a “nice Supreme Being” who not only bestows salvation but also material blessings and health in this world. Frequent references to the West, especially the United States, were made in this regard, praising Christianity as the religion of the richest and most powerful region of the world. In emphasising these ideas, David Yonggi Cho (1978, 28) even argued that a good preacher should be like a good cook willing to, and knowing how to, satisfy people’s needs and wishes: 11

This quote is based on an interview of David Yonggi Cho conducted by Jungmin Suh (1996, 7–8; cited from Kim, H. 1997, 297) 12 Cho further called for the faithful to work hard and be frugal to overcome poverty, stating that “People who have faith in Jesus do not fall for fun and games. They are honest, sincere, hard-working, and frugal, all of which can only make them live well” (Cho, D. 1983, 154). As Sunggun Kim (1991) points out, Cho’s message finds a parallel in Dwight Lymon Moody, arguably the greatest evangelist in the United States in the nineteenth century, who preached that the only way for the poor and the underprivileged to overcome their poverty was to lead a pietistic life, be honest, and work diligently.

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The preacher is like a gourmet cook….There are many hungry people in the world. If the preacher prepares a delicious meal on the table, people will naturally be attracted to come to it. Thus how we prepare our gourmet meal to satisfy the appetite of the people will determine our success in ministry.

In emphasising this-worldly blessings, Cho also stressed that it was the experience of the Holy Spirit that made it possible. According to Cho, it is “with the experience of the Holy Spirit, one feels its power, depends on its power, and finally gains the ability, through its power, to gain wealth, overcome illness and experience speaking-in-tongue” (Kim, H. 1997, 298). That is why Cho’s sermons often featured the theme of god’s gifts through the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by an analysis of the themes of over 780 sermons by Cho, which are found in 21-volume Books of Sermons (Suh, J. 1996, 12–13). Cho and his imitators thus advanced the idea that the acceptance of the Holy Spirit means that one is not only blessed with salvation in the next life but also graced with health and prosperity in this world. 13 What all of this shows is that God’s blessings (chukbok or chukwon in Korean) became a favourite catchphrase of Korean pastors, hence the popular saying, Yesu mitgo bokbateuseyo (“Believe in Jesus Christ and receive material blessings”). 14 Seemingly a religious blessing for accepting Jesus Christ as 13 Cho is not without criticisms. Many prominent Christian leaders in and outside of Korea have expressed their concern over Cho’s teachings, claiming that they are cultish and promote a mixture of Christianity, Korean shamanism, and Cho’s own ideas (see Kim, D. 1981; Yi, Y. 1995). Cho is also criticised for sermonising the idea that one can become rich only through tithing and generous offering to the church. 14 This kind of faith pursuing self-fulfillment is central to Pentecostal churches, but had become popular even among non-Pentecostal churches in Korea. In fact, the self-centred faith and prayers for material wishes became common among Korean Protestants, irrespective of denomination. In general, many Protestant practices in

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the Saviour, but in reality, what was promised was a material blessing, complete with health and material success. And it was this wish for the latter that many Koreans turned to Protestant Christianity. In addition to the threefold blessings, many Korean pastors also stressed eight other blessings of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew (5:3– 10), especially those passages with materialistic implications (Park, S. 1982, 38–39), e.g., “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (literally interpreted as gaining land ownership); and “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” They further argued that one’s success in this life is a sign of God’s blessing, while illness, poverty, business failure or any other misfortune is simply due to sin and spiritual impurity, and that the only way to overcome misfortune is to believe in God who, in turn, will usher in good health and prosperity. Many pastors also emphasised the importance of prayer in having one’s wishes fulfilled by God. That is, it was not enough that one receives all the blessings from God by simply accepting Jesus Christ as the saviour but that one needed to pray often and sincerely to solve all the problems through God’s blessings.

A. The Image of God as the “Saviour” Who Grants Earthly Wishes In Korean Protestantism, as insinuated above, God is portrayed as a “Good Beneficiary Father” who grants people’s wishes: True Christians or those with true Christian faith can become prosperous and enjoy healthy and long life through God’s blessings. Korean clergy advanced the belief that

Korea, including predawn prayers, all-night vigil prayers, fasting, and prayers at prayer centres, were performed solely to wish for this-worldly, personal wishes. In his study of prayers at prayer centres, Yohan Lee (1989) concludes that the participants do not generally pray for others nor for common causes; they were found to be solely interested in personal affairs in their prayers.

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Christianity is a faith that believes in the omnipotence of God (translated as hananim or “God in Heaven” in Korean Protestantism) (see Baker 2002). Hananim and Jesus Christ came to be thought of as “favour-dispensing entities” and as merciful gods who attend to all kinds of human need. In this way, Korean churches exaggerated the impression of God’s ability to improve living conditions, arousing expectations similar to those provoked by the conception of magical potency (see Jeong 1984). For many Christians, this emphasis on the fulfilment of material wishes through faith in hananim came to represent the essence of the new religion. In the history of Korean Protestantism, God, besides being portrayed as the creator of the universe, was most conspicuously characterised as the magical ruler, dispensing graces at his will. The belief that God will intervene miraculously to help those in need was widely popular among Korean Protestants. Such an image of God as the Saviour was emphasised through references to the omnipotence of God: through the power or grace of God, one can be liberated from suffering, attain salvation, be healed, receive consolation or become wealthy. Not surprisingly, Korean prayer books depicted God as an entity one turns to in times of need; he is an “entity” human beings manipulate in order to have their wishes fulfilled (Biernatzki et al. 1975, 6). Just like their ancestors did, many Korean Protestants learned to depend on divine power for controlling the events of everyday life. Such emphasis on God’s grace in granting people’s materialistic wishes was especially conspicuous in sermons. Jaeyoung Jung (1994, 74) gives an example of a sermon which was typical of many churches in Korea:

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Our Father is rich. He makes everything possible. He gives us rice cake if we ask for it. He gives us fish if that is what we ask for. I hope you can be truly thankful for your faith in Our Father who can give us everything.

Simiarly, in his analysis of collected sermons by thirty leading pastors in Korea, Daegon Kim (1983) finds that the theme of material blessings upon accepting God as the saviour was the predominant focus of their sermons and that the instances of miracles in the Bible were given a particular attention. Some of the most popular biblical passages in this regard include the following: Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him (Genesis 26:12) I will surely bless you and give you many descendants (Hebrews 6: 14) 15 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul (3 John 1:2) Though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great (Job 8:7). Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you

15 This verse is translated into Korean as follows: “I will surely bless you and make you prosper.”

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would keep me from hurt and harm!’ And God granted what he asked (1 Chronicles 4:10). 16

Many Korean Christians could recite any one of these passages instantly without hesitation. Not only were these passages popular in sermons but also as passages to be framed for hanging in Christians’ homes, shops, and restaurants. Typically written in calligraphy, frames or hanging scrolls containing a biblical passage were found in many Christian homes and Christian-owned businesses. 17 The practice of hanging calligraphy has long been popular in Korea to venerate words of wisdom, and Korean Protestants have taken up this tradition to honour the Word of God. There are two ways in which God’s image as the Saviour had been sustained in Korean Protestantism. One way was the Protestants’ intimate understanding and acceptance of the miracles in the Bible. Surveys of Korean Protestants repeatedly show their faith in miracles and the potential re-enactment in the present. For example, in a survey of Korean Protestants, Joonggi Kim et al. (1982, 75) found that 84.5 percent of the respondents believed in the biblical accounts of miracles, while an overwhelming 99.4 percent perceived them positively. Similarly, a survey by the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982: 56) found that 94.6 percent of the respondents expressed their belief in the miraculous

16

Other popular verses from the Bible regarding God’s blessing include “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peacH´ௗNumbers 6:24–26); and “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mattew 6:31–33). 17 The practice of displaying passages from the Bible is found in the Old Testament, as in “write the words of God on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9).

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deeds of Jesus Christ found in the Bible (see Table 4.1). In the same survey, moreover, 82.3 percent of the lay respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement of “Hananim (God) fulfils all the wishes we pray for” (Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development 1980, 174) (see Table 4.2). Later surveys by Gallup Korea (1984, 1990a) in 1984 and 1989 also indicated similar tendencies: 83.9 percent and 88.8 percent of the Protestant respondents expressed their belief in miracles, respectively. Table 4.1: Responses to the Statement that “All the stories of miracles found in the Bible are true” Clergy Laity Number of % Number of % Respondents Respondents Strongly agree 553 70.3 1,366 70.1 Agree 191 24.3 487 24.5 Don’t know 1 0.1 62 3.1 Disagree 32 4.1 26 1.3 Strongly disagree 1 0.1 2 0.1 No response 9 1.1 18 0.9 Total 787 100.00 1,991 100.00 Source: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1980, 56).

Table 4.2: Responses to the Statement that “Hananim (God) fulfils all the wishes we pray for” Clergy Laity Number of % Number of % Respondents Respondents Strongly agree 327 41.44 1,061 53.50 Agree 281 35.61 571 28.79 Don’t know 10 1.27 99 4.99 Disagree 142 18.00 221 11.14 Strongly disagree 6 0.76 11 0.55 No response 23 2.92 20 1.01 Total 789 100.00 1,983 100.00 Source: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1980, 174).

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The idea of God as the Saviour was also reinforced through constant references to the verses in the Bible that illustrate God as the messiah and the liberator: for example, “When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviour and defender, and he will rescue them” (Isaiah 19:20); “The Lord is my stronghold, my refuge and my saviour—from violent men you save me” (2 Samuel 22:2–3); “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my saviour and my God” (Psalms 42:5, 42:11, 43:5); and “I will make your oppressor eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour” (Isaiah 49:26). Reiterated through these verses, the image of God as the Saviour served as a “selling point” par excellence for Korean clergy. The masses, for whom the entreaties to hananim or spirit had been traditionally linked with their material wishes, readily identified the Christian God as the supreme deity who can liberate them from their miseries, grant them material wishes and bring them good fortunes. In this sense, Protestantism in the Korean context can be said to have been transformed into a form of millenarianism or messianism, through which many Korean Protestants secured hopes and inspiration to face the harsh reality of contemporary society. Moreover, biblical accounts of miracles—and the assumed possibility of their reenactment in contemporary circumstances—attracted millions of converts who wholeheartedly embraced the new religion’s promise of a better life in the near future. In addition to the articulation of individual material interests, another feature of Korean Christianity, reflecting this-worldly inclinations, pertains to the nation. Many pastors and Christian leaders advanced the notion that the “Christianisation” of the nation is a patriotic and assured means to save the country from all social ills. If Korea were to become a

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Christian nation, they argued, God would in return bless the nation, bringing prosperity and national strength. This view figured prominently in the sermons of many pastors throughout the history of Protestantism in Korea, particularly since the 1950s (Jung, S. 1986, 19–26). 18 A favourite passage from the Bible in this regard was “Righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34), and an extensive use was made of the Old Testament history depicting how Yahweh brought prosperity to the Hebrew nation when it was obedient and national calamity when the people idolised other gods: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5); “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance” (Psalms 34:12); and “Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith” (Isaiah 26:2). Undoubtedly this emphasis on the national salvation, often linked with secular national enrichment and empowerment, helped Korean churches to capitalise on the emerging patriotic sentiment of Koreans. This theme of national Christianisation even engendered a tendency among Korean Christians to view Korea as the chosen nation, as “new Israel.” Echoing this popular sentiment, Harold Hong (1983, 181) writes: We strongly believe that we are now the chosen people of God and that we are under the special providence of God. This strong faith has actually made the Korean church the most rapidly growing church in the world.

Donald Clark (1997, 184) agrees:

18

Korean clergy boasted about the remarkable economic success of South Korea in the past three decades (1860s–1980s) as an evidence of God’s benediction.

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Chapter Four The idea that God has a special relationship with the South Koreans has always been attractive. The early Western missionaries cultivated it as a form of moral building, praising Korean Christians for their steadfastness during the dark years of the Japanese occupation. Korean church leaders themselves—those who survived the occupation, Kim Il-sung, and the Korean War—often referred to their deliverance in terms of the “manifest destiny” of the Korean church to set an example for the world.

As an extension of this belief, some Korean Christians even spelled the traditional term for Korea as Chosen in English, rather than the conventional Choson (“Joseon” according to the Revised Romanisation of Korean).

B. This-worldly Inclination of Korean Protestants Such emphasis on material rewards by Korean clergy was paralleled by equally enthusiastic this-worldly inclination of Korean Protestants.

19

According to a 1984 survey by Gallup Korea (1984, 40), nearly 55 percent of the Protestant respondents agreed that heaven or paradise is not to be found in the other world but in this world. 20 Furthermore, they regarded

19

Even among the earliest Korean Christians, i.e., Korean Catholics, a part of the reason for converting to Christianity was the wish for material blessings (Cho, K. 1989). In a documented record of the Shinyu Persecution of 1801, it is shown that a Catholic, Gyeongwuk Sohn, confessed to have converted to the new religion in the belief that everything will turn out the way he hoped if he converted to the new religion (Ibid., 137). Records of interrogation during the period of early persecutions further show that a considerable number of early converts embraced the new religion in the hope for material blessings. For example, a woman convert, Gyeongbok Kang, confessed that she “learned the new doctrines because she was told by a yangban that her illness can be alleviated by gaining knowledge of Catholicism” (Ibid., 138). Sosa Oh confessed that she “converted to Catholicism because she was persuaded by a friend who said that conversion will allow her to have a son” (Ibid.). 20 A later survey by Gallup Korea (1990a, 55) in 1989 reveals a similar result: 52.2 percent of the Protestant respondents concurred that heaven is not to be found in the other world but in this world.

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this-worldly values as being more significant than those of Christian values: 19.8 percent of the respondents identified health and 16.7 percent selected money and wealth as the most important matters in life, while only 13.1 percent, 6.6 percent and 5.9 percent of the respondents recognised truth and honesty, love, and trust as the highest values, respectively (Gallup Korea 1984, 40). A survey of the adherents of Yoido Full Gospel Church also demonstrated the primacy of this-worldly orientation among Korean Protestants. When asked to identify motivations for believing in Christianity, 30.6 percent of 921 respondents identified healing while 37.6 percent recognised material blessings as primary reasons (Kim, D. 1981, 94). This was significantly higher than the respondents’ “religious” motives, such as salvation (16.9 percent) and eternal life (7 percent). In the same survey, a majority of the respondents expressed that their conversion to Protestantism actually resulted in a more enriching and prosperous life (41.2 percent of the respondents said that their attendance at the church resulted in a better living standard). The Korean Christians’ overriding concern with fulfillment of material wishes and answered prayers was also manifested in the availability of a wide array of books that are basically collections of testimonies narrating answered prayers. Two of the best known such books are collections of testimonies which were culled from the letters sent to a radio programme on the Christian Broadcasting System (CBS) called Saeropge Hasoseo (Please Make It New) in the 1980s (see Ko 1982, 1988). The books contain testimonies which typically narrate incidents of answered prayers and faith healing. There was also a monthly magazine called Sinanggye (World of Faith) that practically specialised in publishing Christian testimonies. The testimonies typically featured stories of personal

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hardships, including poverty, how people overcame those hardships, and how they experienced miraculous healing and gifts (Park, M. 2004). This-worldly tendency of Korean Protestants is further reflected in the way they associated the purpose of offerings with secular blessings. The supposed link between offerings and blessings is a remnant of shamanism in that the latter has always stipulated that “the more you give to the spirit, the more you receive.” A good example of this is the practice of Sowon Heongeum or the “offering of petition” in which Christians regularly dedicated, in an envelope, money and a list of wishes to be prayed for. Gamsa Heongeum or the “offering of gratitude” also exemplifies thisworldly nature of Christian life, for many Korean Christians contributed money to their churches whenever “good fortunes” occurred—e.g., safe childbirths, recovery from illness, prosperous business or successful college admissions of sons or daughters—all in an attempt to not only display their gratitude to God but also to ensure the continuation of God’s blessing. Pastors did their part in encouraging the congregation members to faithfully give the offering of gratitude generously and often, saying in their sermons statements such as “God will bless you with a hundred times more money for your offering” or “all will go well for your generous offering to church.” Pastors also stressed the importance of tithe for receiving God’s blessings, often citing the following passage from the Bible: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessings that you will not have room enough for it” (Malachi 3:10). Some pastors went to the extreme of saying that one cannot be blessed unless she or he tithes or that one must tithe if she or he wants to be saved. Having internalised this, a considerable number of Korean Protestants were led to believe that their misfortune, if they happen

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to be experiencing it, was caused by the fact that they did not tithe. Given the pastors’ overwhelming emphasis on tithe, it is not surprising to find that a large number of Korean Protestants tithed. In the 1984 and 1989 surveys by Gallup Korea (1985, 1990a), for example, the proportion of Korean protestants who regularly tithed amounted to 38.1 and 37.7 percent, respectively. 21 While figures for other countries for the same period cannot be found, a research in the United States in 2007 found that only five percent of American Christians tithed (Think Christian 2008), demonstrating the possibility that the rate of tithing in Korea was one of the highest, if not the highest, in the world in the 1980s at least. G Survey results consistently substantiate Korean Christians’ general tendency to associate the offering with wish-fulfilment. According to the 1984 survey by Gallup Korea (1984, 49), 34.8 percent of the Protestant respondents agreed with the statement that “one who offers money to the church will be blessed with more prosperity in return.” In the follow-up survey in 1989, 34.2 percent of the respondents concurred with the same statement (Gallup Korea 1990a, 152). Similarly, Joonggi Kim et al. (1982, 101) found that 68.9 percent of the Protestant respondents identified “the gratitude for God’s blessings” as their reason for giving the offering. All of this prompted Jinyong Chung (1977, 42), the noted Korean theologian, to claim that “Korean Christians’ attendance at church, and their enthusiasm for dawn prayers and generosity in offering to the church are all intimately linked to their desire for this-worldly wish-fulfilment.” Another manifestation of this-worldly emphasis in Korean Protestantism is the high proportion of its followers who personally experienced the Holy Spirit (see Table 4.3). While the personal experience 21

A 1997 survey by Gallup Korea (1998) shows that the proportion of Korean Protestants who tithed increased to 50.9 percent.

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of the Holy Spirit reflects the person’s level of piousness in other societies, Korean Protestants tended to identify the experience as a precursor to, or precondition of, realising their material wishes through God’s blessing. That is, Korean Protestants generally viewed the experience of the Holy Spirit like a badge of candidacy for God’s material blessings. Table 4.3: Proportion of Korean Christians Who Have Experienced the Holy Spirit Clergy (%) Experienced the Holy Spirit 96.9 Not yet 1.4 Don’t know 1.7 Total 100.00 Source: Hyundaesahoeyeonguso (1982, 78).

Laity (%) 75.5 14.7 9.7 100.00

Another survey showing the Koreans’ propensity to seek the experience of the Holy Spirit is the 1979 annual report of the Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church, which showed that the purpose of those who came to the centre to pray were, in the order of frequency, 1) to receive the Holy Spirit; 2) for faith healing; 3) to resolve family problems; 4) to solve personal conflicts; 5) to resolve church-related problems; and 6) for business prosperity (see Table 4.4) (Chung, J. 1982, 127–128). As insinuated above, even the respondents who came to the prayer centre to experience the Holy Spirit can be said to have come there for a very personal, ulterior motive, i.e., to experience the Holy Spirit as acquiring a qualification to ultimately receive God’s blessing. For the respondents, the answer “to receive the Holy Spirit” seems to have been a generic and inclusive answer that was probably the most convenient to choose, as it allowed them not to disclose the real reason, i.e., praying for earthly wishes, which they may not have wanted to readily admit.

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Table 4.4: Reasons for Praying at the Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church, 1979 Reason To receive the Holy Spirit For faith healing To resolve household problems To resolve personal conflict To resolve church-related problems For business prosperity Others Source: Chung, J. (1982, 127–128).

Number 35,234 9,679 7,048 4,935 4,533

% 52.3 14.4 10.5 7.3 6.7

3,259 2,654

4.8 3.9

The Korean people, therefore, who long embraced shamanism in hopes of resolving this-worldly frustration through the prayer, rites and magic, seem to have embraced Protestantism for the very same reason, thereby replacing, in effect, the traditional form of magical religion with a new one, albeit syncretised. For many Korean Christians this emphasis on the fulfillment of material wishes through faith in Protestantism came to represent the essence of the new religion. Stressed and even promised by the Korean clergy, the belief that Protestant Christianity is a religion that would yield prosperity in this world and spiritual salvation in the other world became extremely popular among Korean Christians. Accordingly, they often associated the purpose of prayers with secular blessings: prayers were often understood as a means of earning the favour of God in hopes of fulfilling their wishes, rather than a means of praising God (Lee, H. 1991, 111–112; see also Min, B. 1982). The notion that material prosperity and spiritual comfort were tokens of God’s blessing for one’s good faith appealed strongly to many converts. For the emerging Korean middle-class with its eminently material concerns, this materialist gospel seems to have offered an irresistible attraction.

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C. Faith Healing in Protestantism and Healing in Korean Shamanism In addition to the emphasis on God’s supernatural ability to grant material wishes, faith healing has been much loved Christian belief and practice among Korean Protestants. In fact, the most obvious convergence between shamanism and Korean Protestantism has to do with the belief and practice of healing in both religions. In parallel with the popular conceptualisation of the role of shamans in Korea, pastors were expected to have the capacity to communicate with the spiritual world and to possess a mysterious power to exorcise evil spirits causing illnesses. Like shamans, these pastors used hypnotism, resorted to speaking in tongues (similar to ecstatic chants in shamanism) and exorcised the evil supposedly residing in the afflicted person. 22 All of these, of course, parallel the characteristics of Korean shamanic rites in healing and exorcising. That is why it is claimed that pastors who perform faith healing are “shamans in Christian disguise,” and that “[like] shamans, they promise personal blessings through emotional and spiritual experiences in the church” (Lee, J. G. 1997, 102). By performing the healing rites during worship services and revival meetings, Korean pastors turned the two occasions into, in essence, shamanic rituals that typically featured disease-curing exorcism (see Kim, G. 1981). 23 The most 22 Inspired by the narratives of healing deeds in the Bible, three methods were utilised most often by Korean clergy to cure diseases: prayer (James 5:15), laying on of hands (Mark 16:18; Luke 4:40), and consecrated water (John 7:37–38) (Tak 1971). Another popular method of healing involved the combination of prayer and fasting, which had been usually employed by pastors or revivalists who themselves had been cured of sickness by the same procedure. 23 Another way the role of ordained pastors and shamans converged was the fact many Korean pastors performed many functions and ceremonies that parallel those of shamans, such as presiding over a memorial service for deceased parents at Christian homes and dedicating a service for a newly built house, a relocated household, a newly established business or a troubled enterprise (see Yang 1988, 411–413; Choi, G. 1989, 336–338).

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prominent example in this regard is the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church. The church began to grow noticeably only since its charismatic pastor Cho began to perform faith healings on people with “incurable diseases.” In fact, faith healing is identified as the most important reason for the growth of the church in its first ten years (1958–1968), which grew from its modest beginning as a tent church to a 15,000-member church by 1968 (Byun 1972, 128–131). 24 Boo-woong Yoo (1986, 74) writes: His [Yonggi Cho’s] role in Sunday morning worship looks exactly like that of a shaman or mudang. The only difference is that a shaman performs his wonders in the name of spirits while Rev. Cho exorcises evil spirits and heals the sick in the name of Jesus.

Similarly, Cox (1995, 222–224) refers to David Yonggi Cho as a vivid example of Christian shamanism: Korean Pentecostalism’s unerring ability to absorb huge chunks of indigenous Korean shamanism and demon possession into its worship.… is so extensive that some wonder out loud what has absorbed what….To a visitor schooled in shamanism, the worship at the Yoido Full Gospel Church bears a striking resemblance to what is ordinarily known as ‘shamanism’….

The healing ministry, manifesting marked similarities with the healing rites of shamanism, had thus became the “main event” of Sunday

24

A survey of the church’s congregation members by Cheongmi Yi (1973) shows that 56 percent of the respondents identified the “wish for healing” as a reason for first coming to the church.

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worship services at many Korean churches. 25 It is also worth noting that the rite of healing was not limited to the weekly worship services, for many churches in Korea operated their own prayer centres, where faith healing ceremonies were sustained with regularity. For example, the main objective and focus of the Fasting Prayer Centre of Yoido Full Gospel Church was centred around faith healing and the advertisements of the centre often mentioned testimonies of miraculous healing. In addition, there were large numbers of independent prayer centres which provided healing services for the sick, including the mentally ill. At revival meetings, moreover, many revivalists performed the same rites, healing the sick and exorcising satanic spirits. Such emphasis on healing led to a wide popularity of revivalists who specialised in healing and of churches that were ministered by pastors who supposedly had healing powers. The act of faith healing and anecdotes of faith healing, retold in testimonies during worship services, prayer meetings and revivals as well as in publications (Kim, J. Y. 1981; Yi, H. 1977), became an important “drawing card” for Korean clergy who advanced them as evidence of one of many this-worldly rewards of converting to Protestant Christianity. For people who could not afford an expensive medical treatment for their illness during the period of rapid industrialisation, the prospect of “free” and a supposedly convenient cure certainly proved to be an attractive feature of the church. In this way, a line between Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal denominations had been blurred by Korean Protestants’ overwhelming

25 There were other types of healing that catered to wishes other than good health, as evil spirits were believed to be causing other kinds of misfortune. For example, a “healing ceremony” was held for those who were unemployed, as unemployment was perceived to be caused by a demon; and for those who had only daughters but wished to have a son, a ceremony was held to chase away evil spirits causing women to have only daughters.

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interest in, and desire for, miracles and healing. While a large majority of Korean Protestants belonged to non-Pentecostal denominations, their religious inclinations leaned toward charismatic, Pentecostal Christianity. As Cox (1995, 221) notes in Fire from Heaven, “the traditional western denominational labels mean very little” in discussing Korean Protestantism. Cox (1995, 225) adds: “Korean Pentecostalism has become a powerful vehicle with which….people who might be embarrassed to engage in the ‘old-fashioned’ or possibly ‘superstitious’ practice of shamanic exorcism can now do it within the generous ambience of a certifiably up-to-religion, one that came from the most up-to-date of all countries, the USA.” One of the most important ways for the reinforcement of Korean Protestants’ faith in divine healing was though sermons. In their sermons, many pastors stressed and exhorted the miraculous healings of Jesus Christ as probably the most important message of Christianity. Advanced as a demonstration of God’s love and power, the miraculous healings in the Bible were advanced by a vast majority of Korean clergy to the level of magical potency. By making repeated references to the biblical accounts of Jesus Christ’s healing deeds—for example, the curing of the leprosy (Matthew 8:2–3; Luke 17:12–14), blind and mute (Matthew 12:22), the deaf (Mark 7:32–35), the lame and the crippled (Matthew 15:30; Luke 13:13; John 5:9), and “every disease and sickness” (Matthew 4:23, 9:35)—Korean pastors authenticated the healing potential of God and of Christian belief. The biblical narratives of Jesus chasing away demonic spirits, including those that cause seizures (Matthew 18:15–18), shrieking and foaming at the mouth (Luke 9:37–42; Matthew 8:28–32), and madness (Luke 8:27–36), were also put to effective use in capturing the religious imagination of potential converts.

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Such emphasis on the primacy of faith healing by Korean clergy is demonstrated in a survey of over 1,300 sermons at ten leading Protestant churches in Korea between 1978 and 1985, the period of rapid church growth in the country (Christian Academy 1986, 25–44). The study finds that the topic of faith healing, along with other miraculous deeds of Jesus, comprised the most prominent place in their sermons, while ethical or pedagogical themes remained relatively inconspicuous. And studies have also found that churches led by pastors who performed faith healing grew relatively fast. For example, Jae Bum Lee (1986) argues that the early success of Seoul Sungrak Church, which had a congregation of 180,000 members as of 2010, is owed to the performance of exorcism and faith healing by the principal pastor Gidong Kim. 26 He reportedly performed exorcism extensively and is believed to have revived six people from death since 1961 and exorcised demonic spirits from 400,000 churchgoers, out of which 59 were cured from crippled legs. Lee (Ibid.) also notes that a large majority of the congregation members at mega churches in the affluent district of Gangnam in Seoul in the 1970s and 1980s were not members of the middle class but rather lower-middle class who, he argued, were more susceptible to shamanic influences. The salience of the theme of faith healing in the sermons is paralleled by Korean Protestants’ widespread belief in the biblical accounts of miracles, many of which have to do with healing. The centrality of faith healing in the Korean Protestant life is also indicated in the way a 26 A reference is being made to Seoul Sungrak Church, along with the aforementioned Yoido Full Gospel Church, because these two churches have grown to be two of the largest churches in Korea by largely building their memberships on the practice of faith healing. While there is a possibility of overgeneralisation, it must still be noted that some practices which are considered Pentecostal in the West, i.e., faith healing, are largely accepted as being generically Protestant in Korea, irrespective of denominational differences.

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considerable number of Christians actually experienced faith healing. For example, the 1984 survey by Gallup Korea (1984) found that 38.1 percent of the Protestant respondents personally experienced faith healing, while 37.6 percent in the 1989 survey experienced the same (Gallup Korea 1990a). Later surveys in 1997 and 2004 showed similar trends (Gallup Korea 1998, 2004).

