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Home , Christianity in Korea, Sacerdotalism

Korean Protestant : A Missiological Reflection Joon-Sik Park

he first Protestant missionary set foot on the Pen- Besides the significant role of Nevius and his method, sev- Tinsula in 1884.1 The growth of Korean in eral other factors help explain the rapid growth of the Korean the past century and a quarter has been extraordinary by any Protestant Church. measure. Korean churches experienced rapid numerical growth, in particular from the 1960s through the 1980s. In 1960 the Prot- Historical and geopolitical factors. The historical and geopolitical estant population was 623,000, and by 1985 it had grown over situations in and around Korea encouraged to accept tenfold to 6,489,000. From the early 1990s, however, the growth Christianity more readily than in other Asian countries. Korea rate of the Korean church began to decline. In 1995, according became forcibly annexed by Japan in 1910, and this tragic loss to the Population and Housing Census Report, 8,760,000, or of independence “decisively shaped both the nature of Korean 19.7 percent of the population, were Protestant Christians. Dur- nationalism and the life of the Korean church.”6 By the end of ing the following decade the number of Protestants declined the nineteenth century, the majority of Asian nations had become slightly, to 8,616,000, a 1.6 percent decrease. During the same subjugated by Western powers and turned anti-Western; in Korea, period, by contrast, Korean Catholics increased by 74.4 percent however, the nationalism was anti-Japanese. Koreans welcomed (from 2,951,000 to 5,146,000), and Buddhists by 3.9 percent (from Christianity as “a viable channel for expressing its nationalistic 10,321,000 to 10,726,000).2 sentiment against the Japanese.”7 Furthermore, Christian edu- This downward trend has alarmed Korean Protestant church- cation became “the nurturing ground of nationalism, political es, forcing them to search for its causes and cures. Their responses resistance and democracy.”8 thus far, however, have been reactive and shallow; the churches The early growth of Korean Christianity thus became insepa- have not yet engaged in the critical theological self-reflection rably intertwined with . The nationwide necessary for the renewal of the church at a more fundamental March First Korean Independence Movement of 1919 serves as level. Specifically, I believe that Korean Protestant Christianity a telling illustration of this unique partnership. Of the original needs radical transformation at the level of its . In thirty-three signatories of the Declaration of Independence, this article I examine the past growth and present decline of the remarkably fifteen were Christians, even though Christians at that Protestant church in , identifying major factors in time represented only 1 percent of the population. Furthermore, its advancement and their role in the current downturn. I then Korean Christians became prominent nationalists, even though propose an Anabaptist vision of the church as an ecclesiological the missionaries clung to their traditional political neutrality tradition to be integrated into a new vision of the Korean church, and refused to embrace Korean nationalism.9 In the March First and hospitality as the context for its mission and evangelism. Movement, “Korean Protestants—by virtue of their dispro- portionately large participation and suffering—demonstrated Factors in Korean Protestant Growth beyond all doubts their commitment to the Korean nation,” thus gaining for Christianity its “right to be considered a legitimate It is striking that Korean Christianity began virtually as a self- religion of Korea.”10 evangelized church. Even before the arrival of foreign missionar- ies, Korea had a small number of Protestant communities that Sociological and cultural factors. Confucianism has been an integral arose primarily through the distribution of the part of Korean society and culture since the fifth century. The translated into Korean in Manchuria by John Ross and his team of Chosŏn Dynasty (1392–1910) created the most Confucian society Korean merchant-translators. The first portions were printed and in , even more fully than in . From the fifteenth circulated in 1882, and the entire New Testament was available century onward, Confucianism penetrated all facets of the society, in 1887.3 The translation of the Bible into the Korean vernacular regulating family life, culture, and politics. Yet it carried certain also significantly contributed to cultural revitalization and the values that could readily resonate with or complement those of formation of national identity. Christianity. James Grayson describes the relationship between A visit to Korea in 1890 by John L. Nevius, long-time mis- them as that of “dynamic complementarity rather than of con- sionary to China, turned out to be missiologically critical, for this frontation.”11 For instance, the early missionaries’ pioneering was a time when the “missionaries were still feeling their way work in modern education was in tune with Confucianism’s toward an over-all strategy for the evangelization of Korea.”4 The profound reverence for learning, and