Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any university previously Lin Bihui Celisa th 10 September 2014 Acknowledgement After spending years and many long hours trying to complete this thesis, I would like to thank some people for sharing this journey with me and for encouraging me to persist till the end Any success that I may enjoy from this thesis is thanks to these people that I am about to name:  My family for their encouragement whenever I felt like giving up I would like to give special thanks to my mum for constantly nagging at me to my masters, accompanying me to Seoul, and waiting patiently for me while I did my field work I would also like to thank my husband, David, for hearing me out, even if he did not fully understand what I was trying to say, and for spending countless hours helping me vet, edit my thesis and encouraging me whenever I feel like giving up  My daughter, Claire, for always putting a smile on my face whenever I am feeling down and lost amidst the many roles and responsibilities I have to assume  My supervisor, Dr Lee Seung Joon for guiding me and always encouraging me whenever I lost confidence in my writing Thank you also for tolerating me when I am tardy with regards to the handing in of drafts I would also like to thank my very first supervisor Prof Thomas DuBois for his guidance and for inspiring me to a thesis based on religion  The Korean Christians that I have come to know and befriend with in the course of this research Without them, I would not be able to come up with this piece of work  My fellow graduate students Wenci, Eun Shil, Cheryl, Mingguang, Siriphon and the many others in the graduate room who patiently heard me out whenever I was stuck in the process of writing, giving me suggestions and just hearing me whine about how tough this journey was  To all the staff in the History Department who have helped me in one way or another in the course of writing this thesis Thank you for giving me this opportunity to write this thesis even though it has been a whole four years since I returned to studying  Finally, I would like to thank God for carrying me through this long but enriching journey where I have been given the opportunity to learn more about my faith and connect with other Christians around the world Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………ii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………… iv Summary of Thesis……………………………………………………………………….v Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: Making Inroads into the Hermit Kingdom: The Transformation of Christianity in South Korea (1884-1953)……….21 Chapter 2: Who is in charge?: The relationship between the Western Missionaries and the Korean Converts…………………………43 Chapter 3: Christianity in the present…………………………………………64 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………84 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….89 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………… 93 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened” Matthew 7: 7-8 Introduction In 1884, when Horace N Allen (the first Protestant missionary in Korea) arrived in Korea from America, there was already a small Protestant community in the northern bank of the Yalu River who learned about the faith through merchants who converted in China Yet, despite the steady growth in the number of converts, Korea was inherently a “hermit kingdom,” one that looked warily upon anything foreign, taking pride in her long history under the same dynastic line, while closely guarding her role as the true upholders of Confucian teachings Koreans were a long way from becoming modern; much less ready to leave their traditional beliefs behind to adopt a foreign religion However, looking at the number of converts in South Korea today and the social force that Christianity presents itself to be within the Korean society, missionaries like Horace N Allen, Henry G Appenzellar and Horace G Underwood would certainly marvel at the success of their mission to make disciples of all nations by bringing the good news of Christ to Korea According to statistics, about a third of the population in South Korea identify themselves as Christians The largest church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church, boasting a one million strong church congregation, is found in South Korea South Korea is also known as the country that sends out the most number of missionaries to preach the gospel around the world, especially in areas that are hardest to reach out to, such as Afghanistan and Africa Besides, Seoul is known to be “a city of churches”1, a description that is akin to John Winthrop’s description of America as a “city upon a hill.” “Many Korean Christians believe that the torch of faith, which Park, Chung –Shin, Protestantism and Politics in Korea, edited by James B Palais, University of Washington Press, United States of America, 2003, p passed from the Middle East into Europe and then into America, has now, crossed the Pacific Ocean into Korea.”2 Like the Americans before them, the Koreans believe that they were God’s “chosen people”3 and the world should now look at them as an exemplary model of how the Christian faith should be practiced How did a foreign religion become tied so closely to the South Korean identity? How South Koreans as individuals connect with the religion? When and why did South Korea experience such a huge surge in the number of Christian believers? Why did the spread of Christianity succeed in Korea but fail in other Asian countries such as China and Japan? Finally, how is Christianity relevant to the South Koreans who are experiencing rapid modernization after the Korean War? These are questions that I hope to seek the answers to However, before looking into these questions, there is a need to understand the political and social political circumstances behind the formation of South Korea and also the relationship between nation state, religion and identity in the context of South Korea Nation, Religion and the Korean Identity A nation state is a modern construct One that is defined by fixed territorial boundaries and laws that govern the state However, it is also a construct with a psychological dimension, according to the