3. Conclusion The remarkable growth of Protestantism in Korea can be partly explained by the fact that the shamanically-inclined Koreans found a mirror image of their own supreme God in the imported faith. The congruence of the religious message of Protestantism with shamanism made them become receptive to the new religion. For many Korean Protestants, at least in the way they believed and practiced their faith, Christianity was not much more than their traditional religious system cloaked in the guise of modern, Western religion. That is because Korean Protestantism had accommodated itself to the essence of shamanism, i.e., emphasising the power of god or supernatural spirit in granting material blessings (Grayson 1995b). Through this “accommodation,” as Grayson (Ibid., 56) argues, faith in God became identified with God’s ability to bestow material blessings on the believer. Material success was seen not only as a visible sign of God’s blessing but also as a “visible completion” of one’s faith. What this shows is that there was no real clash of values between the new doctrine and Korean shamanism. Following shamanism, for example, this-worldly wish-fulfilment was advanced as an advantage of converting to Protestant Christianity, thereby serving as the evangelical message or “selling point” par excellence. An engrossing interest in both physical health and material abundance here and now, a salient undercurrent

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of Koreans’ religious beliefs, was thus emphasised in Korean Protestantism. Furthermore, the image and the role of Korean clergy took on many characteristics of the shaman to give the impression that they were one and the same. In this way, the distinction between Protestantism and shamanism in general and between church service and shamanic ritual in particular became blurred in Korea. Like Korean Buddhism, the new religion followed a process of growth through coalescence and accretions of the belief and practice of shamanism. The above analysis is thus congruent with Grayson’s theory of emplantation, for the remarkable growth of Protestant Christianity in Korea rested heavily on minimising the contradiction between the new doctrine and Korean values and on reducing the potential conflict between the new faith and Korean traditional religions. The study is also consistent with the existing cross-cultural studies on Christian conversion: that Christianity has shown great success in propagating itself by incorporating different cultural traits in local settings (see Saunders 1988; Badone 1990; Hefner 1993). For sure, the Koreanisation of Protestant Christianity seems to offer an answer to the question of why some societies eagerly embrace the new faith while others are so resistant. This questions the validity of what is known as an “intellectualist” approach to religious conversion (Skorupski 1976, 183– 204; Horton 1971), which explicates conversion as a change in religious belief, where one is preferred out of rival sets of belief on grounds of explanatory force. Also challenged is the view that conversion entails changes in the beliefs, values, identities, and the universe of discourse of individuals (Snow and Machalek 1984). The Korean example illustrates that conversion has taken place without a major transformation in belief or values. The only major change involved in conversion seems to have been a shift in identity. In accepting the imported faith, Korean Protestants did

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not have to give up much of their traditional religious beliefs and habits, for the core Korean religious values were co-opted into new ones. Like the other world religion that took root in Korea earlier, i.e., Buddhism, Protestantism compromised with, and absorbed elements of, traditional Korean religious culture in order to be accepted by the Korean populace. This partly explains why Catholicism did not grow as rapidly as Protestantism did. Except for accepting the time-honoured practice of ancestor worship as a traditional custom, the Catholic Church had not compromised its theology to cater to the religious inclination of Koreans.

PART THREE: SOCIO-POLITICAL FACTORS FOR THE RISE OF PROTESTANTISM

CHAPTER FIVE POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND THE RISE OF PROTESTANTISM IN LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY KOREA

The growth of Protestant Christianity in Korea can be categorised into two periods—from the late nineteenth century to 1910, albeit in relatively small scale, and from the 1960s to the 1980s—and the chapters in this part analyse the socio-political factors which account for the growth of the new religion in the country during the two periods. 1 This chapter offers a systematic historical sociology of the genesis and initial expansion of Korean Protestantism during the first period, thereby identifying social and political circumstances that set the stage for the new religion’s subsequent rise to prominence and power in Korea. 2 The chapter argues that, for the initial period of church growth (1884–1910), there are two factors which provided a fertile ground from which Protestantism experienced considerable success. First, the missionaries arrived in Korea when the country’s

1

An interval between the two time periods, i.e., from 1910 to the end of the 1950s, is not under consideration, because the potential growth of Protestantism was nullified by the Japanese colonial rule, which implemented various policies to suppress the growth of the new religion. The period immediately following the liberation was not much better for the expansion of Protestantism. Extreme political insecurity borne by, among others, the division of the country, culminating in the Korean War, and incessant threats of further invasion from the communist North, stifled any chance for the new religion to experience a meaningful growth. 2 This chapter on the relationship between Korea’s political instability at the turn of the twentieth century and the rise of Protestantism is based on Kim, A. (2001).

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sovereignty was in jeopardy and the dire political circumstances prompted the government to become receptive toward the missionaries and their religion in order to build a cordial relationship with strong Western powers, such as the United States and England, from which most of the missionaries came. Second, the initial acceptance of Protestantism in Korea is closely related to the missionaries’ provision of various social services that were otherwise unavailable to the masses, including medical care and education. The feelings of despair, along with the allure of the Christian doctrine, rather than the latter’s appeal alone, inspired a nation-wide Protestant movement in Korea during the initial stage of its propagation. Studies have shown that chronic social problems or sudden changes in social conditions in terms of poverty, economic insecurity, political instability and oppression, or the social marginality of certain groups often inspire people’s greater receptivity to religious or political ideas and action (Glock 1964; Barkun 1974, 1986; Lanternari 1963). In this sense Max Weber’s celebrated “elective affinity” principle, which he employed so effectively in tracing the complex interrelations between an emerging capitalist order and the rise of Protestantism, is pertinent here (Weber 1930). An elective in this particular case involves national traumas and the long years of personal suffering and hardship on one hand and the need for salvation ethos that promise both personal and national empowerment on the other. Also, the prevalence of religious faith and the concomitant compensatory role of religious ideas among the oppressed has been well documented within the sociology of religion (see Weber 1946, 1963; Stark and Bainbridge 1985, 1987; Flynn and Kunkel 1987). For example, in The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1922), H. Richard Niebuhr views sects as the “churches of the disinherited,” arguing that the less privileged are more receptive to religion because they lack economic

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and political power and that sects as well as cults play a compensatory role by providing their members with a sense of “compensation” for the lack of personal and social success. Weber (1963, 106) anticipates the deprivationcompensation model by arguing that, for the underprivileged classes, personal suffering, economic or social, often leads to faith in compensation, the belief that “rests on some concealed promise for the future which implies the assignment of some function, mission, or vocation for them.” In this “theodicy of compensation,” moreover, suffering takes on the “quality of the religiously meritorious, in view of the belief that it brings in its wake great hopes of future compensation” (Weber 1961, 110). Bryan Wilson (1973) argues that new religious movements in developing countries are generally “thaumaturgic,” i.e., because these religions arose in response to acute forms of deprivation, they tend to be oriented toward the performance, and workings, of miracles. Marx (1963) and Freud (1928) also view that religious beliefs are reactions to both personal and social deprivations. 3 The deprivation-compensation theory of religious commitment is further articulated by Kingsley Davis (1948, 532): The greater his [human being’s] disappointment in this life, the greater his [one’s] faith in the next. Thus the existence of goals beyond this world serves to compensate people for frustrations they inevitably experience in striving to reach socially acquired and socially valuable ends.

3 This does not mean, of course, that the existence of deprivation, absolute or relative, automatically causes a religious movement. It means rather that the phenomenon of deprivation engenders a pool of dissatisfied individuals who, if and when mobilised, would express dissension or a new value system through a political or religious movement. It suffices to say that the deprivation model is useful in examining the relationship between sources of discontentment and a movement’s social base.

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Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge (1979, 121) advance the deprivationcompensatory model a step further by defining religion as “a system of general compensators based on supernatural assumptions.” Compensators here mean intangible promises that substitute for this-worldly rewards that people covet, such as success, prosperity, and health. In view of this reasoning, Charles Glock (1964; see Glock and Stark 1965) distinguishes five forms of deprivation which may inspire religious reactions. Economic deprivation occurs when one is poor or when she/he is in financial dire straits or when one cannot buy things she/he needs. Social deprivation occurs when one has little access to highly valued qualities such as prestige and power and has low social status as well as less opportunities for social participation. Organismic deprivation means that some people are disadvantaged because of their physical sickness and disabilities. Ethical deprivation is experienced when there is a conflict between society’s value system and the individual’s personal value system, particularly when the latter is not accepted by society. Psychic deprivation occurs when individuals lack a meaningful value system to make sense of the world and orient themselves in the world. And each type of deprivation gave birth to a particular form of religious group: sect, church, healing movement, reform movement, and cult, respectively. Like Marx, Glock argues that religious responses to deprivations are very likely to emerge when the causes of frustration are beyond the control of those deprived. Consistent with this deprivation-compensation model of religious commitment is a sociological theory of collective behaviour developed by Neil Smelser (1962). Smelser’s model attributes the emergence of religious or social movements to, among other conditions, social or structural “strain.” Smelser argues that any situation or factor that places a strain on society, such as poverty, inequality, discrimination, uncertainty about the

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future or a gap between expectations and reality, usually leads to a form of collective behaviour, including those religiously oriented. The feelings of discontent and insecurity engendered by social strains need to be released, and the psychological force emanating from this tension is usually channelled into various spheres of social behaviour, including religious ones. The compensatory and strain theories are thus strikingly germane to the analysis of the early and later successes of Protestant Christianity in the Korean context, which are the focuses of this chapter and the next. The notion of relative deprivation is also pertinent, for the people’s subjective evaluation of their situations, rather than their objective conditions, is one of the main reasons for the individual’s involvement in religious activities.

1. The Court’s Favourable Disposition Toward Western Powers and Things Western At the height of missionary expansion in Asia in the late nineteenth century, Korea emerged naturally as a fertile ground for missionary efforts, especially as an extension of China and Japan mission fields. The major impetus for the initial missionary work in Korea came from the United States. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church and the Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, both based in the United States, were the first mission bodies to begin missionary work in Korea. Since the arrival of the first missionary in the latter half of 1884, missionaries from other U.S. mission bodies as well as from Canada, England and Australia arrived in Korea over the next decade. While the arrival of the missionaries was an event in itself for a country that remained a “hermit kingdom” for centuries, even more remarkable development was the warm receptivity accorded to the missionaries by the host society.

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Figures amply show how Protestant Christianity was warmly received by the masses during the first decade of its introduction. For example, the Church already had more than 20,000 converts by the end of the nineteenth century. The figure doubled just five years later, and by 1907, the Protestant Church gained nearly 80,000 converts (Underwood, H. G. 1908, 146–148), more than the total number of Protestants in Japan after 50 years of mission. The missionaries’ writings—as well as those of diplomats and visitors— from the period also indicate that their work in Korea was facilitated by not only the court’s favourable disposition toward them and their religion but also by the people’s respect for them. While the missionaries in China went by the name of “foreign devils,” their counterparts in Korea were treated with the respect shown to the aristocratic class. This is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that Roman Catholicism, which was introduced a century earlier, had been subjected to severe persecutions for decades, during which more than 8,000 Catholics were martyred. Many factors account for such amiable receptivity shown by the host society to Protestantism, but a political crisis at the time of the arrival of the early missionaries can be said to have played a paramount role. The first major development that changed the course of Korean history was the signing of the Treaty of Ganghwa with Japan in 1876, which ended centuries of isolationism for Korea. The treaty was a culmination of the new Japanese Meiji regime’s military action against Korea, forcing the Korean government to allow Japanese residents to establish commercial enterprises and exempt the Japanese from the Korean law (Lee, T. and Lee 2010). The treaty also opened three Korean ports to Japanese trade. Following the signing of the Ganghwa Treaty and in sensing the hostile manoeuvres of its neighbouring countries, the Korean government signed a series of treaty with Western powers, including the United States,

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France, and England. At the time, China, Japan, and Russia each manoeuvred to play a decisive role in Korea’s emergence onto the international scene, since Korea’s foreign relations would affect the balance of power in East Asia. For example, China wanted Korea to continue its acceptance of a vassal relationship and wished to have this arrangement acknowledged by any country seeking relations with Korea. Japan, on the other hand, which had already adopted Western science and technology, began to consolidate its imperialist vision. At the time of the introduction of Protestant Christianity in the late nineteenth century, therefore, Korea was experiencing one of the most serious socio-political problems in its history. As the church historian Mahn-Yol Yi (1980, 62) notes: At the time of the introduction of Protestant Christianity in the late nineteenth century, Korea was faced with two pressing problems: internally, it had to deal with reform of feudalistic society; and externally, it had to cope with the imperial endeavours of the neighbouring countries. Reform and sovereignty were the key issues.

The Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), which was fought, of all places, on the Korean peninsula, created an added sense of urgency. Japan’s victory shocked the Joseon court, which had long blindly submitted for centuries to the supposed supreme power of China. The outcome of the war also reinforced the notion that reform and Western-styled modernisation was necessary. That is because the court and the masses believed that Japan became powerful by adopting Western ideas and technology. Accordingly, the Joseon government believed that the country needed to do the same. That is why the progressives at the time, who sought support from Japan to carry out reform measures and who were considered pro-Japanese, began to

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turn more pro-Western and pro-American (Harrington 1944, 11–13, 28–32; Underwood, L. 1904, 28). In the midst of such rapidly changing political scenes in the region, there were broadly three different views regarding Christianity in Korea (Shin, G. 1998). First, a view which rejected Western civilisation and its knowledge and religion. Second, a moderate view which held that while Western ways should be rejected, its technology should be accepted. Lastly, a radical reformist view which believed that Christianity was the root of “superior” Western civilisation and that Christianity must be accepted in order for Korea to modernise. Those holding this view saw Protestantism as “a sign of civilisation” (Ibid., 87). At the time of Korea’s increasing contacts with the outside world that began in 1876, the first view, i.e., rejection of things Western, was dominant, but as Korea became a target of imperialistic endeavor among its neighbouring countries, the third view—acceptance of Western civilisation and its religion—became more dominant, hoping that it will lead Western powers to assist Korea if and when the country was in danger of losing its sovereignty. 4 In fearing that the country’s sovereignty was in jeopardy and in thinking that the protection of its sovereignty lay in courting the favour of strong Western powers, the Korean government became very receptive to the formation of stronger diplomatic and cultural ties with Western powers

4

Even after the opening of Korea in 1876, the country had remained the only country in East Asia at the time which “officially” prohibited the propagation of Christianity. Although the missionaries’ activities were allowed to be carried on under the Joseon government’s tacit tolerance, the missionaries themselves were fully aware that their activities were “illegal” and that they can be punished at any given time. It is also true that although anti-Christian and anti-missionary decrees were a matter of formality in practice, they were still important factors, along with the fact that the missionaries were not allowed to travel beyond a treaty port, which hindered the new religion from making a bigger impact.

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(Ryu, D. Y. 2000). The government concluded that it was desirable to welcome the missionaries and their religion, which were an integral part of the Western presence in Korea at the time, in order to build a stronger relationship with the powerful Western countries, especially the United States. The government was also anxious to provide Western medical relief for people suffering from repeated epidemics and other physical ills. The provision of Western education, believed to be central to technological and economic progress, was likewise high on the government’s agenda (Yoon 2003). The fact that Protestant Christianity was not connected with Western imperialism in the region at the time further contributed to the good will of the Korean government. As Kyung Bae Min (1980, 121) argues, Korea is probably “the only country where Christianity was never identified with Western imperialism.” As a result, pro-American sentiments began to spread rapidly among the elite. In perceiving that salvaging the nation’s independence lied in gaining help from the West, especially the United States, King Gojong eventually became more receptive to new Western elements, including Protestantism, and began to make complimentary comments about the United States more openly (Lew 1994, 64; Ryu D. Y. 2000). The king’s pro-American attitudes, along with those of other leaders, were often reflected in such periodicals as Hanseongsunbo, Doklipsinmun, and Daehanmaeilshinbo. Also, a book, not officially published, was circulated among the elite, introducing the United States as a country that does not try to take over other people’s lands, does not intervene in other countries’ affairs, and is ready to help the weak and uphold justice (cited from Park, C. 2004, 135). The book also describes Protestantism as the country’s main religion and portrays the religion as not being prone to intervening in politics. The fact that such pro-American and

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pro-Protestant messages were contained in the book foreshadowed positive changes that were to take place later (Park, C. 2004, 136). As Paik (1970, 162) writes: “the employment of American advisers to the chief departments of the government, the request for American teachers for government schools, repeated declarations of friendship and confidence by the Korean legation at Washington, and the employment of American engineers to open mines, gave proof of the amicable feeling of the peninsular kingdom toward the American nation.” The editorials in the most widely read newspaper at the time show how Protestant Christianity was positively viewed by the leading nationalists at the turn of the twentieth century. Daehan maeil shinbo, which was published from 1904 until 1910, when Korea was annexed by Japan, contained many editorials written by the leading nationalists, including Yang Gitak, Park Eunsik and Shin Chaeho, and they claimed that Korea needed to depend on the West and embrace Christianity to withstand the threat of Japan (Park, M. 1996). They went to the extent of arguing that Korea’s only hope for sovereignty lies in embracing Christianity (Ibid., 23). At the same time, they were largely critical of both Confucianism and Buddhism, arguing that these religions did not do anything for the development of the country. The two religions were also blamed for alienating the masses, who pined for a religion that can somehow help Koreans make sense of, or resist, the impending Japanese aggression (Ibid., 2–13).

Other

intellectuals,

particularly

those

belonging

to

the

“enlightenment movement,” such as Independence Club leaders Seo Jaepil and Yun Chiho, also held favourable views on Christianity. It was also at this time of national crisis in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries that many nationalists and members of the learned class became

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Christians. And it is no coincidence that many of the early leaders of Korean nationalistic movement attended schools founded by the missionaries. People’s attitudes toward the missionaries and their religion were not far from the disposition of the court and the elite. The victory of the “eastern islanders” over China made many Koreans “believe that everything of the West was superior and best, and they were ready to accept the religion of the Westerners” (Paik 1970, 261). Among the masses, moreover, the images of the United States as a benevolent, rich, militarily strong, trustworthy, and Christian country became popular (Lew 1994, 57–81). People believed that it was a country which can save Korea, i.e., help Korea to thwart Japan’s aggressions. Koreans also hoped that the Church itself, as an agent of tremendously powerful Western countries, could save the nation against looming external threats. C. E. Sharp (1906, 182), one of the earliest missionaries in Korea, noted that Koreans’ desire for “protection and power” was one of the key reasons why they initially embraced Protestant Christianity: [First] Owing to the uncertainty of the times, people have been banding together for mutual help….These people were simply after the help that comes from union….[and they believed] that there was only one society that amounted to anything....the Christian Church….Another motive that is moving many at the present time is more refined than the above. Many are realising the failure of the ancient civilisation of their fathers, in the stress of the twentieth century. They see that the nations styled Christian are the ones today possess the highest civilisation and culture, and, turning form the old, they are seeking the new. But with many of these, Christianity means a kind of civilisation only—These people are calling for schools and Western learning and Western culture….But there is also a third phase of this turning

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to Christianity at the present time. There does exist a real soul hunger and there is a real work of God’s spirit in the hearts of many.

The court’s and the people’s favourable attitude toward the new religion was also aided by the amiable action of the missionaries. For example, the missionaries did not miss any opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to the king, who became the focus of the newly rising nationalism. They even went to the extent of showing that an “adherence to Christianity was an act of patriotism as well as goodness” (Palmer 1967, 59). On the occasion of the king’s birthday, for instance, the missionaries held a prayer meeting to celebrate His Majesty’s birthday. Lilias Underwood (1918, 163– 166), the wife of pioneering missionary Dr. Underwood, recounted the meeting and its implications: The building was packed….No previous event was such an advertisement of Christianity as this. Dr. Underwood....had young Christians and school-boys all day distributing them [pamphlets] throughout the city, as well as the hymns which he also prepared.…The tracts clearly and briefly explained the Gospel. The hymn was set to the tune of “America,” praying God to bless the King, to guard his body from every ill, and grant him Heavenly peace....Everybody who could read [and those who heard others read] learned that Christianity promotes loyalty, that there is only one God, and that only in serving Him can prosperity come....results of that meeting [was such] that Christianity was widely and favourably advertised throughout the whole country. The news was carried everywhere that the Christian religion was a good and loyal doctrine, worthy to be looked into, considered with favour by the best.

The missionaries’ engaging dispositions toward the court, in turn, were reciprocated by the government endorsement of their enterprise. In

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public proclamation and in conferred rank, the missionaries were identified as persons of privileged standing, akin to that of high-ranking government officials. Dr. Allen, for example, was conferred the rank of “Mandarin” which allowed him not only free access to the palace but also to be identified as a person of standing with the king. There were other expressions of official approval, including the government assignment of a guard to each of the missionaries and the official recognition of schools founded by the missionaries, all of which strengthened the status of the missionaries and their religion in the eyes of the Korean people. And writings of early missionaries amply reveal the remarkable receptivity of the Korean people to the new religion, as the following shows: We found the country in a very ready condition and people everywhere who seemed simply waiting for an invitation to come into the church, and as never before ready to buy books and to listen to the preached Word…. It was not necessary to go out to seek an audience. All that we had to do was to stay quietly in our rooms at the inns and we would have a constant succession of inquirers coming to us. We often could not get the rest we needed on account of the large number of inquiries (Bull 1906, 168–169; cited from Lee, T. 2009, 14).

Another writing expresses a similar view: The general unrest and lack of something to which they may cling is causing the people to turn to the Missionary and the message he has; and they are trying to find out if we have anything which they can trust. On my last visit to the country I often heard the expression, ‘wei-chi hal kot tomochi oupso’ (There is altogether no place to trust) (Moose 1906, 51– 52; cited from Lee, T. 2009, 13).

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2. The Missionaries’ Active Involvement with Social Services The initial acceptance of Protestantism in Korea is also closely related to the policies, attitudes and actions of the early missionaries. Right from the beginning, Protestant missionaries distanced themselves from Catholicism and its ways of doing mission works, which were viewed as being too direct and too confrontational. Protestant missionaries instead chose to carry out indirect missionary works, engaging in the provision of education and medical care first. The book from which the missionaries largely derived their missionary vision was Corea, the Hermit Nation, originally published in 1882, by William Eliott Griffis (1843–1928), who was a prolific writer and Congregational minister. In the latter part of the book, which is one of the earliest, most systematic survey of Korea, Griffis criticises the Catholic mission in Korea on several fronts: that the French missionaries went to the extreme of violating Korean laws in their endeavor to convert Koreans (Griffis 1894, 376); that they depended too much on French military support for their work (Ibid., 348–360); that they alienated the masses by requiring Catholics to adopt Christian names; and that they carried out their missionary work without the Bible (Ibid., 348–349). 5 Protestant missionaries consciously made the socially deprived segment of the population, particularly the commoners and women, their targets for evangelisation. It was this missionary outreach toward the masses

5 For Koreans during this period, the distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism was not based on its doctrines or its denominational differences but was rather based on the countries from where the missionaries came. Hence, Catholicism was believed to be the religion of France, while Protestantism was thought to be the religion of the United States (Shin, G. 1998, 92–93). And people were generally more hospitable to American missionaries.

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and the “outcasts” of the Joseon dynasty—gisaeng (female entertainers), butchers, professional funeral pall bearers, and servants—that left a strong impression on the minds of many Koreans. The missionaries’ genuine concern with the underprivileged naturally resulted in their involvement with various philanthropic activities: they founded Korea’s first modern school for girls and for boys; started the first school for the blind; established orphanages for abandoned children; founded the first modern hospital; and made modern medicine available to the poor (see Table 5.1). Through their operation of various relief agencies, the missionaries first introduced the idea of institutional philanthropy to the Korean people. By offering concrete and practical benefits, the missionaries were able to win the approval and confidence of suspicious Koreans. Among many social services, the missionaries’ provision of Western medical care was most welcomed by the masses (Hwang, S. and Lee 1994; Jeon, J. 1975). It may have been a pure coincidence that the first missionary to Korea was a physician and that he began his missionary work by taking care of the sick. The physician in question, of course, was Dr. Allen, whose life-saving treatment of Prince Min in 1884 earned him public accolades. For his heroic role, Dr. Allen was granted a building for a hospital where, since its opening in April 1885, he attended to not only the royal family and yangban families but also people of all social statuses, treating up to more than a hundred patients a day. He attended to 10,460 patients in the first year alone, some 800 of whom were women and girls (Hunt 1980, 34). The hospital’s record shows that smallpox and malaria were the leading diseases against which the Korean people were defenceless and from which they suffered the most. Fever and skin diseases also wreaked havoc on the populace.

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Table 5.1: The Missionaries’ Involvement in Philanthropy Name

Location

Cheonjugyohoe Goawon (Orphanage) Incheon Cheonjudang Busokgoawon (Catholic Orphanage) Pyongyang Yeonhapgidokbyeongwon (United Presbyterian Hospital) Pyongyang Maengahakgyo (School for the Blind) Wonsangusewon (Clinic/Hospital) Daegudongsanbyeongwon (Hospital) Seoncheon Midongbyeongwon (Hospital) Hamheung Jehyebyeongwon (Hospital) Sunan Uimyeongyeohakgyo (Girls’ School) Gwangju Jejungwon (Clinic/Byeongwon) Namseongbyeongwon (Hospital) Jinju Baedonuiwon (Clinic/Hospital) Aeinbyeongwon (Hospital) Suninbyeongwon (Hospital) Daeyeongguk Nabyeongja Gurahoe Joseonjibu (Lepers’ Help Agency) Haeju Gusebyeongwon (Hospital) Jaeryeong Jejunguiwon (Clinic/Hospital) Pyongyang Guhwalwon (Aid Agency) Daegu Nabyeongwon (Hospital for Lepers) Suwon Seonggonghoegoawon (Anglican Orphanage) Gyeomchangboyukwon (Orphanage) Suncheon Anryeoksanbyeongwon (Hospital) Cheonjugonggyo Sunyeowon Buseol Yeojagoawon (Catholic Gonggyo Convent Orphanage) Daedonggoawon (Orphanage) Gusegunyukawon (Salvation Army Orphanage)

Denomination

Activities

Seoul

Founding Date 1888. 3.

Catholic

૦

Incheon

1895. 3.

Catholic

૦

Pyongyang

1895. 4.

૦

૦

Pyongyang

1898. 2. 28. 1898. 9.

Protestant

Special Education

૦

૦

૦

૦

Protestant

૦

૦

૦ Education for Poor Children ૦

Wonsan Daegu Seoncheon Hamheung

1899. 10. 1. 1901. 11.

Pyeongwon

1905. 11. 6. 1906. 1.

Gwangju

1906. 6.

Seventh-Day Adventist ૦

Gaeseong Jinju

1907. 9. 1908. 3.

૦ ૦

Healthcare ૦

Jincheon Pyeongwon

૦ Seventh-Day Adventist ૦

૦ ૦

Dongrae

1909. 9. 1910. 1. 25. 1910. 3.

Haeju

1910. 11.

૦

૦

Jaeryeong

1911. 5.

૦

૦

Pyongyang

1912. 11.20. 1913. 3. 1. 1913. 7. 13 1913. 8.

૦

Poverty Relief

૦

૦

Anglican

૦

Protestant

Nursery/Childcare

Daegu Suwon Seoul

૦

Suncheon

1914. 3. 16

૦

૦

Daegu

1915. 10. 15.

Catholic

૦

Seoncheon

1916. 8. 15 1918. 12.

Protestant

૦

Salvation Army

૦

Goyang

Chapter Five

224 Seoncheon Changshin Nursing Home Gyeongseongboyukwon (Orphanage) Sominuiwon (Clinic/Byeongwon) Ilbon Yukawon Pyongyangjibu (Japan Orphanage, Pyongyang Branch) Yeongyu Yangrowon (Nursing Home) Uiju Cheonjugyo Yangrowon (Nursing Home) Gongju Jungangyeongawon (Orphanage) Haeju Gusebyeongwonbusok Gyeolhaekyoyangso (Tuberculosis Sanitarium) Pyeongjeon Yukaehoe Dongsan Byeongwon Uiseong Chuljangso (Hospital Branch) Gyeongnam Gongaehoe (Public Service) Jinnampo Yangrowon (Nursing Home)

Seoncheon

1918. 12.

Protestant

૦

Seoul

1920. 1. 3. 1921. 11.

Protestant

૦

૦

૦

Daedong

1922. 4. 25.

Japanese Protestant

૦

Pyeongwon

૦

૦

Uiju

1925. 10. 1 1925. 10.

૦

૦

Gongju

1926. 1.

૦

Haeju

1928. 10

૦

Children’s Health/Counseling ૦

Seoul

1930. 7. 1. 1931. 1. 13. 1931. 8. 1. 1933. 11.

૦

૦

૦

૦

૦

Job Placement

Catholic

Elderly Care

Cheongju

Uiseong Busan Jinnampo

Source: Cited from Institute of Korean Church History Studies (1990, 240–241).

