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Korean Christianity: A case for a dialectics between culture and faith
Lecture presented April 3, 2003 at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, by Young Ahn Kang, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea. Reprinted by permission.
I. Introduction: The Religious Situation of Korea
From the outset I must say I am not in a good position to deal with this topic. I am neither a professional theologian (albeit I have always been interested in theology), nor an anthropologist, nor an expert in religious studies. I am a professional philosopher who as usual is occupied with philosophical texts. Spinoza, Kant, Schelling, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Gadamer, and Levinas are my favorite philosophers, and I have been dealing with them recently in my lectures and writings. Nevertheless, as an active member of Korean church and as a philosopher who believes in the triune God, I cannot escape from pondering the relation between Korean culture and Christian faith. I would like start from some facts of the religious situation in Korea.
First, Koreans are now living in a religiously plural society. In the past, Buddhism and Confucianism were, in turn, the state religion. From the 20th century, Christianity has been dominant. The dominance of Christianity has consequences causing to become aware of one's of religion. Before that, a common Korean was a Buddhist, a Confucian, a Taoist, a Shamanist, all in one person. Religious identification has depended on the occasions and situations. But now, one is urged to make choices. This, in turn, results in religious pluralism. In this situation, Christians are ill-trained in living in a pluralist situation. One of the urgent tasks for Korean Christians is to learn to understand the people oriented in other religions and to live with them in peace.
Second, after the collapse of state religion at the beginning of the 20th century, faith becomes a pure private matter, separated from all other public spheres like politics and science. This means that the public influence of religious faith is less than it could and should be. Public space has become secular, while religious faith remains private and almost powerless for public affairs.
Third, since the 1960's there has been much talk of the necessity of indigenization, but I think Korean church is already indigenized in terms of the Korean religious tradition. Christian faith becomes an instrument for the material blessing and psychological comfort. I believe that these three aspects of the religious situation of Korea must be taken into consideration in my story of the Korean Church with regard to the relation between Christianity and culture.
2. The Impact of Christian Gospel on Korean Culture
The growth of Korean church, both the Catholic and the Protestant, is phenomenal. According to a recent report, there are more than 4 million Catholics, and approximately 10 million Protestant, respectively 8% and 20% of the whole population of South-Korea. The beginning of Christian church was, however, not easy. It cost many lives. The first Christians in Korea were Roman Catholics. A young Confucian scholar named Yi Seung-hun (1756-1801) returned from Beijing in 1784, where he had accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission, and announced to his friends that he had been baptized a Catholic by a French priest in that Chinese capital. At that point there were no Catholic missionaries in Korea, so Yi Seung-hun began preaching his new faith, studied Christian books he brought from Beijing. He quickly converted a few other Confucian scholars, and even ministered the Mass without knowing that the laymen were forbidden to do that by Rome. Then the troubles began. The mother of Yun Chi-Chung (1759-1791), one of the first converts to Catholicism, died and Yun, did not perform Confucian mourning rituals and memorial service for his mother, because these were forbidden as idolatrous by the Roman church. He and his fellow Catholics were immediately attacked as followers of an immoral religion. Yun was sentenced to death by the Confucian government for his violation of Confucian moral principles, becoming the first Christian martyr in Korea. After him, thousands more were martyred; Out of them, 103 were singled out, and canonized as saints.
In passing, I like to make two remarks. First, the martyrdom of the Catholics was mostly due to a cultural clash in the refusal to follow Confucian mourning and memorial rituals. First Christians, by refusing traditional culture, preferred death to life, because they found the Way and the Life in Jesus Christ. This was really not contrary to the teaching of Confucius who said: "If I hear the Way (Tao), dying in that evening will be good as well." The Way to the first Korean Christians was not an abstract principle, but a person whom they can pray and put their trust. Second, it is ironical that Korean Catholics now are allowed to participate in ancestor worship, for which thousands died and 103 out of who were canonized. The cultural accommodation of the Catholics has accelerated; and the tension with the cultural environment has been minimized. The number of the Catholics after the visit of the Pope John Paul II in 1984 has increased from two million to four million. Culture and Faith. These are, to the Catholics, two distinct entities, and therefore must be kept intact and separated from each other. This attitude makes the given culture and customs easily acceptable. Recently, this was confirmed symbolically by Cardinal Stephan Kim's visit and bowing down six times, following the Confucian precept, to the tomb of the one of the influential Confucian leaders of the first half of the twentieth century, Kim Chang-sook. This action was exceptional to common practice and therefore a great surprise to many.
