Abstract:This article examines how victims of violence adopt religious meaning-making narratives to deal with their trauma and, in doing so, engage with a social ethic of reconciliation. An analysis of the narratives of five South Korean Christians who lost their families during the Korean war (1950–1953) provides detailed information about how victims rely on religious narratives to make sense of the causes of violence and suffering and to repair the damaged sense of the self. This study finds that the interviewees tend to claim an eschatological view of the world when they recount the violent event and to internalize the divine meaning of suffering while describing their experience of social exclusion in the aftermath of their own loss. Furthermore, it is common for them to demonstrate the embodiment of the redemptive self-image. Through the narrative meaning-making process, the respondents assert that reconciliation ought to be a force for social change, deter the same violence from recurring, and be equated with the value of forgiveness.
{"title":"Religious Meaning-Making Narratives for Reconciliation in the aftermath of State Violence: South Korean Christian Perspectives","authors":"Hyukmin Kang","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines how victims of violence adopt religious meaning-making narratives to deal with their trauma and, in doing so, engage with a social ethic of reconciliation. An analysis of the narratives of five South Korean Christians who lost their families during the Korean war (1950–1953) provides detailed information about how victims rely on religious narratives to make sense of the causes of violence and suffering and to repair the damaged sense of the self. This study finds that the interviewees tend to claim an eschatological view of the world when they recount the violent event and to internalize the divine meaning of suffering while describing their experience of social exclusion in the aftermath of their own loss. Furthermore, it is common for them to demonstrate the embodiment of the redemptive self-image. Through the narrative meaning-making process, the respondents assert that reconciliation ought to be a force for social change, deter the same violence from recurring, and be equated with the value of forgiveness.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"149 - 181"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48539089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The pandemic and government measures against it have deeply affected all aspects of South Korean society, not least the Protestants and their communities, be they small congregations or megachurches, denominations or parachurch organizations. How did Korean Protestants respond to these anti-pandemic measures? This study seeks to address this question—focusing on the period between February 1, 2020, when the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention first announced the discovery of the virus in a Protestant church, to November 1, 2021, when the "Living with COVlD-19" policy was initiated. Along the way, the study examines tensions elicited by the measures and responses to them—not only between the government and the Protestant communities but also within the communities themselves. In the main, there were four types of Protestant responses to the government's anti-pandemic measures, described in terms of their agents: willing compliers, begrudging compliers, amenable noncompliers, and defiant noncompliers. All four of them coexisted throughout the twenty-one-month period, and generally mapped onto the theological and political fissures that existed in the Korean Protestant Church at the time. A key point of theological tension was in-person worship, and a focus of political tension was issues related to Chŏn Kwang-hun, a far-right evangelical leader and the most vociferous and controversial critic of the government during the period.
{"title":"Four Types of Protestant Responses to South Korean Government Measures to Control COVID-19 Outbreaks in 2020-2021","authors":"T. S. Lee","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The pandemic and government measures against it have deeply affected all aspects of South Korean society, not least the Protestants and their communities, be they small congregations or megachurches, denominations or parachurch organizations. How did Korean Protestants respond to these anti-pandemic measures? This study seeks to address this question—focusing on the period between February 1, 2020, when the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention first announced the discovery of the virus in a Protestant church, to November 1, 2021, when the \"Living with COVlD-19\" policy was initiated. Along the way, the study examines tensions elicited by the measures and responses to them—not only between the government and the Protestant communities but also within the communities themselves. In the main, there were four types of Protestant responses to the government's anti-pandemic measures, described in terms of their agents: willing compliers, begrudging compliers, amenable noncompliers, and defiant noncompliers. All four of them coexisted throughout the twenty-one-month period, and generally mapped onto the theological and political fissures that existed in the Korean Protestant Church at the time. A key point of theological tension was in-person worship, and a focus of political tension was issues related to Chŏn Kwang-hun, a far-right evangelical leader and the most vociferous and controversial critic of the government during the period.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"41 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41506566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:How did American members of North Korea-related, faith-based organizations (FBOs)— “US humanitarian evangelicals”—respond to the governmental restrictions linked to enhanced sanctions and a global pandemic? More-committed members shifted from direct person-to-person engagement inside North Korea to indirect activities outside, including political advocacy in the US and language training in South Korea. They articulated narratives that competed with those of human-rights evangelicals supporting increasing sanctions and of fellow humanitarian evangelicals discouraged from North Korea. They cast young North Koreans as victims of sanctions and vanguards of unification, and the current, restrictive period as a “parable of talents” moment to faithfully prepare for God’s special plan for Korea. Our findings derive from a nearly four-year (2018–2021) study of US humanitarian evangelicals, based in South Korea and the US. This article draws on and contributes to the literature on non-governmental organizations aiding North Korea, and to the larger literature on cultures, frames, and narratives.