The early missionaries did make conscious efforts to make the provision of medical care a key part of their Christian mission. Subsequent arrivals of medically-trained missionaries—including renowned figures in the annals of Korean Christianity, such as Drs. H. G. Underwood, William Scranton, John Ross, O. R. Avison and John Heron—facilitated the establishment of hospitals, clinics and dispensaries all over the country, ensuring that people in the countryside were not left out of the outreach of the missionaries. The number of patients treated at these hospitals is truly impressive, numbering in the thousands in any given year. For example, in its first year of operation in 1897, the Hall Memorial Hospital in Pyongyang treated some 3,000 patients. The total of patients increased to 5,862 in 1901, including 1,362 operations, and 12,223 in 1907 (Choi, M. 1997, 164). Many patients are said to have come from distant places, with some walking more than 100 kilometres to get to the hospital. The number of patients at other

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225

hospitals was equally impressive. The administration of vaccination— through which they introduced public health practices—also earned the missionaries the highest respect and admiration. The missionaries’ provision of medical care was very warmly received by the general populace (Paik 1970, 124). Most of the patients were poor people who could not afford to pay for traditional medical care, i.e., “Oriental medicine.” They were treated for free or at minimal costs and this helped improving the image of Protestant Christianity in general and the missionaries in particular. The missionaries also provided medical care for lepers who had been completely abandoned by Korean society. The healing missionary became so important that it had become, by 1902, the “policy” of all missionary agencies in Korea not to establish a new mission station unless a doctor can be on its staff. The role of medical missions in paving the way for the establishment of Protestant Christianity in Korea cannot be understated. Between 1884 and 1910, there were 82 medical doctors, 32 nurses and two pharmacists who partook in the medical mission works in Korea (Choi, M. 1997, 171). The largest number came from the United States, but there were also a handful of medical missionaries from Canada and Australia. The medical missionary work was most actively pursued by two American mission bodies sponsored by the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church. All in all, it is safe to say that these missionary doctors “opened the way for the preachers, broke down prejudices and suspicion, and won the confidence of the people” (Paik 1970, 125). The recognition bestowed upon Western medical science by the government and the personal witnessing of the sick being healed by Western-styled medical care significantly removed inhibitions against foreigners. Indeed, as Koreans began to realise the effectiveness of Western medicine—and rumors about it spread rapidly—

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they turned to missionary doctors for their physical ailments. Medical missionary work naturally alleviated distrust and suspicion of Westerners, won the trust and confidence of the Korean people, eased the communication between local residents and the missionaries, and broke down the barriers standing between the two cultures. All of this opened the way for the missionaries to spread the Gospel to the less suspecting masses. As Ensign George C. Foulk (1856–1893), a naval aide to the first Envoy of the United States to Korea, writes, “the readiness with which people of all classes, ages, and sexes patronise the hospital is very remarkable when it is considered how distrustful Orientals are in other countries accepting Western medical treatment” (cited from Hunt 1980, 33–34). The missionaries also made effective use of the hospital as an evangelical setting, hanging posters and Scripture texts on the walls of the waiting rooms and wards, and handing out religious tracts to the patients and their families and friends (Rhodes 1935, 272). In addition to medical care, the missionaries’ involvement in education further won the confidence of the court and the admiration of the people. 6 The missionaries’ enthusiasm for education, which was largely inspired by their desire to enable illiterate Koreans to read the Scriptures and religious tracts, resulted in the provision of education for the common people and women who had previously never been able to acquire education. The denominations that were most actively involved in the educational missionary work were the Methodists and the Presbyterians. 6

As will be discussed in greater detail below, this was in direct contrast to the situation in Japan. While the missionaries pioneered modern Western-style education in Korea and provided the only complete system of education to the general public, mission schools in Japan faced strong competition from modernised government schools. Similarly, in medical work, the Japanese were quick to adopt Western medical practice, not allowing the same missionary opportunities in Japan as it did in Korea.

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The beginning was modest, but the number of schools and students expanded rapidly, with schools being established practically all over the country (see Table 5.2). 7 By May 1910, for example, 750 of the 2,250 private schools in Korea were 750 Protestant schools, comprising one-third of the total (there were also 46 Catholic schools and five Buddhist schools at the time) (Cho, K. 2016, 102). Also, by 1909, the number of schools founded by the Presbyterian Church alone totalled 605, with 14,708 students (Min, K. 1972, 198). It is not an exaggeration to claim that Protestant denominations were in charge of the only complete educational system in Korea at the time (Underwood, H. H. 1926). Indeed, by the mid-1900s, institutions of higher learning were first introduced by the missionaries. In 1906, the Soongsil Academy, established by the Presbyterian mission in Pyongyang in 1900, added a college department with twelve students in two classes. In 1910, Ewah Hakdang opened the first college department for girls, and in 1915, Yonhui College (Yonsei University) was founded. It is truly extraordinary that a Western system of education, from elementary school to college, was established within some 20 years after the missionaries had introduced Western learning to Koreans.

7

The first missionaries’ schools did, however, face some problems. First, their schools were looked down upon by the nobility and the learned, because the missionaries chose Hangeul, the vernacular script of the common people, as the medium of instruction. The learned felt that the Korean alphabet had no place in schools because it was a vulgar language, only good for women and children. Second, whereas the missionaries wanted to use their educational work as a means to facilitate proselytising, the students’ primary reason for attending Christian schools in the beginning was to learn English, as interpreters were in demand.

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Table 5.2: The Establishment of Missionary Schools in Selected Areas Area

Name of the School

Seoul

Baejae Hakdang

Founding Year 1886

Ewha Hakdang

1886

Gyeongsin

1886

Jeongsin

1890

Gwangseong School

1894

Soongsil School

1897

Jungui Girls’ School

1899

Soongui Girls’ School Sinseong School

1903

Boseong Girls’ School Sinmyeong Girls’ School Gyeseong School

1907

Jaeryeong

Myeongsin School

1898

Ganggye

Yeongsil School

1908

Incheon

Yeonghwa Girls’ School Yeongmyeong Girls’ School Yeongmyeong School Yangjung Girls’ School

1892

Pyongyang

Shinchun

Daegu

Gongju

Icheon

1906

1903 1906

1905 1907 1904

Mission Body Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Northern branch, U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.)

Political Instability and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Korea Suwon

Samil School

1903 1907

Jeonju

Maehyang Girls’ School Sinheung School

1900

Gijeon Girls’ School

1902

Soongil School

1907

Speer Girls’ School

1908

Mary Baldwin Girls’ School Yeongmyeong School Jeongmyeong Girls’ School Yeongheung School

1901

Suncheon

Maesan School

1913

Hamheung

Yeongsaeng Girls’ School Yeongsaeng School Bosin School Bosin Girls’ School Bogwang School Lucy Girls’ School

1903

Hosudon Girls’ School Hanyeong Seowon

1904

Mirihom Girls’ School Ilsin Girls’ School

1906

Gwangju

Gunsan

Mokpo

Seongjin Wonsan

Gaeseong

Busan

1903 1902 1903

1907

1903

1906

1892

229

Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church (U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Southern branch, U.S.) Presbyterian (Canada) Presbyterian (Canada) Presbyterian (Canada) Presbyterian (Canada) Presbyterian (Canada) Methodist Episcopal Church, South (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church, South (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church, South (U.S.) Methodist Episcopal Church, South (U.S.) Presbyterian (Australia)

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1906 Presbyterian (Australia) Changsin Girls’ School Uisin Girls’ School 1913 Presbyterian (Australia) Source: Yi, M. (1987d, 190–198; cited from Institute of Korean Church History Studies 1989, 198). Masan

As the only link to the West and as the only institution which provided a complete educational system at the turn of the twentieth century, mission schools introduced modern curriculum, including math, natural sciences and philosophies, inculcating in the minds of the students about scientific ideas and the notions of democracy, equality and freedom (see Lee, Y. 1994). The missionaries taught Koreans on the general knowledge of the world, including astronomy, world geography, and world history as well as Western literature, music, and arts, all of which were wholly lacking in local Confucian schools. The missionaries also introduced an industrial education programme, whereby Koreans were exposed to the idea that learning entails not only letters, as in Confucian learning, but also skills, as in Western education. They taught Koreans that manual skills are an important component of education. It goes without saying that the missionaries exposed Koreans to a whole new world, and for this at least, the missionaries won great respect and admiration from Koreans. All of this was overwhelming for Koreans, because virtually all foreign influences until that time originated from China, including Buddhism, Confucianism, moral codes, structure of the government system, the writing system, art, and literature. Another noteworthy aspect of the missionaries’ involvement with education was their emphasis on teaching the Korean alphabetic writing system, Hangeul, which hitherto had been primarily used by commoners and had been largely neglected by the elite in favour of hanmun (the Chinese

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writing system) (Jeon, T. 1980). Against the hegemony of hanmun culture, in which the idea of respectable education was to learn Chinese and Chinese classics, the missionaries taught all the subjects using the “vulgar” Hangeul, a vastly easier writing system than Chinese. In addition to using the Korean alphabet as the medium of instruction in classrooms, the missionaries, as noted in Chapter One, chose to translate the Bible and other religious tracts into Hangeul. And such “revival” of the Korean alphabet had an impact beyond the Christian community of believers, for it contributed greatly to the spread of literacy among the masses and to the linguistic preservation of and scholarship on the Korean language. 8 This was a remarkable turn of event, for it was none other than a group of foreigners who revived Korea’s own writing system, which had been institutionally and culturally neglected for centuries, into prominence. As the only materials written in Korean at the time, the Bible and religious tracts became widely popular readings among the common people who could read Hangeul. In short, the missionaries not only introduced modern public education to Korea but also did away with the sole concentration in Chinese classics and used the Korean writing system for instruction. The missionaries opened the doors of their schools to everyone, which was a remarkable development in a society where education was limited to the privileged. And although the ultimate goal of the mission schools was to propagate Christianity to the students, it had a noble intent as well:

8

The existence of only one spoken language and one writing system, albeit supplemented by Chinese characters, for all of Korea certainly helped the propagation of Christianity. While there are minor regional differences in accent, there are no mutually unintelligible dialects as there are in China, India and Indonesia, which can cause serious linguistic barriers to the spread of a new religion.

232

Chapter Five The education which the American pioneers, led by Appenzeller, incarnated, was antipodal. It might not, in all respects, show at once any subtle harmony with the Korean temperament, but it began instantly to supply a crying need and to minister to the mental, social and political diseases of the nation. It taught the pupil to think. It transferred the emphasis of training from the memory to the judgement. It transformed sight into insight. It taught pupils to inquire into cause and master in practice the eternal law of cause and effect. It put a premium on manliness and chivalry. It did not encourage the bully to domineer at home over women, children and a few half-starved servants. It honoured industry and set value, in both rewards and honours, upon honest toil, even with the hands (Griffis 1912, 178).

The missionaries’ active involvement in medical care and education thus seems to have served effectively as an indirect means of evangelisation. As Samuel Moffett (1962, 122–123), a noted historian of Korean Christianity, wrote: “It was medicine, not preaching, that opened Korea to the Protestant church” and it was “education, not evangelism, that first commended it to the authorities.” Koreans in general, regardless of class and gender, were “drawn to the church by its emphasis upon education, its character-building power, its stable organisation, its world-wide connections, its democratic fellowship, and its suggestion of supernatural help” (Wasson 1934, 75). At a time when anti-foreign laws and sentiments were still prevalent, the missionaries’ involvement in medical care and education helped pave the way for more direct preaching. As Protestant Christianity became more institutionally established and expanded its operation of schools and medical treatments, a growing number of Koreans became affected by the Christian presence.

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The fact that late nineteenth century Korea was suffering from a variety of deeply entrenched social ills further strengthened the appeal of the new religion to the masses (Hulbert 1906; Park, Y. 1992). The government was weak, inefficient and corrupt, epitomised by incessant factional struggles among court officials. The buying and selling of official positions was widely exercised and those who purchased governmental positions generally reimbursed themselves through bribery and extortion. The strict class distinction between the yangban and the rest of the social classes, which included those born into the cheonmin class, 9 gave the former virtually unlimited power in exploiting and oppressing the latter (Kim, Y. 1986). The yangban were exempted from taxation and had a monopoly over the land, which turned more and more small farmers into ordinary tenants, whose lives practically depended on the whim of their landlords. Most farmers were forced to pay exorbitant rents and provide additional services to their landlords just to retain their leases. What made the farmers’ situation worse was the fact they alone had to pay taxes and provide services to the state through military and community duties. Heavy taxation aggravated the farmers’ lives: taxes were often increased at will by corrupt officials for

9

The cheonmin (“low born” or “vulgar commoners”) were the lowest class of both the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties, comprising between 10 to 30 percent of the total population at any given period of the two dynasties. The cheonmin were the “untouchables” of Korea who did tasks considered to be dirty or improper and included slaves (nobi), butchers, shoemakers, metalworkers, shamans, prisoners, entertainers such as gisaeng and acrobats, and prostitutes. Slavery was hereditary and slaves were owned by both the government and individuals. Interestingly, Buddhist monks belonged to the cheonmin class during the latter dynasty. Also, privately-owned slaves were inherited as personal property. Those born into the cheonmin class were typically denied of any opportunity for social advancement. These outcasts lived in their own settlements, away from other classes of Koreans. In 1801, government-owned slaves were emancipated and the institution of slavery and the class system of Joseon were abolished during the Gabo Reform (1894– 1896).

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personal gains, sometimes up to three or four times the legal rate, forcing the most commoners to live the life of unrelenting poverty, hunger, and under-nourishment. Exorbitant “rents” and taxes forced most farmers, most of whom were tenant farmers, to end the year in deficit and endure annual “spring poverty.” After their harvest was spent on debt payment, rent and tax, substantial numbers of farmers survived by eating grass and tree bark. The impact of such impoverishment in rural areas was far-reaching since over 90 percent of the population lived remained agrarian throughout the Joseon period (1392–1910). For ordinary Koreans, therefore, all of these circumstances made their lives “hellish” and “hopeless.” 10 Also at the bottom of the strict social hierarchy were Korean women who, until the turn of the century, received no education and were in virtual bondage throughout their lives to their fathers before marriage, to their husbands after marriage, and to their sons in old age (Deuchler 1977, 1992). According to Confucian gender ideology, women were considered secondary to men, hence the widely cited Confucian metaphor “men the heavens, women the earth.” The supreme values of filial piety and ancestor worship, both of which emphasised a special spiritual and ritualistic relationship solely between the father and the son, also ensured that boys were preferred over girls. 11 Denied of any socially meaningful status and roles, women’s activities were mostly restricted to the home, i.e., to prepare family meals and to take care of the children. Women were not allowed to

10 The term “Hell Joseon,” which has been popularly used only from around 2015 to refer to what is perceived to a heartless and “unjust” Korean society, is perfectly apt here. 11 What follows is a description of typical lifestyles of women belonging to the aristocratic class, but it does symbolically represent the way of life for Korean women as a whole during the Joseon period.

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possess property of their own, making them totally dependent on their male significant others in every stage of their lives. Various marriage customs further placed women in a subservient position: concubinage was a recognised institution; marriage was arranged, for which women had no say or choice; and while women were powerless to divorce their husbands, men had every legal right to cast off their unwanted wives. For example, married women lived in constant fear of desertion or divorce under a rule that outlined seven vices as valid grounds for divorce by their husbands: disobedience to the husband’s parents, failure to bear a son; adultery; jealousy [toward the husband’s concubine]; malicious gossip; theft; and contraction of a harmful disease. When the husband died, no matter how young, the widow was pressured to remain faithful to her deceased husband by not remarrying and obediently serving her parents-in-law. As the most oppressed social classes, commoners (farmers), outcasts and women were most susceptible to accept a new belief system that offered a hope of emancipation, and not surprisingly, they formed a majority of early converts. With very few institutional means of expressing their opinions and with little or no hope of acquiring education or government positions, the life of the common people offered no prospect for improvement. All of this naturally generated strong feelings of resentment among the common people. Calls for reform against the repressive yangban were rampant and external threats to the country’s sovereignty further created a profound sense of instability and insecurity. This is when the Christian ideal of “All are equal before God” became a new hope for “emancipation” for the repressed masses. Doctrines which

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emphasised human dignity and basic rights strongly appealed to the deprived masses. What made Protestantism particularly appealing to those converted was that it offered an attractive alternative to the Confucian ideology that was intimately bound with the corrupt bureaucracy and inhumanity of the Joseon dynasty. For the converted, the imported faith offered a new hope and provided its adherents with new ideals and institutional means to improve their psychological and social situation. The Christian ideal of equality, among others, particularly appealed to them, for this Christian teaching met their deep-seated desire to do away with the discriminatory and oppressive social ranks and gender inequality. In this milieu of discontent, many Koreans responded warmly to the Christian message of hope. Arthur Brown (1919, 517) of the Federal Council of Foreign Mission Boards in the U.S.A. wrote: Poverty, oppression and distress, resulting from excessive taxation and the corrupt administration of justice, had begotten in many minds a longing for relief, and a hope that the missionary could secure it for them. A Methodist missionary told me that most of those who came to the missionary for the first time were influenced by this motive. Beyond any other people that I saw in Asia, the Koreans influenced me as pathetically stretching out their hands for help and guidance out of bitter bondage.

The fact that nearly four-fifths of the Presbyterians (5,950 out of 7,500 converts) in 1898 were found in the northern Western part of Korea, the very place of the Sino-Japanese War, partly attests to the above point (Institute of Korean Church History Studies, 1989, 258). In fact, as noted in Chapter One, the missionary effort was far more successful in northern half

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of the peninsula: after only a decade of missionary work, the northern provinces of Hwanghae, Hamgyong and Pyongan reported more than onehalf of the adherents and baptisms of the whole country (see Palmer 1967). For example, in the case of the Presbyterian denomination, about 38 percent of all Presbyterian churches in Korea as of 1910 were located in North and South Pyongan Provinces, with the total proportion rising to 53 percent if the figure for Hwanghae Province is added (Lee, J. G. 1996, 163; see Table 5.3). Similarly, the number of Protestants were more concentrated in the north, especially in Pyongan Provinces. For example, out of the total of 382,718 Korean Protestants in 1940, almost 43 percent resided in those two provinces (Ibid.; see Table 5.4). The American Methodist missionary Homer Hulbert (1906, 325–326) observes: From the very first, the form of Christianity presented by the Protestant missionaries took hold of the Koreans with great power and by the end of the first fifteen years of work the various missions had some twenty thousand adherents. The northern station of the Presbyterian Mission in Korea attained world-wide notice as being, so far as human estimate can go, the most successful mission station in the world; and this not merely because of the number of people received into Church connection but because of the striking results obtained along the line of self support and independent Christian work.

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Table 5.3: Number of Churches in Korean Provinces, 1910 City and Provinces Seoul North Hamgyong Province (North Korea) South Hamgyong Province (North Korea) North Pyongan Province (North Korea) South Pyongan Province (North Korea) Hwanghae Province (North Korea) Gyeonggi Province North Chungcheong Province South Chungcheong Province North Jeolla Province South Jeolla Province North Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province Total Source: Lee, J. G. (1996, 163).

Number of Churches 11 5 24 98 162 102 56 23 2 30 45 83 42 683

Table 5.4: Number of Protestants in Selected Provinces, 1940 Provinces South Hamgyong Province (North Korea) Pyongan Provinces (North Korea) Hwanghae Province (North Korea) Gyeonggi Province North and South Chungcheong Provinces North and South Jeolla Provinces North and South Gyeongsang Provinces Gangwon Province Total Source: Ibid.

Number of Protestants 12,896 163,861 47,536 38,136 16,386 30,748 50,745 9,544 382,718

As for a plausible reason for their greater receptivity to Protestant Christianity, certain socio-political factors may have played a key role. For example, given the colder climate and more mountainous geography in the north, Koreans living in the north had been more susceptible to hunger and

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starvation. Also, for centuries, they had been subjected to various forms of discrimination by their counterparts in the south. At least for these factors, the deprivation-compensation theory of religion may be pertinent here, whereby north Koreans likely devoted themselves to the new religion, especially its promise of other-worldly rewards, to compensate for the deprivation they experienced in this life. Grayson (2002, 158) also notes that Confucian influence in the pre-modern north Korea was not as strong as in the south, making its people less prone to conformity, a key behavioural trait of Confucianism, which allowed North Koreans greater freedom to explore new things, including a new religion.

A. Comparison with Japan: The Missionaries’ Efforts in Vain Even from the beginning, the vibrancy of Protestantism in Korea stood in stark contrast to the virtual oblivion of the religion in Japan, where Christianity was introduced earlier than in Korea. A substantially larger number of missionaries were sent to Japan and the missionaries in Japan engaged extensively in such social services as medical care and education. Given the similarities in the cultural makeup of, and the missionaries’ work in, the two countries, it would be interesting to examine the factors which galvanised the people of one country to convert to Protestantism en masse while making the people of the other largely disregard it. This section discusses the historical and socio-political circumstances in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japan which hampered the spread of Christianity. The Protestant missionaries’ efforts in Japan were similar to those of their counterparts in Korea, engaging in such social services as education and medical care. However, their efforts were largely ineffective for several reasons. In education, the Christian missions’ contribution in late nineteenth

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Japan was not insignificant, particularly in regard to two specifics: the missionaries introduced the pattern of modern Western college education, complete with science curriculum; and they introduced coeducation and took the lead in providing education for women (Takenaka 1957, 30). Despite these significant contributions, Christian schools faced many difficulties (Ibid., 32–33). First, the strong upsurge of nationalism following the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904– 1905) reinforced the Japanese’ hostility toward Western culture, especially religion. As a result, many Christian schools in many parts of the country, had to close due to decreases in enrollment. Second, a government decree in 1897 prohibited all types of religious instruction, including those at Christian schools. In fact, the edict was specifically directed against Christian teachings. The decree also stipulated that students in Christian schools were not to be exempted from military duty until graduation, the privilege granted to students in government schools. A third factor which undermined the impact of Christian schools was the rapid advance in academic standards of government schools. While the Christian schools had pioneered higher education in Japan, the government schools had adopted Western curriculum rabidly and were able keep abreast of the level of education offered by Christian schools, thereby negating the reason for attending the latter. Although Japan became committed to Western models in education and industrialisation, she could do so without accepting Christianity….As the quality of government schools equaled and then surpassed that of Christian schools (run by missionaries and Japanese Christians), more Japanese found they could accept Western knowledge without accepting Wester religion (Earhart 1982, 167).

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The fact that graduates of Christian schools were discriminated in hiring and promotion, especially in civil services, further undermined the merit of attending the schools founded by the missionaries. Furthermore, it was not uncommon for Christian schools to be targeted for vandalism and attacks by ultranationalists. Just as in education, the missionaries’ efforts in medical care as an indirect evangelical means were made ineffective in Japan. Japanese society was quick to adopt Western medical practice, not allowing the same missionary opportunities in Japan as it did in Korea. In addition, the missionary method utilised in Japan differed significantly from the one adopted in Korea. Instead of stressing independence and self-sufficiency, as was done in Korea, the missionaries in Japan “spoilt” the converts by doing too much for them, e.g., provision of well-furnished chapels and churches, and reimbursement of salaries to the native clergy, thereby making them dependent on foreign funds for virtually all of their operations. Moreover, unlike the missionary efforts in Korea that extended into remote villages, the missionaries in Japan largely focused their endeavour in large cities while the Japanese clergy were inclined toward the established work in urban centres, thereby fashioning Japanese Christianity as a scattered urban phenomenon. In the first five decades of Protestantism in Japan, the number of converts from the farming, fishing and labouring classes was negligible (Kerr 1949, 46). In fact, Protestantism in Japan failed to make an impact among the common people; instead the uprooted samurai, the townspeople, merchants and other professional men largely comprised early Protestants in Japan (Iglehart 1959, 345). Even today, churches are found predominantly in urban centres.

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3. Conclusion The phrase “human being’s extremity is God’s opportunity” could not have been more appropriate for the circumstances in Korea from 1884 to 1910, the year Japan annexed Korea. The warm receptivity accorded to Protestantism during this period coincided with protracted “hard times” induced by political turmoil, dire poverty, and oppressive social system. Acute feelings of despair engendered by the interminable social and national ills seem to have provided psychological impetus for a considerable number of Koreans to seek a satisfying response in the new faith. As the writings of the early missionaries reveal, a majority of early Korean Protestants acquired their faith out of deep-seated discontent and despair over the political, economic and social strains. What made Koreans turn receptive toward the new religion involved two particulars. First, with the country’s sovereignty at peril in the face of threats from the neighbouring countries, the ruling elite were disposed to establish a favourable relationship with Western powers by tolerating Christianity and showing deference to the missionaries. Under the good-will gestures of the Joseon government, the Church became one of the most important channels for expressing the Koreans’ collective aspirations for nationhood. Second, the Church’s role as the champion of the masses, including its provision of various social services, strengthened the appeal of the Christian faith among Koreans. What all of this shows is that, in the first two decades or so of the introduction of Protestant Christianity, ordinary Koreans’ favourable perception of the imported faith was largely induced by pervasive feelings of socio-economic deprivation and political discontent rather than by Christian doctrines alone.

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Indeed, a set of extraordinary circumstances during the first two and a half decades of the introduction of Protestantism, i.e., the SinoJapanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and Japan’s annexation of Korea, proved eminently favourable for the initial acceptance of Protestant Christianity in Korea. In a typical social reaction to dire socio-political circumstances and protracted “hard times,” a considerable number of Koreans embraced a new value system offering them hope and a way out of their misery. The imported Christian “alternative,” with its promise of eternal life and worldly success, thus became the salvation ethos for personal and national empowerment for growing numbers of Koreans. All of this shows that the compensatory and strain theories are strikingly germane to the analysis of the early success of Protestantism in Korea. It was indeed the political, economic, and social strains, as well as the accompanying feelings of deprivation and discontent, that inspired a nation-wide Protestant movement in Korea in the late nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth century. The potential explosive growth of Christianity in the country was, however, almost completely stifled by the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, as the colonial government carried out various measures to undermine the expansion of the influence of the new religion. Religious freedom following the liberation in 1945 did not lead to any appreciable growth of Christianity due to extreme political insecurity caused by, among others, the informal and formal division of the country into North and South Korea, the Korean War (1950– 1953), and threats of further invasion from the communist North. The real growth of Christianity on the peninsula would only take place under relatively more stable political and economic circumstances from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, which is the focus of the next chapter.

CHAPTER SIX THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY AMIDST RAPID URBANISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION

From 1964 to 1994, the number of Korean Protestants jumped nearly tenfold, while the total population increased by only about one and a half times. 1 This rapid growth of Christianity made Korea one of the most dynamic “Christian success” stories in the world. The period of the “conversion boom” coincides with the country’s rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, reflecting the fact that the new religion appealed greatly to urban-bound and modernity-inclined Koreans (see Lee, W. 1992, 1994; Kim, B. 1985, 1995; Ro and Nelson 1995). Throughout history, religion in many parts of the world prospered during times of chaos and upheaval. For Korea, it was the period of rapid social changes, i.e., urbanisation and industrialisation, that Protestantism experienced the most impressive growth. These socio-economic changes resulted in, among others, a large-scale rural-to-urban migration which in turn produced a large number of the urban poor, the breakdown of traditional extended families, the widespread anxiety due to the rapidity of social changes, and the increased relative deprivation felt by the poor in the face of increasing polarisation between the haves and the havenots. Many lived in slum areas or lived as illegal squatters and worked as unskilled

1 This chapter on the relationship between rapid industrialisation and urbanisation on the one hand and the rise of Protestantism on the other is based on Kim, A. (2002).

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manual labourers, being subjected to long hours of work and low income. Many also worked as street vendors, making a meager living. The underprivileged turned to the new religion to relieve their sense of insecurity and alienation. In this way, the church served as a sort of refuge for a large number of people, as it offered a message of consolation and hope as well as providing a sense of belonging, identity and fellowship. Ready with such message as “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), church became a familial community that provided much-needed practical services, such as for finding jobs and places to live or getting loans. The comfort and support offered by the church were of invaluable help to the people who were uprooted from their hometowns. All in all, the cut-throat competition and the callous nature of industrialising society served as push factors which galvanised people to seek refuge in the new religion, while the warm and compelling messages of salvation and intimate fellowship as well as practical help served as pull factors for the growth of Protestantism in Korea. 2 In view of the above observations, this chapter analyses nonreligious, contextual factors which facilitated the rapid expansion of Protestantism in Korea from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. In agreement with the arguments of Chapter Five, it is argued here that the acute sense of alienation resulting from massive rural-to-urban migration, abject poverty for a substantial segment of the populace, and the sense of relative deprivation arising from a widening income gap all had encouraged

2

James Grayson (1995a, 85–86) goes as far as to conclude that “without the spiritual support of Christianity....the Korean nation would have lacked the moral and social coherence to survive the massive pressures imposed upon it by the social and economic changes which have occurred over the past three decades.”

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a large number of Koreans, particularly the underprivileged classes, to embrace a new value system offering them hope and spiritual salvation (see Noh 1989; Kim, J. G. et al. 1982; Lee, W. 1997). As Keun-Won Park (1985, 51–52) writes: In viewing the growth phenomenon from the standpoint of a broader social and historical context we begin to appreciate yet another perspective that sees the Christian church as a provider of the needs of the Korean people. From its earliest days, the Christian church in Korea has contained elements that responded to the needs of the time. Basically, the Korean people as a whole accepted the Christian church without resistance, and our history records that even non-Christians viewed the newly emerging religion as appropriate and necessary, given prevailing conditions. The relationship between the Korean people, taking into account their basic cultural character and needs, and the Christian gospel has been strengthened by the conditions of hardship and tragedy. The basic conditions of life in Korea and the growing awareness of the gospel, which in itself offers both human inspiration and a positive message to humankind, brought about a strong identification with the church….The periods in which the church grew most dramatically appear to coincide with the occurrence of national turmoil, tragedy and uncertainty.

Like the considerable number of Koreans who embraced Protestantism in reaction to the strenuous political and social reality in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many Koreans in the post-war period warmly received the new religion because of harsh socio-economic conditions. The imported Christian alternative, with its promise of eternal life and worldly success, became the salvation ethos for personal empowerment for growing numbers of Koreans burdened by a troubled past and

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uncertainty in a world of rapid change. The compensatory and strain theories, which are discussed briefly in Chapter Five, are even more pertinent in elucidating the impressive growth of the new religion from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. As many testimonies from this period reveal (see Ko 1982, 1988; Bin 1989; Jang 1984), a considerable number of Korean Protestants seems to have acquired their faith as a means of psychological relief from deep-seated discontent and despair. In their yearning for spiritual comfort and security in a world of rapid change, many Koreans seem to have found in Protestant Christianity a vehicle for psychological comfort and sense of purpose in life.

1. Rapid Urbanisation and Church Growth As mentioned above, a contextual factor that coincides with the rapid church growth in Korea from the 1960s to the 1980s is rapid urbanisation, which preceded the country’s industrialisation and which took place in earnest following the liberation from Japan in 1945. Nearly two million Koreans returned to South Korea following the liberation, as returnees from China, Japan and Siberia, most of whom were sent there as forced labourers by the Japanese, settled in large cities: 1.3 million Koreans returned from Japan and nearly a half million Koreans returned from China (Kwon 1990). Refugees from the communist north, 3 numbering around one million, also settled in large cities, including Seoul. The extent of the pace of urbanisation 3

The Korean War forced more North Koreans to flee to the south. Among those who fled to the south, prior to and during the war, were a considerable number of Protestant Christians. Their settlement in the south itself served as a great boost to the rise of Protestantism in South Korea. As outsiders in the south, North Korean Protestant refugees tended to establish their own churches rather than joining the existing ones. Their relatively large number also meant that many new churches that were launched within the first decade of the liberation happened to be those initiated by them.