When American missionaries came into Korea in 1884, 100 years after the introduction of the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Christians were confronted with the same cultural clash. It was, however, not so drastic, because the state authority and the Confucian dominance had begun to collapse. The refusal of the ancestor worship was no longer identified as an attack on the state and social order. Blood-shedding of many Protestant Christians was not due to the refusal of the ancestor worship any longer, but due to the rejection of the Shinto rituals during the era of Japanese occupation. During Korean War many Christians were killed by the communists because of their unwillingness to give up their faith. Faith gradually became a private matter and the question of the ancestor worship was confined to the matter of family and clan. Despite many obstacles the Korean Protestant church has gradually grown, and has contributed to the development of Korean culture and society.
To mention a few things which are common knowledge to everyone. First, modern education and medical systems were introduced by American missionaries. Missionaries and Korean co-workers founded schools and hospitals. Second, the equal right of women was proclaimed and the schools for girls, who were, up to then, excluded from education, were founded for the first time in history. Third, old customs and habits (for instance, drinking, smoking, drugs, the early marriage, and superstitions) were called to reform. Among "the superstitions" to be avoided, were shamanistic practice, geomancy, bowing down to the Buddha-statue. The stigmatization of the old religious habits and customs as idolatrous gave rise, naturally, to the conflict between traditional culture and Christianity. Fourth, systematic actions for public enlightenment by means of the publication of newspapers and journals was carried out by Christians. Fifth, Hangul, the Korean alphabet, instead of Chinese characters, the letters used by the Confucian literati, was used in the translation of the Bible, newspapers and journals for the first time. Hangul made the Bible and Christian literature much more easily accessible to everyone. This is quite contrary to Buddhism which has its main texts written in old Chinese characters, almost inaccessible still to common people. Christians eagerly not only made use of Hangul, but also they contributed to the wide use of Hangul by everyone by use in the publications, teachings and even doing research on grammars and making dictionaries. The first Hangul grammar book was written by John Ross, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary, working in China, near the border of North Korea. The first dictionary was made by French missionaries and this work was followed by Horace G. Underwood and J.S. Gale.) All these matters are discussed in detail by a Korean historian Yi Mahn-Yol, The Cultural History of Christian Movement in Korea (in Korean) (Seoul: The Christian Literature Society, 1987).
Surely, Christians were the "modernizers" of Korean culture and society. Modernization begins by the critique of the established order, world views and style of life, and proceeds by providing alternatives. In this sense, I believe Christians are, in all ages and in all places, "modernizers" in the radical sense of the word, viz., "agents for renewal." Modernization meant, in reality, however, westernization. For the first Protestant Christians in Korea, the Gospel was the good news, not only for the individual who accepts that news, but also for the whole nation. The reformers of Korea at the end of 19th century such as Yun Tchi-Ho (1865-1945) and Seo Chae-pil (1866-1951), both were the converts to Christianity, and educated in America, joined forces in 1896 to establish the Independent, Korea's first modern newspaper, argued that Christianity, modernization and national independence went hand in hand. Modernization is here almost the same as westernization, viz., the change of a whole system of society and culture like, for instance, in America. This is indicated by several petition letters of Yi Soo-Jeong, who was baptized in 1883, in Japan, and translated parts of New Testament into Korean. In these letters, Yi urged American Churches to send missionaries to Korea. For this, Yi argues that America is the best land to teach Korea Western civilization as well as Christianity. The coming of Horace G. Underwood, the first Presbyterian missionary, to Seoul in 1885 was the immediate response of the North Presbyterian Church of America to Yi's petition.) For a detailed information see Yi Mahn-Yol, A Study on the History of the Reception of Christianity in Korea (in Korean) Seoul: Dooresidae, 1998), pp. 95-109. Underwood came into Seoul with Yi's translation of the Gospel according to Mark.
Indeed, all intellectuals at that time, commonly sharing the Confucian tradition, showed their heartfelt concern for the revitalizing of an almost dying country by means of the Christian faith as an alternative to the fossilized Confucianism. Christianity, in the form of Protestantism. has always been one of the most important sources of nationalism in Korea. Yun Tchi-Ho is another example.) Yun Tchi-Ho accompanied the Royal Delegate to Japan 1n 1883. He stayed there and studied "New Learning" and learned English for two years. He was back to Seoul with first American envoy in Seoul, L.H. Foot, as his interpreter. When R. S. MacClay, the Methodist missionary in Japan visited Seoul in June 1884, in order to get the permission for the mission from the King, Foot engaged in that matter and Yun Tchi-Ho was their interpreter. Yun wrote in his diary (July 4, 1884 entry): "Our King permitted that American commercial vessels may navigate near to Korean sea; Americans may found hospitals and schools and install electric facilities." Yun was no Christian at that time. He fled to Shanghai, in 1885, after the failure of the Revolution attempted by the Party of the Enlightenment. He studied in Shanghai, and found Christian faith. He was sent to the Vanderbilt University, (Nashville, Tennessee) and studied theology for three years and continued to study for two years in Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) until he came back to Shanghai in 1893 and to Seoul in 1895. For the information in detail See Ryu Dong-Sik, The Vein of Korean Theology, (in Korean) (Seoul: Dasan Geulbang, 2000), pp.50-51.