{"title":"Parable of Talents: How North Korea-related, Faith-Based Workers Respond to Enhanced Sanctions and a Global Pandemic","authors":"Joseph Yi","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:How did American members of North Korea-related, faith-based organizations (FBOs)— “US humanitarian evangelicals”—respond to the governmental restrictions linked to enhanced sanctions and a global pandemic? More-committed members shifted from direct person-to-person engagement inside North Korea to indirect activities outside, including political advocacy in the US and language training in South Korea. They articulated narratives that competed with those of human-rights evangelicals supporting increasing sanctions and of fellow humanitarian evangelicals discouraged from North Korea. They cast young North Koreans as victims of sanctions and vanguards of unification, and the current, restrictive period as a “parable of talents” moment to faithfully prepare for God’s special plan for Korea. Our findings derive from a nearly four-year (2018–2021) study of US humanitarian evangelicals, based in South Korea and the US. This article draws on and contributes to the literature on non-governmental organizations aiding North Korea, and to the larger literature on cultures, frames, and narratives.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"121 - 152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43416472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:One of the dominant understandings of Tonghak 東學 (Eastern Learning) in Korea is that it is a modern Confucianism. It has been suggested, for example, that Tonghak is a sort of popularized Confucianism, while others maintain Tonghak to be the perfect form of Confucianism. But there are different interpretations regarding Tonghak thought. In this study, I endeavor to show how Tonghak thought differs from Confucianism, focusing on Tonghak’s new interpretations of self, nature, and Heaven. Tonghak thought, especially according to Haewŏl 海月 Ch’oe Sihyŏng 崔時亨, presents naturalistic concepts of humans and things that differ from those of Confucianism, and they expand the object of ethics from humans to all things. In Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s philosophy, this forms the cosmology of chŏnji pumomanmul tongp’o 天地父母—萬物同胞 (Heaven and Earth are parents, all things are brothers) and the ethics of kyŏngmul 敬物 (respect for things). In this sense, one can position Tonghak as the beginning of a new Korean philosophy rather than as a form of popularized Confucianism. In the early twentieth century, Tonghak’s kaebyŏk movement was succeeded by Wŏn Buddhism, and in the late twentieth century, Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s thought developed into the Hansallim Movement (Hansallim undong), a cooperative movement based on Tonghak thought, as a solution to the modern ecological problems caused by industrialization.