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during this period is attested to by the following data: the South Korean population in 1945 was 16 million, but it grew to 19 million by 1949, which amounts to an annual average increase of six percent, the highest in Korean history. Urbanisation became even more frantic in the 1960s and 1970s. Korea’s transition from the agricultural to an industrial economy and the deteriorating rural economy induced massive rural out-migration to cities, particularly Seoul. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the government economic policy promoted export-oriented industrialisation through the support of labour-intensive manufacturing firms, which were mostly located in the capital region and other cities. The rural-to-urban migration was also prompted by the fact that urban centres offered the allure of a higher living standard and a life of convenience. In the face of severe economic hardship in the countryside, moreover, there was immense pressure on the people, especially youths and young adults of working age, to move to cities to seek jobs and better opportunities. The aspiration for better education, which remained the primary means of success in Korea, also pushed people to migrate to cities, as schools in urban areas were believed to offer better education. The following figures demonstrate the rapidity of urbanisation from 1950 to 1990. In 1950, only 17.2 percent of the population lived in urban areas, but the figure jumped to 28.0 percent in 1960, 41.1 percent in 1970, 57.2 percent in 1980, and 74.4 percent in 1990 (see Table 6.1). The proportion of the Korean population living in urban areas thus increased more than four-fold between 1950 and 1990. According to a United Nations (1995) survey of 70 countries, no other country experienced such rapid pace of urbanisation, except for Saudi Arabia, whose urban population increased from 15.9 percent in 1950 to 80.2 percent in 1995. The rapid urbanisation

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of Korea is also shown in the following data: during the 1960–1995 period, the annual rate of population growth averaged 1.9 percent, while the average annual rate of urban growth was 5.3 percent during the same period. As insinuated above, one of the major features of urban migration in the 1960s and 1970s was the massive migration to just one city: Seoul. Between 1960 and 1970, for example, more than 65 percent of all migrants headed to Seoul (Kwon 1990, 156–157). While there had been a diversification in the destinations of rural migrants from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s— the population movement to Seoul decreased, while other cities, including Busan, began to grow considerably—the rural-to-urban migration continued unabated onto the 1980s. Many of these inbound migrants were poor farmers who ended up living in shantytowns, which dotted the landscape of many large cities, particularly Seoul and Busan. In fact, studies have shown that a large majority of low-income families living in urban areas from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s comprised of those who migrated from the countryside (Yun, J. 1986; Choi, I. 1984; Im 1979; Park, Y. 1984). Table 6.1: Changes in Urban/Rural Population, 1955–1990 Urban Population Rural Population Year Number in thousands % Number in thousands 1955 5,281 24.5 16,245 1966 9,805 33.6 19,388 1970 12,929 41.1 18,506 1975 16,794 48.4 17,913 1980 21,441 57.3 16,008 1985 26,417 65.3 14,001 1990 32,290 74.4 11,110 Source: Ministry of Strategy and Finance (1955–1990).

% 75.5 66.4 58.9 51.6 42.7 35.7 25.6

During this period of rapid urbanisation, a large number of those who migrated from rural areas to urban centres were found to have become

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Protestant Christians. In his study of Christians at 40 churches in Seoul in 1989, Won Gue Lee (1994, 260–261) found that nearly two-thirds (63.3 percent) of the respondents converted to Protestantism less than 20 years ago, having migrated from rural areas. A survey by the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development in 1980 also shows a similar trend. The survey shows that more than 70 percent of the Protestant respondents were born in rural areas and a similar proportion of the respondents grew up in rural areas until the age of 14 (see Table 6.2 and 6.3). Table 6.2: Place of Birth for the Laity, 1980 Place of Birth

Number of % Respondents Big city 286 14.43 Small- and mid-sized city 192 9.69 Rural area 1,399 70.55 Not relevant or no answer 106 5.33 Total 1,983 100.00 Source: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 48).

Table 6.3: Place Where the Laity Grew Up Until the Age of 14, 1980 Urban/Rural Areas

Number of % Respondents Big city 352 17.75 Small- and mid-sized city 166 8.38 Rural area 1,412 71.21 Not relevant or no answer 53 2.66 Total 1,983 100.00 Source: Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 48).

The massive rural-to-urban migration uprooted a large number of people from their close-knit communities, subjecting them to human relations that were largely characterised by transient, superficial, fragmented and anonymous contacts. Indeed, the rapid urbanisation largely “destroyed the traditional extended family structure that was the backbone

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of the rural societal stability and communal life” (Kim, B. 1985, 68). Typical interpersonal relations of urban centres were generally alienating for new urban dwellers, as they had to adapt to the new reality in which human relations were mostly impersonal and were increasingly based on competition and antagonism rather than cooperation and friendship. Also, a large majority of the new urbanites had little education and were poor. They comprised a large pool of cheap labour supply for the burgeoning economy, working as factory workers and manual labourers, earning meager wages. In a harsh urban environment, many of them moved around without a permanent settlement for reasons ranging from the lack of access to affordable housing to children’s education and job transfers. Caught in utilitarian social and interpersonal relations, they felt alienated, experienced the phenomenon of “loneliness in the crowd,” suffered from identity crisis, and longed for a sense of belonging. Won Gue Lee (1989, 312–315) delineates five characteristics of industrialised and urbanised society that can cause alienation which, in turn, can induce people to seek refuge in religion: heterogeneity, specialisation, anonymity and impersonality, standardisation, and bureaucracy. First, a city comprises of heterogeneous population, i.e., people with widely different backgrounds, interests, traditions, customs and worldviews. It is thus difficult for them to develop a sense of commonality. The specialisation of functions is a second characteristic of urban-industrial society. Work becomes specialised and compartmentalised, and an individual’s roles and tasks are circumscribed. An individual’s relationship with others is determined by, and restricted to, his or her specialised roles. Specialisation undermines the sense of community and communal concerns. Third, urbanindustrial society engenders anonymity and impersonality. With the concentration of population in crowded cities, people lose their individual

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identity and sense of belonging. An individual is judged not as a person but as the holder of a certain title or prestige or as a member of a group with which he or she has a special relationship, e.g., work. The increased anonymity can offer greater freedom, but the lack of concern for others can create the “loneliness in a crowd” phenomenon. Fourth is the standardisation of behaviour. Through the development of mass media, standardised behaviours and lifestyles can easily be promoted. Although thought patterns cannot be standardised, speech acts and the way people dress, eat and live are easily standardised. This is how popular culture is formed and how commercial standardisation of consumer behaviour occurs. In this way, people who cannot afford commodities that are in trend feel deprived. Fifth, urban-industrial society is further characterised by bureaucracy, where all the organisations are distinguished by strict hierarchy, rigid adherence to fixed rules and procedures, impersonal relationships, rational and efficient organisation, and a highly specialised division of labour. In the name of increased productivity and efficiency, human elements and personal relationships are sacrificed. Gigantic, bureaucratic organisations in urban centres thus divested people of individuality, depersonalised them, and forced them to be mechanically functioning humans. According to Won Gue Lee (1989), all of these characteristics of urban-industrial society collectively served as an important contextual factor which prompted many Koreans to turn to Protestantism. In the face of rapid urbanisation and its accompanying breakdown of traditional groups and values, people needed a new kind of community to make sense of, and adapt to, the changed reality. And it was the church which served as an outlet through which people gained a sense of identity and sense of belonging. Korean urban churches offered a network of communal support

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through which members can expect actual assistance in everyday matters, such as for securing a job, finding a place to live, moving, and even acquiring a quick loan. 4 Church attendance and involvement with church activities, such as the Sunday School, Bible study, various intra-church groups, and “area or home service,” provided communal or associational ties that furnished social solidarity and created a sense of community among the new believers. Indeed, churches provided a supportive environment for social relationships, whereby fellowships and friendships were nurtured and feelings of reassurance and encouragement were enhanced. In this way, churches became “havens for the masses,” and grouping into small units (i.e., cell groups) became a very useful means of retaining personal relationships and staving off the impersonality of the wider society. The church’s provision of communal networks was significant particularly in light of the traditional proclivity of Koreans to seek “personal community” in social interactions and everyday matters. Found within the congregation, such personal networks, through which members “exchanged” help, material resources, affection and loyalty, ensured the continuation of mutual help and socio-psychological security. As Wansang Han (1982, 169) writes: There were two social-psychological attributes that acted as push factors in the growth of Christianity in South Korea....First, when people lost their sense of identity due to the breakdown of traditional norms and values, 4 It was also during this time of the massive rural-to-urban migration that many “hometown churches” were founded in large cities, especially Seoul. Migrants from the same region formed a church or gathered at a particular church to revive the culture of their hometown (region) by using a distinct local dialect, sharing hometown cuisine and local memories, and exchanging social resources (Kim, K. 1997, 227). This is also when Christian groups or associations were formed along professional lines at local, provincial and national levels, such as those involving entertainers (TV and movie stars and entertainment personnel), sports personnel, scientists, and professors.

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Chapter Six they reacted positively to a Christianity that facilitated their wish to recover their identity. The greater the number of such identity seekers, the greater the growth of the church. Second, when people lost their sense of community [due to modernisation and urbanisation], they naturally sought a new kind of community. The greater the number of such community seekers, the greater the growth of the church.

As insinuated above, Han (1982, 185) argues that the appeal of the church derived largely from its role as a community, particularly its provision of communal feelings. As Han argues, community is akin to Tonnies’ Gemeinschaft, 5 Durkheim’s mechanical solidarity, 6 and Cooley’s primary group. 7 More specifically, Han (1982, 184–185) refers to three key aspects of community identified by McIver (1917), i.e., we-feeling, rolefeeling, and dependency-feeling. The we-feeling refers to a sense of belonging which increases the sense of empathy and sympathy through which members of the community share joy and pain. Shared happiness

5 Gemeinschaft is generally translated as “community,” distinguished by personal relationships, shared values and a strong sense of solidarity, as found in a small traditional community (Tonnies 1957). Gemeinschaft is often contrasted with Gesellschaft, meaning “association” or “society,” which is marked by formal and impersonal relationships, individualism, and the pursuit of self-interest. 6 Durkheim’s mechanical solidarity refers to a type of preindustrial society with small, homogeneous population, characterised by shared values among its members and strong group identity (Durkheim 1997). Mechanical solidarity gives way to organic solidarity when societies become larger and more complex. Main traits of the latter include complex division of labor (job specialisation), functional interdependence, impersonal social relationships and individualism. 7 Cooley’s primary group refers to a small group in which members maintain the relationship of “sympathy and mutual identification” and engage in intimate faceto-face interactions (Cooley 1909). A secondary group, on the other hand, is a larger group in which the members are rarely in direct contact and engage in more impersonal, specialised, contractual, transient and goal-oriented interactions.

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expands the felt joy among the members; when pain is shared, it is less painful. The Church, which was most successful in providing emotional support and consolation to those who were alienated in urban settings, grew at an astounding rate as a result of its consolation role. The Church provided not only the feeling of community but also a much-needed identity. There is no doubt that the churches that were more sympathetically attentive to interpersonal relations and social-psychological needs of belonging grew faster (Lee, W. 1992, 237ė238).

The role-feeling refers to the sense of role-playing in which members have a worthwhile role to play in the community and feel a sense of duty and responsibility as well as achievement. As they cooperate together in engaging in community activities, they develop and reaffirm their sense of identity. Kwangok Kim (1997, 228–229) writes: The churches have been successful in providing people with a mechanism for enjoying positions [roles] they cannot achieve outside the church. Various programmes involve not only people of social status but also those of marginal social background. Women with higher education and economic background devote much of their time to church activities. Thus, the church develops many activities, both religious and secular, in which people can experience an environment where people have equal access to opportunity regardless of sex and age. Bible study groups, visiting service teams, overnight and dawn prayer meetings, mass prayers for national security and prosperity, pilgrimages, sharing meals after Sunday service, public confession, and aid at the times of crisis are some of these activities. Socially marginal people are given roles, positions, and

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opportunities by which they achieve identity with fellow members across social and economic class lines.

The dependency-feeling is sense of safety and security one develops by depending on the community to provide stable relationships and support network. The community becomes a reference group and becomes something akin to a “home” in which members become part of a primary group, i.e., family members, and which protects the members from harm and other negative stimulants and liberates the members from anxiety. In addition to these three aspects of community, Han (1982, 185) adds his own hope-feeling as an important element of community. He argues that community should provide a sense of hope for its members, i.e., a hope that although the situation is difficult here and now, there is a hope in the future. Hope thus provides an additional reason for the continuing existence of the community. All of these elements of community are evident in Korean urban churches. In a way, it can be said that urbanisation had prompted Korean urban churches to change their missionary strategies in order to recruit new members, i.e., a provision of various social services which catered to the needs of urbanites. For example, in her study of Protestant churches in the Changsin area in Seoul, Jungyeon Lee (2014) finds that most churches in the area comprised of congregation members who were either refugees from the north or originally from rural areas and that they seem to have formed a kind of community in a new surrounding through these churches (Ibid., 238). The churches in the area are found to have adapted to the changing population structure and social milieu by introducing social services and new programmes, e.g., a marriage preparatory course, life education lessons, education for illiterates, scholarships, day care centres, etc., to make

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their presence relevant to the people in the area. This shows that a demand for religion arises not only from human longing for sanctity but also from mundane needs such as material aid, emotional support, life education, and counseling (Ibid., 254). The above discussion about the capacity of urban churches in Korea to serve its members’ needs, both spiritual and practical, bears unmistakable parallel with the role of “ethnic churches” or “immigrant churches” in helping immigrants adapt to the new environment in North America and Europe. The literature on the latter topic overwhelmingly show that immigrant churches provide stability for new immigrants as the church often acts like an extended family and creates a sense of community (Ebaugh and Chavetz 2000; Ebaugh and Pipes 2001; Kwon et al. 2001; Tsang 2015). Immigrant churches are also found to serve as a centre for social networks through which housing, employment and other vital services are attained. For example, in his analysis of Korean immigrant churches in New York City, Pyong Gap Min (1992) shows that they serve important social functions for church members. More specifically, Min argues that Korean ethnic churches serve four major social functions for their members and for the Korean community as a whole. First, Korean ethnic churches provide fellowship for their members, satisfying their need for social interactions and comfort as well as for a sense of belonging. The fact that a large majority of Korean immigrant churches are small allows for more intimate fellowship (Min, K. 1992, 1382). In this way, ethnic churches assume the role of “a pseudo-extended family” for large numbers of Korean immigrants (Kim, I. 1981, 199; cited from Min, K. 1992, 1382). Second, Korean immigrant churches serve as an outlet for the maintenance of Korean ethnic identity and cultural tradition. Third, Korean ethnic churches provide various social services for their members, including job

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information, help with business, help with housing or legal problems, counseling and educational services. Lastly, Korean ethnic churches provide opportunities for Korean adult immigrants to achieve leadership and positions of power within the church, such as elders and deacons. There are also other positions in the church which are sought after, such as executive positions for various groups based on ages and residential districts and for various task-oriented special committees. This is very meaningful for Korean church members as they are largely deprived of meaningful social status and social positions in the larger society. Similarly, in his comparative analysis of immigrant churches comprising of newcomers from Korea, ethnic Chinese, and Germans in Vancouver, Canada, David Ley (2008, 2057) finds that these ethnic churches serve as a “hub” in which “relations of trust and compatibility generate bonding social capital,” from which “a wide range of personal and social services is provided, significantly aiding co-ethnic members to adapt to their new conditions.” Ley (2008, 2063) explains that among the members of each ethnic church a singular identity is formed from shared biographies, i.e., relocation from homelands and anxieties about adjustment and jobs, and that common existential concerns bring them together: When they first arrive in Canada, they feel very much alone and scared. The church offers a community that will embrace them where they are at, Christian or not Christian. The church offers cooked meals, places to rest when looking for a new place to rent or buy a home, advice on the educational system….The church becomes their home.

A study of Puerto-Ricans attending Pentecostal churches in New York City also reveals that one’s membership in a religious organisation can

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become a means to deal with anomie (Problete and O’Dea 1960). Problete and O’Dea (1960, 25–26) show that these immigrants joined Pentecostal churches as “a reaction to the anomie involved in migration.” The study describes how Puerto-Rican migrants felt a deep sense of alienation as they were uprooted from their close-knit families and replanted in a foreign environment, being ill-treated often. The study points out that the period they joined a church is when they felt lonely and lost in the large metropolis. Conversion meant “regeneration”—a fundamental break with the past, solidarity with the new group and identification with its values. The study concludes that joining a church represented the individual’s reaction to her/his need for fellowship and solidarity as well as her/his search for new ideals and values; it was thus an “attempt to redevelop the community in the new urban situation” (Ibid., 29). All of these discussions on social functions of Korean urban churches and immigrant churches in North America are congruent with the views of both Durkheim and Weber. Durkheim (1965) saw the primary role of religion as not only reaffirming society’s values, norms and social relationships but also binding people together, bringing them closer, and helping them develop their identity by providing a sense of belonging and meaning in life. Weber (1968) viewed religion primarily as a response to basic human needs, i.e., religion fulfills the social needs of human beings. Much like new sects which arise during periods of rapid social change (see Wilson 1970), Korean Protestantism arose following the disruption of stable social relationships that came about due to rapid urbanisation. Uprooted from the close-knit community of rural life and living in the chaotic, crowded urban areas, many Koreans turned to Protestantism to better adjust to a harsh environment.

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2. Industrialisation, Economic Deprivation and Compensatory Role of Christianity In addition to the profound sense of alienation felt by those who were uprooted from the close-knit community of rural areas, an important psychological impetus that accounts for the surge of Protestantism during the conversion boom period was the perceived deprivation felt by the underprivileged, including women, factory workers and manual labourers. To begin with, a large number of those who migrated to urban centres were poor farmers and their children. With relatively low level of educational attainment, most of them found jobs as unskilled manual labourers, receiving meager wages. Many of them lived in shacks, slums, and illegal settlements where they lived in constant fear of eviction. A main reason why these migrants flocked to urban centres was the availability of jobs in factories that came about following the launch of the state-sponsored industrialisation in the early 1960s. Indeed, since the early 1960s, the consuming concern of the succession of authoritarian regimes in Korea was industrialisation, steered by export-oriented economic policies and labourintensive manufacturing. Because Korea’s economic success depended on keeping wages low, i.e., the international competitiveness of Korean exports during this period was low price, the state had sustained extremely austere anti-labour laws, effectively maintaining the downward pressure on wages. The workers themselves were subjected to poor, often dangerous, working conditions and had to endure the longest work week in the world for decades. Such “guided capitalism” resulted in the country’s rapid economic growth. For example, Korea’s GDP jumped more than 72-times between 1960 and 1990, increasing from $3.9 billion in 1960 to $9 billion in 1970, $65 billion in 1980, and $283 billion in 1990. Similarly, the country’s per capita income increased from $79 in 1960 to $254 in 1970, $1,645 in 1980,

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and $6,147 in 1990, a 77-fold increase during the 30-year period. However, this economic growth was achieved at the cost of economically polarising Korean society. For example, the richest fifth of the Korean population had their wealth increased from 41.6 per cent of the total in 1971 to 46.7 per cent in 1980, while the poorest fifth experienced a decrease from 19.6 to 15.4 per cent during the same period (Lee, W. 1992, 71). 8 The income gap also reflected a similar tendency. In 1989, the richest fifth earned 43.7 per cent of the total income, while the poorest two-fifths earned only 17.7 per cent (Ibid., 96). The extent of economic inequality was even wider in regard to assets: the richest fifth possessed over 60 percent of the total assets in 1989, while the poorest two-fifths owned only 6.4 percent of the total. The widening gap among socio-economic classes was so evident that even the emerging middle class began to feel the sense of deprivation. According to a 1989 survey, 65.5 percent of the population felt relatively deprived (Korean Labor Research Institute and Social Science Research Centre of the Seoul National University, 1989). Although the economic growth reduced the number of the poor and increased the overall living standard of the general populace, the end result was an uneven distribution of wealth and an intensified sense of relative deprivation. That is, while it is undoubtedly true that the objective economic conditions of the lower classes in Korea had improved during the period of industrialisation, these improvements had been far greater for the rich and the privileged. Such widening gap between the rich and the poor induced a large number of those belonging to lower socio-economic

8 The gap would have been much higher if the top-earning fifth had reported their earnings more honestly. The self–employed in Korea, including doctors, dentists, lawyers and accountants as well as business owners, had been infamous for underreporting their income in order to pay lower tax.

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classes—a middle class was just beginning to enlarge at this point—to feel that they were not adequately compensated for their “sacrifice.” The perceived injustice in seeing only the members of the upper-middle class enjoying the fruits of industrialisation engendered a profound sense of relative deprivation for the emerging middle class and for the underprivileged. Next to the economic deprivation, it was housing, a consuming concern of Koreans, that engendered much bitterness among Koreans. The urban housing crisis, brought on by a massive migration to cities during the period of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, was exacerbated by unchecked land speculation. In 1989, for example, the richest 5 percent owned 65.2 percent of all private land, while the poorest three-fourths of the population owned only 9.2 percent (Lee, W. 1992, 96). 9 Land speculation was so rampant that the income from land investment amounted to a startling 36 percent of GNP in 1987 alone. Furthermore, while the average income increased only 2.8 times between 1974 and 1988, the price of land increased more than ten-fold (Ibid.). The figure is even more astounding for the six largest cities in Korea where the average price of real estate increased 20.8 times during the same period. As a consequence, the rate of housing supply in Korea was reduced from 78.2 percent in 1966 to 53.5 percent in 1980 (Ibid., 71). Because the residential congestion and land speculation drastically inflated the price of all urban land, particularly in Seoul, owning one’s own house or apartment was out of reach for the vast majority of the members of lower classes. The cost of rent, in the form of jeonse (a twoyear lease of a house or an apartment for a large, lump sum deposit that is

9

Big conglomerates invested heavily in land too. With vast capital resources, they played a major role in land speculation, leading to continual rises in the price of land in Korea.

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repaid to the renter in full upon termination), soared too, denying many people from having access to affordable housing. For the lower classes and even a considerable proportion of the middle class, their inability to own a house, long prized as a symbol of financial and social status, or to live, at least, in jeonse housing, caused much grievance and agony. It is no coincidence that Yoido Full Gospel Church had its auspicious beginning in an area where many residents lived in shacks and shanties. It is also noteworthy that a considerable number of “successful” churches in Korea had their beginning in poor areas under similar residential conditions. In addition to such economic inequality and housing insecurity, what made life in Korea harsh for the masses was that there had been practically no welfare benefit of any kind until the early 1990s. As was the case with practically every developing country in the world at the time, each citizen in Korea was fully responsible for the welfare of her or his own life and immediate family members, from cradle to grave. Medical care was only available to those who could afford it. Poor families burdened with a family member who was gravely ill or in need of long-term medical care had no other recourse but to attend to her or him on their own. The welfare of the elderly, no matter how poor, was fully in the hands of their children. The government also did not provide adequate relief for the poor in education. With the exception of elementary education, tuition fees, which amounted to a considerable sum of money for lower classes, were required for every other level of education. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was not uncommon for teenagers of poor families to start working because they could not afford even middle school tuitions. In addition, the absence of a student-loan programme made it difficult for young men and women from poor families to obtain a college education, the surest way of achieving success in Korea’s education-frenzied society.

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The widespread diffusion of materialistic values, which was an outgrowth, intended or unintended, of the government-sponsored ideology of economic growth, also aggravated the sense of relative deprivation. The economic growth was advanced as an absolute national goal that needs to be achieved to overcome many social ills, including hunger and poverty. As the goal of economic growth gained supreme importance, economic success became not only a national goal but also a personal aspiration, while social values such as equality and welfare for the poor were simply set aside. In the context of such strong societal and individual orientation toward material gains, there were many Koreans who were still poor and who were not reaping the benefits of the economic growth. All of this induced a strong sense of insecurity and anxiety as well as discontent, particularly among members of lower socio-economic class. The problem was, while Korean society placed a high emphasis on material success, the social structure severely restricted the opportunities of lower class, which comprised a large majority of the population at the time, to achieve this goal. Such disjunction between the goals or values of society and the institutional means of achieving them seem to have galvanised many members of lower class to accept Protestantism as compensation. 10 The problematic economic conditions of Korea, people’s perceived sense of deprivation—most conspicuously felt in the exorbitantly expensive housing, lack of affordable housing, and distressed neighbourhoods—and their longing for “compensation” helped churches to grow and expand. The sense of deprivation became intensified as many Koreans felt the limitation of their ability and means to reach their goals. Protestant Christianity had been

10

This does not mean, however, Christianity drew its converts exclusively from lower class. A considerable proportion of Christians was drawn from academics, intellectuals, politicians and the middle to upper-middle classes.

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thus embraced by many Koreans as a response to the felt sense of deprivation, both absolute and relative, and other psychological afflictions, including the sense of powerlessness. In this sense, their conversion to the new religion was a reaction to their exclusion from the prosperity of society. Not surprisingly, poverty and concomitant hardships were two of the most salient themes of any collection of testimonies by Korean Christians (see Ko 1982, 1988; Jang, G. 1984; Bin 1989; Kim, J. 1981). There was also a monthly magazine that, at least in the beginning, almost specialised in publishing Christian testimonies. First published in 1967, Sinanggye (World of Faith), 11 a leading Christian monthly magazine that was founded by Yoido Full Gospel Church, published many testimonies of how personal hardships prompted many people to turn to Christianity for peace of mind and new purpose of life (Park, M. 2004). A perusal through the testimonies found in the magazine shows that a central motive for becoming a Christian was to “seek faith to overcome obstacles in life” (Ibid., 38; see Pak 1981, 1982). Many testimonies of Korean Protestants from the 1960–1990 period indeed reveal that their poverty and hopelessness, often combined with their personal traumatic experience over the “problem of meaning,” such as their own illness or the death or illness of close kin, inspired them to seek a satisfying response in Christian doctrines. Personal hardships caused by dire poverty, including their sense of shame for not being able to obtain middle school or high school education, because their families were too poor to pay for tuition fees, were also a recurrent theme in these testimonies, showing that poverty was one of the main factors that inspired many Koreans to seek comfort and peace

11 The magazine has had the largest circulation among Christian magazines and was renamed Plusinsaeng (Plus Life) in 2008.

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of mind from the church. Here are some examples from edited volumes on testimonies (Ko 1982, 1988): Myungsoon Choi said: ….I had to give up studying because my family was poor. After working as a farm helper, I left my hometown for Seoul to learn skills. I started working in a factory which manufactured women’s clothes. I felt miserable, and became angry at my parents, every time I saw girls my age walking to school….I got to know Christ right after I switched to a different factory after working at several factories for about five years. The owner lady was so different from other owners I have known. In the way she treated other people and the kind of love I felt from her was something I wanted to emulate. I found out that she went to church and I wanted to be like her, so I followed….(Ko 1988, 205–206).

Geumjae Lee said: I got to go to church through my friend. At the time, I was going through a very hard time, because I could not move on to high school, because my family was poor. He comforted me and invited me to go to his church. When I went to the church, everyone welcomed me warmly and I felt the kind of love that I never felt elsewhere as I was impressed by their modesty and was thankful for the way the pastor prayed for a sinner like me. I vaguely understood what God’s love is like and where he is. Deeply moved by the whole experience, I began to attend the church regularly, realising the true meaning of life and attaining a peace of mind.….(Ko 1982, 61).

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Byeongyun Yoo said: I was born into a poor farmer’s family with three sons and daughters. As the second son, I barely finished elementary school before moving to an urban area to work as a delivery person. I soon began to hang out with a neighbourhood gang. My impoverished background and disadvantaged life made me become rebellious and made it easy for me to join the gang. I did all the wicked things for the next two years….I hung out at bus terminals, using my threat of violence to force people to pay me….People started calling me girllae (rag or mop). One day, I was caught for reckless driving and was sent to prison for seven months. After I got out, I only had my temper left, as my girlfriend was gone and I had no place to go. This is when I met a Christian woman who was working as a street vender selling donuts. She was leading a very difficult life of her own, as her husband was bed-ridden from a stroke and her daughter was stricken with polio. And yet she was always in smile and was very kind to me, a drunkard. I was soon moved by her kindness and started going to her church. Hesitant at first, I soon found a peace of mind and started leading a whole new life (Ko 1982, 15–16).

Sang-gyeong Han said: I am a girl from a very poor family. I started working at a factory when I was in grade 5. We were so poor that we always had barley for our meals….Beginning of each semester was tormenting because our family did not have money for tuition. However, I was able to obtain scholarship, which got me through the middle school. The fortune did not last for high school education. I was the second best in my graduating class, but scholarship was available only for the valedictorian....I had to give up going to high school, but God found a way out of misery for me. Through an acquaintance, I was introduced to a deacon…., for whom I started

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working as a maid….I can start going to night school from next year. It is sad to be away from my family, but I have increasingly sought God as if he is my family (Ko 1982, 26).