famous definition by Benedict Anderson – “imagined communities” One that suggests the need for citizens of a nation to feel a sense of belonging to this imagined construct and identify with it Therefore, when we consider the psychological dimension of how a nation comes to be imagined, “the distinction between the nationalist and religious imagination”4 cannot be assumed to be mutually exclusive This is because, despite the advent of modernity Baker, Don, “Christianity ‘Koreanized’”, Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity, edited by Hyung Il Pai and Timothy R Tangherlini, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkley, United States of America, pp 124-125 Ibid Peter Van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann., eds Nation and Religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia, , Princeton University Press, USA , 1999, p and the pursuit of “economic and cognitive growth,”5 these material pursuits alone are not enough to sustain the human imagination The human imagination of one’s self-identity proves to be more complex and cannot be defined as a mere linear vision of progress in the world that they live in presently According to Talal Asad, “what needs to be emphasized beyond Anderson’s famous thesis is that the complex medieval Christian universe and hierarchy of spaces, is broken down by the modern doctrine of secularism into a duality: a world of selfauthenticating things in which we really live as social beings and a religious world that exists only in our imagination.”6 This duality suggests that religion continues to play an important role in a world that is defined as modern and secular despite the contradicting notions it presents by being associated with traditions and the past It also suggests the possibility where time frames marking the past and the present can co-exist with one another in a cohesive manner within the human mind, as we draw inspirations from both the past and the present to make sense of the world that we live in In light of what Talal Asad has discoursed on, I feel that one of the reasons why Christianity has become so immensely popular in South Korea is that people intrinsically feel a need for the Spiritual, that the secular world is unable to fulfil Besides, given the close links that Christianity has with regards to the political developments in South Korea, we also have to take into account how Christianity features in the South Korean’s national identity Seen in this light, Christianity in South Korea becomes an important starting point for one to explore and understand the South Korean identity This is because Christianity, and in particular Protestant Christianity, is a foreign religion from the Peter Van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann., p Talal Asad, “Religion, Nation-State, Secularism”, Nation and Religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia, edited by Peter Van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann, Princeton University Press, USA, 1999, p West that only took root in South Korea in the past hundred years; therefore it can be seen at once as both modern and of the past Through the lens of this “new” religion, one can gain a clearer understanding of the process by which people move back and forth in time, drawing on past elements and present understandings to better position themselves within present day society Looking at the way Christianity interacts with the Korean society and how it is practiced by the Koreans, we can get a better glimpse of how religion is used actively by the Koreans, as an “all purpose social glue”7 that helps them reconcile with the contradictions, changes and ambiguous situations they might face in their everyday lives Finally, it also allows us to reflect on how the Korean identity comes to be imagined by the South Korean Christians, as we seek to understand how “Koreans today can proudly proclaim themselves to be Christians without feeling that by doing so they are denying their Korean heritage or betraying their Korean ancestors?”8 This identity which an individual actively identifies with is important because it constitutes one’s perception of self and also self-worth Thus in my thesis, I will be examining how Christianity has slowly become integrated into the South Korean society, becoming an integral part of the South Korean identity and as a consequence, becoming so immensely popular in Korea However, before moving into a review on works in the field, I would first like to clarify my aims and what I hope to achieve through my research The main focus of my thesis is to find out and understand the reasons behind the appeal of Christianity in South Korea and how the religion becomes so closely tied to the South Korean identity, especially in the years after the Korean War to the present However, in Charles F Keyes, Helen Hardacer and Laura Kendall, “Contested Visions of Community in East and Southeast Asia”, edited by Charles F Keyes, Helen Hardacer and Laura Kendall in Asian Visions of Authority: Religion and the Modern States of East and Southeast Asia, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1994, pp 2-3 Baker, Don, “Christianity ‘Koreanized”, p 108 order to understand what constitutes the South Korean identity, I have also chosen to take a more microscopic view of the topic and focus on the individual; the reasons behind their decisions to convert to Christianity, the struggles they face in becoming Christians and also the process by which they reconcile both identities of being both Korean and Christian at the same time The time period which I choose to focus on would be from the late 1880s to 1945 This time period is interesting because it is a period a major political upheaval in Korea as seen in the gradual collapse of the long reigning Yi dynasty, the advent of the Japanese as colonial masters over the Koreans and the war which forced both the missionaries and later, the Japanese out of Korea This period also saw great social transformation in Korea as Koreans, both men and women learn to find their footing in a modern society that allows them more opportunities to further their lot in life is as compared to the class system that used to be entrenched