The Protestant church had the substantial influence on Korean modern history between 1884 and 1945. Missionaries had contributed to the modernization of the country immediately after coming to Korea by implementing the Western education system and med...
The Protestant church had the substantial influence on Korean modern history between 1884 and 1945. Missionaries had contributed to the modernization of the country immediately after coming to Korea by implementing the Western education system and medical technology to Korean society, and later by training nationalist activists so that they could play pivotal roles ate the national salvation front. While a number of researches regarding various forms of social participations of Korean Protestant have been proceeded, there was few negative analysis on the missionary-centrism, sectarianism, and dogmatism during the missionary process which have been consistently reported. In part to critically analyze such negative research results, the primarily goal of this article is to examine various perceptions and distinct aspects of coping strategies of Protestants during the entire colonial era toward the ruling group. In other words, by analyzing socio-political aspects of the Protestant movement in coping with a political authority throughout the entire colonial era, the essay aims to measure on influences that Protestant social participations had made on Korean modern history based on the set of data regarding the introduction of Protestantism in Korea, the nationalist and the pro-Japanese movements of missionaries. As a result, in Korea Protestants had initially adopted an innovative alternative to resolve social stagnation caused by anachronistic customs of the Confucian society. Subsequently, nationalists sought to acquire an ideological ground of nationalist movements in Protestantism. On the other hand, conservative Protestants often admitted colonization as their fate, and had pro-government inclination underpinned by the principle of non-interventionism in politics which gradually distanced Protestants themselves from national problems. The set of Protestant behaviors dealing with social problems over the last 60 years demonstrate what it means to be participating in the history-formation as a Christian. In order to reach such a conclusion, I made a separate analysis on the nature of a state systems, the notion of missionary policies, problems of religious ideologies, a set of colonial policies managing Protestants, and finally recognition and behaviors of Protestants toward the colonial governing system. In chapter II, I focus on contextual backgrounds of the Greater Korean Empire, the era in which Protestantism flew into the Korean society rapidly. In the late-nineteenth century, the governing authority of Chosun dynasty tried to achieve transformation to the modern society and protection of its sovereignty by reinforcing diplomatic relations with the United States. The adoption of Protestantism was a part of the process. Protestant missionaries with modern and advanced medical technology and education were able to easily penetrate into indigenous societies. Accordingly, Protestantism served the role of a social idea with which people believed Chosun dynasty could revive. With such a belief a number of Protestant social precursors joined the nationalist front. However, conservative missionaries who were solely concerned with the missionary work showed a great anxiety toward an active participation of Protestants to the nationalist movement, and such a concern was also shared by the Viceroy of Chosun, the colonial ruling authority. In the meantime, religious ideologies which had a considerable influence on shaping countermeasures against the government, and particularly the Great Revival Movement of 1907 which manifested those ideologies to Korean Protestant churches are also further examined. In Chapter III, I discuss the features of the governing of the Viceroy of Chosun, the so called ‘Iron ruling’, and the set of colonial Protestant policies. To be specific, various laws and anti-Protestant policies during the early period of colonial era are introduced. With such policies Japanese government had acquired legitimacy on systematic repression on Protestant churches, and also manifested its power of regulating churches in general. In the meantime I place special emphasis on the ‘105 People Incident,’ the oppression of the Protestant nationalist campaign as part of the project to exterminate the anti-Japanese group. In Chapter IV, I concentrated on the rationale of the Japanese colonial government campaigning diverse socio-cultural movements as it adopted the “cultural governing.” On one hand, the ruling authority attempted to eliminate nationalistic features from the Protestant movement, and to transform it to the religious one. On the other hand, the Viceroy of Chosun enhanced its ruling foundation by enacting a public safety law. It also initiated an appeasement policy to persuade Protestants from abandoning nationalism. Meanwhile by the influence of socialist movements, Protestants tried to incorporate socialism into their projects, which resulted in suburban campaigns led by YMCA and the ‘Protestant Rural Research Institute,’ and some groups which participated in the movement had successfully instilled national identity, and continuing nationalist activities. In Chapter V, the fascist system by which imperialistic Japan expanded the Sino-Japanese War to the Pacific War, the colonial policy, and subsequently the counterpart Protestant policy, is introduced At the same time, I examine the process of which Protestant nationalists became cooperative to Japan and the logic of apostasy. Meanwhile I analyze countermeasures of missionaries against the shrine worshiping policy. Consequently, in Chapter VI, I conclude the essay with rearticulating the changing countermeasures of Korean Protestant toward the ruling authority, and their societal functions in chronological order. The logical basis of Protestant social participation which could relativize the religious and political authority lies in a prohibition of idolatry which in turn proscribes an instrumentalization of a human being. Nevertheless, the Korean Protestant, by maintaining the non-interventionism of politics based on the conservative religious fundamentalism, has neither had a vigorous attitude toward a social participation, nor fully appreciated a biblical recognition regarding natural rights of human beings. Until today, Korean Protestant churches have tended to respond to the governing authority on the principle of state-church separatism. As a result, they have been severely criticized of being a religion lacking social ethicality. In order for the Korean Protestant to recover social responsibility and insight on history, it is indispensable to develop biblical practices toward the state authority.