As explained in Chapter Four, the fact that Korean Protestantism was partially reshaped in the image of shamanism, especially its emphasis on prosperity and material blessings, made the imported faith even more appealing to the economically deprived (Kim, A. 2000). Accordingly, churches which emphasised material blessings for converting to the new religion experienced noticeable growths. An excellent example is Yoido Full Gospel Church, which, as noted above, started out as a tent church but established itself as the world’s largest church (see Han, W. 1982). To reiterate, the church’s central message that attracted large audiences—and inspired other pastors to emulate—was the “theology of prosperity,” that the acceptance of the Holy Spirit can mean that one is, besides being blessed with salvation in the next life, graced with health and materialistic successes in this world. The “gospel of success” nourished Koreans’ aspirations toward better living standards and improved position within the existing system. Of course, the new religion did not actually solve their problems, but it provided them with a sense of compensation for the setback and frustration they felt. Protestant Christianity’s appeal also came from the apparent contemporary relevance of the biblical accounts of the suffering of the powerless and of the poor. For example, many Koreans believed, as their pastors expressed repeatedly in their sermons, that their own sufferings and feelings of frustration, despair and han 12 paralleled biblical depictions of the

12 One of the most interesting and important factors in explaining the disposition and behaviour of Koreans, including their receptivity to Protestantism, is han, a Korean

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ordeals of the Israelites under Egyptian tyranny. The underprivileged were in desperate need of dogma which could supply them with a sense of hope that they could soon escape their state of despair. Slowly but assuredly, they found that belief and new hope in Protestant Christianity, embracing it not only as a new spiritual means to shed their sense of stagnation and defeat but also as a dynamic and energetic spiritual foundation of life which could inspire a new beginning. And this “new hope,” born out of the conditions of adversity and misery, and the very real human expectation that hopes could be attained through the strength of a new religious movement had given powerful impetus to the phenomenal growth of Protestantism in Korea. Under the urging of their pastors, moreover, many Korean Protestants were persuaded to believe that they are “now the chosen people of God” and that they “are under the special providence of God.” The idea that God has a special relationship with the South Koreans has always been attractive. The early Western missionaries cultivated it as a form of moral building, praising Korean Christians for their steadfastness during the dark years of the Japanese occupation. Korean church leaders themselves—those who survived the occupation, Kim Il-sung, and the Korean War—often referred to their deliverance in terms of the “manifest destiny” of the Korean church to set an example for the world (Clark, D. 1997, 184). word which expresses a feeling of unresolved bitterness against injustices suffered, a sense of helplessness, and a sense of regret, grief, remorse, grievance or grudge (see Lee, J. H., 1994). These feelings arise from an accumulated sense of discontent and frustration and from repeated deprivation of basic human needs. In fact, han is widely recognised as one of the very distinctive psychic states of the Korean people (it is not implied here that the sentiment of han is limited to Koreans). As Suh Namdong (1981) maintains, the real voice of Koreans is “a sound of han” and the real biography of Koreans is “a story of han,” being filled with the mourning sound of han of those who suffered from foreign invasion, war, oppression, disease, poverty and starvation.

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Also, the fact that the church provided practical benefits, especially for the needy, helped facilitate the acceptance of the new religion among the populace. In fact, churches as a whole were the only organisation which provided a wide array of practical aid to the needy people (Kim, B. 1985; Lee, W. 1994). Many churches provided, among others, financial and material aid to families headed by minors, provided material aid to poor families, provided tutoring for children of poor families, offered for free the use of church buildings for weddings for those who cannot afford renting expensive wedding halls, provided free or low-cost nursery service for poor families, collected used furniture and clothing to be redistributed to the needy, offered various types of counseling for the needy, established ties with orphanages and nursing homes through which churches provided material help, helped people find jobs, offered night school for a minimal fee, provided continuing education for adults and for the elderly for free or for a minimal fee, and housed a library for neighbours. Although the following is an account of a typical medical missionary work carried out in the 1960s, it is safe to say that it captures the spirit of the church in helping the poor, past and present: “At the centre of all our hospital work….is….evangelistic effort.” [quotation marks in the original] The staff is voluntarily organised into a “preaching society,” in which all participate. A typical medicalevangelistic mobile clinic trip included four doctors, two nurses, one pharmacist, one hospital chaplain and a driver-mechanic. The group took a week’s exhausting trek through three provinces, treating patients in the villages, holding roadside demonstrations on health problems, giving medical lectures, making health surveys, and holding evangelical services every night. They worked from daybreak prayer meeting time until midnight. More than 1,200 patients were given free treatments, and

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hundreds asked to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the doctors and nurses spoke so freely (Moffett 1962, 167–168).

Traditionally, religion has functioned as the most powerful compensation mechanism for deprivation (Glock 1964). The present Korean case study supports the thesis of, among others, Bourque and Back (1968, 38) that religious experiences are “structured group attempts to overcome feelings of frustration and alienation.” Korean churches’ promise of material blessing and their messages of hopeful alternative comforted the people, provided them with a sense of hope, and served as a source of empowerment for those who felt deprived. The dignity afforded to poverty and suffering—Jesus Christ himself, as the Korean clergy have stressed, was poor and had to endure sufferings—provided further sense of spiritual relief to potential converts. The idea that all human beings, regardless of how dejected their situation, could be saved by the mercy of an omnipotent God appealed greatly to the socially disadvantaged groups. Many churches also embraced the “can-do” mentality and “positive thinking” of the renowned televangelist Robert Shuller, encouraging Christians to achieve great things through God and instilling hope with the promise of material blessing.

3. Conclusion The period of the greatest growth for the Protestant Church in Korea was from the early 1960s through to the end of the 1980s, during which the nation underwent a rapid urbanisation and achieved remarkable economic growth. During this period of the “conversion boom,” the number of Korean Protestants doubled every decade, as they comprised nearly 20 percent of

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the country’s total population of 42 million in 1989. Social and socialpsychological conditions characteristic of the modern development period, such as the breakdown of traditional values and the profound sense of deprivation over economic disparity, served as contributing factors for the extraordinary surge of Protestant Christianity in the country. The chapter highlighted the fact that urban churches in Korea were like ethnic churches in North America, whereby these churches were much more than places of worship. They acted as a hub from which church members found fellowship, complete with a sense of identity and belonging. Immigrant churches were also where they received practical help, ranging from information on job and housing to counseling. In the case of Korea, the social functions of the church allowed church members to cope better with the alienating circumstances of urban-industrial society. Indeed, during the period of rapid social changes, Korean churches functioned as a refuge where people could cope with their social insecurity, psychological anxiety and frustrations from daily life. For new city dwellers, many of whom were urban poor, the church was their family and community centre as well as the centre of social life and interactions. The church satisfied their need for primary social interactions. Christian messages offered a sense of consolation and hope with which the people found the courage to live in the chaotic environment of the cities. For many Korean Protestants, turning to the new religion was a coping mechanism, i.e., to find psychological relief from social and economic misery. By offering fellowship and group activities, moreover, the church satisfied the traditional propensity of Koreans to seek “personal community,” which refers to “personal networks through which persons or members exchange help, affection, loyalty, status symbols, material resources and flattery” (Kim, I. 1985, 229). As David Martin (1990, 155) has perceptively remarked, Korean churches offered

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“hope, therapy, community—and a network,” helping people to cope with the anomie, chaos and alienation of city life. In his observation of the role of church in urban settings, Kwang-ok Kim (1997, 227) writes: ….the church provided a support structure for those who lacked the social networks based on kinship and friendships so vital to Korean society. Psychological and emotional ties among fellow members were among the most attractive merits a church could provide its adherents. These social networks for mutual aid became one of the important adaptive mechanisms for urban migrants in the midst of rapid and radical socioeconomic changes.

PART FOUR: THE CHURCH GROWTH MOVEMENT AND THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER SEVEN THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH GROWTH MOVEMENT, EFFECTIVE METHODS OF EVANGELISM, AND CHURCH INDIVIDUALISM

In this chapter, church-related factors, which have facilitated the remarkable growth of Protestant Christianity in Korea, are discussed (see Noh, C. 1995). 1 According to Won Gue Lee (1994, 182–183), there are four main aspects and activities (or programmes) of the church which facilitated the growth of the new religion in Korea. First is the adoption of the ideology of, and movement for, church growth. In particular, the church growth theory of Fuller School, which was introduced to Korea since the 1970s, provided an ideological background, guideline and strategies for realising church growth. Second, various church programmes, including the Bible study programme and home cell unit meetings, proved to be effective in not only recruiting new converts but also vitalising the fellowship of the congregation. Indeed, Korean Protestant churches as a whole were able to take full advantage of their organisational skills and resources to implement highly efficient evangelical strategies to convert large numbers of Koreans. They not only initiated and operated the most effective evangelical

1 This chapter on the role of the church in the growth of Korean Protestantism is based on Kim, A. (2000b).

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programmes for the purpose of building their memberships but also trained pastors and lay persons to evangelise effectively. To become more efficient in ministry, for example, churches expanded Sunday Schools, initiated various courses of religious education, institutionalised Bible study, established new areas for evangelism, such as factories and the armed forces, and formulated principles and methods for continuous growth of memberships. Third, revivals, the Holy Spirit movement and healing movement at all levels of involvement, i.e., individual church, local, denominational, and national, constantly awakened the people’s zeal for evangelism and contributed to church growth. Lastly, the structural characteristic of the Korean church, which is strongly influenced by the Nevius method of church planting, played a significant role in the expansion of Protestantism. The emphasis on self-support, self-government and selfpropagation has bred the tendency of Korean churches to be very individualistic, putting all the energy and effort into building a larger and more vibrant individual church rather than pursuing common goals. This “competition” among churches had ironically led to church growth. There have been many case studies which have analysed various activities and programmes of the church that contributed to the building of “successful” churches in Korea (Lee, J. B. 1996; Kang, J. 1983; Shin, H. 2006; Lee, S. 2005; Choe, Y. 1996; Park, J. 1984). For example, Junggyu Kang (1983) surveyed seven large churches in and outside of Seoul and identified various factors that made the difference in allowing these churches to grow larger than others. Those factors included, among others, commitment to growth, effective leadership, efficient organisation, wideranging evangelical strategies, including the Sunday School, diverse and systematic educational and training courses, fervent revival meetings, and

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intimate fellowship activities. The findings of the study are in full agreement with the Lee’s arguments above. In view of the observations above, the chapter argues that effective methods of evangelism and intense competitions among individual churches both played important roles in establishing Protestantism as a major religion in Korea by the end of the 1980s. And central to the role of church itself in facilitating its quantitative growth is the widespread acceptance of the “Church Growth Movement.”

1. The Church Growth Movement Korean churches’ commitment to organisational efficiency and effective strategies in evangelism began with their strong advocacy of the Church Growth Movement that began in the United States in 1955. The movement conceptualises church growth as a discipline which essentially explores the nature, function, planting, and effectiveness of Christian churches in relation to their evangelical efforts. The book which became the foundational work of church growth as a modern movement is The Bridges of God (1955) in which McGavran outlines four areas of mission that are needed to realise church growth: theological, ethical, missiological, and procedural (see also MacGavran 1959, 1976; Rainer 1993; Powell 1982). Theologically, as the book argues, the central goal of missions should be viewed as God’s will and that every member of the church should become actively involved in evangelical efforts. The ethical issue pertains to the accountability of missionary efforts, which, as McGavran argues, should be evaluated largely by numerical results. The missiological issue concerns what he has termed people movement theory. In contrast to most of Western missionaries who preached an individualistic gospel, he argues that important decisions, such as conversion to an imported faith, are largely

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community decisions. The best means of approaching the world’s people with the gospel is thus through the encouragement of a collective conversion process in which members of families, clans, and villages would become Christians at the same time. A related theory is the homogeneous unit principle. McGavran (1980, 198) argues that conversion should occur with a minimal social dislocation, as people like to convert without crossing racial, class or other barriers. Finally, the procedural issue emphasises “discipling,” the process of bringing unbelievers to commit to Christ and to active fellowship in the church. The discipling is then followed by “perfecting,” a lifelong process of spiritual and ethical development in the adherents’ lives. Church growth can also be achieved in four different ways (McGavran and Hunter 1980). First is “organic growth” or internal growth, in which a qualitative improvement among the existing congregation members is pursued. For internal growth, prayers, bible studies, sacrament, fellowship and submission to god’s will are emphasised. Second is “expansion growth,” which refers to a quantitative growth of a congregation by adding new members. Expansion growth includes a “biological growth”—a natural addition of children born to existing members; “transfer growth”—people who switch from one church to another; and “conversion growth”—addition of new members who convert. Third, “extension growth” refers to the planting of new congregations. Lastly, “bridging growth” is a special case of extension growth in which a church is established within a cultural tradition that does not yet have any indigenous church. The most important type of growth for the advocates of the Church Growth Movement is expansion growth, particularly conversion growth (Ibid., 43). Their focus on church growth extends to the point that even the ultimate goal of internal growth is viewed as a means of church growth.

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Reflecting on “healthy churches,” Peter Wagner (1976) presents seven signs that are indicators of ecclesiastical good health which, in turn, are advanced as requirements for achieving church growth: 1) the pastor who wants church growth is ready to makes sacrifices for it and works hard for the goal; 2) there are members of the congregation who can be mobilised and utilised for church growth; 3) church size should be large, so that a lot of work can be done for church growth; 4) there should be a balance in the structure and functions among church groups and fellowship groups; (5) church should be a “homogeneous unit,” comprising members who have similar backgrounds and interests, i.e., it is important that people “feel at home” and congregations must be built from homogeneous groups of people; 6) effective evangelical methods should be used; and 7) priorities should be given to evangelism rather than social services or concerns. Similarly, Robert Logan (1989, 17) believes that effective churches are healthy churches and that healthy churches are growing churches. He proposes ten principles for developing effective churches: 1) visionary faith and prayer; 2) effective pastoral leadership; 3) culturally relevant philosophy of ministry; 4) celebrative and reflective worship; 5) holistic disciple-making; 6) expanding network of cell groups; 7) developing and resourcing leaders; 8) mobilising believers according to spiritual gifts; 9) appropriate and productive programming; and 10) starting churches that reproduce. At the centre of the Church Growth Movement is, therefore, evangelism, emphasising the notion that converting non-Christians to Christianity is paramount. Church growth is also seen as a process rather than a one-time event (Hunter 1979, 29). Church growth entails both shortand long-term plans, including daily and annual plans, and requires time, vision, materials, human resources and programmes to carry out goals and

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objectives. In addition, a unique characteristic of the Church Growth Movement is that it goes beyond theological discussion by utilising scholarly insights, including those from anthropology, sociology, psychology and even statistics, to achieve its means. In trying to learn the best way of proselytising, it does not shy away from using sociological methods to discern social, cultural and social factors that can affect receptivity to the Christian gospel among potential converts. These guiding principles have informed the works of the advocates of the Church Growth Movement, including Waskom Pickett (1963), Alan Tippett (1970), Wendell Belew (1971), Harold Fickett (1972), and C. Peter Wagner (1979, 1981), who have delineated various church-growth precepts, such as the importance of prayer ministry, a systematic Bible class system, the Sunday School, lay-witness training, competent leadership, and effective evangelical strategies. They also describe the most appropriate ways to implement these programmes at the level of local church. 2 Of course, the principles of the Church Growth Movement cannot be held entirely accountable for the rapid growth of Protestantism in Korea. It is also true that some of the aforementioned evangelical strategies had been in place prior to the beginning of the Church Growth Movement. However, there is no doubt that it exerted an enormous influence on practically every organisational aspect of Korean churches during the period of “conversion boom,” i.e., from the early 1960s to the end of 1980s (Ahn, G. 2009). Its

2

It should be noted that the church growth theory also has negative implications. The Church Growth Movement is criticised as being “only about numbers” and as being “success” oriented, i.e., church growth has just meant quantitative growth, rather than qualitative, spiritual growth. Many also view it as a vulgarisation of evangelism, for the movement advocates calculated (“scientific”) and even opportunistic methods to bring more people to church. With the movement, church growth became the end in itself, leading to what is called “growth reductionism” and “growth myth” (Baum 1975).

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greatest impact had probably been the provision of theological justification for church growth, particularly the notion that church growth should be pursued as God’s command. In addition to galvanising Christians to view church growth in a very positive light, the movement provided ideas, guidelines and practical strategies to achieve growth. The church growth theory of Fuller School (or “Fuller Seminary doctrine”), which was introduced to Korea in the 1970s, particularly had a major impact on the Church Growth Movement in Korea. The theory provided churches with the ideological and doctrinal base as well as concrete strategic models and methods to achieve systematic growth (Lee, W. 1994, 185–192).

3

Accordingly, evangelisation became the most important goal for Korean churches, renewing the enthusiasm for evangelical work and revival movement. This emphasis on evangelical efforts resulted in more efforts put into lay training, which allowed lay Protestant Christians to become more effective in proselytising. Because the movement emphasises the centrality of the Bible in Christian life and the importance of the Bible study, practically every Korean Protestant church implemented various Bible study programmes for a wide range of groups divided according to age, occupation, gender, etc. It also prompted Korean Protestants to study the Bible with more enthusiasm. The movement’s emphasis on evangelisation was also instrumental in revitalising and expanding the revival meetings at local, regional and national levels, which were effective means to reaffirm the Christians’ faith, to train them for better evangelical efforts, and to bring potential converts.

3

As Won Gue Lee (1994, 185) observes, it is interesting to note that the church growth theory that emerged in the United States was more welcomed and more widely practiced in Korea.

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As insinuated above, the Church Growth Movement was most enthusiastically embraced by both Korean denominations and churches. Denominations adopted annual targets of how many new churches to build and how many new members to recruit. For example, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in 1984, leading denominations set growth goals: The Presbyterian Church of Korea (Daehanyesugyojangrohoe or Yejangtonghap) set a goal of expanding the total number of member churches to 10,000 and memberships to 4 million; the Korean Methodist Church (Gidokgyodaehangamlihoe or Gigam), 7,000 churches and 2 million members; the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (Hangukgidokgyojangrohoe or Gijang), 3,000 churches and 800,000 members; Korea Evangelic Holiness Church (Gidokgyodaehanseonggyeolgyohoe or Giseong), 10,000 churches and 3 million members; and the Methodist Denomination, 5,000 churches and 1 million members (see Kim, J. 1995). Denominations also held seminars and educational programmes to introduce clergy to the concrete, effective strategies to attract more people to the church. Prompted by their denominations, churches adopted annual targets of how many new members to add to the congregation, constantly reminding the members of the target and prodding them to bring relatives, friends and aquaintances to the church. For church growth, they set out both short- and long-term plans, including monthly and annual plans, devised and implemented various programmes, provided material support and utilised human resources. The fact that church staff members and lay persons were exposed to at least some aspects of the Church Growth Movement provided further momentum. The movement also provided a strong motivation for Korean pastors to achieve church growth, as they who found theological and practical rationales for it. As a result, Korean

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churches as a whole enthusiastically applied church-growth principles with an unprecedented degree of success. For example, in his analysis of nine of the fastest-grown churches in South Korea, including Yoido Full Gospel Church (500,000 members in 1989), Yongnak Presbyterian Church (60,000 members in 1984), and Kwanglim Methodist Church (25,000 members in 1985), Moonsok Kang (1992) found that they all deliberately utilised church-growth precepts to accomplish impressive growth. These churches were found to have a capable leadership, effective lay training structure, systematic prayer meetings and groups, extensive and thorough Bible class system, frequent revival meetings, and extensive Sunday School programmes. Similar studies by J. Kang (1983), B. Hwang (1990), M. Suh (1981) and J. B. Lee (1996) have also revealed the significance of churchgrowth principles in the expansion of Korean Protestantism.

2. Effective Method of Evangelism and Church Growth One of the biggest reasons for the success of Korean Protestantism has to do with its structural or organisational character. Confucianism and Buddhism are non-communal religions: the adherents of these religions seldom meet or only on occasions and there is no real community to speak of. Buddhism, in particular, is a very private religion in which one prays to Buddha on his or her own either at home or temple; there is no real ritual for which Buddhists are required to engage in with other Buddhists on a regular basis. For shamanism, there is not even an occasional meeting among its adherents, for the patrons call upon a shaman only when a misfortune begets them or when they wish to usher in a good fortune by holding a shamanic ritual. And the participants of the ritual are typically just family members, although onlookers are invited to partake in the party-like procedure toward the end of the ritual. Some even argue that the lack of

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participation in communal religious rituals on a regular basis is one of the reasons why Korea historically did not have that many voluntary associations or interest groups among the masses (Chung, C. 1982b). When people became distraught and alienated in the face of rapid social change and crises and when they felt anxious and deprived, therefore, these traditional religions could not provide a refuge where they can derive a sense of security and comfort. Protestantism was different; it provided an outlet for regular contacts with other people by offering regular rituals, i.e., Sunday service and weekly services, and a wide range of church activities through which they can develop a sense of community, belonging, and identity. Churches were also wholly different from Buddhism or shamanism in another respect (and, as a result, had an overwhelming advantage over the latter two in attracting new members): Churches offered intimacy, as they had various activities and fellowship groups to ensure that members, old and new, feel at home at the church. Indeed, churches were really good at welcoming new people, many of whom came after they were invited to attend by a family member, friend or acquaintance. Even for those who came on their own, there was always a deacon, elder or someone in charge of welcoming newcomers who readily identified them and welcomed them. These newcomers were introduced to various activities of the church and to the existing members, especially to those living in the same neighbourhood or to those with similar background or interests. Churches also held events for the new members to get to know the existing members. All of this was instrumental in attracting a large number of distraught Koreans looking for a refuge where they could relieve their psychological tensions caused by the rapidity of social changes. In addition to this visitor-friendly organisational characteristic, Korean churches employed effective methods and strategies to achieve church growth, the

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most representative examples of which were an emphasis on personal evangelism, institutionalisation of the Bible class system, the Sunday School programme, evangelism through home cell units, student ministries, industrial evangelism, the armed forces chaplaincy, radio evangelism, and cooperative evangelism and nation-wide revivals, each of which is discussed in greater details below. 4

A. Emphasis on Personal Evangelism From the beginning, the Korean Church has been “a witnessing church” and “a church of personal workers” par excellence. The centrality of personal evangelism in Korean Protestantism has a missionary root. It was the policy of the missionaries to attend personally to virtually all areas of the country, visiting villages and other remote areas to preach the gospel to as many people as possible. Korean Christians themselves became active “volunteer workers,” taking on the task of distributing religious tracts and leaflets. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the great success of Korean Protestantism is a direct result of the tireless efforts of these “volunteers.” To an unusual degree, Korean Protestant churches emphasised personal involvement in evangelism (Lee, J. S. 1977, 38). The task of spreading the gospel to non-Christians had been closely observed as a Christian duty or “calling” of every church member, even to the extent of associating church membership with a commitment to lay evangelism. Churches also invited church members to pledge hours or days in tract distribution and personal evangelism, and it was not uncommon for some

4 It is beyond the scope and aim of this book to discuss all the church-related factors which contributed to the expansion of Protestantism in Korea. In what follows, however, is a discussion of the most important evangelical methods and church activities that did have a lasting impact.

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individuals to pledge a total of several months of evangelical work at a time. Steeped in this tradition of strong lay ministry, lay evangelists visited the remotest areas and devoted countless hours to spread “the good news” to others. They also played key roles in street preaching, the distribution of Christian literature, house-to-house visitation and counseling. In this way, lay persons assumed an enormous share of the responsibility of evangelism, successfully drawing new converts from a wide spectrum of social strata and residential areas. It is thus not an exaggeration to suggest that the great success of Korean Protestantism is a direct result of the testimony and tireless efforts of the “volunteer workers.” This emphasis on personal evangelism became even more pronounced since the 1970s after Korean churches as a whole began to embrace the Church Growth Movement. Many churches had a membership obligation which expected its members to bring at least one potential convert to their church. Besides encouraging members to invite relatives, friends and neighbours to a church service, personal evangelism was actively promoted by providing various social activities, such as choir, hiking, home Bible studies, sports events, concerts, hospital or nursing home visitations, or any other form of activity within the range of their interests and skills. More importantly, Korean churches implemented various programmes to inspire strong lay involvement. One of the most popular curricula at many churches was the so-called discipleship training, which entails the view that every Christian must become an effective witness and that she/he must be trained on ways to carry out effective personal evangelism. In view of this, churches implemented effective evangelistic and discipleship training programmes, complete with a standardised training curriculum which had been tested and proven to work. The standardised training curriculum included simple “how to’s” such as

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“how to become a committed Christian,” “how to understand the Bible,” “how to pray,” and “how to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” The training curriculum was typically intensive, clear, simple, and easy to learn and teach. In Korea, Campus Crusade for Christ discipleship training, for example, the required duration of the training was about 100 hours—which amounts to about four nights and five days—with 10-14 hours devoted to basic training. The trainees were grouped into small cell groups of about ten participants and they ate, slept, learned and prayed together for the whole duration of the training programme. And such training reportedly resulted in the spiritual renewal of the trainees, with most of them having a lifechanging experience, i.e., being “born again,” or becoming “spirit-filled” (Kim, J. G. 1995, 53). Discipleship training programmes were also established for rural evangelisation. From 1971 to 1973, for example, over 14,000 village leaders and teachers were trained for evangelism in rural areas (Kim, J. G. 1995, 55). Such emphasis on lay evangelism and the implementation of discipleship training had a positive impact on church growth in Korea, as many churches employing such training courses reported growths in memberships. For example, Soongui Methodist Church in Incheon, which had implemented a systematic discipleship programme as outlined above, reported that its membership increased 16-fold from 250 members in 1980 to over 4,000 adult members in 1988 (Yoo 1988, 213). Similar curricula of discipleship training were utilised for such nation-wide evangelical movements as EXPLO ’74, which is discussed at a greater length below.

B. Institutionalisation of the Bible Class System Korea Christians are “Bible-loving” people par excellence. Under the assumption that the enhancement of Christian life as well as the growth of

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Korean Protestantism is directly related to the knowledge and understanding of the Bible, practically all the churches in the nation actively implemented various Bible study programmes. Churches provided intensive training courses to their members with such Bible study materials as Trinity Bible Study, Cross Ways Bible Study, Upper Room, and Bethel, all of which not only consolidated their faith but also instilled religious fervour to evangelise. Accordingly, participation in Bible study courses became a leading religious habit of Korean Christians. Organised along the lines of age, gender, residential area or level of Christian experience, intra-church Bible classes became exceptionally popular among them. In fact, it can be said that the church growth in Korea and the enthusiasm for Bible studies went hand in hand. Besides each church’s own system of Bible study, local Bible study classes, where individuals and groups from closely adjacent churches participated in a systematic Bible study, also became commonplace. Often inter-denominational, this form of Bible study promoted not only a broad exchange of theological ideas but also a greater fellowship among the members of various churches in a given area (Park, J. 1984). Similarly, inter-denominational Bible classes held in hospitals, factories, military bases, schools, universities and prisons were further manifestation of Korean Protestants’ enthusiasm for the study of the Bible. On a grander scale, annual Bible meetings or conferences, a nonscholarly affair, regularly attracted thousands of participants from all over Korea, serving as occasions for renewing and revamping Christians’ commitment to a deeper understanding of the Bible. First established by the missionaries, these meetings lasted from four to ten days, and the daily programme usually consisted of a morning prayer, several hours of Bible study, a period of devotional exercises, and an evening public meeting. There were also forums organised exclusively for church officers and lay

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leaders. Held in major cities, the annual gathering of lay leaders provided a vital training for the latter, particularly those from pioneering churches (Paik 1970, 300–303). A corollary of this enthusiastic participation in Bible classes and meetings had been Korean Protestants’ habit of frequent Bible-reading, which most likely enhanced not only their religious life but also their preparedness for lay evangelism. 5 A study after study showed that Korean Protestants are avid readers of the Bible. For example, a survey by the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 69) found that 34 percent of the Christian respondents read the Bible every day, while further 20 percent read it three to four times a week. A similar figure was reported by a 1984 survey conducted by the Christian Broadcasting System (1984). It found that 38.3 percent of the respondents read the Bible every day, while 20.9 percent did so three to four times a week. The surveys by Gallup Korea in 1984 and 1989 also found similar results: nearly a half of the Protestant respondents in each survey said that they read the Bible more than once a week. Korean Protestants’ high religiosity in regard to scripture-reading continued onto the 1990s. According to the 1997 Gallup survey, more than 50 percent of Korean Protestants were found to read religious scriptures more than once a week, which was among the highest in the world (Gallup Korea 1998, 86–89). 6 All in all, the significance of the

5

Their habit of frequent Bible reading notwithstanding, it is true that a majority of Korean Protestants remain conservative in their interpretation of the Bible. 6 The high level of religiosity of Korean Protestants is also shown in their church attendance. For example, 1989–1991 surveys of religious activities in 18 countries, including the United States, England, Hungary and Australia, showed that nearly 74 percent of Korean Protestants attended church each Sunday. The figure for Korean Protestants was the highest by far among the 18 countries (Gallup Korea 1998, 216– 217).

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Bible in the establishment of the church in Korea is amply expressed as follows: The Bible itself has of course been pre-eminently the greatest factor in evangelisation, as it is in all countries—but it has certainly occupied a rather unique position in the work in Korea, and the Korean church derives its power, its spirituality, its great faith in prayer, its liberality, from the fact that the whole church has been, as it were, saturated with a knowledge of the Bible. The Bible study and training classes constitute the most unique and most important fact in the development of the Korean church (quoted in Commission on Theological Concerns of the Christian Conference of Asia 1981, 86).

C. The Sunday School Programme The phrase “as goes the Sunday School, so goes the church” could not have epitomised the Korean situation any better. First started with 12 children in January 1888, the Sunday School programme expanded steadily: in parallel with the growing number of churches, the number of Sunday Schools, which swelled to 1,400 by 1920, continued to increase ever since, reaching the 11,000 mark in 1960 and over 29,000 by the end of the 1980s. By the late 1980s, the nation’s Sunday Schools had more than a million pupils, thereby serving as the “front door” through which many Koreans were introduced to the Church (see Lee, T. 1993; Shin 1994). Simply put, the growth of the Sunday School preceded and influenced church growth in Korea. Surveys do show that large numbers of Korean Protestants were first introduced to the new religion through their enrolment in the Sunday School. For instance, a survey by the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (1982, 53) showed that about one-third of the respondents identified the Sunday School as their first entry into Protestantism before the actual conversion. Another survey by J.

