Be thou my vision the rise of christianity in south korea 1884 to the present

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

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Acknowledgement
After spending 3 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 do 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 do 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.

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

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.

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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

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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 do believe that the torch of faith, which

1

Park, Chung –Shin, Protestantism and Politics in Korea, edited by James B. Palais, University
of Washington Press, United States of America, 2003, p. 3.

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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
do 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
2

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.
3
Ibid.
4
Peter Van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann., eds. Nation and Religion: Perspectives on
Europe and Asia, , Princeton University Press, USA , 1999, p. 3.

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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
5

Peter Van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann., p. 5
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. 3.
6

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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
7

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.
8
Baker, Don, “Christianity ‘Koreanized”, p. 108.

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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.

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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.
9

Talal Asad, p.179
Talal Asad, p. 181.

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Positive contributions made by Christianity to the political, social and economic
development of the country are also highlighted. Other works such as Kang Wi Jo’s
Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea and Park Chung-Shin’s Protestantism and Politics
in Korea also try to look at the topic from a chronological approach even though the
focus is on politics and how religion interacts with political developments in South
Korea. Timothy S. Lee’s Born Again: Evangelicalism in Korea, the latest addition to
the topic also adopted a chronological approach, but focuses more on explaining the
reasons for the growth in Christianity in the different time periods. What makes his
book stands out from the rest is his last chapter that looks closely at the nature of
Christianity and how it is practiced by Koreans, thus deviating from the macroscopic
overview which most works on Christianity presents.
Although these studies provide a comprehensive and organized view of the
development of Christianity in Korea and later South Korea, with the exception of
Timothy S. Lee’s final chapter, they are largely done from a broad top-down
perspective that traces the adoption of the religion from a national level. The focus
in these studies are also very much on how the adoption of the religion provided the
Koreans with ways and institutions through which they can cope with the challenges
within their society. These include the translation of the bible into the vernacular
language which indirectly promoted literacy amongst the Koreans and also the
provision of education and health-care through the various Christian institutions set
up by the early missionaries. This positive view of Christianity is further emphasized
by its links to early resistance movements against the weak Choson dynasty and the
Japanese colonials. Seen in this light, Christianity is viewed as a positive social force
that helps to bring about progress in a very euro-centric sense to the Koreans. I feel
that, while this macroscopic view of Christianity does account to some extent for the
popularity of Christianity in South Korea, it misses out on a very important aspect –
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the impact of the religion on the individual, the interaction between the
missionaries and the Koreans and how Christianity appealed to the common everyday South Korean through this cultural exchange.
This positive view of Christianity and the contributions made by early missionaries to
the modernization of South Korea is also highlighted in Donald Clarke’s Missionary
Photography in Korea: Encountering the West through Christianity and in the
interviews of Bruce Finley Hunt who was a missionary, born in Korea in 1903. Unlike
the more macroscopic overview provided in the previous five books mentioned, the
strength of these two sources lie in their ability to give the readers a more in depth
look on the interaction between the Christian missionaries and the Koreans.
Interesting points of contention between the missionaries and the Koreans are
highlighted, such as the chesa (ancestor worship) rite issue and the bowing to Shinto
shrines as dictated by the Japanese colonizers. The ways in which these issues are
resolved and the personal accounts of how individual missionaries viewed the
Korean believers are useful in giving us a glimpse of how Christianity was practiced,
thought of and adopted by Koreans. However, given the focus of these sources,
being the missionaries, we can gather little about the Korean Christians who seemed
rather passive in these accounts and largely follow the lead of the missionaries who
were forerunners in the engineering of societal changes in Korea.
To look at Christianity only through the lens of how it benefitted the Korean people
and society is rather limiting as it fails to acknowledge the contributions and active
roles played by the Koreans in the adoption of the religion. According to Thomas
David DuBois in his book, Casting Faiths, “the development of sustained Christian
mission not only fomented the creation of mission journals and financial institutions,
it also had far deeper theological effects, played out in changing ideas of social