{"title":"The Philosophical Turn in Tonghak: Focusing on the Extension of Ethics of Ch’oe Sihyŏng","authors":"Cho Sŏng-hwan","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:One of the dominant understandings of Tonghak 東學 (Eastern Learning) in Korea is that it is a modern Confucianism. It has been suggested, for example, that Tonghak is a sort of popularized Confucianism, while others maintain Tonghak to be the perfect form of Confucianism. But there are different interpretations regarding Tonghak thought. In this study, I endeavor to show how Tonghak thought differs from Confucianism, focusing on Tonghak’s new interpretations of self, nature, and Heaven. Tonghak thought, especially according to Haewŏl 海月 Ch’oe Sihyŏng 崔時亨, presents naturalistic concepts of humans and things that differ from those of Confucianism, and they expand the object of ethics from humans to all things. In Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s philosophy, this forms the cosmology of chŏnji pumomanmul tongp’o 天地父母—萬物同胞 (Heaven and Earth are parents, all things are brothers) and the ethics of kyŏngmul 敬物 (respect for things). In this sense, one can position Tonghak as the beginning of a new Korean philosophy rather than as a form of popularized Confucianism. In the early twentieth century, Tonghak’s kaebyŏk movement was succeeded by Wŏn Buddhism, and in the late twentieth century, Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s thought developed into the Hansallim Movement (Hansallim undong), a cooperative movement based on Tonghak thought, as a solution to the modern ecological problems caused by industrialization.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"29 - 47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41377676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Among the most Christianized cities and towns in northwest Korea (P’yŏngan-do and Hwanghae-do provinces) around 1925, Pyongyang was called the “Jerusalem of Chosŏn,” Chaeryŏng the “Christian world,” and Sŏnch’ŏn in P’yŏnganbuk-do a “kingdom of Christianity.” From 1915, half the population of Sŏnch’ŏn was identified as Christian (Presbyterian) and the Christian influence dominated town life. This article discusses the metamorphosis of Sŏnch’ŏn from an unknown small rural “heathen” town to a “kingdom of Christianity” within a generation. After describing the process and visualizing the spatial features of this transformation, it focuses on diverse inter-group conflicts, the discourse of the “kingdom of Christianity,” and socialists’ backlash against such triumphalism.By reviewing the history of the growth of Sŏnch’ŏn as a Christian city and major conflicts in its transformation, this case study of Northwestern Protestantism in Korea reveals the following three main points. First, the center of gravity of Korean Protestantism migrated from Seoul to Pyongyang in the 1900s and then to Sŏnch’ŏn in the next decade. Second, the nature of Northwestern Protestantism shifted from confrontation against Korean folk beliefs like shamanism in 1900s, to Christian nationalism against Japanese imperialism up to 1919, and then to Protestant capitalism against socialism in the 1920s. Their evangelical belief in the Christian superiority to traditional religions, political activism, economic middle-class status, and theological fundamentalism became the legacy of Northwestern Christians who engaged in the nation-building of the Republic of Korea from 1945 to the 1960s.
{"title":"Major Conflicts during the Transformation of the Rural Village Sŏnch’ŏn into a “Kingdom of Christianity” in Korea, 1896–1930","authors":"Sung-Deuk Oak","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Among the most Christianized cities and towns in northwest Korea (P’yŏngan-do and Hwanghae-do provinces) around 1925, Pyongyang was called the “Jerusalem of Chosŏn,” Chaeryŏng the “Christian world,” and Sŏnch’ŏn in P’yŏnganbuk-do a “kingdom of Christianity.” From 1915, half the population of Sŏnch’ŏn was identified as Christian (Presbyterian) and the Christian influence dominated town life. This article discusses the metamorphosis of Sŏnch’ŏn from an unknown small rural “heathen” town to a “kingdom of Christianity” within a generation. After describing the process and visualizing the spatial features of this transformation, it focuses on diverse inter-group conflicts, the discourse of the “kingdom of Christianity,” and socialists’ backlash against such triumphalism.By reviewing the history of the growth of Sŏnch’ŏn as a Christian city and major conflicts in its transformation, this case study of Northwestern Protestantism in Korea reveals the following three main points. First, the center of gravity of Korean Protestantism migrated from Seoul to Pyongyang in the 1900s and then to Sŏnch’ŏn in the next decade. Second, the nature of Northwestern Protestantism shifted from confrontation against Korean folk beliefs like shamanism in 1900s, to Christian nationalism against Japanese imperialism up to 1919, and then to Protestant capitalism against socialism in the 1920s. Their evangelical belief in the Christian superiority to traditional religions, political activism, economic middle-class status, and theological fundamentalism became the legacy of Northwestern Christians who engaged in the nation-building of the Republic of Korea from 1945 to the 1960s.