A STUDY OF KOREAN CHURCH HISTORY AND MINJUNG THEOLOGY Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the Univers'ity of Man'itoba in Part'ial Fulfillment of the Requirements for .igì the Degree of Master of Arts i n Rel on March I 986 ("9") JAr JoUNG LEE DEPARTMENT OF RTLIGION UNIVIRSITY OF MANITOBA Permission has been granted Lr autorisation a été accordée to the National Library of ã Ia Bibliothèque nationale Canada to microf i lm this du Canada de microfilmer thesis and to lend or sell cette thèse et de prêter ou copies of the fiIm. de vendre des exempl-aires du f iIm. The author ( copyright owner) Lrauteur ( titulaire du droit has reserved other d' auteur ) se réserve les publication rights, and auLres droits de publication; neither the thesis nor ni la thèse ni de longs extensive exr-racts from it extraits de celle-ci ne may be printed or otherwise doivent être imprimés ou reproduced without his/her autrement reproduits sans son written permission" autorisation écrite. rsBN Ø-3I5_33 973_x A STUDY OF KOREAN CHURCH HISTORY AND MINJUNG THEOLOGY BY JAE JOUNG LEE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the university of Manitoba in partial fulfìllment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS o L9B6 Permissio¡r has been granred to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- SITY OF MANITOBA ro lend or selt copies of this thesis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilnr rhis thesis and to lend or setl copies of the film, and UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS to publish an absrract of this thesis. The author reserves other publication rights, arrd neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or other- wise reproduced without the author's written permission. Preface For the several years of my study in Wjnnìpeg (beginning ìn 19BZ) I was jndebted to too many people to mentjon all the names jn thjs acknowledgment. I believe that words are not enough to state my appreciation for them. Most of all, I must express my deep gratitude to Dr. H. Gordon Harland, the Head of the Department of Religion, who encouraged me and taught me wì th pass'ion throughout those years. At the same tìme , my sincere thanks should be extended to Dr. Egì1 Grislis, the Advisor for my thesjs, who helped to poìish my ideas and their expression by editÌng the whole text. I also want to thank Dr. Seung Gyu Moon, Professor of Socio'logy, who heìped me ìn so many ways which enabled me to reach this accomplishment. 0n this occasion, I must likewise mention Dr. Irving Hexham, now at the University of Caìgary, who in'itial'ly instructed me in regard to the organization of this thesis, and Dr. Anthony l.laterman, who offered very heìpfu'l suggestions by ana'lyzìng the technical terms used in this thesis. Also I wish to give my thanks to Dr. Larry W. Hurtado, Dr. Klaus K. Klostermaier, and Dr. Terence P. Day, who he'lped me to develop my theologicaì insights. As a matter of fact, I was enabled to study here, according to the Partners ìn Missjon program of the Diocese of Rupert's Land and the Anglican Church of Canada. Bishop B. Valentine, Bishop l.lalter Jones, and the PIM members, especia'lly, Dr. Miriam Hutton, Dr. Margaret Allen, and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hilton supported our famiìy ì'ife and offered to us such hospital'ity that I have not received elsewhere. I would like to extend my thanks to Mrs. Rhea Whitehead, and Rev. Terry Brown, the Co-ordinator for Asian-Pacjfic Mission of the Ang'lìcan Church of Canada, who arranged for me th'is particular opportunity. A special word of thanks ìs due to Ms. Shelìey Bozyk, the Secretary of the Department of Re'ligion, who typed the final draft with great patience and accuracy. I reajìy want to express my gratitude to Rev. Arnold and Mrs. Gladys Johnson who welcomed us as a part of thejr fami'ly and gave us enourmous parentaì love and care which shall remain forever jn our hearts. I was fortunate also to be encouraged and supported by Rev. Takeuchi Kentaro. I am truly indebted to my wìfe, Young-hee, whocared for my health and typed the first draft of my handwritten manuscript with love and patience. I have to remember that Suzi, my only daughter, pryed occasiona'l1y in my work. Fjnally, I wish to record my thanks to Bìshop Paul Lee and B'ishop Simon Kim and the other fellows and the church members who granted me the leave for my study, and prayed, and wa j ted for my successfu'l return. Easter I 986 Jae Joung Lee CONTTNTS Chapter I: Introduct'ion.. I Sign'ificance of the Study I Scope of the Study 2 Perspect'ive of Minjung Theology. 