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transformation and individual piety…”11 Therefore, although many studies have

been done on national missions, the processes that constitute the changes and
development of the religion within each country can only be seen clearly if we look
at them up close. However, this is not possible if we merely look at Christianity from
a broad overview that does not take into account the subtle changes made by the
Koreans as they adopt the religion as their own and how these changes will impact
the country as a whole.
Moreover, these studies also fail to tackle the question of who exactly are “the
Korean Christians”? The Korean Christians are often seen as a homogeneous group.
This is especially untrue of the Protestant Christians, who were in fact from different
denominations, different regions and different social classes, thus affecting the way
they view, practice and adopt the religion. Park Chung-Shin was the only author
amongst the rest who took efforts to differentiate between the “Liberal Christians”
and the “Conservative Christians.” The former were those who were against the
authoritarian style government presented by Syngman Rhee, Park Chung Hee and
later Chon Do Hwan, while the former were those who supported these
governments. However, this difference was only mentioned in a short, final chapter
in Park’s book, which traced the relationship between Protestant Christians and
South Korean Politics from 1948 to the 1980s. Besides, the bi-polemical view of the
liberal versus the conservative Christians also presents over-simplified categories
that fail to take into account the complexities of the economic, social and political
circumstances that might influence Korean Christians and their willingness to co-

11

Thomas David DuBois, “Introduction: The Transformation of Religion in East and Southeast
Asia- Paradigmatic”, Chapter 1, Casting Faiths: Imperialism and Transformation of Religion in
East and Southeast Asia, Palgrave Macmillan, 31 March 2009, p. 8.

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operate with the government at different time periods. Hence given the current
literature on the topic I feel that more can be done to examine the way in which
ordinary South Koreans view and interact with Christianity.
Another area which I found limiting in this body of literature is the lack of
information provided on the Korean Christian community. The activities of the
Korean Christian Community are often documented by missionaries’ accounts that
will describe in great detail the “success stories” of Koreans who have benefitted
and transformed with the help of the church, such examples include Yun Chi’Ho and
George Paik; two individuals who were given the opportunity to study in America
and later returned to Korea. However, little is being said about the interactions
between the Koreans and the missionaries. How did they feel about these
missionaries? Were they viewed as equals by the missionaries? Moreover, these
missionaries were later forced out of the country in 1938 when “the Japanese
colonial government launched the so-called Assimilation Campaign between
Japanese and Korean Churches to make the Korean Church a Japanese religious
institution”12. With the departure of the Western missionaries, Korean Christians
were pretty much left on their own to carry out the Nevius Plan to build selfgoverning, self-propagating and self-supporting churches in Korea. This led to
greater autonomy for the Koreans to understand and internalize the religion on their
own terms. However, this process was not well explored; much less the
development of Christianity in Korea after the Western missionaries came back
during and after the Korean War. One cannot help but question the nature of the
relationship between the Koreans and the missionaries, given the changing political
and social circumstance and also the way Christianity was understood in Korea.

12

Park, Chung-Shin, p. 156.