the missionaries’ strict moral so-called Nevius Plan, which stressed the crucial importance of teaching was seen as consistent with the austere moral code of native leadership for church growth, “became the universally Neo-Confucianism. Another element of Christianity attractive accepted policy of Protestant mission in Korea,” spurring the to Confucians was its stress on filial piety, which was one of the Korean church to be independent and self-supporting.5 five relationships considered by Confucius to be the centerpiece of a harmonious society. It would not be an overstatement to say Joon-Sik Park is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of that, “in a very real sense, Protestant Christianity was built on the 12 World Evangelism, Methodist Theological School in foundation laid by the moral concerns of Neo-Confucianism.” Ohio, located in Delaware, Ohio. He is the author This complementarity, however, did not mean the absence of Missional Ecclesiologies in Creative Tension: of conflict. “It was Christian rejection of social hierarchy which H. Richard Niebuhr and John H. Yoder (Peter appealed to many,” but it was also “a hindrance to the spread Lang, 2007). —[email protected] of Christianity.”13 On the whole, the vision of society heralded by Christianity did not seem necessarily to be in irreconcilable conflict with the Confucian social ideal. The initial complemen-

April 2012 59 tarity between Korean Confucianism and Christianity provided economic transition. According to Grayson, “Without the spiritual a favorable setting for the rapid growth of the Korean church. support of Christianity . . . the Korean nation would have lacked Eventually, however, Confucianism came to have a negative influ- the moral and social coherence to survive the massive pressures ence on the development and maturation of Korean Christianity. imposed upon it by the radical social and economic changes.”17

Religious factors. Like most Asian countries, over the course of its Adverse Effects of These Growth Factors history Korea has been deeply suffused with diverse religious traditions. According to David Chung, “The religious tradition The very factors that spurred the growth of Korean Christianity of Korea had in a substantial way such congenial elements as through the early 1990s had inherent pitfalls that eventually began the monotheistic concept of God, longing for salvation, messi- to negatively affect the identity and mission of Korean churches. anic hope, [and] eternal life,” all of which were conducive to the First, it cannot be denied that the Korean church played a major role in the country’s opposition against Japanese colonial oppression, providing a crucial impetus for fostering a nationalistic conscious- Those not valued by society ness. Once the country became liberated, however, the church’s intimate tie with nationalism metamorphosed into alliance with have become invisible to the state. In the 1970s and 1980s, when the South Korean people the church. were groaning under dictatorial governments, which did not hesitate to use repressive power to maintain their regimes, the majority of Korean churches remained silent. By their apolitical acceptance of Christianity.14 In other words, some affinity between stance they in effect sanctioned such regimes. This indifference traditional Korean religions and Christianity made it easier for to the issues of social justice blunted the prophetic mission of Koreans to adopt the Christian faith. As Samuel Moffett aptly the church and resulted in the loss of its credibility in society. described it, “Christianity did not deny much that people had It is noteworthy that, by contrast, the in Korea loved in the old beliefs. Like Confucianism, it taught righteous- during this time greatly enhanced its social visibility and cred- ness and revered learning; like Buddhism, it sought purity and ibility by its active struggle for democracy, even at the expense promised a future life; like shamanists, Christians believed in of institutional security, and it has grown steadily since then.18 answered prayer and miracles.”15 Second, the early receptivity by Koreans to Christian faith Conversely, it could be argued that Christian conversions and the ensuing church growth distracted Korean churches from in Korea did not necessarily involve radically disowning for- the need to continue working for the conversion of Korean cul- merly held beliefs, in particular those of shamanism. As the ture. At some point, Korean Protestants stopped pursuing “the oldest , shamanism had taken deep root in steady, relentless turning of all the mental and moral processes the religious beliefs and the worldview of the Korean people. [of culture] toward Christ.”19 Consequently, “the direct Christian Because of shamanism’s enduring and permeating influence, it influence on Korean society and forms of cultural expression is was typical as well as inevitable for religions later introduced disproportionately less than one would anticipate.”20Above all, to Korea to assimilate certain of shamanism’s beliefs and prac- the persistent influence of a Confucian vision of a harmonious tices—in particular, its predominant focus on this-worldly and society based on hierarchical