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"119 - 77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45934367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This paper studies the religious practices of Tonghak 東學/Ch’ŏndogyo 天道敎. I first investigate how Ch’oe Cheu experienced Hanŭl (天; Heaven) and became convinced that he had achieved “endless universal truth” (mugŭk taedo 無極大道) through this singular experience. I further discuss what this vision means for modern religious practitioners. Next, I point out correspondences between his experience and the training practices that Ch’oe created through reflection on his experience. I focus on such practices as sich’ŏnju 侍天主 (serving God) and susim chŏnggi 守心正氣 (preserving the mind and refining ki), which he created as the Tonghak spiritual discipline for training disciples to experience God’s presence and deepen their faith in sich’ŏnju. I also review and evaluate studies published on the practices of Tonghak/Ch’ŏndogyo, using synchronic approaches to compare the principles of those practices with those of other local religions, particularly modern Confucianism and Daoism. In this way, I identify the characteristics of Tonghak practices. Finally, in order to highlight the hermeneutical evolution of Tonghak/Ch’ŏndogyo, I analyze the consistencies and inconsistencies in belief and practice that emerged as Ch’oe developed his ideas.
{"title":"The Faith of Sich’ŏnju in Tonghak/Ch’ŏndogyo and its Method of Practice","authors":"Kim Yonghae","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This paper studies the religious practices of Tonghak 東學/Ch’ŏndogyo 天道敎. I first investigate how Ch’oe Cheu experienced Hanŭl (天; Heaven) and became convinced that he had achieved “endless universal truth” (mugŭk taedo 無極大道) through this singular experience. I further discuss what this vision means for modern religious practitioners. Next, I point out correspondences between his experience and the training practices that Ch’oe created through reflection on his experience. I focus on such practices as sich’ŏnju 侍天主 (serving God) and susim chŏnggi 守心正氣 (preserving the mind and refining ki), which he created as the Tonghak spiritual discipline for training disciples to experience God’s presence and deepen their faith in sich’ŏnju. I also review and evaluate studies published on the practices of Tonghak/Ch’ŏndogyo, using synchronic approaches to compare the principles of those practices with those of other local religions, particularly modern Confucianism and Daoism. In this way, I identify the characteristics of Tonghak practices. Finally, in order to highlight the hermeneutical evolution of Tonghak/Ch’ŏndogyo, I analyze the consistencies and inconsistencies in belief and practice that emerged as Ch’oe developed his ideas.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"49 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43363180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The purpose of this article is to re-examine the religious identity of Tonghak 東學 by analyzing Ch’oe Cheu’s awareness of the problems found in nineteenth-century Korean society. Previous studies have not fairly assessed the religious identity of Tonghak. They have often regarded it either as a mere syncretism, a religion constructed to confront Sŏhak 西學, or a sect subordinate to Confucianism. To begin with, it is necessary to analyze the name “Tonghak,” which can be divided into the characters “tong” 東 (east) and “hak” 學 (learning). It is a common understanding that the tong is presented as a contrast with “sŏ” 西 (west). However, the tong here references “Tongguk” 東國, another name for Chosŏn 朝鮮, the ruling dynasty of Korea at the time. Thus, a proper translation of “Tonghak” would not be “Eastern Learning,” but the “Learning of Tongguk (Chosŏn).” As such, the name Tonghak was chosen to differentiate the religion from Chinese Confucianism as well as from Sŏhak (i.e., Catholicism). Meanwhile, Ch’oe Cheu called his awakening Ch’ŏndo 天道 or mugŭk taedo 無極大道. Ch’ŏndo was a pre-existing concept developed by ancient thinkers in East Asia. Translated literally it means “Heavenly Way” and refers to how its followers should revere ch’ŏnmyŏng 天命 (will/mandate of Heaven) and obey ch’ŏlli 天理 (principle of Heaven). By inheriting and restoring this Heavenly Way, Ch’oe Cheu was attempting to rescue the people of his time, who he believed were indulging in kakcha wisim 各自爲心 (selfishness with no concern for others). However, Ch’oe added an element of newness in restoring the ancient Ch’ŏndo. This novelty, a result of his decisive religious experience, may be summarized with the ideas of sich’ŏnju 侍天主 (God is immanent in everyone), muwi ihwa 無爲而化 (natural becoming without any artificial effort), and susim chŏnggi 守心正氣 (preserving the original mind and rectifying the vital force or ki). Thus, Ch’oe Cheu’s Tonghak secured the specificity of the learning of Tongguk (Chosŏn) and the universality of the modern succession of Ch’ŏndo, while securing the singularity of Tonghak through sich’ŏnju, muwi ihwa, and susim chŏnggi. As a result, while completely recovering a life separated from Heaven, he opened a new path, which differed from Catholicism and Confucianism, by saying that God is not outside us but is present in everyone (both transcendent and immanent).