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In recent years, historians such as Paul S. Cha in his journal article, Unequal Partners,
Contested Relations: Protestant Missionaries and Korean Christians, 1884-1907, and
also Hyaeweol Choi in her book Gender and Mission Encounters in Korea, tried to
give the Korean Christians a voice by looking at the interaction between the
missionaries and their converts. Both the book and journal article provides valuable
insight into the tensions between these two groups of people and how these
tensions were resolved, as more power were transferred into the hands of the local
Christian community. However, as mentioned, the “Korean Christians” were once
again seen as a homogeneous group. Although, Paul S. Cha sought to point out the
divisions amongst the Korean Christians, this distinction was not addressed when
looking at the interaction between the missionaries and the Koreans. Hyaeweol Choi
also focuses mainly on the educated women in Korea and their interaction with the
missionaries. Thus, it would be interesting to understand the differing background of
these believers and why Christianity appealed to them in spite being seen as second
to the missionaries when it comes to their faith. Why did they accept a foreign
religion? And how did this foreign religion grow to become one that most Koreans
identify with?
Finally, most studies on the topic of Christianity in Korea are done either by Koreans
who are Christians from Christian colleges in Korea, or American missionaries who
share close ties with the Christian colleges in Korea. This gives the perception that
they are writing for a Christian audience, thus accounting for the relatively positive
view of Christianity and its links to nationalistic movements in South Korea.
Although it can be argued that an insiders’ perspective on a subject may bring
greater insights to a subject given their access to information, an insiders’
perspective may also be subjected to biasness and the inability to detect nuances in
practices, ideas and connections that they might consider the norm. Therefore, it is
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useful to gain an outsider’s view on the subject that might bring new ideas and
perspectives to light, given the distance from the subject.
Looking Beyond the Field of Christianity in Korea
Due to the limitations and problems found in works that focus on the history of
Christianity in Korea, there is a need to look beyond the field for more information
on the changes that happened in South Korea from the arrival of the missionaries to
the present and how these changes affect the way in which the Koreans came to
view their national identity whilst at the same time giving us a clue on the appeal of
Christianity. Books that trace the Korean national history from its mythic beginnings
to the present, such as Bruce Cummings, Korea’s Place in the Sun and Michael J.
Seth’s A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present are useful starting points
into gaining a closer look at the Korean society, as they reflect the social
transformation of the Korean society from its agricultural beginnings to becoming an
industrial nation in a comprehensive and concise manner. These books give readers
a clearer picture of the major political, social and economic reforms that took place
in Korea throughout the years and some of the general challenges that the
government and the people of Korea faced while these reforms are carried out.
Finally, these books also helped to highlight the different groups of people within
Korea such as businessmen, students, intellectuals and farmers whose lives were
impacted by these changes. Therefore in understanding these changes and the
people involved in these changes, one can gain a better understanding of the needs
of the Koreans and how the Korean identity came to be imagined.
Besides, gender is also another area that provides a better insight into how the
Korean identity came to be imagined. Books and articles by Haeweol Choi and also
Seungsook Moon’s Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea
are all invaluable sources that documents how the state engineered modernity in
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Korea through the shaping of specific gender roles for their citizens. Given the
limited sources written in English these book helps to give readers a useful insight
into the role of the state, the repressive measures the state undertook and doctrines
which the government tries to instill into the Koreans in order to help them shape
new identities as citizens of a country that was born in the midst of political turmoil.
Understanding the developments made to gender roles in South Korea and also the
interaction between the state and the Korean masses is important because it helps
to show how the Korean identity came to be imagined, amidst the many
contradicting notions within society and their everyday lives. Moreover,
understanding the conflicts between the masses and the state on these gender roles
will also help us understand why Christianity appealed to both the men and women
of South Korea. This is something that I hope to be aware of when writing my thesis
and trying to explain the appeal of Christianity to both men and women.
However, these books that focus on the national history of Korea are not without
problems. Like the books on Christianity in Korea, these books also trace the history
of Korea from a broad top-down perspective that gives little room for the voices of
the Koreans on the ground to be heard. Although groups like the farmers and the
students are mentioned in short anecdotes on their resistance towards the
authoritarian government, the over bearing American intervention and the rapid
pace at which society was transformed, these anecdotes are not closely explored
thus failing to give readers a closer look into the psyche of the ordinary Koreans. This
simplistic view of the Korean society makes it difficult when we try to apply it to the
question of how Christianity becomes so closely tied to the Korean identity as we
tend to once again gain a bi-polemic view of the Korean Christians – namely those

17


on the top of the social ladder and those below, without looking at how they might
interact and intersect with one another to form a common Korean identity.

This idea of a common Korean identity is one that is worth exploring given the
growing literacy rate and rise in the availability of jobs in industrial sectors which
gave rise to an urban middle class in South Korea that most people belong to. By
using historical analysis to look into this phenomenon and the social transformation
that took place in Korea, one might gain a better understanding of how Christianity
features in the social imagination of the South Koreans in their everyday life.
According to Byong-suh Kim in his article, Modernization and Korean Protestant
Religiosity, “the impact of such rapid social change through modernization created a
socio-psychological condition of anomie.”13 Most Koreans “lost a clear direction in
life and were burdened with strain and stress and loss of communality… thus people
en masse knocked on the doors of the church searching for selfhood and meaning in
life.” 14 Although this may be one of the reasons for the rise in Christian converts in
South Korea, the reasons that may explain this rise may be more complex than this,
therefore it will be useful to examine this issue closely and look at the interaction
between the Korean church, the state and the Korean people in order to better
understand the role that Christianity plays in defining the Korean national identity.
Casting a Wider Net
Beyond the field of Korean history, a study of the role of how religion features in
the social imagination of the people in East Asia and post colonial societies in Asia is
also useful in transcending the Euro-centric notion of modernity and progress.
Instead of using the West as the standard marker when judging non Western

13

Byong-suh Kim, “Modernization and Korean Protestant Religiosity”, Christianity in Korea,
edited by Robert E. Bushwell Jr. & Timothy S. Lee, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu,
2007, pp 132-133.
14
Ibid., pp 322-323.