After becoming Christian and living and studying in America, he found that the Chosun (Yi dynasty) government and the depraved public functionaries were responsible for the miseries of the whole nation. The government system of Chosun seemed to be ruled by sheer egoism. In his eyes, Chosun represented the most depraved despotism in history. His judgment on the Chosun dynasty is much harsher in the following sentence: "Chosun dynasty is the government by the thieves, for the thieves, of the thieves.") See Ibid., p.56. Therefore, morality must be recovered for the "salvation" of Korea. And morality must be rooted in religion. In Yun's opinion, Confucianism can not be a candidate. Christianity, a religion in which teaching can be really realized in practice, alone can provide the basis for a new morality. He wrote,
Confucians asserts that they are good and virtuous by nature, while Christians believe they are wicked. Confucians destroy their character by the deceit that they are self-righteous. Christians gradually improves their character by means of humility and dependence on divine power. I want to go die, born a beggar, as a king, rather as a beggar, born a king.) Re quoted from Ryu, ibid., p.57. This quotation is from Yun's Diary entry of August 15, 1984.
According to Yun, the root of all evils in Korean society lies in egoism and ego-centricism. This evil can not be cured other than by self-denial before the Cross; by one's recognition of oneself as a sinner and regaining life by being born again in Jesus Christ. Therefore the Gospel was the only way for Korean people to be saved. So Yun wrote in his Diary (December 14, 1889) as follows:
I have a mission to finish. Success and failure of my life will depend on how I am faithful to my mission. My mission is these: the evangelization of my people and the educational ministry for young people.) See Yoo, ibid., p.59.
3. The Motif of Faith: the Case of Yun Tchi-Ho
Yun's case forbids us to interpret the conversion of the Confucian intellectuals to Christianity merely as instrumental for the social reform and the regeneration of Korea as an independent nation-state. They truly experienced the truth, life and the real salvation in and through Jesus Christ. The inner reform and salvation of the soul in Jesus Christ is prior to all programs for social reform and social salvation. Yun's early document handed to W.B. Bonnel, an American Methodist missionary, at Shanghai in 1887, "A Synopsis of what I was and what I am" eloquently tells us his personal motives for becoming a Christian.
I had not heard of God before I came to Shanghai. For I was born in a heathen land. I was brought in a heathen society. I was taught in heathen literature. I continued in sin, even after having been informed of the Divine Religion. For sensual gratifications were preferred to sober and godly life. I reasoned that human life being short, one must be allowed to enjoy as much leisure as he is able. I thought that "a whole man does not need a physician", i.e., I was contended with my own righteousness, as if there were any in me. The more I thought I was righteous, the more debased I became. From the early part of 1886 to the close of the same year I found myself walking in a different path from that which I had pursued. For I became conscious of my wickedness and of the necessity of preparing a pure soul for the future world, which I never before believed in. I discovered the utter impossibility of having a truly sinless life by any human help. I lately read over the four principal Confucian books, and found many good proverbs. But since no one is bound to obey them, and since they -the maxims- cannot satisfy the demands of the soul, I failed to find what I sought for. I attempted to shake off many evil practices, and in some measure succeeded in doing away with some of the leading sins which I loved like honey. This effort was helped by the Bible, other religious books and religious lectures. The obstacles to my conversion were: the fear of persecution and mockery; the liability of making adversaries of former friends; the frequent attacks of doubt and other temptations. I desire to be baptized, for the hope that I may bend my time and talents, whether they be five or one, on improving my knowledge and faith in the religion, so that I may, God willing, live a useful life for myself and for my brethren. I may when night comes, have no need of seeking for salvation at the gate of death, as many do. I may thereby be acknowledged as a different man from which I was, and lessen the number of temptations into which one is liable to be led when he stands midway, undecided which way to go. I believe that God is love, Christ is the Savior. If the prophecies concerning this physical world have been so literally fulfilled, those concerning the future world must be as true. (T.H.Yun, March 23, 1987.)
This synopsis is published originally in The Gospel in All Land (June, 1887), a journal for oversea mission in America. I quote this text from Deok-Joo Rhie & Yee-Jei Cho, Creed and Confessions of Korean Church (in Korean), (Seoul: Han Deul, 1997), pp.27-28.