{"title":"Re-Examination of the Religious Identity of Tonghak: A Focused Analysis of Ch’oe Cheu’s Awareness of Problems","authors":"Kim Yonghwi","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2022.0000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2022.0000","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The purpose of this article is to re-examine the religious identity of Tonghak 東學 by analyzing Ch’oe Cheu’s awareness of the problems found in nineteenth-century Korean society. Previous studies have not fairly assessed the religious identity of Tonghak. They have often regarded it either as a mere syncretism, a religion constructed to confront Sŏhak 西學, or a sect subordinate to Confucianism. To begin with, it is necessary to analyze the name “Tonghak,” which can be divided into the characters “tong” 東 (east) and “hak” 學 (learning). It is a common understanding that the tong is presented as a contrast with “sŏ” 西 (west). However, the tong here references “Tongguk” 東國, another name for Chosŏn 朝鮮, the ruling dynasty of Korea at the time. Thus, a proper translation of “Tonghak” would not be “Eastern Learning,” but the “Learning of Tongguk (Chosŏn).” As such, the name Tonghak was chosen to differentiate the religion from Chinese Confucianism as well as from Sŏhak (i.e., Catholicism). Meanwhile, Ch’oe Cheu called his awakening Ch’ŏndo 天道 or mugŭk taedo 無極大道. Ch’ŏndo was a pre-existing concept developed by ancient thinkers in East Asia. Translated literally it means “Heavenly Way” and refers to how its followers should revere ch’ŏnmyŏng 天命 (will/mandate of Heaven) and obey ch’ŏlli 天理 (principle of Heaven). By inheriting and restoring this Heavenly Way, Ch’oe Cheu was attempting to rescue the people of his time, who he believed were indulging in kakcha wisim 各自爲心 (selfishness with no concern for others). However, Ch’oe added an element of newness in restoring the ancient Ch’ŏndo. This novelty, a result of his decisive religious experience, may be summarized with the ideas of sich’ŏnju 侍天主 (God is immanent in everyone), muwi ihwa 無爲而化 (natural becoming without any artificial effort), and susim chŏnggi 守心正氣 (preserving the original mind and rectifying the vital force or ki). Thus, Ch’oe Cheu’s Tonghak secured the specificity of the learning of Tongguk (Chosŏn) and the universality of the modern succession of Ch’ŏndo, while securing the singularity of Tonghak through sich’ŏnju, muwi ihwa, and susim chŏnggi. As a result, while completely recovering a life separated from Heaven, he opened a new path, which differed from Catholicism and Confucianism, by saying that God is not outside us but is present in everyone (both transcendent and immanent).","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"13 1","pages":"27 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44263227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The extensive alienation of younger-generation Korean Brazilians from Korean ethnic churches in São Paulo has led to inevitable transformation processes. Positioned within studies in ethnic religious communities, this research explores recent changes and evolutionary processes in the city's three largest religious organizations with a particular focus on the religious, linguistic, ethnic, and social dimensions. This ethnographic study demonstrates that for the second generation, the role of the churches in retaining ethnic language and culture has diminished significantly, giving way to the religious function as first priority. At this stage, although there have been attempts to develop multiethnic congregations, secondgeneration Koreans prefer to stay within monoethnic congregations where other coethnic members also straddle the cultures of first-generation Koreans and local Brazilians. Their negative perceptions of local Brazilians, originating in the relatively high socioeconomic position of Korean Brazilians within a socially and economically stratified Brazilian society, also seem to have hindered their integration into multiethnic congregations. This study provides significant insights into how the current stage of ethnic church transition demonstrates Korean Brazilians' degree of adaptation and their formation of ethnic cohesion and attachment within larger society.