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G. Kim et al. (1982, 53) disclosed a similar result: about 26 percent of the respondents first went to the Sunday School before converting to Protestant Christianity. In fact, a considerable number of Korean Protestants were found to have been first exposed to the new religion before they turned nine years old. For example, a 1984 survey by Gallup Korea (1984, 246) showed that 26.7 percent of the Protestant respondents started going to church before the age of nine, followed by 25.3 percent of the Protestant respondents who became Christians between the ages of 10–19 years. A 1989 survey by Gallup Korea (1990a, 199) showed similar trends: 21.1 percent of the Protestant respondents began going to church before the age of nine, while 22.5 percent of the Protestant respondents became Christians between the ages of 10–19. The fact that a large number of Christians first became Christian when they were either children, youths or young adults attests to the important role played by the Sunday School programme. In addition to these survey results, the importance of the Sunday School to church growth is well documented in the case studies of some of the largest churches in Korea. For example, Choonghyun Church in Seoul, which devoted extraordinary efforts in enhancing its Sunday School, had over 10,000 members and over 3,000 students enrolled in its Sunday School in 1982 (Kang, J. 1983, 173–178). Under the slogan “Cultivation of the Workers of Heaven,” the church established a school in 1969 designed specifically to train Sunday School teachers. This was necessitated by the church’s need to have more than 200 Sunday School teachers at the time. Potential teachers, drawn largely from baptised university students or graduates, were required to undergo an intensive training for about two months. Upon completion, the certificate of qualification was issued and the “graduates” became the leading members of the teaching team that supervised the operation of the Sunday Schools for students at every level

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of education. In order to renew the teachers’ enthusiasm for the Sunday School education, moreover, the church held periodic revival meetings and seminars exclusively for them. Such commitment to the Sunday School, evident in the vast majority of the churches in Korea, achieved impressive results for Choonghyun Church and for the growth of Protestantism within the wider society. What must be noted from all of this is the fact that the purpose of Sunday Schools had been both educational and evangelical and that most of the Korean churches successfully applied the programme to those ends. This was particularly evident in the way the Sunday School was transformed from a movement designed to educate children into a multipurpose group system for all ages. Since the 1950s, Sunday School classes had been provided for all ages from young children to older adults, including specialty classes for new members, singles, the newly married, and seniors. The educational programme went beyond Sunday morning classes to include not only training courses in evangelism but also seminars on topics ranging from marital enrichment to child-rearing. Its inclusive membership, sympathetic counseling, fellowship and innovative educational curricula, therefore, made the Sunday School an ideal first step for transforming potential converts into full church members in Korea.

D. Evangelism Through Home Cell Units A highly disciplined organisation, comprising of proficient leaders and dedicated members, was also crucial to the success of Protestantism in Korea. A form of organisation most representative of this was a network of “cell groups,” found in virtually every Korean Protestant church, irrespective of the size. The home cell became the centre of church activities and one of the key aspects of effective evangelism in Korea. Fundamental

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to the cell group operation is lay leadership and home ministry. Lay leaders are needed to share the responsibilities of carrying out evangelical work, and theologians and pastors refer to many passages in the Bible that justify lay leadership, out of which the following verse in Exodus (18:21) is probably the most popular: Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, advises the latter to establish “rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds and rulers of tens” (Cho, D. Y. and Hurston 1995, 116). The inspiration for the home ministry is also found in the Book of Acts, which refers to believers worshipping, and being taught of, Christ in the home (Ibid., 118). Some theologians consider the disciples of Jesus Christ to be lay leaders. The church that made the most effective use of the cell group operation—and hence served as the model for other churches—is Yoido Full Gospel Church (see Cho, D. Y. 1981; Cho, D. Y. and Hurston 1995). 7 Central to the cell group operation were elaborate networks of command within the congregation (see Figure 7.1). The entire church was divided into geographic districts and an ordained pastor was assigned to each district to oversee the operation of sub-districts which, in turn, were divided into sections. Pastors, who essentially served as sub-district leaders as well, provided guidance to section and cell unit leaders; led regular visitations to the homes of the sick, new converts and other church members; headed weekly or monthly prayer meetings; held special services for business openings and funerals; and provided pastoral care and counseling. Section leaders, who were lay leaders, typically deacons and deaconesses, assisted sub-district leaders and were tasked with providing guidance to home cell group leaders. As insinuated above, each section contained several home cell units—as of the end of the 1980s, Yoido Full Gospel Church organised 7 The other leading example would be Yongnak Church, the world’s largest Presbyterian church, which had 1,562 cell groups in 1984.

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more than 50,000 cell groups for about 700,000 members (Ro 1995, 32). Each home cell unit consisted of members from 5–10 households, but when a cell unit became bigger than 20 adult members, it was divided into two groups. The cell leaders, all of whom received intensive training in Bible studies and evangelism prior to their appointment, attended weekly training sessions and passed on what they had learned to the cell members during the weekly cell meetings. The cell leaders also attended semi-annual seminars for home cell unit leaders to better transmit the messages to the members of their home cell units. In addition, they were required to read the lessons found in the church’s monthly magazine, Sinangge. For the weekly home cell unit meetings, these leaders served as facilitators and moderators, pointing out the key ideas of the given lesson, guiding the members in prayers, and giving advices to home cell group members.

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Figure 7.1: Structure of Home Cell Units

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As in other churches, participation in the home cell unit was required of all Yoido Full Gospel Church members. In the home cell meetings, members prayed together, studied the Bible, shared testimonies and fellowship, and discussed absentee problems. Pastors were eager to use the best Bible study methods and materials for cell-group studies. The most often used texts were Crossways Bible Study, Trinity Bible Study, and Upper Room (Ro 1995, 32). In addition, much attention was given to evangelism: cell group members were taught basic principles of evangelisation; they were requested to follow up on prospective converts; and they were encouraged to visit hospitals and the homes of the sick to evangelise. The home cell unit system thus entailed many advantages for effective evangelisation: the weekly meeting in the home setting promoted close fellowship; praying and studying the Bible together as well as sharing each other’s spiritual experience nourished spiritual maturity; and a systematic Bible study trained the laity for effective evangelism (Cho, D. Y. and Hurston 1995, 124–128). The close-knit and very personal relationships found in each home cell unit allowed the members to become aware, and pay special attention to, the specific needs of each member as well as to “share each other’s burdens.” Within the confines of the home, members of home cell units found much more intimate sense of belonging and found a warm and personable community in which they can “experience God.” In this way, the church in general and a home cell unit in particular served as a refuge through which members found psychological relief from all the mundane ills and regained their sense of belonging, stability, and solidarity. 8 Such

8

The home cell unit is not without criticisms. It is criticised by some church members and ex-converts for putting immense pressure for conformity. Its tactics are also criticised for being “stifling”: Because it has practically every member in

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elaborate networks of fellowship and evangelisation undoubtedly had been vital to the phenomenal growth of Yoido Full Gospel Church, and a similar organisational method had been adopted by virtually all the Korean churches to achieve a similar success in church growth.

E. Student Ministries Colleges and universities had been important grounds for evangelism (Kim, Y. 2011, 228–237). Education is popularly perceived as the best means of achieving success in Korean society, and Koreans’ overriding wish to obtain post-secondary education resulted in the “overflowing” enrolment in the nation’s colleges and universities, particularly since the early 1960s when modernisation and industrialisation placed more emphasis on material success. Accordingly, the number of universities and colleges has increased conspicuously since the early 1960s, when there were only about 30 postsecondary education institutions: the total had since doubled every decade, reaching close to 300 by the early 1990s, many of which happened to be established by the missionaries, churches and Christians. Following the vast expansion of post-secondary education, Christian denominations in Korea sponsored the establishment of campus ministries throughout the country, including a number of home-grown Korean organisations, such as the JOY Mission (founded in 1958), the University Bible Fellowship (UBF, founded in 1961), and the Student Bible Fellowship (founded in 1976) (see Paek, C. 2009; Kim, Y. C. 1993). Korean denominations also supported various campus activities and events organised by the local branches of international Christian student organisations, such as Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), which was close networks, members do not really have freedom to miss church activities, including Sunday services, or challenge church policies.

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established in Korea in 1958 (see Jeon, S. 2011), Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (KIVCF, established in 1959), Youth for Christ (established in Korea in 1961), and the Navigators (established in Korea in 1966) (Clark, D. 1986, 31). In addition to these groups, there existed more politically oriented and more socially active Christian student organisations, including the Alliance of Korean Christian Student Organisations, the Korean Christian Youth Federation, and, for Catholic students, the Korea Catholic University Students’ League. Usually inter-denominational, these student organisations held regular meetings, during which student members studied the Bible and discussed relevant issues relating to the scriptures (Paek, C. 2009). They also organised social meetings and recreational activities, such as hiking, picnics, sports activities and dinner party, in order to recruit new members and promote fellowship among college Christians. Cell Bible classes, held weekly in small groups, and worship services, often led by noted speakers, also had been major components of campus ministries. Both on and off campus, Christian student organisations in Korea had been successful not only in recruiting new converts on campus, but also in strengthening their commitment beyond the campus by engaging actively in various social services and political matters. In rural areas, they taught people how to read, when a sizable rural population was still illiterate in the 1960s and 1970s, helped farmers during the busiest planting season, and educated the rural people on hygiene. Their engagement in welfare activities also extended to urban settings, including a provision of free tutoring assistance to children of poor families and a provision of counseling and material aids to those in need. A study of Christian student organisations reveals that the campus ministry had been an important part of Korean Protestantism. For example,

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Campus Crusade for Christ had chapters on 30 campuses in 28 cities as of 1985, and it had a total of 2,342 cell groups, catering to 185,000 students. Also, it had trained 12,000 students for evangelisation by 1971 and played an active role in organising the World Evangelisation Crusade in 1980 (Choi, D. 1990). The University Bible Fellowship, which was founded in 1961, had chapters in 28 districts and 5,000 student members as of 1985 and had sent 400 missionaries to overseas locations (Ibid.). As of 1985, Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship was present on 35 campuses and had 1,300 student members holding regular Bible meetings.

F. Industrial Evangelism During the period of the “compressed industrialisation” from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s, anti-labour measures of the Korean government were appalling: labour strikes were illegal; labour organisers were often arrested on outlandish charges of anti-government activities; and the missionaries and Korean pastors who got involved in the labour movement were deported and imprisoned, respectively. As mentioned in Chapter Six, working conditions themselves were dreadful. Factory workers in particular had to endure the world’s longest work hours per week, received unbearably low pay and were subjected to poor working conditions. Physical and mental abuse of workers by the management was common as was the violation of their rights, such as the right to paid leave and vacation. And the workers had no recourse to challenge the system. In responding to these workers’ plight, industrial evangelism, which began as early as 1957, gained prominence as a programme that specifically catered to the spiritual needs of the newly emerging and ever-expanding class of industrial workers (Cho, S. 1981; Lee, D. 2010; Hong, H. Y. 2002). More specifically, it was the Urban-Industrial Mission (UIM), an inter-

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denominational effort designed to carry out systematic evangelism among the rapidly expanding ranks of industrial workers, that had been most responsible for an extensive network of industrial missions in Korea (Lee, S. Y. 1994; Jang, S. 2013). The UIM had been very much a joint operation involving an advisory committee of church leaders, industrial chaplains, and Christian workers employed in the manufacturing sector. Besides coordinating various programmes and activities of industrial missions, the primary role of the UIM was to help factory workers with their practical needs while offering much-needed emotional support, sympathetic guidance, counseling and fellowship. From initiating medical insurance to establishing the workers’ credit unions, these industrial missions had been at the forefront of championing the welfare of labourers. The UIM also trained Christian labourers and industrial evangelists to evangelise efficiently in factory settings. Commissioned as “factory apostles” upon the completion of the training course, the trainees actively propagated in factories of various industries and sizes, living and working among the workers. Limited at first to big factories and major industrial areas, industrial missions steadily grew to include mines and small factories as well as those located in remote areas. More importantly, these factory apostles, along with factory chaplains, led Bible study groups and organised fellowship meetings, prayer meetings, worship services and lectures for workers, all in an effort to draw new converts and to continuously renew the adherents’ commitment to the Christian life. The biggest advantage of industrial evangelism was that all of its activities took place right at the workplace, allowing more workers to participate. Management at Christian-owned companies was largely supportive of the industrial mission, providing both space and time for

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meetings and services. Even in companies that were not owned by Christians, the industrial mission was largely accepted as long as it did not interfere with the management or got involved with labour activism. Lunch time served as the most auspicious time for industrial evangelism; most of its agendas, including Bible classes, worship services and prayer meetings, were held during the lunch break. The work of factory apostles, however, extended beyond the factory. Their tasks also involved organising weekly meetings at workers’ homes and making hospital visits to injured workers or visiting the homes of the sick. The meetings at home seem to have been particularly important, for they functioned more like therapy sessions where the participants freely expressed their frustrations and hopes. The house meetings also provided an ideal setting for the factory apostles to offer private counseling. The success of industrial evangelists is explained partly by their active involvement in the labour movement (see Ogle 1977). Because the factory missioners, some of whom were foreign missionaries, were required to work in factories, they came to understand labour-management relations from workers’ perspective. With substantial assistance from several mission bodies and large numbers of individual churches, industrial missioners often took an active part in the discussions between labour and management, contributing significantly to the development of better working conditions for labourers. They also offered labour education to union activists and workers. For example, from 1971 to 1980, the UIM offered a series of labour education courses to labour leaders, during which 2,000 workers participated annually (Jo, S. 1981, 54). Not surprisingly, such efforts by the industrial mission had positive results for church growth. Byungman Kang’s (1989) case study of an industrial mission attests to this. Kang examined Daenong Church on the

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premise of Daenong Industry, located in Cheongju, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul. The church had a modest beginning, with only 100 members in 1980, but industrial missioners’ tireless efforts and their pragmatic programmes attracted a large number of new converts. The workers’ receptivity was phenomenal: the church membership, made up entirely of the workers and their families, reached 2,700 by 1987, and nearly half of all the workers at the time reportedly were Christians (Kang, B. 1989, 69). Moreover, between 1980 and 1987, the church attendance increased by 290 percent for the day services and by an astonishing 2,200 percent for the evening services. A 1978 national survey of factory workers also demonstrates the effectiveness of the industrial mission (Jo, S. 1981). The survey found that 30 percent of the respondents began going to church after their contacts with industrial missioners, while one in every five respondents entertained the thought of attending nearby churches (Ibid., 190). The fact that 40 percent of the randomly chosen respondents were Protestant Christians, which was significantly higher than the proportion of Protestants in the total population at the time, bore further testimony to the positive impact of the industrial mission on the growth of Protestantism in Korea. The survey also found that the vast majority of the respondents (86.5 percent) were well aware of the work of industrial missioners, while 74 percent participated in one or more programmes of factory chaplaincy (Ibid., 185–187). In addition, the workers had an overwhelmingly positive perception of the work of industrial missioners: 74 percent of the respondents perceived the role of factory chaplains favourably; 92.8 percent saw the role of the UIM as necessary;

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84.8 percent confessed to have learned a lot from UIM initiatives; and 88.3 viewed the UIM as a good influence (Ibid., 187–190). 9 All of this undoubtedly strengthened the appeal and status of Christianity among the general populace that encompassed an ever increasing number of industrial workers. Through the industrial mission, the Church responded effectively to the identity and fellowship needs of factory workers, most of whom left their rural hometowns to work in urban centres. Christianity thus found a “way to give them [workers] meaning and a sense of pride in themselves” (Ogle 1977, 40).

G. The Armed Forces Chaplaincy The armed forces chaplaincy in Korea had an auspicious beginning right from the start. The Republic of Korea was founded in 1948 and its first president, Rhee Syngman, was an ardent Protestant Christian. Following the advice of the missionaries and church leaders, Rhee officially established the armed forces chaplaincy in February 1951, marking the first establishment of Christian chaplains in the army of any country regarded as a “mission field” (Choe, M. 1968; Gwon 1971; Kim, G. T. 1985). It was an unfair system in the sense that it was open only to Protestant clergy, who were given the status of public employees. It stayed this way for more than a decade into the 1960s when military chaplaincy was finally open to both Catholic priests and Buddhist monks under the Park Chung-hee regime. Under the Rhee’s regime, the chaplains’ corps enjoyed full government support, financial and organisational, which allowed for rapid Protestant

9

It is also true that not all industrial missions were welcomed by management and non-Protestant workers alike. Management was worried that religious activities in the workplace would distract workers from performing to the best of their abilities, while non-participating fellow workers felt alienated.

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expansion in the armed forces. 10 Accordingly, the number of Protestant chaplains in the Korean armed forces increased steadily: 32 in 1951; 165 in 1952; 178 in 1953; 329 in 1955; and 347 in 1960 (Rhodes and Campbell 1964, 345–346; Clark, A. 1971, 255). In the following years, the number of Protestant chaplains in the military stabilised around 300. For example, there were 296 Protestant chaplains in the armed forces in 1989, while the figure for the following year was 334 (Oh 1991, 2). Such increase in the number of chaplains was paralleled by a steady expansion in the number of chapels on military bases, e.g., there were more than 200 such chapels in 1989. What made the armed forces such an important mission field is the fact that conscription was implemented for the first time in the country following the end of the Korean War in 1953. There are two factors that made the armed forces ministry so successful: 1) hundreds of thousands of young men served in the armed forces for longer than two years at any given time; and 2) most of them were away from home for the first time and had to endure a rigid regimentation. Sympathetic counseling of military chaplains seems to have been its main appeal for the military personnel. Guihyun Kim’s (1988) study on the evangelical implication of the military chaplaincy proves this point. Kim found that a large majority of military personnel received pastoral counseling during their army service. For example, an overwhelming 70 percent of the respondents said they received some kind of counseling from military chaplains to cope with the hardship of both the training and military life (Ibid, 47). The study also found that 10 Much like the cooperation shown by the factory owners, the readiness by which the armed forces had given support to the armed forces chaplaincy might have been inspired by an ulterior motive. The military were, perhaps, more concerned with the comforting role or “therapeutic” utility of religion than a genuine “Christianisation” of the Korean armed forces.

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nearly two-thirds of the respondents expressed their deep appreciation for the role of military chaplains, while nearly four-fifths of the respondents saw the service of military chaplains as necessary. The significance of these survey results, of course, is that it reflected the positive influence of the military chaplaincy on the propagation of Protestantism in the armed forces. As a result, a disproportionate representation of Protestant Christians in the armed forces had been a well-established fact since the early 1950s. In 1955, the Army religious survey showed that about 15 percent of its force comprised of Protestant Christians, a 10 percent increase from the 1951 survey (Kim, H. 2006). The next few surveys during the latter half of the 1950s and the 1960s consistently showed that 15–20 percent of the personnel in the armed forces professed to be Protestant, which was markedly higher than the proportion of Protestants in the total population— hovering around three percent—during the same period. The growth was even more prominent during the 1970s and 1980s: Protestant Christians in the armed forces increased from just over 100,000 in 1970 to more than 270,000 in 1982, which was more than 40 percent of the total number of the military personnel (Kim, H. 1985, 17). The 1970s and 1980s were also renowned for a group or mass baptism of the military personnel. 11 For example, in 1971, 155 soldiers from one division were baptised in a group ceremony. More astonishingly, a mass baptism of 1,000-plus military personnel was held 25 times between 1971 and 1974, totaling over 36,000 converts (Ibid.). In one of those occasions, as many as 3,398 soldiers from one division were baptised in 1972 (Miraehanguk 2016). For the rest of the

11 It is also possible that some soldiers might have been pressured by their Christian superiors to get baptised. This is plausible because Korean cultural milieu dictates that subordinates submit to the wishes or instructions of their superiors, and this is especially true in the military.

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1970s, there were further 103 ceremonies of mass baptism, during which over 60,000 men and women of the armed forces were baptised. Throughout the 1980s, evangelical success in the armed forces was even more impressive: a mass baptism of 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers became commonplace throughout the year. 12 Such an evangelisation among men and women in the Korean armed forces are believed to have had far-reaching influences on the civilian population, for they had gone back to civilian life as Christians and evangelists. 13

H. The Use of Mass Media: Radio Evangelism One of the most vital if not unique means of evangelisation in Korea had been radio broadcasts. In 1949, the National Christian Council (NCC), in a

XY

GThe success of military missionary works continues to this day. According to the Military Evangelical Association of Korea (MEAK), from 1992 to 2018, nearly 1.7 million soldiers were baptised at Nonsan Yeonmudae Church alone, which is located near the Korea Army Training Centre (KATC) in Nonsan, a city about 200 kilometers south of Seoul (Nocutnews 2021). The recruits receive basic military training at KATC for five weeks before being deployed to their designated units. Nearly 80 percent of these new converts are found to have come to church for the first time in their lives (Gildokilbo 2017). 13 Along with the industrial and armed forces ministry, the work of prison and hospital chaplains also deserve a mention. The prison chaplaincy was formally launched almost at the same time as the establishment of the military chaplaincy in 1951. It expanded steadily to include prisons of various sizes located throughout the country and in due time practically every prison had a pastor serving as a prison chaplain. The expansion of prison chaplaincy was largely prompted by the fact that hundreds of thousands of prisoners were incarcerated at any given time and they had reportedly been very receptive to religion, especially Protestant Christianity, during their imprisonment (Park, S. 1986). Like the military chaplains, prison chaplains were given the status of public employees under the Rhee regime (1948–1960). Also, hospital chaplains, who were either resident chaplains at large hospitals or who visited hospitals all over the country to evangelise, did their part in proselytising among the sick (Jeon, J. 1975). The “hospital chaplaincy” represented an important form of Christian opportunity and service, since hospitals were where the sick and their family members were found and where the need for consolation, hope and spiritual comfort was the greatest.

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joint project involving the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and Holiness Missions as well as the Salvation Army, was successful in obtaining a government approval to establish a Christian radio station in Seoul, the first permit ever issued to a private enterprise. 14 After four years of delay due to the Korean War, the equipment was finally brought over from Japan in 1954 and the new station, HLKY—later renamed the Christian Broadcasting System (CBS)—went on the air on December 15, 1954. At first, the station broadcast only five hours a day in the evenings, but its air time gradually increased to 21 hours a day (Yi, S. and Kang 2007). 15 The increase in air time also coincided with the establishment of branch stations in major cities throughout Korea since the late 1960s. The significance of the evangelical role of the Christian Broadcasting System is obvious, for the radio can reach a wide audience, Christians and non-Christians alike, on a regular basis (see Kim, J. 1987). This was particularly true from 1960s to the early 1980s when television was still a luxury item owned only by relatively wealthier households. A survey by the Christian Broadcasting System (1984, 40) found that 11.3 percent of the respondents listened to the station regularly, while 37.3 percent listened intermittently. The study also found that 35.2 percent of its audience was non-Christians. A part of the appeal seems to have come from the station’s special programmes. While sermons, testimonies, classical music, and Bible-based dramatic programmes comprised the main part of the programming, special programmes for housewives, children, students, 14 Christian programmes were also broadcast on a government radio station as early as 1942, but the Japanese regulation and limited resources made the radio ministry entirely ineffective. 15 In the beginning, the National Christian Council even had to distribute radios, for only a small number of churches owned them. Hundreds of battery operated radios, pre-tuned to the Christian station, were distributed to be placedin churches, army chapels and hospitals.

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farmers, industrial workers, and men and women in the army also figured prominently. Broadcasts of English instruction that used biblical materials also became a valuable drawing card for the Christian radio station. The station gave special attention to maximising its appeal to non-Christian listeners. Accordingly, sermons were carefully constructed to convey the Gospel briefly, interestingly and effectively in order to capture and hold the listeners’ attention. Of all the programmes on the Christian station, nothing equaled the popularity and the impact of correspondence courses on the teachings of Christianity. Capitalising on the great interest shown for the Bible-study programmes, the station established a correspondence course in 1960 and continued to sponsor such courses for the next two decades. The course, consisting of 12 booklets that contained a set of simple lessons on the essence of Christianity, attracted not only Christians but, perhaps more importantly, non-Christians as well. It had a broad appeal, drawing people from practically every spectrum of society, including men and women from every province, the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated, students and workers, as well as military personnel, patients in hospitals and prisoners. By 1970, 301,000 individuals had enrolled and about 90,000 had completed the course and received a certificate of completion (Clark, A. 1971, 349). The course was also made available in Braille for the blind since 1962, and about half of those fluent in Korean Braille were enrolled. Such innovative programmes of the Christian radio station undoubtedly served as an integral medium for the communication of Christian messages to both the Christian and non-believers, thereby contributing to the remarkable growth of Protestantism in Korea. The use of radio evangelism in Korea is unique, especially in light of the absence of similar means in other countries that can be considered

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mission fields. Korea boasts perhaps the only national Christian radio network outside the United States. In a country where strict government control of mass media existed until the late 1980s, the fact that the Protestant denomination operated one of very few national radio networks at the time can be considered an accomplishment in itself.

I. Cooperative Evangelism and Nation-wide Revivals Complementing the emphasis on personal evangelism was what can be called cooperative evangelism involving the cooperation and coordination of churches for nation-wide church movements, particularly revivals and the Holy Spirit movement (Kim, W. 1996; Lee, M. 1990; Kim, C. 1993). Revival rallies had been held on a regular basis at all levels, hosted by individual churches and denominations. In the post-war period, the most important and largest ones were nation-wide revivals that were held in the 1970s and 1980s. Organised by churches representing many denominations, these inter-denominational revivals were held in such public places as Yoido Plaza and the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. The first and the largest as well as the most significant nation-wide revival in the post-war period was the 1973 Revival, also known as the Billy Graham Crusade, for which an estimated 3.2 million Koreans attended over a several days (May 30–June 3). For the first nation-wide revival meeting since the 1907 Great Revival, the world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham 16 visited Korea, and revival meetings were held not only in Seoul but also at local churches and public places throughout the country. 17 For the last day of the 1973 Revival alone, more than a million people are believed to have assembled at Yoido Plaza. 16

Prior to the 1973 Yoido Revival, Billy Graham had already visited Korea twice: during the Korean War in 1952 and in 1956. 17 Revivals were also held at prayer centres located in the mountains.

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The 1973 Revival was significant in that it served as a turning point in sparking the beginning of a new series of nation-wide revival meetings. Particularly notable ones were those organised by such university Christian organisations as Campus Crusade for Christ and Inter-Varsity Fellowship (IVF). For the EXPLO ’74, for example, which was organised by Campus Crusade for Christ, more than a million people repeatedly participated in each day of the five-day revival in August. In 1977, the ’77 Revival for National Evangelisation attracted up to 1.5 million Christians and nonChristians alike to Yoido Plaza for the four-day period (August 15–18). Some reports say that a total of 7.5 million people attended the revival, with up to two million participating in the revival on the last day alone. Also, the World Evangelisation Crusade in 1980 (August 12–15) filled Yoido Plaza, with millions of people attending the rallies and all-night prayers. The stated aim was to bring two million people to attend and this goal was reportedly achieved by assigning one million Christians to bring one million non-Christians to the revival meetings. A glimpse into the organisational aspects of the 1980 crusade, which was held from August 12 to 15, shows the extent of coordination and cooperation among churches (Kim, J. 1995). Over 90 percent of some 21,000 churches at the time were involved and 411 executive committees were formed to coordinate the churches’ involvement. Also, 37 committees were formed according to their qualifications and statuses, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, women, college students, high school students, etc. to provide assistance to the agendas of the executive committees. In addition, each participating church assigned individuals to coordinate training, prayers and other activities. Much preparation was required prior to the crusade. In Seoul, for example, where 203 out of the 411 executive committees were in operation, weekly meetings were held in each district as well as a monthly meeting for all the

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committees based in Seoul (Ibid., 59). The largest and most active executive committee in Seoul was the Seoul Women’s Prayer Committee, comprising 290 leaders. For the promotion of the crusade, 178 renowned revival speakers were commissioned to lead local revival meetings throughout the country in preparation for the nationwide revival and to promote individual involvement in the crusade. Also, nearly a million Christians received evangelistic and discipleship training for the crusade (Ibid., 60). Korea Campus Crusade for Christ alone trained 224,200 people. Prayer meetings were also utilised to heighten individuals’ commitment to the crusade. For the 18 months prior to the crusade, 13,434 prayer meetings were held (Ibid.). A 40-day national prayer and fasting campaign, which was held from February 10 to March 20, 1980, is notable in this regard. During this period, every church was asked to set aside a three-minute break during the Sunday morning service to allow individuals to pray and every Christian was encouraged to fast for at least one meal per week. As noted above, each of the nation-wide revivals attracted millions of participants, something that was largely unheard of in other parts of the world. This renewed the evangelical zeal of church leaders and lay members. Collectively, these crusades served as a turning point in assuring the presence of Protestantism as a powerful spiritual and religious force in Korean society and had a great influence not only on the church as a whole but also on many areas of society. The impact of the revival movement had been considerable. First, the nation-wide revivals greatly boosted church growth. As a result of the 1980 crusade, for example, 64 churches which were most actively involved in the preparation and organisation of the crusade experienced an average of 30 percent increase in membership in the six months following the crusade (Ibid., 66). Second, the revival movement led to the renewal of the church’s commitment to evangelical efforts in and

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outside of Korea. Following the revivals in the 1970s, Korean churches began to send missionaries overseas in earnest. Third, the revivals fostered greater cooperation among denominations, which had been hitherto divided and confrontational with one another. As for the factors that contributed to the success of the revivals, the continuing social and political instability as well as anomie that was created due to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, is often identified as being the most important. The 1970s was also when the political oppression of the authoritarian regime of Park Chung-hee reached new heights and when the rapid economic growth led many Koreans to feel deprived as there was widespread perception that wealth was not being distributed evenly or fairly. The fall of Vietnam to communism in 1975 further fueled the people’s sense of crisis as they have been long haunted by the constant threats of aggression from the North.