Yun's experience shows us what happened to a Korean when he was confronted with the Gospel. Yun belonged to the upper class, and was educated in the Confucian tradition which transmitted a thorough knowledge of Confucian texts including the Analects, Mencius, Great Learning and the Book of Means. These four books contain the typical world view of Confucianism: 1) The "Heaven" is the ruling principle of everything that exists. 2) Human beings are good and virtuous by nature and can reach to perfection by means of personal discipline. 3) Morality consists in following the natural virtues: benevolence, righteousness, civility, wisdom. 4) Concrete moral duties are determined by hierarchical and mutual inter human relationships between parents and children, husband and wife, king and subjects. 5) The goal of history and time is the return to the Old Age.
Within this world view Yun had no problems. When first being confronting with the Gospel, Yun felt himself righteous, "a whole man" who was not in need of a doctor and he "reasoned that human life is short, one must allowed to enjoy as much pleasure as he is able". This is his "esthetic stage". He, gradually, however, found that the more he asserted he was righteous, the more debased he became. This is an "ethical stage." The Gospel was not an answer for him. It rather questioned him; it brought him into crisis; he became conscious of his wickedness; he fell in despair. He felt himself to be impure, and that he must prepare a "pure soul for the future world", and he discovered "the utter impossibility of having a truly sinless life by any human help." Yun tried to find his answer in Confucianism, with which he already was familiar. But he found that the "four principal Confucian books" contained "many good proverbs", but could not "satisfy the demands of the soul." Attempts to improve his evil practice succeeded in some measure and this effort was aided by reading the Bible and Christian literature. This induced him to be baptized with hope that he can be a better man who lives "a useful life for myself and for my brethren." So he confessed that he believed that God is love and Christ is the Savior. This is the third stage of his adventure, which could be called "religious", following Kierkegaard.
In a case of Yun, we can apply the Kuhnian term "paradigm shift". Christian faith brought in Yun's and other Korean Christians' life a real "paradigm shift." Up to then they lived within the Confucian paradigm. Within this paradigm one was good and virtuous and self-sufficient, if one observed the duties of filial piety and avoided things such as stealing, lying, killing etc. Being confronted with gospel, however, one comes to face with "sin", which is an "anomaly" in Kuhn's term. At first, one tries to find the solution for that "anomaly" within the Confucian texts. These are "good proverbs, but can't provide for the "demand of the soul" for purity and sinlessness. This demand is answered only by accepting a different paradigm, viz., believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior. Accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord accompanies the change of the world view: the view of oneself, neighbor, the environment, God, and the goal of life. Discontinuity takes place between the old and new paradigms. One looks the world now with different eyes and a different mind. Yun described his baptism on April 3, 1887 by W. B. Bonnel as follows.
At 10 O'clock a.m. I was baptized. Sky was blue; it was warm weather; the breeze drove the cloud; it was the best weather among last days. From now on I firmly made up my mind to believe the Lord and to serve his Holy Teaching. Today should be the biggest day in my whole life.) See Yoo, op.cit., p. 54 (From Yun's Diary on April 3, 1887).
Almost apathetic, cool, seemingly nature-friendly, but undoubtedly unswerving attitude of faith, is palpable in this passage. Quite unlike the famous Memorial of Blaise Pascal. I believe this is a typical response of a Confucian scholar who has been disciplined for long a time to control emotions and bodily comportment. His description is short, telling rather sky, wind, and cloud, but joy streams in his mind softly like warm April weather. Undoubtedly, the paradigm is shifted. Yun found new life and a new goal.
Nevertheless, the conversion of Yun has a circular structure and a Confucian understanding of subjectivity still plays a crucial role in asking, reflecting, pondering, and finding the solution in baptism. I believe that Confucian formation provided Yun with the pre-understanding of how to seek, how to accept and how to work as a Christian. Let me explain a little bit. By a circular structure, I mean that one identifies the "problem", "sin" and the freedom from it. It will be more accurate to call this "wickedness" in Yun's terms. The word "sin" does not occur in his text - to be solved by hearing gospel. Before hearing the gospel there is no problem. Everyone believes that he is whole and healthy. Only gospel brings man to the "sickness unto death." Liberation from the sickness comes from the gospel. Therefore I call this a circular structure. In this circularity the cultural elements are engaging as a basis, as a tool, as a language, as a horizon in and with which subjective believing act and gospel are mediating each other.
Yun's orientation was prominently ethical, self-reflective, and looking for books to solve problem, and his resolution to live useful life for himself and for his brethren. This orientation is determined by his Confucian training. Confucius advises everyone of us to reflect on three things everyday: whether or not I do things to other people which I do not want to be done to myself; whether or not I act toward friends without trust; and whether or not I teach other people without really mastering myself. In a sense, Confucius is the first thinker in the East-Asian culture to pay attention to "the reflective self". His main concern was how I do things to other people. His criterion is always "what I want." Of course, "I" is here a reflective self who can act as if what I know is what is really good for me. It is noteworthy that Yun Tchi-Ho found in himself in a discrepancy between what he thinks and knows of himself (the "righteous one") and what he does (the "debased"). We can hear the echo of St. Paul in the Seventh chapter of the Letter to the Romans. Yun thought only the denial of I, not the I-claim, on the Cross can save me and the nation, because he saw in egoism or the I-claim the root of all the evil in society. Yun learned the reflective attitude from Confucianism, but criticizes the very concept of "reflective self" experiencing the discrepancy between the subject of knowing and the subject of doing.