{"title":"Bilingual yet Monoethnic Congregations: Intergenerational Transformation in Korean Ethnic Churches in São Paulo","authors":"Jihye Kim","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2021.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2021.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The extensive alienation of younger-generation Korean Brazilians from Korean ethnic churches in São Paulo has led to inevitable transformation processes. Positioned within studies in ethnic religious communities, this research explores recent changes and evolutionary processes in the city's three largest religious organizations with a particular focus on the religious, linguistic, ethnic, and social dimensions. This ethnographic study demonstrates that for the second generation, the role of the churches in retaining ethnic language and culture has diminished significantly, giving way to the religious function as first priority. At this stage, although there have been attempts to develop multiethnic congregations, secondgeneration Koreans prefer to stay within monoethnic congregations where other coethnic members also straddle the cultures of first-generation Koreans and local Brazilians. Their negative perceptions of local Brazilians, originating in the relatively high socioeconomic position of Korean Brazilians within a socially and economically stratified Brazilian society, also seem to have hindered their integration into multiethnic congregations. This study provides significant insights into how the current stage of ethnic church transition demonstrates Korean Brazilians' degree of adaptation and their formation of ethnic cohesion and attachment within larger society.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"12 1","pages":"105 - 137"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43317150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The aim of this essay to indicate factors affecting political decisions concerning Buddhism in King Sŏngjong's reign (1469–1494). It begins by pointing out that Sŏngjong, long reputed as an exemplary Confucian monarch and known for his particular antipathy to Buddhism, neither had much interest in persecuting the buddha-worshipping religion nor made it his priority to promote Confucianism. In fact, he and his entourage were mainly concerned with maintaining political stability in their regime. Thus, they were aware that if the state severed its ties with Buddhism, they risked losing the support and loyalty of the people under their rule. The Buddhist controversy consisting of four major debates between Queen Sohye, the Buddhist queen mother, and Confucian scholar-officials and students of the Royal Confucian Academy (Sŏnggyun'gwan 成均館) was the site where such concerns and notions were revealed. By closely examining the four rounds of controversy, this essay indicates that the nature of rumor, legitimacy, legality, and the moral universe were at play and analyzes how they influenced, motivated, and pressured the participants as they negotiated for more desirable terms. In this way, we can make sense of why Sŏngjong always tried very hard to find ways to dismiss attempts by Confucian ideologues to disadvantage Buddhism, and to harm Buddhism as little as possible. Finally, this essay argues that in the early Chosŏn period, the state was divorced from Buddhism in a sense that it was not able to freely and directly support and sponsor the religion.