relationships has kept the Korean materialistic aspects of life. Christianity was not an exception. church from overcoming social stratification among its mem- It could be safely stated that the phenomenal growth of Korean bers. The existing hierarchy of the larger society has often been Christianity in part depended on mitigating possible conflicts reflected within the church, with the result that those not valued between Christian faith and traditional religious values. by society have become invisible to the church. The role of the church in enlightening women and elevating Economic factors. From the 1960s through the 1980s South Korea their status in Korean society should be recognized. It was the realized extraordinary economic growth, rebuilding itself from Protestant missionaries who first introduced formal education the rubble of war and rapidly becoming an industrialized and for women and thereby paved the way for their attaining equal urbanized country. In 1990, in a little over a generation from the rights with men. However, according to an ethnographic study devastating , its became the fifteenth larg- of Korean Christian women, in particular evangelical women, est in the world. This swift transition from a rural-agricultural to the church has served a contradictory, double role—liberating as an urban-industrial society resulted in a mass migration of rural well as oppressing. The Christian faith has certainly contributed villagers to urban areas, causing a widespread sense of intense to the reconstruction of their self-identity as well as to their dislocation and disorientation. Social instability was inevitable, as self-empowerment and social autonomy, enabling them to cope well as a steady erosion of long-held values and norms, including with the patriarchal environment of the traditional family and the breakdown of the traditional extended family. A deep sense gender structure. Yet, most Korean churches have left women of alienation and uprootedness spread throughout the country. “subordinated within the church hierarchy and authority struc- It should be noted that the period of the most explosive ture” and been successful “in re-domesticating contemporary growth of the Korean church coincided with that of Korea’s women for the [existing Confucian] family system” and social rapid industrialization, and that the numerical increase of the arrangements.21 church mostly occurred in urban areas.16 Seeking to alleviate their A bitter fruit of Confucianism in Korean Christianity has enormous physical and emotional dislocation and alienation, been the development of clericalism, with clergy exercising and searching for an alternative community to the close-knit excessive power in both the faith and the polity of the church. A rural social networks, many Koreans turned to churches. The kind of “Protestant sacerdotalism”22 has limited the participation churches in Korea were, however, not merely a passive recep- of laity—whose fervent prayer and passionate evangelism have tor of newcomers; they actively helped sustain the moral and been a driving force for church growth—in the church’s life and spiritual values of the nation in the midst of the country’s rapid ministry as true partners with clergy; it has stifled the enormous

60 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 2 potential of the laity as agents of witness and transformation both its attention to finding ways to reverse it. An exception has been inside and outside the church. , which grew out of the particular experience Third, Korean Christianity’s accommodation to shaman- of South Korean people in their political and socioeconomic ism, in particular its predominant interest in this-worldly and struggles for justice in the 1970s and 1980s. It affirms Korean materialistic aspects of life, has produced a significant presence culture and history as the context for a proper Korean theology, of nominal Christians. Shamanism has tamed the radical claims regarding the biblical stories and the social biographies of the of Christianity. Consequently, Christian discipleship has been suffering minjung (lit., “the mass of the people”) as the two pri- understood in narrowly individualistic terms, often as a gateway mary reference points. Minjung theology in part arose in protest to personal prosperity, while its costly nature, as well as its com- against the overall apolitical stance of Korean and munal and social dimensions, is ignored or underemphasized. its indifference to systemic injustices; it has challenged Korean Unfortunately, Korean Christianity has not yet critically reflected Christianity to be more integral and prophetic in its theology on and confronted its predilection for materialistic prosperity. and practice of mission and to be on the side of the marginalized Nominalism has also led to a large number of Protestants leav- minjung. This theology began, however, as a theological exercise ing the church. According to Gallup Korea’s 2004 survey, among among intellectuals and educated groups. Whether it has become those who changed their religion, 45.5 percent had once belonged a theology among and by the minjung themselves is a troubling to a Protestant church, in comparison to 34.4 percent who had