5 Sources of Minjung Theology.. 6 Procedure and Emphases in the Study 9 Chapter II: Mjnjung's Response in the 0ld Kingdoms.... ll The New Kingdom: A Centralized State ll Socio-economic Conflicts in Koryo l3 Confucian State and Social Transformation l8 Social Corruption and Rise of tga'litarian Thought 23 The Beginning of Roman Cathol'ic Mission and Peasants' Revol ts. 27 The Conservatives and the Reformists in the l9th Century 32 Social Crisjs and M'injung Movement 36 Chapter I I I : Mj njung's Response and Chri stj anì ty Under Japanese Rul e. 4l The Earìy Japanese Aggression and the Minjung 41 The Begì nnÍ ng of the Protestant Mi ssi on 46 The Struggle of Minjung Aga'inst Japanese Rule.... 57 Col oni al Poì ì cy and i ts Refl ecti on 64 Chapter IV: The Period of Awaken'ing of Conscjousness 74 Ljberation and Minjung Struggìe.... 74 Pol itical Procedure and Christianjty.. Bl Korean War and Korean Tragedy 83 The Momentum of Awakeni ng. 87 Economi c Si tuat'ion under the Park Reg'ime 89 Authoritarianism and the Miniungs Struggìe.... 93 Chapter V: Attempts at Creatjng a Korean Theology.. 100 Minjung as a Source of Theology.. 100 Buddh j sm and the M'i nj ungs Approach I 03 Shamanistic Revivals... 107 ïonghak Movement as a Korean Relìgion lll New Relìgìous Movement in Korea 122 Technology and the Pentecostal Movement 127 Chapter VI : M'i njunq Theol ogy and ì ts Approach. 132 Nature of M'injung Theology as a Korean Theology.. 132 The Bj bl i cal Approach of lfi nj ung Theol ogy. I 35 .l40 The Historical Apporach of Mjnjung Theology.. .l43 The Culturaì Approach of Minjung Theology.. The Theoìogìcaì Approach of M'injung Theology.. 146 .l50 The Theory and Perspectìve of Minjung Theology.. Chapter VII: Conclusìon 153 Note s 159 CHAPTER I: I NTRODUCTION SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Durìng the last decade, M'injung Theology has been djscussed wÍde'ly in Korea as well as jn Asia.l Miniung Theology has evolved through the efforts of Korean theological scholars who themselves have experienced "sufferjng of the Minjung",2 due to their particìpation in the strugg'le for soc'ial iust'ice and human rìghts. The impact of such experiences caused theological scholars to re-interpret Korean history and Church h'istory, bjblical tradjtions and h'istorical events, and the identity of the Christjans and the reality of the minjung in the Korean context. Therefore, they have begun to pursue the work of defining the specific theolog'icaì tasks in the Korean context rather than the conventional expl ìcation of Christian doctrine. This thesis will discuss the nature of M'injung Theoìogy, its perspectìves, 'its sources and the question of why ìt is a theology of minjung.".3 In a sense, this study wìì'l deal with the theologica'l task, both theoretjcal ly and practicaì ly, wh'ich l'ies ahead of Christian- ìty and the minjung. Regarding "the crisis of Christian identity"4 and "the tens'ion of confrontation"5 in Korea, it'is very ìmportant to formulate a Korean contextual Theoìogy or Minjung Theology, wh'ich can ìnterpret the reaììty of m'injung for their l'iberat'ion and whìch can be committed to indigenìzation and to social and pol itica'l reluuun.u.6 Th'is means that the Korean church as well as the churches in the Third Wor.ld must begìn to understand the social context of the peopìe, so that theology.is forced to respond to the relevant jssues of minjung such L as socio-econ0mic confl icts and the pol jticaì system of dictatorshìp. Miniunq, who has been oppressed, does not need metaphysìcaì theology that has sometimes marked Western Theoìogy, but they demand an active theology to artjculate their faith'in order to overcome varjous forms of bondage. In Latjn Amerjca Juan Luis Segundo seeks to develop a theoìogy 'in close relat'ionship with a critical anaìysis of socìety and with a commjtment to change society,T and in the United States the theoìogy of James Cone is worked out in the context of a commitment to the black tradìtion and the aspìrations of black people.S Sim'ilarly to study Minjung Theology means to define a theoìogy that grows out of the Iife of the people. The "Theoìogy in Act'ion" workshops held in Manila and Kuala Lumpur in 1972 and 1973 respectively, under the auspices of the Christian Conference jn Asia came to this conclusion: Theology is beginning to pìck up theologica'l themes in the lives of the peopìe, to relate to sociaì ana'lysis and soc'ial 'investi gati on whi ch exposes conf I'icts i n soc'iety.