18


societies, a close study of these non-Western societies on their own terms will help
us better understand how they determine their identities, vis-à-vis their history and
common experiences of Western intervention both during the period of colonialism
and the later Cold War era, as they move towards becoming modern nation states.
Research done by Shuk-Wan Poon on Republican China and Paul R. Katz on Taiwan
under Chiang Kai Shek are interesting starting points to look at how despite the
pursuit of modernity in order to match up with the West, religion continues to play
an important role in the process of identity formation and the building of nationalist
sentiments amongst the people. According to Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein,
“the creation of identities by means of religious activities is often linked to response
to drastic socioeconomic and political changes that… tend to result in the
preservation, restoration or reinforcement of already extant identities, as opposed
to the formation of new or original identities.”15 The same goes for Shuk-Wan Poon’s
research where despite the attempts made by the government to modernize China
by defining between what is superstition and what is not, the people constantly tries
to negotiate between their religious beliefs and modernity that is tied to
nationalistic ideas of progress, by refashioning “the meanings and representations
of national culture in local society.”16 Therefore, showing how the study of religion
and the way that it is being practiced by the people on the ground, can help to give a
voice to the individuals on the ground whose voices are often drowned out by the
official history that often takes on a euro-centric approach towards defining societal
transformation, development and progress.

15

Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein, p. 14.
Shuk-Wah Poon, Negotiating Religion in Modern China: State and Common People in

Guangzhou, 1900-1937, The Chinese University Press, 2011, pp 148-149.
16

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In addition to the study of religion in general, a study of conversion experiences by
countries in Southeast Asia and East Asia to Christianity will help draw parallels to
the situation in South Korea and provide a more holistic picture to the growth of
Christianity in South Korea and the reasons behind this growth. The case studies on
the growth of Christianity amongst Southeast Asian nations such as Singapore and
Malaysia are also useful because these countries, like South Korea also experienced
great social transformation in the last decade and were countries that were
constructed unexpectedly after world war two. The people of these countries thus
face a similar problem with the South Koreans in their search for an identity in a
rapidly changing world where they are given new roles as citizens of a country and
introduced to new terms of classification such as race and ethnicity. Works from
sociologist John Clammer, Tong Chee Kiong and A.Sue Russell who studied the
growth of Christianity in Singapore and Malaysia will thus provide a good reference
point and framework through which one can view the South Korean case. Through a
comparison with these countries, we can take a closer look at the Korean case and
see how Christianity is accepted into South Korea on her own unique terms, given
her tradition, culture, political and social circumstances.
Methodology
As can be seen from the above, most of the research done on the growth of
Christianity in South Korea is done from a very broad, top-down perspective. The
church, the Korean government, the Korean people and the missionaries were all
studied as homogeneous group who instituted changes and made decisions as a
group. However, looking at this broad picture, one cannot help but ask if this is all to
the success story of Christianity and its growth in South Korea. This is because,

despite being a force that can engineer change within society, religion is first and
foremost identified with the individual who chose to actively practice the faith.

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Therefore in the case of South Korea, one cannot help but ask how individual South
Koreans connect with the religion. What made Christianity appeal to the individual
in spite of its place as a foreign religion? How do South Koreans understand
Christianity and did this understanding change over time given the different social
and political backdrop in South Korea? These are questions that I found unanswered
when doing my research on the topic. Therefore in the following three chapters of
my thesis, I hope to relook at the history of Christianity in Korea with these
questions in mind, and try to gain a better understanding on the reasons behind the
appeal of Christianity and how different groups of people in Korea come to
understand and embrace the religion as part of their identity.
In order to gain an insight to these questions, it will be useful to combine
ethnography and history. Missionary records on the activities of churches in South
Korea and secondary sources on the topic will be useful as a starting point. However,
records alone are not enough when trying to understand the human psyche as these
records might hold certain biases and contradictions that cannot be readily detected
given the coherent way in which information are presented. Therefore by combining
ethnographical methods such as holding oral interviews and observing church
rituals, activities and practices, one can gain a more in depth perspective on the
appeal of Christianity to South Koreans, while also gaining insight into the
construction process of one’s personal identity and how religion comes to play an
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 on the

ground, focusing on the early advent of the religion in the 1880s up until 1945 when
the missionaries were told to leave Korea. In order to understand the impact of the
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religion on Korea and how it has evolved over the years to adopt “Korean
characteristics”, I would also look at the Korean churches today, the rituals held
there, the believers and the way in which they understood their history. As
mentioned, unlike the narratives that were presented by the various authors on the
topic, the history of Christianity is not always one of linear progression of growth.
Similarly, its impact is not always beneficial and positive to the Koreans. Therefore,
by looking at how Christianity appealed to the Koreans at different junctures in their
history, we can see how this idea of being a Christian changes over time to adapt to
the needs of the Koreans. Understanding these changes will also help us to better
understand the appeal of Christianity to South Koreans and how it comes to feature
in the social imagination of the South Koreans, so much so that it is seen as a
“Korean” religion rather than a foreign one.
Chapter one of my thesis will mainly give a brief overview of the religion and how it
took root in Korea. Using both primary and secondary sources, I hope to look at the
contributions made by the missionaries and the impact they made on the Korean
people. I also hope to gain a better understanding on why the Koreans were
attracted to the religion during this period of time, Although these accounts might
contain certain biasness on the part of the missionaries and also come with certain
ulterior motives (presenting a favourable view of Korea to inspire Christians within
their homeland to contribute more funds to the missionary efforts in Korea), these
accounts serve as good primary sources as we look into the needs of the Koreans
and how these missionaries drew the locals into the religion whilst at the same time
help lay the foundation on how Christianity is going to be defined and practiced
within the country.