question. Lacking a grassroots movement like the Catholic “base left Buddhism, and only 14.9 percent who had left Catholicism. communities,” it has not been successful in developing as an Moreover, both the 1997 and 2004 surveys revealed that, pres- organic theology. ently in Korea, Protestantism is the religion least likely to be It is crucial for Korean Christianity to continue to engage in considered for adoption by those without religious affiliation.23 critical theological reflection in its particular historical and social Finally, the rapid industrialization and urbanization that once context so as to make its unique contribution to the understanding created a favorable climate for church growth now adversely and practice of the Christian faith. Yet it is equally important for affects it. For South Koreans, with the growth of economic sta- the Korean church to continue to be engaged with other churches bility and upward social mobility, “leisure becomes a functional and traditions for mutual correction and transformation. I believe alternative to religions.”24 The church no longer is seen as a place that Korean Protestant Christianity must seek a radical transfor- to search for ways to cope with people’s social insecurity and mation in its ecclesiology; specifically, the Anabaptist vision of the emotional anxiety. In fact, economic prosperity has become a snare church can provide it with a fresh perspective and a much-needed for Korean churches, holding them in the bondage of materialism. corrective at this juncture in its history. Up till now, Anabaptist Pastors of large and now enjoy social prestige and ideas have had no formative influence in Korean Christianity. economic privilege, as the nation’s economic growth has translated There are presently only a handful of Mennonite churches in into increased giving by church members. Impressive church Korea, all of which were started within the last decade. Anabaptist buildings and a large membership roll have become symbols of a ecclesiology has its own weaknesses,28 yet I agree with Douglas successful church. Presently, we could say that ecclesiocentrism, John Hall that this tradition, which has a historic link with the or “churchism,” pervades Korean Protestantism. radical wing of the , could be of enormous help to At its beginning, the Korean Protestant church was a home churches that intentionally seek to disentangle themselves from for the poor and oppressed, and during the industrialization of the “cultural establishment” so as to recover something of their the country, it provided both moral and social stability to the genuine identity and mission.29 working class. As the country’s economic prosperity began to For one thing, one of the marks of the benefit the church’s own life, however, the church unfortunately tradition is its stress on the integration of evangelism and disciple- began to turn its back on the poor and marginalized. With the ship. Evangelism is an invitation to discipleship; evangelism and middle class now composing the largest segment of its mem- biblical demands related to committed discipleship are not to be bership,25 the Korean church is no longer able to communicate separated. For Korean Protestant Christianity, it is pivotal not to with the common people; it has become too rich to hear the cry set aside the ethical content of conversion for the sake of making of the needy and powerless. In contrast, “to the shame of many the acceptance of the easier. Korean churches have been of the Protestant churches, the Catholic Church has never lost rather exclusively preoccupied with personal salvation and piety, the memory of its origins among the dispossessed members of ignoring the call of the Gospel to social and cultural transforma- society and has made evangelism and ministry among the poor a tion. Korean Christians’ understanding of discipleship needs to primary focus of the work of the church.”26 The Korean Protestant be broadened and deepened so as to include seeking justice as Church now needs to remember afresh that evangelism is “to be well as caring for the poor, the excluded, and the stranger. undertaken from below . . . from the depth of human suffering, Second, Anabaptist ecclesiology focuses prominently on where we find both sinners and victims of sin.”27 the communal nature of the church. It refuses to grant excessive authority or prerogatives to certain ones in the church. Instead, the Whither Korean Protestant Christianity? church is to be a discerning community in which every member is heard and participates in moral reasoning and decision making. Quite simply, Korean Protestants are now in desperate need of More important, the church is to be a “hermeneutic community” transforming their ecclesiology. They likewise, in humility, need that gathers around Scripture for faithful interpretation and com- to adopt biblical hospitality as the proper focus and ethos of all mitted witness. Since the Korean Protestant church has been too their mission and evangelism. clergy dominated in its worship and polity, the communal nature of the church needs to be recovered. Furthermore, the corporate Transformation in ecclesiology. Since the 1960s, the focus of the dimension in experiences of both salvation and sanctification Korean Protestant church has been rather exclusively growth- should be restored and renewed. As John Howard Yoder says, oriented. Its operating missional framework is still that of growth, even salvation is not to be considered as only a personal, indi- and in response to decline, the church appears to direct most of vidual experience but also as a communal reality.30