within their society under imperial rule Beyond the individual, Korea also found herself in search of a new national identity amidst their forced subjugation by the Japanese These narrative breaks in her history will present a challenge to many Koreans in the later years as it is difficult for them Koreans to identify with a linear and singular history that they can look to with pride Therefore, by looking at the transformation of Christianity from the 1880s to the present, we can gain a better view of the process of indigenization and how Christianity presents itself as a malleable force through which the South Korean Christians can adopt in order to create an identity for themselves An identity that could help them cope with the many challenges they face within their history and society, such as, contesting cultures, ideas, beliefs and new social reforms Moreover, this time period is also interesting to look at because it reflects a point in time “when religion becomes an integral part of modern politics,”9 as we see a close relation between the religion and the state This is reflected in the close relationship between the royal family and the missionaries, the formation of the Independence Club by educated, male Korean Christians, the First March Movement in 1919 against the oppressive Japanese rule and the strong reaction by Korean Christians against the Japanese on the issue of the Shinto shrines Through these events, we see the rise of Christianity into a legitimate, political force endorsed by the state, which will influence many areas within the public sphere, such as education and governmental bodies This resulted in the creation of many hybrid institutions that are “constituted by the sensibilities-memories and aspirations, fears and hopes”10 of the Korean Christians who had to reconcile with both their past traditions and present realities, thus resulting in a process of indigenization where they seek to “Koreanize” the religion and adapt it to serve their own perspective of the world in which they reside in An Overview of the Field Despite the phenomenal growth of Christianity in South Korea, research on this phenomenon started only in the last decade and is mostly written in the Korean language As a result there are very few historical works that focus solely on Christianity and the impact it had on the Korean society Most works on the topic, such as Kyung Bae Min’s A History of Christian churches in Korea and Choi Myung Keun’s Asian Thought and Culture: Changes in Korean Society between 1884-1910 as a Result of the Introduction of Christianity, adopt a chronological approach when discussing the issue These works largely trace the development of Christianity from an outlawed religion prohibited by the state to its prominent position in the present Talal Asad, p.179 Talal Asad, p 181 10 10 optimistic note, it is fair enough to conclude that a Christian is not only a Christian because he wants his soul saved in the after-life as there are many other impetus in this world where religion is like a buffet table, that brings our understanding and adoption of a religion on a more rationalize and intellectual level; yet again, religion does not remain static and continues to evolve, therefore it is this indefinable nature of religion that allows it to be used by people to constantly validate their claims, beliefs, political allegiance and existence in this world 92 Bibliography Andrew Eungi Kim, “Political insecurity, social chaos, religious void and the rise of Protestantism in 19th Century Korea”, Social History, Vol 26, No (October 2001), pp 267-281 A.Sue Russell, Conversion, Identity and Power: The Impact of Christianity on Power Relationships and Social Exchanges, (American Society of Missiology and University Press of America, Inc Lanham, New York, Oxford, 1999) Baker, Don, “Christianity ‘Koreanized’”, Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity, edited by Hyung Il Pai and Timothy R Tangherlini, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkley, United States of America, 1998, pp 108125 Baker, Don, Korean Spirituality, University of Hawai’i Press, United States of America, 2008 Brazinzky, Gregg, Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the 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Congratulation, your sister's wedding I understand Usually summer camp/retreat/activities of Korea church start from end of July So the preparation for it starts from middle of June Anyway, I'm not busy this time but the church is ^^ Miss Jang: Yonsei uni to SNU : around one and half hour accommodation : I think it's better to arrange hotel when you reserve the flight by agency the price might be cheaper than I do.( it's just my opinion) now, I'm talking about your visiting with my church members who serve in sunday school for youth we are not sure what is good for us yet, but we are trying to find it Even the date is also As i told you, many events start from end of july We are considering that let you participate some kind of summer youth camp, too Give me a more time^^ let's not hurry is it ok? Miss Jang: well I'm so sorry one of church elder called me and said that you can't take part in part of service in the church maybe they seem to feel burden Because the purpose of your visiting is a thesis, they think that changcheon church will be made a subject of discussion officially And if we something with you, we need to make some new program for you it's not easy situation Sorry So I seem to help you as field trip Is it ok? Sorry I don't give good news 97 Appendix B 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 ... understand the reasons behind the appeal of Christianity in South Korea and how the religion becomes so closely tied to the South Korean identity, especially in the years after the Korean War to the present. .. important role in the final product Conclusion In the next three chapters of my thesis, I hope to gain a better perspective with regards to the appeal of Christianity in South Korea to the ordinary people... of God to their fellow Koreans in Korea, they also helped in the translation of the Bible into hangul and later “smuggled copies of the Bible into Korea. ”24 After the forced signing of the Kanghwa