3. Church Individualism, Schisms and Church Growth For church growth, as ironic as it may be, a more important factor than the spirit of cooperation exemplified by the nation-wide revival movements had been perennial schisms among Korean denominations and churches. Disputes over theology and even class and regional rivalries as well as personal conflicts resulted in the vast proliferation of denominations, particularly since the 1950s. There were a total of 67 Protestant denominations in Korea by 1980, rising to 69 in 1983 and 120 in 1991 (the total remains almost the same to this day) (see Lee, J. G. 2012). The existence of such large number of denominations meant, among others, that they had to compete with one another to maintain or increase their memberships for survival and for enhancing their status as a “powerful” denomination. Intense competition among denominations subsequently resulted in the zealous attempt by both pastors and churchgoers to recruit new

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converts, all of which resulted in the implementation of lay-training programmes and various evangelical efforts. Schisms in Korean Protestantism have a rather long history and entail a wide array of factors (Han, G. 1994, 90–92). First, it can be said that Korean Christianity was divided from the beginning, as schism was already present among the first missionaries to Korea, i.e., the missionaries from Presbyterian and Methodist churches in the United States pursued their own missionary policy in Korea. This helped to engender an environment which facilitated competitive denominationalism rather than ecumenism. Second, the Comity Agreement or an “Agreement of Division of Territory” that was adopted by the missionaries in 1892 also caused schism. Although every mission group from different countries became involved in missionary efforts in big cities, provinces were distributed among six Presbyterian and Methodist missionary organisations. The policy lasted for only 30 years, but it contributed to the development of region-based, detached forms of Korean Protestantism, especially in the post-war period. Third, the difference in the theological outlook between the missionaries and Korean pastors further created division. The early missionaries, most of whom came from the United States, were theologically very conservative and were generally Puritan in their beliefs and practices. However, a young generation of Korean theologians, many of whom studied overseas embraced different strains of theology, including much more liberal ones. Fourth, one of the biggest causes of schisms came after the liberation of country in 1945. During the Japanese colonial period, Korean Christians were divided between those who were opposed to Japanese authorities and those who succumbed to their pressure and collaborated with the Japanese. One issue that was most divisive was Christian involvement in Shinto worship, which was essentially idolising

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the god of the enemy state. Those who refused the Japanese demand were persecuted and prosecuted. After the independence, serious conflicts between the two sides ensued, resulting in splits of many denominations and churches. Lastly, the breaking up of churches themselves brought about the establishment of more denominations. Churches often split over such trivial matters such as power struggles and factionalism among church leaders and regionalism among the congregation, and these churches over time formed denominations of their own (Han, G. 1994, 92). Schisms among Korean churches, causes of which may also include conflicts between a pastor and elders or between subgroups within the eldership, theological differences, and differing views on the direction of the church, further contributed to church growth in Korea. For example, it is natural that both the existing churches and those which split away from the existing ones put great efforts into increasing the membership size of their own churches, not least because they want to prove to the other that they were better or they were right about the issue that caused the split. In short, incessant church schisms meant that there were an ever increasing number of churches which had more pews to fill, leading to an intense competition among churches, old and new. The church growth in Korea can be thus partly attributed to the vitality of the evangelistic zeal of the Korean Protestants borne by the existence of “too many” churches. There also existed an oversupply of pastors which led to the founding of even more churches which, in turn, may have led to church growth. Until 1934, there were only two theological training centres: one being Presbyterian and the other Methodist. By 1983, there were about 80 theological seminaries in Korea, some of which were not accredited (Ibid.,

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88). 18 Since most denominations operated at least one theological college and given the fact that some large churches established theological seminaries of their own, accredited or unaccredited, the number of graduates who were ordained as pastors had increased noticeably over the years. According to data from the Ministry of Education, the number of graduates from accredited theology departments and theological colleges numbered 1,454 in 1985, with the total increasing to 1,764 in 1986, 1,840 in 1987, 2,271 in 1988, and 3,670 in 1989 (Ibid., 89). Such a large number of graduates from theological seminaries had meant that Korea had never suffered from a shortage of Protestant clergy; in fact, there had been an excessive oversupply, as there were also hundreds of graduates from unaccredited seminaries in any given year. 19 Since the graduates of theological seminaries, accredited or unaccredited, had few employment alternatives, those who could not find employment in the existing churches had to start a new, “pioneering church,” leading to more competition and more churches trying various evangelical efforts to draw new or more members. Even though it probably took considerably longer time and much more efforts to establish a church from which to “make a living,” the fact that being a minister of an established church carries certain social status and can bring about

18 The number of theological colleges continued to expand over the next decade and on, as the total, including those unaccredited, is estimated to have reached around 230 by the end of the 1990s. 19 In addition to the oversupply of ordained pastors, another troublesome development was the fact that enrolment in theological seminaries had been an alternative “career choice” for many, if not most, students who could not get into more prestigious non-theological universities. Indeed, many of the students who would be ordained and become ministers are believed to have chosen theological training not out of “calling” or a sense of mission but out of “necessity,” which partly explains the relatively higher rate of corruptions committed by Protestant clergy, past and present.

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economic security were enough allures for many “unemployed” ordained pastors to try their best in turning a pioneering church into an established one. It is these incessant church schisms and the highly competitive nature of the religious market in Korea that may have led to the development of “church individualism,” which is “the attitude or policy to give top priority to the internal issues of individual churches, especially, to the issues of maintenance and expansion, in establishing the goals, deploying activities, and allocating human and material resources of the church” (Noh, C. 1989, 40; see Noh, C. 1986; Yi, S. 1986; Kim, J. S. 2004). Church individualism is used interchangeably with the term gaegyohoejuui or “churchism” to refer to the pervasiveness of the idea among Korean churches that each church is on its own and that its growth or failure is entirely its own responsibility. This idea led Korean churches to embrace expansion-oriented policies, making church growth one of the key missions of each church. Such expansion-oriented policy of “church individualism” had been justified by churches’ own economic needs for continued existence as an organisation and by the theology of church growth (Pak 1983, 19–21). In the highly competitive religious market, as new churches propped up continually, Korean churches as a whole had to vie for members not only for survival but also for expansion by engaging competitively in evangelical efforts. 20 Individual churches set their own mission goals, competitively 20 Mega churches in the capital region had not been immune from this competition, for many set up satellite or “branch” churches in newly created cities around the capital region. These satellite churches were operated like franchise businesses, whereby the former were supervised by, and received instructions from, the head church, gave portions of collected offerings to the head church, and had no autonomy from the head church. In this way, mega churches ensured continuous church growth and did not have to worry about losing members to other churches.

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undertook their own evangelical work and invested money and human resources to maximise growth in membership (No 1986, 81). They set up numerical targets to recruit new members on monthly and annual bases, and they competitively developed strategies to attract new members. That is why many aspects of church activities became professionalised and many large churches hired pastors and evangelists who specialised in education, missionary work, planning, music or counseling. In severe competition with one other, moreover, churches mailed or delivered flyers containing sermons and other messages to neighbourhood houses, put up posters about the church in the neighbourhood, and sent members to neighbourhood houses to evangelise. These competitions had been fierce, to say the least, with many churches adopting “salespersonlike” methods to “solicit” converts and even attempting to lure members away from other churches. Also, given the fact that Korean people generally pay high respect to the learned, pastors competitively pursued master and doctoral degrees to not only gain the “respect” of the congregation but also to ultimately attract more members. The intensity of the competition is further attested to by the fact that, except for staging the aforementioned nation-wide revivals, there existed very little cooperation among churches for evangelical efforts, even among churches belonging to the same denomination. As Donald Clark (1986, 22) writes: The heart of any church naturally is its membership, but many of Korea’s denominational churches are actually congregational rather than denominational, focused on local concerns rather than denomination-wide projects, or issues of concern to society as a whole....The results comprise a paradox. Christianity in Korea is faction-ridden over doctrinal, historical, and political issues, and depends heavily on pastoral leadership.

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And yet it claims many followers, displays vital forces for growth, and is capable of impressive displays of unity.

There are many factors which contributed to the rise of church individualism in Korea (No, C. 1989, 47–48; Lee, W. 1999, 246). First, the Nevius method had a major impact. As seen in Chapter One on the history of Protestantism in Korea, the early missionaries to Korea embraced the principles of self-support, self-propagation and self-government found in the Nevius missionary strategy as the guiding principles of establishing the church in Korea. Korean churches since then adopted the same principles for their operation, leading them to rely on their own resources for survival and expansion. Second, church individualism is based on the Confucian tradition of family-based collectivism or family-oriented mentality and strong in-group loyalty. According to Confucian precepts, one derives her/ his identity as a member of her/his family and this family-based sense of identity and loyalty ironically breeds competition and dissension among different families. In regard to church individualism, this meant that Korean Christians’ collective identity was based more on the individual churches they belonged to rather than on aggregate identity as Christian. Under this individualised circumstance, churches devoted much of its efforts to internal matters and members’ personal matters, rather than external or ecumenical. Church members themselves became inward, becoming concerned and enthused with only the internal matters, one of which was to devote themselves to the evangelical efforts for the growth of their own church, not Christianity. This is why many Koreans who had relocated afar continued to attend the church they first attended, even if it meant riding on a bus for more than an hour. Large churches also provided shuttle bus services for church members living in distant areas. Third, church individualism in

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Korea was further shaped by the administrative structure. Most Korean churches adopted the governance system of the Presbyterian Church, which is characterised by the decentralisation of the church authority, with each individual church serving as its own administrative centre. Fourth, as Korean churches achieved rapid quantitative growth, they became status groups, meaning that the clergy of large churches enjoyed greater power, status, prestige and honour in and outside of their congregation (No, C. 1989, 48). This gave pastors a great incentive to build a church with a large congregation. And those pastors at large churches became interested in building even larger churches. This made pastors to prioritise church growth as the most important aim of the church, galvanising them to channel all the material and human resources into building a larger church. The perception of church as a status group, i.e., a group or organisation which can be differentiated by such non-economic qualities as prestige and honour, was also evident among lay leaders, as they took great pride in being deacons and elders of large churches which, they believed, they played an integral role in building. Even for the laity, being members of a large church gave them a sense of pride and joy. The principles of the Nevius method, family-based collectivism of Confucianism, the system of decentralised authority and the rise of churches as status groups, therefore, had reinforced the individualism of Korean churches. While there had been certain side effects associated with church individualism—for example, excessive stress on the quantitative expansion of individual churches and the lack of unity and cooperation among churches—it effectively promoted competition among churches and prompted them to engage actively in evangelical efforts that ultimately led to the growth of Protestantism in Korea (Lee, W. 1992, 250–251).

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4. Conclusion There is little doubt that the Protestant Church in Korea had maintained its remarkable growth from the early 1960s to the end of 1980s by implementing innovative and resourceful methods of evangelism that were suited to the changing social conditions. By identifying the most fertile settings for evangelism, such as the armed forces and factories as well as prisons, hospitals and college campuses, Protestant denominations were able to employ the best evangelical means to attract new converts. In particular, the armed forces chaplaincy represented an important form of Christian opportunity and service, as conscription has been implemented since the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953. To become more efficient in ministry, churches expanded Sunday Schools, initiated various programmes of religious education, institutionalised Bible study, and formulated principles and methods to ensure continuous growth for Protestant Christianity. In addition, Protestant churches not only trained pastors, staff members and the laity to evangelise effectively but also changed the style of preaching, the time of worship, the type of music, the order of service, and the nature of lay participation to suit the needs of the growing congregation. Scholars of church growth theory verify that these diverse church programmes and activities had positively impacted church growth in Korea (Yi, Y. 1989). Neither can we underestimate the impact of the Church Growth Movement in Korea. The movement, which exerted far-reaching influences on every aspect of church organisation since the early 1970s, not only prompted the implementation of efficient evangelical methods but also provided a theological justification for viewing church growth as God’s command, an ultimate goal of evangelism. The movement accordingly

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found widespread practical endorsements in the nation; virtually every pastor, church staff member, and lay person in Korea was influenced by some aspect of this movement. The effectiveness of the Church Growth Movement and its carefully designed and implemented strategies of evangelism has been demonstrated by the remarkable growth of church membership as well as by the establishment of Protestant Christianity as a leading religious and social force in Korea. The chapter also discussed the role of church individualism and incessant church schisms for church growth in Korea. As denominations and churches continually split over theological issues, the direction of the church or personal issues, an ever increasing number of churches had more pews to fill. In such highly competitive religious market, churches had to devise effective evangelical methods to keep the existing members or to attract new ones. Such inability to stay united among Korean denominations and churches had ironically contributed to the phenomenal church growth in Korea.

CONCLUSION Since its introduction in 1884, Protestant Christianity has become the largest religion in Korea. By the end of the 1980s, about 8 million Koreans, comprising nearly one-fifth of the total population, professed to be Protestant Christians. The growth was especially conspicuous from the 1960s to the 1980s: Since the early 1960s, when Protestant Christians barely reached the one million mark, the number of Christians expanded faster than in any other country, more than doubling every decade. While this “Christianisation” of Korea in such a short duration has been justly celebrated by theologians and church historians as a marvel of Christian missions, there has been very limited social scientific attention to the subject. In an attempt to redress this imbalance, this study sought to offer a systematic historical sociology of the processes of the success of Christianity in Korea, thereby illuminating the determinant nexus of circumstances and factors that facilitated its remarkable growth. The study opened with a historical overview of the introduction of both Catholicism and Protestantism to Korea, which began “officially” in 1784 and 1884, respectively. More importantly, the study focused on various factors that account for the triumph of Protestantism in Korea from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. From this analysis, it is argued that while no one factor explains conclusively the readiness of Korea to accept Protestantism, a unique convergence of factors—which can be broadly grouped into three categories of religious, socio-political, and church-related factors—allowed the new religion to establish its presence in the country.

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1. The Rise of Protestantism in Korea: Religious, Sociopolitical, and Church-related Factors Religious Factors: Affinity between the Key Religious Values of Koreans and Protestantism There are two religious factors which played key roles in facilitating the rise of Protestantism in Korea. First, when the first Protestant missionaries arrived in 1884, the country did not have any firmly established organised religion that could have opposed the spread of the new religion. Traditional

religions,

either

because

they

lacked

institutional

representation, as in the case of shamanism, or because they were in full decline, as in the case of Buddhism, did not, and could not, put up an opposition to the new religion. This affirms the theory which argues that new religion is most likely to succeed in areas where there is no strong presence of organised religions. As Stark (1985) argued, based on his comparative studies of North America, South America and Islamic countries, a rapid conversion to a new religion is more likely to occur in regions where the proportion of the members of traditional religions is low, while the percentage of non-believers is high. What is implied here is that a new religion has the best chance to succeed in areas where there is no strong presence of, and hence no opposition from, the existing organised religions. The success of Protestantism in Korea affirms Stark’s theory since most of the converts to the new religion were not affiliated with any existing religion. A second religious factor for the warm receptivity accorded to Protestant Christianity is the fact that certain Christian doctrines and practices were given selective emphases or syncretised in the image of the basic religious values of Koreans. In an effort to make the imported faith more appealing to a wider audience, Korean clergy accentuated certain

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Christian messages and doctrines, such as the image of God as the provider of material goods, that are meaningful to the religious worldview of Koreans. In the process, Protestantism made various compromises, stressing the possibility that, much like the underlying motives for practicing shamanism, conversion to the new faith would lead to prosperity, health, longevity and other personal success. In addition to such emphasis on the utilitarian implications of accepting Christianity, the missionaries and Korean clergy also stressed, in view of the importance of Confucian values to Koreans, the centrality of morality and ethics in the imported faith. In particular, moral values that pertain to the veneration of parents, the most significant socio-cultural imperative governing Korean society, were given special attention. This partly explains why the Korean Church passively accepted the practice of ancestor worship and incorporated memorial services for the dead that resemble the Confucian/shamanic practice of beseeching the ancestors’ spirits to bestow material blessings. Through syncretism and through selective emphases on certain Christian doctrines and teachings, therefore, Christian doctrines and practices were made more congenial to Koreans. These metamorphoses not only made Christian precepts radiate with religious relevance to the tradition-bound Koreans but also facilitated the rapid expansion of the imported faith among Koreans. What this demonstrates is that Protestant Christianity, at least in the way it was transformed, did not contradict nor deny much that the populace had embraced in their old beliefs. Another religious factor which deserves mention is the unique characteristics of Korean religious culture. Korean religious culture can be said to be predisposed to accept new religions (Lee, W. 1994, 182). That is because its traditional religions, especially shamanism and Buddhism, are not monotheistic nor are they “doctrinally” hostile to other religions.

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Influenced by such religious tradition, Koreans’ religious attitude is said to be characterised by receptiveness to other religions. Such openness in the religious attitude of Koreans “makes it easy for a non-believer to turn to a religion, or for a believer to convert to another religion” (Lee, W. 1999, 244). Given their exposure to traditional religions that are polytheistic and non-exclusive, therefore, Koreans’ religiosity can be said to have facilitated the rise of Protestantism in Korea. The fact that Korean religious culture is characterised by emotionladen tendencies rather than intellectually-inclined orientation may have also facilitated the expansion of Protestantism. As Lee Won Gue (1999, 243) notes, “Korean religious culture is not Apollonian, which emphasises reason, order, logic and rationality, but Dionysian, which relies on sensibility, passion, emotion, and ecstasy.” 1 Influenced by the shamanic tradition, Korean religious culture has emphasised ecstatic experiences as well as improvisational expressions of faith. Examples that reflect such emotional tendencies toward religion are their receptiveness to speaking in tongues and the experience of the Holy Spirit, the popularity of tongsonggido or speaking out one’s prayers in unison with others, and their enthusiasm for a Pentecostal style of worship and revival meetings, complete with emotive singing and the clapping of hands. It is likely that these emotionally-charged characteristics of Korean Protestantism, at least in the way they were practiced in Korea, have been more conducive to church growth than more intellectually-oriented alternatives. A related point which shows the passionate and proactive nature of Koreans’ religious 1

As noted by Lee (1999), it was Nietzsche who first made use of the comparison scheme of Apollo and Dionysus in The Birth of Tragedy (1924), while Korean theologian Dongshik Ryu (1978) applied the framework to compare the patterns of religious cultures in Korea in Minsokjonggyowa hangukmunhwa (Folk Religions and Korean Culture).

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tendencies is the frequency of their participation in religious activities. According to a survey of religious activities in sixteen Christian nations in the late 1980s, Korea was ranked second in church attendance and first in the frequency of prayers (Gallup Korea 1990b, 730–731). Also, surveys of religious activities in 18 countries between 1989 and 1991, including the United States, England, Hungary and Australia, showed that nearly threefourths of Korean Protestants attended church each Sunday, which was the highest, by far, among the 18 countries (Gallup Korea 1998, 216–217). 2 And Korea was, and still is, the only country in the world where practically all churches held daily predawn prayers, which amply indicates Koreans’ high level of participation in religious activities when they have faith in a particular religion. Socio-political Factors: Widespread Despair and Alienation The phrase “human being’s extremity is God’s opportunity” could not have been more appropriate for the circumstances in Korea during the period of a conversion boom for Protestantism from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. However, the prospect of the imported faith to take roots in Korea seemed very promising even at the time of its introduction in 1884. During the period of initial church growth (1884–1910), there were two factors that provided a fertile ground from which Protestantism experienced considerable success. First, the missionaries arrived in Korea when the country’s sovereignty was in jeopardy and the government naturally tried to build a cordial relationship with strong Western powers, such as the United States 2 Korean Christians’ “high religiosity” continued onto the 1990s. According to the 1997 Gallup survey, 64 percent of Korean Protestants prayed at least once a day and more than 50 percent of them were found to read religious scriptures more than once a week, all of which were among the highest in the world (Gallup Korea 1998, 86– 89).

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and England, from which a large majority of missionaries came from, by welcoming the missionaries and their religion. Second, the initial acceptance of Protestantism in Korea is closely related to the missionaries’ provision of various social services, including medical care and education, that were otherwise unavailable to the underprivileged. Protestantism most likely would have thrived from such auspicious beginning, but the Japanese colonial rule denied the new religion such opportunity, as Japanese authorities suppressed it in the fear that it could serve as an organisation for the independence movment. Post-liberation political chaos, culminating in the devastating Korean War, and the division of the country, further stifled any church growth. The most important contextual factor which facilitated the remarkable success of Protestantism from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s was the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation during the same period. These were monumental events for the people who had hitherto lived as farmers in close-knit communities. In a span of a just one generation, a large number of Koreans were uprooted from their hometowns and had to live under miserable circumstances in urban areas. Many lived in shantytowns or squalid housings, and worked long hours under poor working conditions. All of this engendered acute feelings of alienation, great anxiety, and dejection. These sentiments became even more intense as the country became more industrialised in the 1970s and 1980s, as many Koreans felt they were not getting their share of the new riches. The feelings of discontent and deprivation arising from the interminable poverty, widening income gap, inequality of opportunity and the lack of social mobility further provided psychological impetus for a considerable segment of the Korean population to seek a satisfying response in the Christian faith. That is because the liberating gospel of Christianity appealed immensely to the

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emotion and aspirations of underprivileged Koreans. Emancipation was a practical message of Christianity, as it promised liberation from poverty, anxiety, fear and all other types of suffering. The idea that all human beings, regardless of their status, could be saved by the mercy of God attracted the religious imagination of the underprivileged, from which the vast majority of the converts initially derived. Furthermore, churches provided a sense of identity and belonging as well as providing support networks, though which Korean Christians found security, trust, cooperation, and consolation. Churches in urban areas became something akin to ethnic churches in North America. We can thus conceptualise the rise of Christianity in Korea not only as a manifestation of people’s reaction to the complexity and the rapidity of social changes in modern society but also as an endeavor to regain a sense of community that was lost in urban settings. Church-Related Factors: Effective Evangelical Programmes The structural strains, psychological feelings of deprivation, and a religious and cultural affinity may explain why Protestantism was accepted, but does not entirely account for the way the new religion sustained its remarkable growth in Korea. In this respect, it was the effective church organisation, complete with its innovative strategies and programmes for evangelisation, that mobilised large numbers of Koreans to become Christians. To become more efficient in ministry, Korean churches expanded Sunday Schools, initiated various curricula of religious education, institutionalised Bible studies, established industrial evangelism and the armed forces chaplaincy, and utilised radio evangelism, among others. Through adaptation, updating, adjustment and enlargement, church organisations in Korea were able to keep abreast of the changing social situation, continuing to win new converts and sustaining the church growth in the process.

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2. Grayson’s Theory of Emplantation: An Assessment In addition to Stark’s theory (1985) discussed above, a theory that is highly convincing in explaining the Christian success story in Korea is Grayson’s theory of emplantation. Indeed, the findings and arguments of this study are largely congruent with the specifics of the emplantation theory, which argues that the growth of a missionary religion in a new cultural setting is contingent upon five factors: 1) the resolution of contradictions between the main values of the host culture and the values of the new religion; 2) tolerance of the new religion by the ruling elite of the host society; 3) overcoming linguistic and conceptual barriers; 4) the resolution of conflict with other religions or philosophies of the host society; and 5) political conditions disposing members of the host society to accept the new religion (Grayson 1985, 13–15). It is worth noting that Grayson himself briefly assessed Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism in terms of his own theory to show the degree of success or relative failure of these religions in Korea (see Table 1). In what follows, the five factors in the emplantation theory are discussed briefly in view of the findings and arguments of this study. First, as discussed in Chapters 3 and 4, there were no real contradictions between the key values of the host culture and the values advanced by Protestantism. The Protestant Church largely accepted the basic values of the traditional culture by incorporating many aspects of Korean shamanism, stressing thisworldly wish-fulfillment as one of its central messages. In addition, Protestantism was advanced as a religion that, much like Confucianism, places utmost stress on morality and ethics, especially those pertaining to

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Table 8.1: Grayson’s Assessment of Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism in Relation to the Emplantation Theory Factor 1

2 3

4

5

Buddhism No essential conflict, parallels made with folk religion Early tolerance No linguistic barriers, use of Chinese sutras

Catholicism Conflict, no parallels drawn with folk religion

Protestantism No-essential conflict, parallels drawn with folk religion

No tolerance No linguistic barriers, use of Chinese texts

No conflict, no organised resistance Modernisation of culture predisposed members towards outside influences

Organised, governmental resistance Initial reception eclipsed by court factionalism and conflict of values

Early tolerance Translation of scriptures into vernacular script and language No organised resistance initially Modernisation of culture and nationalistic associations disposed many to look favourably on new beliefs

Source: Grayson (1985, 141).

the veneration of parents. Second, at the time of its introduction, the veneration of parents. Second, at the time of its introduction, Protestantism was generally tolerated by the ruling elite of late Joseon society, particularly because it was introduced to the country when the latter was going through one of the most turbulent times in its history. Also, in the post-war Korea, a disproportionate number of Korean elite, including those in politics, economy and academia, were Christians, reflecting the establishment of Protestantism as a main religion. Third, Korean Protestantism overcame linguistic barriers—and facilitated an easier access to the Bible and religious tracts—by making use of the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, which is much

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easier to read and write than the Chinese characters that had been used exclusively by the ruling elite until the turn of twentieth century. Protestantism also overcame a potential conceptual barrier by, among others, adopting the traditionally revered concept of hananim (“god in heaven”) as its own god. The exact use of the native term for the supreme God in the Christian guise resolved the potential incongruity between the new doctrine and the core values of the Korean people. Fourth, as discussed in Chapters Three and Four, the absence of antagonism between the new religion and the traditional religions of Korea further facilitated the rise of Christianity. Lastly, political conditions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Korea disposed the elite as well as the masses to become receptive to the new religion. In the post-war period, however, the impact of political conditions on the people’s receptivity to Christianity has been unclear. A question remains as to which factor or issue is the most important at which stage of emplantation. Grayson (1985, 142) argues that the clash of values and language are more significant at the point of initial contact, while tolerance of the new religion by the elite is more important in the subsequent phase of emplantation. Once the elite’s acceptance of the new religion is achieved, Grayson continues, the resolution of conflict between the new religion and the existing religions and philosophies becomes the next important factor. He also argues that emplantation of a new religion within the same cultural sphere is easier because of a shared set of values and norms, while diffusion of the new religion between two different cultural spheres is more difficult due to considerable differences in values and norms. What this study finds most important in the emplantation of Christianity in Korea is the absence of institutional representation of any other world religion and the lack of opposition on the

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part of Korean traditional religions against the new religion. It is not hard to find examples of countries where Christianity has failed to penetrate because of the strong institutional presence of the existing world religions of the host society, e.g., India, Japan, China, and countries in the Middle East.

3. Implications of the Study There are several implications that can be drawn from this study. First, the Korean case study of this book shows that contextual factors can be as important as religious messages or doctrines in facilitating the growth of a missionary religion in a new culture. The book demonstrates that the factors which account for the rise of Protestantism in Korea include not only religious factors but also cultural, social and political factors. Second, the book illustrates how a missionary religion can become part of a country’s nascent nationalism, intended or unintended, and help its own cause in taking roots in a new mission field. Like many other Asian countries, Korea had been troubled by a series of national tragedies in the twentieth century. Yet it would be very difficult to locate another country where Christianity was so profoundly involved in the struggle for national independence. While the colonial experience of Korea finds many parallels in other Asian countries, such as the occupation of Indochina by France, and India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma by England, the long period of Western rule over these nations largely made Christianity an appendage of Western colonial power, as a force against which they were struggling for national independence. In Korea, Christianity was never the religion of its oppressor. In fact, Christianity became fully identified with Korean national aspirations for sovereignty and their struggle against Japanese rule. Even after

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liberation, Christianity was advanced as the most nationalistic faith, the faith that could rally the country toward greater prosperity and strength. Third, the book affirms the existing cross-cultural studies on Christian conversion which show that Christianity has experienced discernible growth only when it incorporated certain cultural traits of the host society. For sure, the Koreanisation of Christianity has proved eminently successful in Korea, as the new religion embraced many values and practices that were culturally significant to Koreans. It can be said that the success or failure of a missionary religion in a new mission field depends on how much it can adopt local cultural traits. Fourth, the book challenges the validity of the “intellectualist” approach to religious conversion, which explains conversion as a complete change in religious belief. The Korean case shows that conversion to a new religion can take place without a major transformation in the individual’s existing belief or values. Indeed, conversion in Korea did not require surrender of old beliefs; by reworking Protestant beliefs and practices within an indigenous framework, Korean Protestantism has successfully retained the core of Koreans’ traditional religio-cultural beliefs and practices. The Korean example thus contradicts the argument that world religions spread at the expense of traditional cultures and societies. What we witness in Korea, instead, is the expansion of Christianity in peace with old beliefs. Fifth, the book questions the validity of the secularisation theory in the Korean context. In spite of the rapid industrialisation and modernisation, Christianity grew at an astounding rate. Its growth may have reached a plateau, but the social, economic and even political influence of Christianity as a whole has not shown any sign of diminution. Christian organisations continue to have a very powerful presence in education, medicine, publishing and other sectors of Korean society. What the Korean

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case demonstrates is that a shift from rural agrarian society to urban industrial society does not necessarily lead to secularisation or a decline in the influence of religion. The strength of the Korean Church demonstrates that organised religions can still serve important functions for individuals living in modern, complex society. In fact, the individual’s longing for religious fulfilment and for support networks, identity, and a recognised value system may even be increased in this rapidly changing and increasingly alienating society. Lastly, the possibility of comparing the Korean case with the situations in China and Japan is suggested by the book. Given the geographical proximity, historical interrelationship, similarities in culture, including philosophy, religion, and customs, and parallels in missionary activities, the singularity of Korea’s response to Christianity is indeed a fascinating phenomenon. The examination of factors that constrained the spread of Christianity in China and Japan may allow for a more precise understanding of the success of Christianity in Korea. Furthermore, an investigation into the similarities and differences in the reception and social impact of Christianity in each of these countries might bring into focus historical and social variations that acted either for or against the establishment of Christianity. A corollary of this comparison might be to compare the Korean case with Singapore and the Philippines, countries that also witnessed a relative success of Christianity. Comparison and contrast between Korea and these two countries, too, would shed new insights about the relationship between Christianity and the history, culture and social structure of the host society. These suggestions are a blueprint for future studies. It is hoped, however, that the present book marks an appropriate prelude to a discussion of this important topic on the rise of Protestant Christianity in South Korea.