April 2012 61 Third, Korean Protestant churches have become much too hospitality never violates the identity and integrity of the other, worldly, allowing the secular and materialistic spirit of the age and it always calls for mutual respect and recognition between to penetrate deeply their life and ministry. They now need to pay evangelists and hearers, as well as between missionaries and careful heed to the “central importance of the Christian commu- Christians of hosting countries. Furthermore, the practice of nity as a new humanity” or as “a new kind of social reality.”31 biblical hospitality “integrates respect and care,” seeking “to The mission of the church is first and foremost to be and remain respond to the needs of persons while simultaneously respect- a faithful community of faith with a new and distinctive identity ing their dignity.”38 and life. Peoplehood and mission cannot be separated, and the Mission to could well be a test case for the integ- life of the church should not invalidate its witness. Evangelism rity of the Korean missionary movement. It definitely would be and mission are practicable and feasible only when there is a a cross-cultural mission, for North and South Korea have lived community whose life reflects authentic differences from the in two different ideological and political systems for more than rest of the world, in particular with regard to power, Mammon, six decades. Given the economic superiority of the South, it is and violence. critically important that missionaries welcome North Koreans Finally, the Anabaptist understanding of the Gospel as a with both respect and care. Mission and evangelism must be message of peace is crucially pertinent to Korean churches, for carried out with sensitivity to the fragility of North Koreans, “participating in national reunification remains an important part resulting particularly from the heavy economic dependence of [their] mission.”32 A small segment of the Korean church has on the South that can be expected of North Koreans. For South actively engaged in the reunification movement, in particular Koreans to welcome and accept North Korean defectors would since the 1980s. Yet the general sentiment among Korean Chris- be “a very important precedent” for the Korean church’s mission tians settles for a strong anti-Communist position, which has of reconciliation toward North Korea.39 kept them from engaging reunification issues from a biblically It is also pivotal for Korean missionaries to extend hospitality informed perspective of reconciliation and from moving beyond to one another, and thus to overcome competitiveness and rivalry. their evangelistic interest and humanitarian concern toward In light of the temptation to impose denominational patterns and undertaking peacemaking initiatives.33 Korean Christianity needs structures on indigenous churches, it is crucial that missionaries to be reminded afresh that witness to peace is “something very guard themselves from creating or perpetuating on the mission central to the Gospel . . . [and] always a part of the Gospel.”34 field “the divisions experienced in Korean Protestantism.”40 Part- It is crucial for the Korean church to construct a theology of nership in mission through the practice of biblical hospitality and reconciliation based upon the peace message of the Gospel, for mutual coordination will prove crucially important, in particular without forgiveness of the past history between the North and in the future mission to North Korea. The North Korean Church the South, genuine reunification is not likely. Reconstruction Council, formed in 1995 by the Christian Council of Korea, presented a three-stage plan for rebuilding the churches Hospitality as the context for mission and evangelism. A focus on in North Korea: first, to form a single channel of evangelization missions, especially very active sending out of missionaries, to prevent missionary competition; second, to build a single has been a distinctive feature of Korean Christianity from the Christian denomination without transplanting the schisms and very beginning. In 1908, less than a single generation from the splits of the South to the North; and, third, ultimately to enable arrival of the first missionaries, the Korean Methodists organized churches in North Korea to be independent and self-reliant a missionary society for Chientao (an area of China along the without the domination of South Korean churches.41 For such a Korean border with a large number of Koreans) and sent its first plan to succeed, true ecumenical unity among the churches in missionary. In more recent history, the number of Korean over- South Korea should first be embodied through the practice of seas missionaries grew an astonishing 160-fold: from 93 in 1979 welcoming and showing hospitality to each other. to nearly 