{"title":"A Disguised Sponsorship for Tenacious Buddhism in Early Chosŏn Korea: Queen Sohye (1437–1504) and the Buddhist Controversy in the Reign of King Sŏngjong","authors":"Sung-ik Yoon","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2021.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2021.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The aim of this essay to indicate factors affecting political decisions concerning Buddhism in King Sŏngjong's reign (1469–1494). It begins by pointing out that Sŏngjong, long reputed as an exemplary Confucian monarch and known for his particular antipathy to Buddhism, neither had much interest in persecuting the buddha-worshipping religion nor made it his priority to promote Confucianism. In fact, he and his entourage were mainly concerned with maintaining political stability in their regime. Thus, they were aware that if the state severed its ties with Buddhism, they risked losing the support and loyalty of the people under their rule. The Buddhist controversy consisting of four major debates between Queen Sohye, the Buddhist queen mother, and Confucian scholar-officials and students of the Royal Confucian Academy (Sŏnggyun'gwan 成均館) was the site where such concerns and notions were revealed. By closely examining the four rounds of controversy, this essay indicates that the nature of rumor, legitimacy, legality, and the moral universe were at play and analyzes how they influenced, motivated, and pressured the participants as they negotiated for more desirable terms. In this way, we can make sense of why Sŏngjong always tried very hard to find ways to dismiss attempts by Confucian ideologues to disadvantage Buddhism, and to harm Buddhism as little as possible. Finally, this essay argues that in the early Chosŏn period, the state was divorced from Buddhism in a sense that it was not able to freely and directly support and sponsor the religion.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"12 1","pages":"35 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43196748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The thirty-five-year-long Japanese occupation of Korea (1910–1945) stimulated a significant transformation of the traditional Korean concept of religion, which in turn stimulated changes in the Korean understanding of the secular and the sacred. Traditional Korea lacked an explicit definition of religion. Under Japanese rule, Koreans absorbed the modern Japanese bureaucratic definition of religion, which also included a definition of what Japanese colonial authorities came to call "quasi-religion." Moreover, when the Japanese brought State Shinto onto the peninsula and declared that it was sacred and secular, and not religious, they stimulated the Korean people into thinking of the sacred and the secular as distinct categories that to some degree overlapped with, but did not map perfectly onto, the distinction between the religious and the non-religious. By demanding that Shinto be treated as constituting a sacred secular realm, sacred to the extent that Shinto deities had to be treated by everyone as supernatural entities who deserved ritual homage and their shrines deemed inviolable, the colonial authorities created an implicit understanding of the secular sacred as superior to the religious realm, which had a more limited claim to the sacred label. Moreover, the Japanese-imposed category of "quasi-religion" caused Koreans to distinguish between that which was secular and unacceptable, such as shamanism, and that which claimed to be sacred and religious but was also unacceptable. By 1945, the categories in which Koreans placed various features of their religious culture were very different from what they had been in 1910.
{"title":"Creating the Sacred and the Secular in Colonial Korea","authors":"Don Baker","doi":"10.1353/jkr.2021.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/jkr.2021.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The thirty-five-year-long Japanese occupation of Korea (1910–1945) stimulated a significant transformation of the traditional Korean concept of religion, which in turn stimulated changes in the Korean understanding of the secular and the sacred. Traditional Korea lacked an explicit definition of religion. Under Japanese rule, Koreans absorbed the modern Japanese bureaucratic definition of religion, which also included a definition of what Japanese colonial authorities came to call \"quasi-religion.\" Moreover, when the Japanese brought State Shinto onto the peninsula and declared that it was sacred and secular, and not religious, they stimulated the Korean people into thinking of the sacred and the secular as distinct categories that to some degree overlapped with, but did not map perfectly onto, the distinction between the religious and the non-religious. By demanding that Shinto be treated as constituting a sacred secular realm, sacred to the extent that Shinto deities had to be treated by everyone as supernatural entities who deserved ritual homage and their shrines deemed inviolable, the colonial authorities created an implicit understanding of the secular sacred as superior to the religious realm, which had a more limited claim to the sacred label. Moreover, the Japanese-imposed category of \"quasi-religion\" caused Koreans to distinguish between that which was secular and unacceptable, such as shamanism, and that which claimed to be sacred and religious but was also unacceptable. By 1945, the categories in which Koreans placed various features of their religious culture were very different from what they had been in 1910.","PeriodicalId":42017,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Religions","volume":"12 1","pages":"103 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49640770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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