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INDEX

alienation, xv, 164, 182, 245, 251, 259–260, 271, 273, 327–328 Allen, Horace N., 57–59, 59n.18, 60–61, 222 armed forces, 26, 107n.46, 111, 277, 305, 305n.10, 306–307, 321 armed forces chaplaincy (ministry), 286, 304, 305n.10, 307n.13, 321, 329 ancestor worship, 21n.13, 38, 38n.8, 39, 41, 77, 98n.44, 152, 152n.5, 161–164, 164n.13, 165, 172, 205, 234, 325 ancestral ritual (rite), 38, 38n.8, 39, 41, 160, 162–164, 164n.13, 165. See also jesa Appenzeller, Henry, 21, 57, 62, 62n.19, 136, 232 Asia (Asian), 2, 8, 14, 30, 33, 55, 94–95, 112, 136, 157, 212, 236, 333. See also East Asia Australia (Australian), 106, 212, 225, 229–230, 290n.6, 327 Baejae Hakdang, 62, 62n.19, 63, 228 Baker, Don, 13, 15, 34–35, 98n.44, 186 Baptist, 7, 106 Bible, 10–11, 13, 50–53, 53n.12, 54n.13, 55, 64–69, 72–73, 110, 110n.49, 124, 156, 160, 165– 166, 170, 187–188, 188n.16, 188n.17, 189–191, 194,

198n.22, 201, 222, 231, 282, 288–290, 290n.5, 291, 294, 297, 299–300, 308, 331 Bible class, 68, 281, 284, 286, 288– 290, 299, 302 Bible study, 13, 25–26, 28, 54, 64, 68, 70, 73, 78, 253, 255, 276– 277, 282, 289, 291, 297, 301, 321 Bible translation, 26, 52–53, 55, 62n.19, 64–65, 67, 110, 110n.49, 124 Bible women, 65–67 Bird, Isabella, 21, 136 Blair, William N., 73–74, 99 blessing, 151, 160, 166n.14, 173, 176, 178–185, 187, 188n.16, 192n.19, 193–198, 203, 268, 325. See also material blessing Buddhism, xiii, xv, 1, 2n.3, 10, 14, 19–20, 82n.25, 85n.27, 86, 124, 130, 132–135, 139–140, 140n.5, 141–143, 149, 149n.1, 150–151, 151n.3, 152–154, 156, 158–159, 161, 167, 169, 173, 179, 204– 205, 217, 230, 284–285, 324– 325, 330–331 Buddhist, 2n.3, 3, 10, 14, 20–21, 87, 105n.45, 133–136, 141–142, 151, 153–158, 165, 175n.5, 227, 233n.9, 284, 304 Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), 288, 298, 300, 311–312

372 Canada (Canadian), 11, 58, 73, 80, 106, 112, 212, 225, 229, 258 Catholic Church, 30, 30n.1, 37–38, 38n.8, 39, 41–44, 46, 48–50, 69n.24, 98n.44, 117, 123, 205 Catholicism, xiv, 8, 13–14, 30–34, 34n.3, 35–38, 38n.8, 39–44, 47, 49–50, 56, 123, 131, 133, 192n.19, 205, 213, 221, 221n.5, 323, 330–331 Catholics, xiii, 2, 2n.3, 3, 14, 31–32, 37–38, 38n.8, 39–46, 49, 54, 84, 86–87, 98n.44, 163n.12, 192n.19, 213, 221 cell groups (cell units), 26, 253, 276, 280, 286, 288, 293–297, 300 cheolyagido, 153, 155–156 Cheondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way), 85, 85n.27, 86. See also Donghak China, xiv, 8, 14, 16, 23, 27, 30, 30n.2, 32–35, 37, 38n.8, 40–41, 45, 47, 50–53, 54n.13, 55, 57, 68–69, 94, 108, 124, 131, 132n.1, 212–214, 218, 230, 231n.8, 247, 333, 335 Chinese, 33–34, 38n.8, 41, 50–52, 54, 54n.13, 55, 57n.16, 61, 64, 67, 95, 108, 132n.1, 140, 142, 230–231, 231n.8, 258, 331–332 Cho, David Yonggi, 162, 181–183, 183n.11, 199. See also Yoido Full Gospel Church Christian schools (missionary schools), 63, 71, 75, 82–83, 95, 227n.7, 227–228, 240–241. See also education; schools Christianity, xiv, 1, 6n.6, 8, 10–12, 14–18, 20, 22, 27–28, 33, 36,

Index 39, 47, 51, 53n.12, 55–56, 58, 58n.17, 59, 67, 81–82, 82n.25, 83–84, 85n.27, 97–99, 104, 111–112, 120–121, 124–127, 131–132, 134–136, 138–140, 140n.5, 141–142, 145–148, 153, 153n.6, 154, 156, 159–160, 166–167, 169–170, 178n.7, 179, 183, 184n.13, 186, 190, 192n.19, 193, 201, 203–204, 215–219, 224, 231, 231n.8, 232, 237, 239–244, 245n.2, 253–254, 260, 264n.10, 265, 280, 283, 304, 309, 314, 319, 323, 325, 329, 332–335. Christianisation, 18, 190–191, 305n.10, 323 church growth, xiv–xv, 16–17, 19, 25–26, 28, 58n.17, 78, 110, 125–126, 202, 208, 247, 276– 285, 288–289, 291–292, 298, 302, 312–313, 315, 317, 317n.20, 320–322, 326–329 Church Growth Movement, 275, 278–281, 281n.2, 282–283, 287, 321–322 church individualism, 276, 313, 317, 319–320, 322 Clark, Allen D., 11, 16, 49–50, 69, 72, 96n.43, 104–105, 109, 305, 309 Clark, Charles Allen, 68–69 Clark, Donald N., 77, 112, 191, 269, 299, 318 clergy, 22, 45, 48, 93, 97, 111, 123, 133, 150, 153, 159–160, 162, 171, 185, 189–190, 191n.18, 192, 196–197, 198n.22, 200– 202, 204, 241, 271, 283, 304, 316, 316n.19, 320, 324–325

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective collective behaviour, 26, 211–212 communal support, 24–25, 252 communism, 12, 115, 313 community, xiv, 11, 16, 19, 28, 72, 75, 79–80, 118, 122n.53, 133, 140, 142n.7, 148, 170, 231, 233, 245, 251–254, 254n.5, 255–260, 272–273, 279, 284–285, 297, 329 compensation (compensatory role of religion), 36n.7, 48, 209–212, 239, 243, 247, 264, 268, 271 Confucian (neo-Confucian), 11, 14, 22, 34, 34n.3, 35, 36n.7, 38–41, 64n.21, 134–135, 140, 142–144, 150, 153, 159, 161, 163, 163n.12, 164, 164n.13, 165– 166, 230, 234, 319, 325 Confucianism (neo-Confucianism), xiii–xiv, 1, 14, 20–21, 21n.13, 22, 39–40, 86, 124, 130, 132n.1, 133–136, 141–143, 149, 149n.1, 151, 151n.3, 152, 152n.4, 152n.5, 153, 159–161, 161n.11, 164, 167–168, 173, 217, 230, 239, 284, 320, 330 Conspiracy Trial of 1911, 82–84 conversion, 10, 15, 31, 50n.11, 54, 54n.13, 72, 79, 149, 192n.19, 193, 204, 259, 265, 278–279, 291, 324–325, 334 “conversion boom,” 244, 260, 271, 281, 327 Dallet, Charles, 30n.1, 31–32, 35, 44, 49 Daewongun, 46–49 democratisation, 108, 113, 118–119 denomination, 7, 7n.8, 8, 12, 25–26, 58n.17, 89–91, 93, 96–97, 99,

373

101, 106, 110n.49, 111, 147, 163n.12, 165, 167, 184n.14, 200–201, 223, 226–227, 236– 237, 283, 298, 310, 313, 315– 316, 318, 321–322 demoninational (interdemoninational), 12, 26, 58n.17, 71, 97, 99, 116, 158, 171, 201, 202n.26, 221n.5, 277, 289, 299, 301, 310, 318 demoninationalism, 209, 314 deprivation (relative deprivation), xvi, 19, 124n.54, 210, 210n.3, 211–212, 239, 242–245, 260– 262, 264–265, 268–269n.12, 271–272, 328–329 doctrines, xv, 11, 20, 22, 27, 31–32, 36–38, 43, 53n.12, 142–144, 149, 153, 159, 169, 179, 181, 192n.19, 203–204, 209, 219, 221n.5, 235, 242, 265, 282, 324–325, 332–333 Donghak, 85n.27. See also Cheondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way) East Asia (East Asian/Northeast Asia), 15–16, 30n.2, 99, 105, 120, 214, 215n.4. See also Asia education, 23–24, 26, 59–60, 62–64, 69n.23, 71, 82, 125, 127, 138– 139, 209, 216, 221, 223, 226, 226n.6, 227, 230–232, 234–235, 239–241, 248, 251, 255–257, 260, 263, 265, 270, 277, 293, 298, 302, 316, 318, 321, 328– 329, 334. See also Christian schools (missionary schools); schools

374 Ewha Hakdang (Ewha Womans Univeristy), 63, 228 emplantation. See theory of emplantation England, 1, 23, 56, 58, 209, 212, 214, 290n.6, 327–328, 333 ethnic church, xv, 25, 257–258, 272, 329. See also immigrant church ethics, 20, 22, 130, 134, 140, 148, 150, 153, 159, 325, 330 evangelical, 10, 19, 25, 28, 50, 52, 59–60, 70, 73, 78–80, 101, 103, 106, 110–111, 123, 203, 226, 241, 270, 276–278, 280–282, 286, 286n.4, 287–288, 293–294, 305, 307–308, 312, 314, 316– 322, 329 evangelism, 10, 26, 67–68, 69n.23, 71, 111, 232, 276–278, 280, 281n.2, 284, 286–288, 290, 293, 295, 297–298, 300–302, 307, 309–310, 321–322, 329 evangelisation, 59, 79, 81, 221, 232, 282, 288, 291, 297–298, 300, 307, 311, 329 faith, 11, 13–14, 20–23, 26–27, 31, 33, 35–37, 40, 42, 67, 72–73, 81, 95, 99, 103, 131–134, 136– 137, 140, 143, 145, 147–149, 151–152, 156, 157n.8, 164, 169, 171–172, 178, 180–182, 183n.12, 184n.14, 185–186, 189, 191, 193, 196–197, 201, 203–204, 209–210, 236, 242, 247, 265, 268, 278, 280, 282, 289, 291, 324–328, 334 faith healing, 12, 157n.8, 171–172, 193, 196–200, 202, 202n.26, 203

Index fasting prayers, 13, 153, 156 fasting prayer centre, 157–158, 196–197, 200. See also gidowon; prayer centre fellowship, xv, 24, 53n.12, 78, 133, 156, 232, 245, 253, 257, 259, 272, 276, 278–280, 285, 289, 293, 297–301, 304, 311 filial piety, 39n.9, 144, 153, 159– 161, 165, 167, 234 folk religion, 22, 130, 132, 172n.3, 178, 326n.1, 331 France, 47, 48n.10, 56, 56n.15, 214, 221n.5, 333 French, 45, 47–48, 221 French bishops, 47–48 French priests, 44–45, 48, 48n.10, 98n.44, fundamentalism, 10–11 Gale, James, 80, 152 Gallup Korea, 2n.3, 2n.4, 15, 159, 164n.13, 189, 192, 192n.20, 193, 195, 195n.21, 203, 290, 290n.6, 292, 327, 327n.2 gidowon, 13, 157, 157n.8, 158. See also fasting prayer centre; prayer centre giboksinang (“faith of material blessings”), 178, 178n.7 Gil, Seon-ju, 74–75 god, 10, 16–17, 22–23, 37, 39, 41, 73–76, 102, 106, 110n.49, 142n.7, 143, 146, 148, 152–154, 156–157, 163, 171, 173–174, 176, 178n.7, 180–181, 183–188, 188n.16, 188n.17, 189–192, 194–198, 201, 203, 219, 235, 242, 266–269, 271, 278–279,

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective 282, 297, 314, 321, 325, 327, 329, 332 Gojong, King/Emperor, 46, 49, 59, 59n.18, 62, 64n.21, 216 Goryeo, 36n.7, 134–135, 233n.9 gospel, 17, 31, 69n.23, 70, 81, 120, 185, 219, 226, 246, 268, 278– 279, 281, 286, 309, 328 Graham, Billy, 310, 310n.16 Grayson, James, xv, 16, 27, 32, 45, 71–72, 97, 109, 123, 159, 165, 203–205, 239, 245n.2, 330–332. See also theory of emplantation Great Revival of 1907, 72–73, 76– 79, 81, 155, 310 Griffis, William Elliot, 21, 34n.4, 136, 221, 232 gut, 1, 174–177. See also shamanic ritual (rite) Gutzlaff, Karl Friedrich August, 50– 51 Han, Wansang, 181, 253, 256 Hananim (hanunim, haneunim), 17, 110n.49, 186, 189–190, 332 Hangeul, 52, 64–65, 67, 227n.7, 230–231, 331 Hardie, Robert A., 73 Hinduism, xiv, 19. See also India Holiness (Church), 7, 7n.8, 89–90, 92–93, 99, 101–102, 105–106, 283, 308 Holy Spirit, 26, 170, 182, 184, 195– 197, 268, 277, 288, 310, 326 hospital, 13, 58–62, 123–124, 222– 226, 270, 287, 289, 297, 302, 307, 307n.13, 308n.15, 309, 321 hospital chaplains, 270, 307n.13 housing, 24, 28, 251, 257–258, 262– 264, 272, 328

375

Hulbert, Homer, 87–88, 151, 233, 237 Hunt, Everett, 21, 50, 73, 136, 222, 226 idolatry, 38, 38n.8, 41, 96, 162–163 immigrant church, 25, 25n.14, 257– 259, 272. See also ethnic church income gap, 245, 261, 328 India, xiv, 19, 21, 131, 231n.8, 333. See also Hinduism industrialisation, xv, 5, 19, 24, 28, 110, 126–127, 200, 240, 244, 244n.1, 247–248, 260–262, 298 300, 313, 328, 334 Islam (Islamic), xiv, 19, 131, 324. See also Middle East Japan, xiv, 14–16, 23, 27, 30, 30n.2, 31–32, 34, 34n.4, 47, 50, 53–54, 54n.13, 55, 56n.14, 69–70, 76, 84n.26, 94–95, 96n.43, 98, 98n.44, 103, 107, 112, 120, 123, 125, 131–132, 138–148, 212– 214, 217–218, 224, 226n.6, 239–243, 247, 308, 333, 335 Japanese authorities, 81–82, 82n.25, 84, 88, 95–99, 104, 125, 314, 328 Japanese Buddhism, 82n.25, 142 Japanese Christian, 89–91, 93, 96n.43, 97, 99, 102, 240 Japanese colonial rule, 15, 18, 81, 126, 208n.1, 314, 328 Japanese society, 139, 145, 241 Japanisation (Japanise), 94–95, 97, 142 jesa, 38, 162–163. See also ancestral ritual (rite) Jesuit, 30–33, 38n.8

376 Jesus Christ, 10, 30, 160, 182–186, 189, 199, 201–202, 271, 294 Joseon, 20, 30n.2, 31, 33–34, 36n.7, 40, 47–48, 51, 56n.14, 58, 123, 134–135, 192, 214, 215n.4, 222, 233n.9, 234, 234n.10, 242, 331 Joseon dynasty, 20, 32, 34, 34n.4, 36n.7, 82n.25, 134–135, 222, 236 Korea (as God’s chosen nation), 73, 113, 191–192, 269 Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (KIVCF), 299–300 Korean culture, 11, 18, 156, 180, 326n.1 Korean missionaries, 8–9 Korean National Council of Churches (KNCC), 115–118, 120–122, 122n.53 Korean religious culture, 22, 149, 168, 205, 325–326 Korean religious tradition, 22, 150, 153, 167 Korean society, 23, 113, 161, 183, 225, 234n.10, 261, 264, 273, 298, 312, 325, 334 Korean War, 12, 105, 108, 111, 126–127, 154–155, 173n.4, 178n.7, 181, 192, 208n.1, 243, 247n.3, 269, 305, 308, 310n.16, 321, 328 labour (labourer), 24, 36n.7, 42, 94, 111–112, 115–116, 119, 241, 245, 247–248, 251–252, 260, 300–302. See also workers Lee, Won Gue, 244, 246, 250–252, 255, 261–262, 270, 276, 282, 282n.3, 319–320, 325–326

Index liberation, 94, 99, 103, 107, 170, 208n.1, 243, 247, 247n.3, 314, 328–329, 334 liberation theology, 18, 111. See also Minjung theology Lutheran Church, 106 March 1st Movement, 81, 83–85, 87, 104, 117–118 martyr, 32, 39–40, 42, 45–47, 51– 52, 60, 213 martyrdom, 42, 52, 96, 99 material blessing, 166n.14, 178– 180, 182–185, 187, 192n.19, 193, 196, 203, 268, 271, 325. See also blessing material wish, 176–178, 178n.7, 179n.8, 180, 180n.9, 181, 184n.14, 186, 190, 193, 196– 198 McGavran, Donald, 278–279 McIver, Robert M., 254 medical care, 23, 57, 59–60, 127, 138, 209, 221–222, 224–226, 232, 239, 241, 263, 328 megachurches, 7, 7n.7 Methodist Church (Methodist), 7, 7n.8, 11, 21, 56–57, 61–62, 62n.19, 63, 69, 72, 77, 79, 84n.26, 86, 89–91, 93, 96–97, 101–102, 105–106, 107n.46, 108–109, 136, 165, 225–226, 236–237, 288, 308, 314–315 Methodist Episcopal, 56, 84n.26, 89–91, 93, 212, 228–229 Middle East, xiv, 19, 21, 131, 333. See also Islam (Islamic) military, 30n.2, 36n.7, 47–48, 87, 95, 97, 103, 107–108, 111, 113– 115, 135, 141n.6, 146, 173,

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective 173n.4, 213, 221, 233, 240, 289, 305, 305n.10, 306, 307n.12, 309 military chaplains, 107n.46, 304– 306, 307n.13 military coup, 109, 113 Million Movement, 79, 81 Min, Pyong Gap, 257 Minjung theology, 18, 111–112. See also liberation theology miracle, 12, 172, 182, 187–190, 202, 210 missionaries, xiii–xiv, 8, 8n.9, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21–23, 28, 30, 32– 35, 37, 38n.8, 47, 51–54, 54n.13, 55–58, 58n.17, 59–60, 62, 64–75, 78–82, 87, 96–98, 105–106, 111–113, 123–125, 127, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 147–148, 150n.2, 152, 152n.5, 159–160, 169, 171, 179n.8, 192, 208–209, 212–213, 215n.4, 216, 218–221, 221n.5, 222–226, 226n.6, 227, 227n.7, 230–232, 237, 239–242, 269, 278, 286, 289, 298, 300, 302, 304, 313– 314, 319, 324–325, 327–328. See also Korean missionaries missionary efforts, 8, 14, 16, 27, 50, 53, 54n.13, 55, 62n.19, 124, 160, 212, 226n.6, 236, 241, 278, 314 modern, 5, 13, 34n.4, 36n.7, 62n.19, 64, 64n.21, 138–139, 143, 203, 222, 226n.6, 230–231, 240, 272, 278, 329, 335 modernisation, 54, 146, 214, 254, 298, 331, 334 Moffett, Samuel H., 16, 55, 81, 97, 99, 124, 232, 271 Mullins, Mark, 138, 140, 146

377

nationalism, 13, 71, 78, 81, 83, 87, 96, 97n.42, 141, 143–145, 147, 219, 240, 333 Navigators, 299 New Testament, 54–55, 65, 110 Nevius method, 16, 16–17n.12, 17, 68–69, 69n.23, 69n.24, 70, 277, 319–320 North America, xv, 13, 25, 257, 259, 272, 324, 329 North Korea (North Korean), 11– 12, 16, 105n.45, 107–109, 119– 122, 122n.53, 173n.4, 238–239, 247n.3 Ogle, George E., 302, 304 Old Testament, 18, 65, 110, 160, 188n.17, 191 offering, 35, 66, 78, 80, 177, 184n.13, 194–195, 222, 243, 246, 272, 285, 301, 317n.20 Paik, Lak-Geoon George, 16, 36, 50–51, 55, 63, 65–66, 70, 73, 77, 80, 84, 151, 217–218, 225, 290 Park, Chung-hee, 109, 113–114, 116, 118–119, 304, 313 pastor, 11, 13, 19, 22, 25, 68, 70, 96, 99, 103, 112, 115–118, 122, 152, 154–155, 162–163, 166, 170, 172, 178n.7, 181, 183–185, 187, 190–191, 194–195, 198, 198n.22, 198n.23, 199–202, 266, 268–269, 277, 280, 283, 294, 297, 300, 307n.13, 316n.19, 317–318, 320–322 Pentecostal, 7, 12, 77, 101, 171, 184n.14, 200–201, 202n.26, 258–259, 326

378 Pentecostalism, 199, 201 persecution, 40–48, 48n.10, 49, 56, 84, 146, 192n.19 political instability, 24, 28, 138, 208, 208n.2, 209, 313 poverty, 23, 109, 113, 182, 183n.12, 185, 194, 209, 211, 223, 234, 236, 242, 245, 264–265, 268– 269n.12, 271, 328–329 prayer, 13, 17, 20, 65, 73–75, 77– 78, 153–157, 164n.13, 165, 166n.14, 174, 184–185n.14, 185–186, 193, 195, 197, 198n.22, 255, 279–281, 289, 291, 295, 311–312, 326–327 prayer centre, 13, 156–157, 157n.8, 158, 158n.9, 158n.10, 184– 185n.14, 196–197, 200, 317n.17. See also gidowon; fasting prayer centre prayer meeting, 13, 25, 66–67, 73, 75, 117, 153–155, 200, 219, 255, 270, 284, 294, 310–302, 312 preacher, 74, 183–184, 225 preaching, 12, 25, 70, 73–74, 77, 172, 232, 270, 287, 321 predawn prayer, 13, 74, 153–155, 184–185n.14, 327 Presbyterian Church (Presbyterians), 7, 7n.8, 10–11, 56–57, 60, 63, 69, 72–74, 80, 86, 89–91, 93, 96–98, 101, 106, 108–109, 117, 125, 165–166, 170, 181, 212, 223, 225–230, 236–237, 283–284, 294n.7, 308, 314–315, 320 president, 8, 10, 10n.10, 107n.46, 109, 113–114, 116–117, 304

Index priest, 21, 31–33, 35–38, 40–41, 43–45, 48, 48n.10 98n.44, 118, 122–123, 136, 139, 304 priesthood, 17, 20, 133–134 prison chaplaincy, 307n.13 prisoners, 31–32, 115, 233n.9, 307n.13, 309 prosperity, 162, 166n.14, 176, 181– 182, 184–185, 191, 195–197, 211, 219, 255, 265, 268, 325, 334 Protestant church, 7, 12, 19, 30, 67, 70–71, 78–79, 87, 98, 98n.44, 99, 104–105, 110n.49, 111–112, 122, 124–125, 162, 176n.2, 179, 202, 213, 232, 256, 271, 276, 282, 286, 293, 321, 330 Protestantism (Protestant Christianity), xiii–xiv, 1–2, 5, 7–8, 10, 12–15, 18–27, 50–51, 56, 65, 67–68, 70, 72, 76–79, 85, 87–88, 98–99, 104, 111, 113, 123, 124n.54, 125, 127, 130–132, 132n.1, 132n.2, 133, 136, 141, 147, 150, 151n.3, 152–154, 158–159, 161, 164, 167–169, 171–172, 178n.7, 179–181, 185–186, 188, 190– 191, 193, 195, 197–198, 200– 201, 203–205, 208, 208n.1, 208n.2, 209, 212–218, 221, 221n.5, 225, 232, 236, 238–239, 241–246, 247n.3, 250, 252, 259–260, 264, 268–269, 272, 276, 276n.1, 277–278, 281, 284–286, 286n.4, 287, 291–293, 299, 303, 306, 307n.13, 309, 312, 314, 319–335 Pyongyang, 16, 72–73, 75–76, 104, 125, 223–224, 227–228

The Rise of Protestantism in Modern Korea: A Sociological Perspective radio evangelism (radio ministry), 26, 110, 193, 286, 307–308, 308n.14, 308n.15, 309–310, 329 religious values, 130, 150, 152n.4, 205, 324 revivals (revivalists), 13, 26, 67, 72– 79, 81, 82n.25, 155–156, 198, 198n.22, 200, 231, 277, 282, 284, 286, 293, 310–313, 318, 326 Rhee, Syngman (Rhee’s regime), 8, 107n.46, 113, 115, 304, 307n.13 Rhodes, Harry A., 16, 56, 72, 95, 226, 305 Ricci, Matteo, 32–33 Ross, John (Ross Version), 52–53, 64, 69n.23 Russia, 23, 47, 214 Russian Orthodox, 89–91, 93, 101 Russo-Japanese War, 70, 240, 243 salvation, 10, 61, 111, 159, 170, 181–184, 186, 191, 193, 197, 209, 243, 245–246, 268 Salvation Army, 89–90, 92–93, 101, 105–106, 223, 308 schools, 11, 13, 58, 62, 62n.19, 63– 64, 64n.21, 66–68, 71, 75, 82– 83, 85, 94–96, 96n.42, 123–124, 140–141, 217–218, 220, 222– 223, 226n.6, 227, 227n.7, 228– 232, 240–241, 248, 263, 265– 268, 270, 289. See also Christian schools (missionary schools); education Scranton, Mary, 56, 63 Scranton, William. B., 56–57, 59– 61, 224 sermon, 54, 67, 74–75, 110, 116, 147, 153n.6, 154, 160, 162–163,

379

172n.2, 183–184, 186–188, 191, 194, 201–202, 268, 308–309, 318 Seventh Day Adventists, 99, 105 shamanic, 17, 22, 133, 152n.4, 153– 154, 157n.8, 168–171, 176, 179–181, 201–202, 325–326 shamanic ritual (rite), 1, 66, 170, 174–179, 198, 204, 284. See also gut shamanism, 1, 14, 17, 19, 21–22, 28, 85n.27, 105n.45, 130, 132– 133, 136, 151, 151n.3, 152, 152n.5, 157n.8, 161, 167–172, 172n.3, 173–174, 175n.5, 176, 178, 178n.7, 179, 179n.8, 181, 184n.13, 194, 197–199, 203– 204, 268, 284–285, 324–325, 330 shamanisation, 169, 179 shaman, 1, 66, 132–133, 173, 173n.4, 174–178, 198–199 Shinto, 13, 94–96, 96n.42, 96n.43, 97–98, 98n.44, 99, 132, 139– 140, 140n.5, 141–142, 142n.7, 143–148, 314 Silhak, 35, 35n.5, 35n.6 Singapore, 2n.2, 335 Sino-Japanese War, 214, 236, 240, 243 sovereignty, xiv, 19, 23, 28, 47, 70, 76, 81, 110, 137, 209, 214–215, 217, 235, 242, 327, 333 Stark, Rodney, 131, 137, 209, 211, 324, 330 student ministries, 286, 298–300 Sunday School, 26, 28, 67, 72, 160, 253, 277, 281, 284, 286, 291– 293, 321, 329

380 syncretism, 149–150, 150n.2, 151, 151n.3, 152–153, 158, 169, 325 Taiwan, 8n.9, 14n.11, 16, 50, 112 Taoism, 85n.27, 152, 173 testimonies, 54, 73–74, 78, 193, 200, 247, 265–266, 287, 297, 308 theory of emplantation, xv, 27, 204, 330–332. See also James Grayson this-worldly, 111, 169, 171, 178n.7, 179–180, 180n.9, 182, 184, 184185n.14, 190, 192–195, 197, 200, 211, 330 Thomas, Robert Jermain, 51–52 tithe, 194–195, 195n.21 tithing, 13, 184n.13, 195 tongsonggido, 74, 154, 326 Underwood, Horace G., 56–57, 63, 79, 213, 219, 224 Underwood, Lillias H., 215, 219 United States, xv, 7n.7, 8, 11, 23, 25, 34n.4, 47–48, 53–54, 54n.13, 55–56, 58, 58n.17, 59n.18, 60–61, 103, 105, 108, 112–113, 123, 125, 146, 183, 183n.12, 195, 209, 212–213, 216, 218, 221n.5, 225–226, 278, 282n.3, 290n.6, 310, 314, 327 urban centres, 5, 109, 241, 248–249, 251–252, 260, 304 urban churches, 109, 252, 256–257, 259, 272

Index urban industrial mission, 116 urbanisation, xv, 5, 19, 24–25, 28, 110, 126, 244, 244n.1, 247–250, 252, 254, 256, 259, 262, 271, 313, 328 Weber, Max, 18–19, 209–210, 259 Western culture, 145, 218, 240 Western knowledge, 35, 140, 240 Western learning (seohak), 33–35, 38, 40, 218, 227 Western powers, 23, 47, 56, 209, 212–213, 215, 242, 327 women, 14, 31, 45–46, 59–61, 65– 67, 75, 87, 94–95, 118, 161– 162, 167, 175, 200n.25, 221– 222, 226, 227n.7, 232, 234, 234n.11, 235, 240, 255, 260, 263, 266, 307, 309, 311 workers, 24, 59, 105, 111, 117–119, 251, 260, 286–287, 292, 300– 304, 304n.9, 309. See also labour (labourer) yangban, 36, 36n.7, 37, 40, 46, 192n.19, 222, 233, 235 Yoido Full Gospel Church, xiii, 7, 112, 157–158, 158n.9, 162, 181, 193, 196–197, 199–200, 202n.26, 263, 265, 268, 284, 294, 297–298. See also Cho, David Yonggi Youth for Christ, 299