15,000 in 2006. South Korea is now the second largest missionary-sending country, behind only the United States. In the Conclusion same period, the number of countries where they serve increased from 26 to 168.35 Considering that Koreans are a monoethnic and The phenomenal growth and spiritual vitality of Korean Christian- monocultural people, their active role in world mission appears ity are to be explained neither as an accident nor as the result of even more remarkable. Korean missionaries “have become known merely historical factors. The Christian churches in Korea were for aggressively going to . . . the hardest-to-evangelize corners of firmly established by the blood of , and they have rightly the world,” even at times being “at odds with the foreign policy been known as praying churches. In noting their status as the of South Korea’s government.”36 In most mission fields they are predominant religious force in early twenty-first-century Korea, more readily accepted by the local people than are Western mis- we thus wish to ascribe the primary cause to God’s gracious sionaries, who may suffer from their own postcolonial guilt as providence, which defies human analysis. Yet Korean Protes- well as from a perception of their being imperialistic. tant Christianity is now at a crossroads. Either it can recover its Because of the Korean church’s own riches and power, how- essential identity and mission, channeling anew its enormous ever, one of the possible dangers of Korean mission is to share resources of personnel and finances into participation in God’s the Gospel from a position of cultural and economic power, not redemptive work, or it can remain concerned only about its own from that of vulnerability and humility. The 1999 “Statement on well-being and survival, unfaithful to the movement of divine the Mission of the Korean Churches in the New Millennium” providence. The Korean church must turn from an interest in rightly warns Korean churches of “the tendency of partnerships its own numerical growth and institutional expansion, looking in mission to lapse back into colonial and neo-colonial patterns instead with single-minded focus on becoming a hospitable and of domination.”37 For Korean missionary involvement to be of transformative missional presence that is deeply involved in the genuine service to the missio Dei, it must be carried out in the struggles and aspirations of Korean society, as well as those of the spirit of biblical hospitality. Hospitality to the stranger is both rest of humanity. If Korean Protestantism fails to be renewed as intrinsic to the Gospel and crucial to its proclamation. Biblical a faithful, reconciled, and reconciling community of Christ, we

62 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 2 cannot assume that it will avoid the kind of major decline that heart the humility implied in the biblical warning, “God is able has affected churches in the West. Korean Christians must take to from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Luke 3:8). Notes 1. This article originated as a faculty lecture at Methodist Theological Karen M. Andrews (Berkley: Univ. of California, Institute of East School in Ohio, Delaware, Ohio, on February 16, 2011. I thank James Asian Studies, 1997), pp. 127– 68. H. Grayson for helpful comments on an earlier version. 19. Andrew F. Walls, “The Mission of the Church Today in the Light of 2. Young-Gi Hong, “Revisiting Church Growth in Korean Protestantism: Global History,” Word and World 20, no. 1 (2000): 21. A Theological Reflection,”International Review of Mission 89, no. 353 20. James H. Grayson, Korea—a Religious History, rev. ed. (New York: (April 2000): 190; and Jong-Seop So, “Kaeshinkyonŭn wae holro RoutledgeCurzon, 2002), p. 169. Grayson lists the following three soetoeha’go itnŭn’ga” (Why is Protestantism alone declining?), Sisa areas as demanding the Korean church’s serious attention: creation of Journal, October 16, 2006, pp. 34–38. According to the 2005 census, Korean hymns, building of churches in a Korean style, and removal “the Korean population consists of 23 percent Buddhists, 18 percent of “unnecessary Western cultural structures and forms.” Protestants, and 11 percent Catholics, with 47 percent nonreligious” 21. Kelly H. Chong, “In Search of Healing: Evangelical Conversion of (Jibum Kim et al., “Trends of Religious Identification in Korea: Women in Contemporary South Korea,” in , ed. Changes and Continuities,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Buswell and Lee, pp. 360, 366–67. 48, no. 4 [2009]: 789). 22. T. F. Torrance, Theology in Reconstruction (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 3. For the significance of John Ross in the history of 1965), pp. 167–68. in China and Korea, see James H. Grayson, “A Spark in Northeast 23. Gallup Korea, ’gugin ŭi chonggyo wa chonggyo ŭisik (The Religions Asia: A Personal Hagiography of a Scottish Missionary to Manchuria, and Religious Consciousness of the Korean People), part 1 (: John Ross (1842–1915),” in Sainthood Revisioned: Studies in Hagiography Gallup Korea, 2005), pp. 4, 7; and Young-Gi Hong, “Nominalism and Biography, ed. Clyde Binfield (Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic in Korean Protestantism,” Transformation 16, no. 4 (1999): 139. Press, 1995), pp. 93–105. 