An attitude to trying to find the solution by means of reading books was also typical of Confucian literati. In Confucianism there is a deep reverence for letters/texts/books. When I was young I heard sometimes from my father: "Don't sit on books; that's debasing books. Anyone who debases books is like one who debases his father." The reverence for books is a cultural tradition which can explain why Korean Christians love the Bible so much. The first Korean Bible translations were begun by Scottish Presbyterian missionaries and their Korean co-workers in Manchuria around 1882/3 and transported to the Korean peninsula before American missionaries arrived in 1884 and 1885. When the first Presbyterian missionary, Horace G. Underwood entered Korea, he brought the part of New Testament translated into Korean by Yi Soo-jeoung in Japan. So-called "colporteur" and "Bible-women" spread the Bible all around in Korea. So, it is said that the first American missionaries shouted: "we come to sow the seeds, but we are busy to harvest!" The eagerness for the Bible is witnessed by the fact that the revival meeting always went hand in hand with Bible study meeting. Two recent phenomena of Korean Christians love for Bible can be seen in the practice of the Quite Time and the "Class for Bible Reading from Genesis to Revelation within One Week.") We can point out the negative aspects of the love of books: literalism and Biblicism on the one hand and the neglect of doing what one reads, on the other.
4. The Great Awakening of 1903-1907 and the Practice of Faith
Yun Tchi-Ho is merely an example of the Koreans whose faith in Christ is motivated both by the personal quest for salvation and the salvation of the lost nation. After the annexation of Korea to Japan since 1910, Yun and some other people, chose the education of the youth as a basis for the independence movement from Japan, while some radical Christians preferred the military resistance movement in order to collapse the Japanese power occupying Korean peninsula. This latter preference faced the objections of the American missionaries who prohibited Korean Christians engaging in politics, on the basis of the "separation of the Politics and Religion".) I am not going to discuss this in detail. Min Kyoung-Bae made a thorough study of the radicals in his History of Nationalistic Movement and Faith Movement in Korean Christianity during the Japanese Occupation (in Korean) (Seoul: Society of Christian Literature in Korea, 1991), pp. 143-199.
The significant event with regards to our theme is the revival movement between 1903 and 1907 which took place allover Korea. This revival movement began from Wonsan where South Methodist missionary R. A. Hardie worked. Hardie and his fellow-missionaries, during the prayer and bible study meeting, in August, 1903, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they and their Korean co-workers felt the depth of their hidden sins and began to publicly confess their sins and experienced God's forgiving and renewing grace. This "fire" of the Holy Spirit always accompanying with the great repentance spread to Pyongyang, Seoul and other places by means of the confession and repentance meetings. The revival movement and the associated "Bible study meetings" become typical of the Korean church, even up to 1970's and 1980's. During daytime Korean Christians learned and studied the Bible, including Daniel and the Revelation, the favorite and participated in the enthusiastic, and very emotional revival meetings in the evening lead by, for example, Kil Seon-ju (1869-1935). Revivalism becomes one of the typical characteristics of the Korean church. This produced many revivalists like Kim Ik-du (1874-1950) and Yi Yong-do (1901-1933). Paul Yonggi Cho, the leader of the Yoido Full Gospel Church is one of the inheritors of this line in the Korean church.
According to Deok-Joo Rhie. a historian of the Korean church, the revival movement between 1903 and 1907 is significant in four ways.
First, Korean Christians experienced "the essential Christian faith" which moved from repentance through regeneration to sanctification. Before that experience Christianity was the "religion of the Westerners", but now Koreans experience what the Westerners already experienced, and in this ways Koreans could come to the recognition that Christianity was different from the indigenous religions like Shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism and began to feel that they belonged to the same tradition of faith as the Westerners. Koreans began to know what it really is to be a Christian.
Second, Korean Christian Ethics was established by this event of great repentance. The revival movement began with repentance and ended in the renewal of ethics. Adultery, murder, stealing, lying, hate, mockery, are confessed publicly and the public confessions lead to "restitution" or "reparation" of what one did wrong to other people. Besides the sins what we find universally in any people, "sins" were included what were not sins in Confucian society, for instance, keeping concubines, having slaves, smoking and drinking. Christian ethics let Koreans not only know what really is to be "ethical" but also to prepare for the modern civil society in which the rights and duties of the individuals are crucial.