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In Chapter two, I will shift my focus to the interaction between the missionaries and
the Christians in Korea in order to better understand the transformation of
Christianity from a religion that is foreign to one that the Koreans can identify with.
Using missionary accounts, L. George Paik’s dissertation on, The history of Protestant
Missions in Korea 1832-1910, and other secondary sources, I hope to look more
closely at tensions that emerged between the western missionaries and the Korean
Christians; their differing goals and interpretation of the historical and political
events that befall Korea, and how they seek to maintain a semblance of harmony in
the midst of this struggle for control over the direction which the Church and
religion should take. Through these tensions and key events in the history of
Christianity in Korea, one can see a gradual shift in power from the western
missionaries to the Korean converts as they gradually learn how to hold their own
against the missionaries, thus gaining greater autonomy over the running of the
church and the practice of Christianity within their communities.
Finally, chapter three will focus on the way in which Korean Christians reconstruct
their own history and use it to construct their identity in the present day. This is
possible after the Korean converts managed to take over the reins from the western
missionaries that were forced to depart from Korea after World War Two. Through a
short field trip in Seoul, I managed to visit a Methodist Church. Through the use of
interviews, the attendance of 2 church services and a booklet which documents the
Church’s history, I hope to take a closer look on how history is being re-interpreted
by the church. Looking at what they choose to remember and what they choose to
omit, one can gain a better understanding on the process of indigenization, where
Christianity, a foreign religion is embraced by the locals and understood in their
terms.

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Therefore in examining these areas, I hope to study the process by which the
Christian identity is formed in South Korea while not forgetting the “different
roles”17 that the Koreans choose to play in order “to create or reinforce differing
identities”18 for themselves in order to make better sense of the world that they live
in. Indeed, as mentioned in the biblical verse at the beginning, God calls out to all to
seek Him, but the reasons why people choose to seek and knock on the door of the
church may differ and it is this process that I hope to understand in order to see how
religion fit into the picture of the modern world.

17

Paul R. Katz and Murray A. Rubinstein, editors., Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese
Identities, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003, p. 4.
18
Ibid.

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Chapter 1: Making Inroads into the Hermit Kingdom: The Transformation of
Christianity in South Korea (1884-1953)
From its humble beginnings in 1784 as an outlawed religion, to its present
prominence “in the socio-political and cultural fabric of Korea,”19 the story of the
successful growth of Christianity in Korea has always garnered huge interest and
intense discussion amongst the many scholars from the various disciplines. Many
sought to answer the question as to why the spread of Christianity, a religion
associated with the West, was so successful in Korea, yet not in other parts of East
Asia (such as Japan and China), where missionary efforts were equally strong or

perhaps even stronger than in Korea. The typical explanations given to this question
include: the religious similarities between Christianity and the traditional Korean
religion, Shamanism which believes “in the universal presence of spirits”20; the
political and social circumstances in Korea that made Christianity appeal to the
people as a vehicle of modernization, Korean nationalism and later anticommunism; and finally, the success of the Protestant missionaries in tying their
efforts at evangelicalism with social activism. These explanations are all equally valid
in explaining the success of Christianity in Korea. Therefore, through this short
overview, I hope to revisit the secondary sources and narratives on this topic. This is
because these narratives mostly give a linear and triumphant account of the growth
of Christianity in South Korea. However, given the political and social situation in
South Korea, often times, faith became more than just a “personal matter,”21 but

19

Sung Kang Hwa, Contesting Obligations: American Missionaries, Korean Christians and the
State(s): 1884-1919, University of California, Los Angeles, Dissertation submitted for the
Doctoral of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultural , 2011, p. 3.
20
David Martin, Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America, Basil
Blackwell Inc., UK, 1990, p. 138.
21
Bushwell, Robert E. Jr. and Lee, Timothy S., eds. Christianity in Korea, University of Hawai’i
Press, United States of America, 2006, p. 8.

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