24. Chang-Dae Gwak and Jurgens Hendriks, “An Interpretation of the 4. Samuel Hugh Moffett, The Christians of Korea (New York: Friendship Recent Membership Decline in the Korean Protestant Church,” Press, 1962), p. 59. Missionalia 29, no. 1 (2001): 62. 5. James H. Grayson, “A Quarter-Millennium of Christianity in Korea,” 25. Hong, “Revisiting Church Growth in Korean Protestantism,” p. 191. in Christianity in Korea, ed. Robert E. Buswell, Jr., and Timothy S. Lee 26. James H. Grayson, “Cultural Encounter: Korean Protestantism (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai‘i Press, 2006), p. 13. and Other Religious Traditions,” International Bulletin of Missionary 6. Myong Gul Son, “Korean Churches in Search for Self-Identity, Research 25, no. 2 (April 2001): 67. 1930–1970” (Ph.D. diss., Southern Methodist Univ., 1974), p. 13. 27. Orlando E. Costas, Liberating News: A Theology of Contextual 7. Ibid., p. 14. Evangelization (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), p. 31. 8. David Kwang-Sun Suh, “American Missionaries and a Hundred 28. See Joon-Sik Park, Missional Ecclesiologies in Creative Tension: H. Years of Korean Protestantism,” International Review of Mission 74, Richard Niebuhr and John Howard Yoder (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2007), no. 293 (1985): 9. esp. chap. 6. 9. For the missionaries’ ambivalent role in the independence movement, 29. Douglas John Hall, The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity see Frank Baldwin, “Missionaries and the March First Movement: (Harrisburg, Pa.: Press International, 1997), pp. 32–33. Can Moral Men Be Neutral?” in Korea Under Japanese Colonial Rule: 30. John H. Yoder, “The Unique Role of the Historic Peace Churches,” Studies of the Policy and Techniques of Japanese Colonialism, ed. Andrew Brethren Life and Thought 14, no. 3 (1969): 148. C. Nahm (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Western Michigan Univ., Center for 31. John H. Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Korean Studies, 1973), pp. 193–219. 1994), p. 152; and The Original Revolution: Essays on 10. Timothy S. Lee, “A Political Factor in the Rise of Protestantism in (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press), p. 109. Korea: Protestantism and the 1919 March Movement,” Church History 32. Eunsik Cho, “Christian Mission Toward Reunification of Korea,” 69, no. 1 (2000): 120, 142. Asia Journal of Theology 14, no. 2 (2000): 376. 11. James H. Grayson, “Dynamic Complementarity: Korean 33. For transformative peacemaking initiatives, see Glen H. Stassen, Confucianism and Christianity,” in Religion and the Transformations of ed., Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigms for the Ethics of Peace and Capitalism: Comparative Approaches, ed. Richard H. Roberts (London: War, new ed. (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2008). Routledge, 1995), p. 76. 34. John H. Yoder, “The Place of Peace Witness in Missions,” Gospel Herald, 12. Ibid., pp. 82–83. January 3, 1961, p. 14. For different approaches to reconciliation 13. James H. Grayson, personal correspondence with the author, March among Korean theologians, see Kirsteen Kim, “Reconciliation in 18, 2011. Korea: Models from Korean ,” Missionalia 35, 14. David Chung, Syncretism: The Religious Context of Christian Beginnings no. 1 (2007): 15–33. in Korea (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 2001), p. 179. 35. Steve Sang-Cheol Moon, “The Protestant Missionary Movement in Disagreeing with Chung, James Grayson states that “there is no Korea: Current Growth and Development,” International Bulletin of evidence that Koreans ever worshipped a monotheistic deity,” and Missionary Research 32, no. 2 (April 2008): 59. that they believed instead in “a High God, not a unique divine being” 36. Norimitsu Onishi, “Koreans Quietly Evangelizing Among Muslims (personal correspondence, March 18, 2011). in Mideast,” New York Times, November 1, 2004, sec. A, p. 1. 15. Moffett, Christians of Korea, p. 52. 37. The Council of Presbyterian Churches in Korea, “Statement on 16. Byong-suh Kim, “Modernization and the Explosive Growth and the Mission of the Korean Churches in the New Millennium,” Decline of Korean Protestant Religiosity,” in Christianity in Korea, International Review of Mission 89, no. 353 (2000): 235. ed. Buswell and Lee, p. 323. 38. Christine D. Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian 17. Grayson, “Dynamic Complementarity,” pp. 85–86. Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), p. 69. 18. For excellent studies on the Korean Catholic Church’s transition 39. Cho, “Christian Mission Toward Reunification,” p. 392. from a ghetto mentality to active involvement in human rights and 40. The Council of Presbyterian Churches, “Statement on the Mission the struggle for democracy, see Don Baker, “From Pottery to Politics: of the Korean Churches,” p. 237. The Transformation of Korean Catholicism,” in Religion and Society 41. Cho, “Christian Mission Toward Reunification,” pp. 384–88. in Contemporary Korea, ed. Lewis R. Lancaster, Richard K. Payne, and

64 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 2