Third, the revival movement brought Koreans and Western missionaries into one community. They overcame distrust, learned to respect each other and became one in Christ. their common Lord. Also remarkable was the overcoming of denominationalism, which came with American missionaries, and is still influencing the Korean church.
Fourth, the indigenous, typically Korean practice of faith was formed by and during the Revival Movement. Western missionaries played the crucial role at the beginning, but this role was gradually taken over by the Koreans. In this way, the spontaneous indigenization took place and the traditional religious and cultural practices were introduced into Korean Christianity without it being intentional. One of them is the "early morning prayer meeting". The other one is loud "audible prayer" during almost every church service, which was identified as chaos, but later on regarded as "wonderful harmony" by the missionaries. Another is the so-called "day offering", the offering of a day, for instance, for evangelization by means of visiting every houses in a village, and "rice offering", the putting of a handful rice in a pot by every meal in order to support the evangelists. These began with the beginning of the spontaneous and unorganized evangelization and the self-reliance movement of every local church.) See Rhie Deok-Joo, A Study on the Formation of the Indigenous Church in Korea, 1903-1907 (in Korean) (Seoul: Research Institute for the History of Korean Church, 2000), pp. 164-167. For more detailed discussion see p. 91ff.
Without doubt, Kil Seon-ju, one the first seven Presbyterian pastors ordained in 1907 and a central figure during the revival movement of 1907, contributed much to the Korean practice of faith in the soil of Korean culture. He originally came from a Confucian family, meaning that he learned classic Chinese and read the texts of Confucianism and prepared for the state examination. After several incidents, he entered into Korean Taoism. He underwent many Taoist exercises of mind control as well as the exercises to enhance the power of body to the highest level by reading Taoist texts and exercising Taoist techniques of breathing and body movement. His practice included early morning prayer everyday and the hundred day’s non-stop prayer on the mountain, eating only raw rice and the needles of the pine-tree and drinking waters. He is said to have experienced very strong power and the descent and abiding of the divine spirit in him. When he prayed, he sometimes heard the sound of flute and was surprised by the roar of a gun. He was happy in thinking that he had found the Way (the Tao, ?). After ten years of exercise which he began when he was 19 years old, he became a famous Taoist and could show his superpower to the people of Pyongyang. He found some peace in his mind and enjoyed health, but fell sometime in doubt whether or not what he found was true Tao. He heard about the gospel, for the first time, from his former Taoist friend, Kim Jong-sub (1862-1940). Kim handed the Chinese Bible to Kil, but Kil was not impressed by his first reading. Later on, Kim brought Kil among others a Korean translation of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.) Pilgrim's Progress was translated by American Presbyterian missionary J.S. Gale in 1895. Since then and during the Japanese occupation(1910-1945), this was almost the second Bible to Korean Christians.
Kil asked for himself whether this Christianity is the "true Tao", true Way. Everyday he prayed to "the God, the Three Spirits"(????), the God of Korean Taoist, to let him know whether this Tao of Jesus was the true or false Tao. But he had no response. He fell in depression. One day, Kim Jong-sub, his friend, visited him and asked whether he found an answer. Kim advised him to pray to "God the Father" instead of the "God, the Three Spirits." Kil asked: "How can our human being call God "Father"? Kim responded: "Call Him, then, Sangti (the Highest King, ??) and pray to Him!" Kil prayed to Sangti, the Christian God with a petition to let him know what is the true prayer. At 1 O'clock in the early morning after three days of praying, Kil asked to God to let him know whether Jesus was the true Savior and suddenly he heard the sound of the flute and after this the roar of a gun and then the voice calling him three times, "Kil Seun-ju, Kil Seon-ju, Kil Seon-ju!" He fell down on the earth and prayed: "God the Father who loves me, forgive my sin and save me!" Kil cried loudly for a long time and, feeling his body almost as a fire, tried to pray without any resting.) Deok-Joo Rhie, The Conversion Stories of the Korean Christians (in Korean) (Seoul: Jeonnmangsa, 1990), pp. 336-347.
Kil's conversion shows us continuity in religious experience. When he prayed to Sangti (Christian God), he heard the same sound of the flute and after this the roar of a gun as he prayed to "God, the Three Spirits." Kil continued his practice of prayer after his conversion to the Christian faith. He is said to be really "a man of prayer". He prayed three times a day: early in the morning, at noon and at mid-night. After early morning prayer and reading the Bible he exercised Taoist gymnastic. The practice of early morning, pre-dawn, prayer became the tradition of Korean church. Almost without exception, Korean churches have an "early morning prayer service," beginning 5 O'clock in the morning. This is called frequently "building the early morning altar." Myongsung Presbyterian Church in Seoul is famous for the early morning prayer meeting with more then about five thousand adult members every morning. Not only the early morning prayer, but also the practice of prayer on the mountain becomes also a strong tradition in Korea. Many Koreans before and after Kil preferred to pray on the mountain both regularly and on the occasion of important decisions. All the men who were known as a "man of prayer" in the Korean church prayed on the mountain. To Koreans, mountain is said to have been a "meeting place between God and man", "a place to experience God's creation and the religious reformation of man" and a "meeting place of men as the members of the divine community"; mountain has been, in a word, a "sanctuary" to Korean people.) See John Lee, "Towards Understanding Koreans' Faith in Mountain", in: Christian Thought, June/July, 1967, pp. 146-155
The favorite Kidowons, the prayer houses, have been and still are built in the mountain. The third element in Kil's practice is the direct hearing of the voice of God during the praying. There are many examples of this experience in great and lesser men and women of this kind in the Korean church. One of the expressions of the "faithful" Korean Christians is: "God said this or that to me during my prayer." What one thinks that God said to him or to her becomes the strong conviction which cannot be reversed or thought otherwise. In spite of all matters, it is impossible to deny that Kil Seun-ju' contributed to making Christian faith familiar to Koreans by means of introducing traditional religious practice of prayer. In this tradition, prayer is either the means of the petition to some high being for blessing or the means of empowering, It is difficult to say that these aspects of prayer are unbiblical, even though it is possible to say that this is short of what the full range of prayer is in the biblical sense.
In Kil's case the paradigm shift is not so dramatic. Simply to say, Kil believed in the true God the same as he practiced Taoism. The object of his faith changed from "God, the Three Spirits", to "God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." He found Christian faith as the true Tao, true Hodos (John 14: 6), true Way. Just before his conversion, he fell in despair by thinking that Taoism was a "rotten rope" which could not help him to climb to the top of the cliff. For him Jesus Christ was the "strong rope" in which he could trust. His change was not from a rope to a stick; it was a change from a "rotten rope" to "strong rope." Here also is the continuity between the old and new faith. This can also be illustrated by means of the change of books which he read as the canon of his life. Kil didn't read Taoist texts any longer; he read the Bible instead, but he read it eagerly and frequently the same as he read the Taoist texts before his conversion. It is a famous story that he has read Revelation 800 times when he was in prison for two years after signing the Independence Declaration as one of the 33 national representatives. Gadamer's model of the "fusion of horizon" seems much near to Kil's case. Strong confrontation with the new religion and the harsh rejection of the old one didn't happen. It is more adequate to say that Kil's Taoist faith gave way to the Christian faith, because this is true and useful and much more trustworthy than the former faith. Christian faith made his Taoist faith almost obsolete. When we climb up to the top we don't need the ladder any longer, the ladder becomes obsolete; but in order to climb we are still in need of the ladder. Taoism was that kind of ladder to Kil. But, the old practice of faith still remains. I believe that Kil learned much from the missionaries on how to believe and how to live as a Christian. Nevertheless, he transplanted his old religious practices into his new faith.
In this way, Christianity, foreign to East-Asian culture, becomes indigenous gradually and spontaneously. Koreans began to believe in God as Koreans had practiced long before Christianity came into this peninsula. The object and content of faith is changed now, but the way and the practice of faith is almost the same with some modification. Koreans go to church as they in the past went to the Shaman's shrine or the Buddhist temple in order to pray for recovery from sickness, material blessing and empowering. Jesus' saying: "It is written 'My house will be called a house of prayer'"(Matthew 21:13) is understood and preached from this tradition. Church is "a house of prayer". Pastor, whose work-place is the church, has replaced a shaman, a priest or a Buddhist monk who prays for "the recovery from sickness" or for the "success in the school/university entrance examination." This image of the church and pastor is reinforced by biblical image of "sanctuary" and "priest." Therefore, to participate in the early morning prayer meeting is called to "build an altar." "Altar" and "sanctuary" are still used frequently for church service and church building, respectively. The practice of faith of Korean Christians is mainly church-centered. The official services of a local church, beside several meetings and Bible studies, includes two Sunday services, pre-dawn prayer services every morning including Sunday, Wednesday evening prayer service, a all-night prayer meeting on Friday. The negative effects of this kind of spontaneous indigenization should not be overlooked. Pastors took a position of the priest in the Old Testament. Church buildings are sacralized as a Temple. The world outside the church building is regarded as profane, having nothing to do with God’s reign. Belief in God is nothing more than to reserve a ticket for Heaven in the future and to guarantee flourishing and material welfare in the present life.
5. Revival Movement after Korean War and This-Worldlism
The rapid growth of the Korean church after Korean War seems due to the evangelizing fervor of Korean Protestants. Almost one out of five South Koreans is now Protestant. Another factor may be Korean's identification of Christianity with the West. Also a factor may be the rapid urbanization and industrialization of South Korea, which has ripped millions of Koreans out of villages. Churches in big cities provide "an oasis of friendship and community in a desert of strangers".) Donald Baker, "Christianity", in: Hohn H. Koo & Andrew . Nahm (ed.), An Introduction to Korean Culture (Seoul: Hollym, 1997), p. 191.
This could be confirmed by the fact that there have been more conversions to Christianity in the cities than in the countryside, and that the rate of growth of Protestant churches has slowed as urbanization has slowed. During rapid urbanization and industrialization in the period of the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, there were two different reactions of Korean Christians to the social, economic and political situation. One reaction was to go hand in hand with President Chung-Hee Park's policies of economic development at the price of dictatorship. The other reaction was to battle for democratization. Both Catholic and Protestant churches took leadership and spoke against Chung-Hee Park's dictatorial system as well as against corruption, injustice and the exploitation of workers and farmers which were parts of Korea's economic growth. Many pastors, priests and Christian activists who shared their belief in the social gospel, were jailed for their non-violent expressions of concern for the rights of the unprivileged. But not all Christians and Christian pastors espouse the social gospel and most Christians are not drawn to Church pews by political concerns. As Donald Baker accurately points out, "for many, personal happiness is more important than what kind of government they live under.") Donald Baker, ibid., p. 194. Apolitical Christians, who in the past would have turned to shamanism, choose Christianity instead as a more appropriate, effective, and modern tool for obtaining the worldly goods.
One of the prominent leaders of the popular Christianity after Korean War period is, undoubtedly, Rev. Paul (now, David) Yonggi Cho (1936- ). Cho preaches prosperity rather than politics. He proclaims that the faith in Jesus will be awarded with good health and material prosperity as well as spiritual well-being. "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well"(3 John 2). This is the favorite passage quoted almost every time Yonggi Cho preaches. This is the source of Cho's so-called "Triple Blessings": the well-being of soul, good health and material prosperity. His message is so popular that his church, the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, claims to have the largest congregations of any single church in the world, over 700,000.) See Donald Baker, ibid., p.195.
Yonggi Cho's message and ministry are unthinkable without taking into account the miserable situation of the common people, Minjung, after liberation from Japanese power (1945) and the subsequent war (1950-1953) between North Korea supported by Soviet Union and Communist China and South Korea supported by the United Nations. Yonggi Cho tells us about the situation of the people at the end of the 1950's.
The poor people in my area were not too much concerned about heaven or hell. They lived from hand to mouth each day and were more concerned about daily survival. Often they didn't know where their next meals come from. They had no time to think of their future.) David (Paul) Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension (Seoul: Seoul Logos Co., Inc., 1979), p.172.
In facing the poverty and despair of the common people, Cho proclaimed the gospel of hope and comfort instead of the other-worldly apocalyptic message, fashionable in the Korean church since the 1920's, Kil Seon-ju being a good example. Under the Japanese oppression, the second coming and millennial reign of Jesus seemed to be the only hope for Koreans. During and after the War, however, every Koreans faced having to survive or to perish. In this situation, neither apocalyptic or ethical message could console people in their unbearable sufferings. Yonggi Cho was oriented in this world, quite contrary to the revivalists of former generation. For him and for many other revivalists of his generation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the power to change the situation "here and now". Therefore, what Christians must do was only to believe and to think positively, because Jesus said: "Everything is possible for him who believes."(Mark 9:23). This is the other favorite passage of Cho in his preaching and healing. It is not difficult to imagine how the Christian gospel interpreted and proclaimed in this way has worked effectively and powerfully as the source of the comfort, power and hope to the miserable, powerless and hopeless people.
Yonggi Cho understood common powerless people, Minjung, very well because he was one of them and he had suffered from the same agonies as other people: poverty, sickness, despair, hate, and the sense of the guilt. He is originally out of Buddhist family, but this was not an answer for him. The Christian Gospel was good news for him which proclaimed the liberation from all these negative things in human life. He experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit, speaking with tongues and the healing out of his tuberculosis. He was comforted by, and satisfied with the Gospel.) For Cho's conversion story see Yonggi Cho, ibid p. 17ff. From this experience he could proclaim the comforting Gospel. There was nobody and no church so successful as Yonggi Cho and the Yoido Full Gospel Church in comforting and satisfying common people who must live in a situation of survive or perish.) I agree with Heung-Soo Kim who is of opinion that Yonggi Cho and Yoido Full Gospel Church is most successful in making a theology of material prosperity and healthy body, satisfying the "survival motif" of Koreans. See Heung Soo Kim, A Study of the Korean War and This-Worldly Blessings in the Christian Churches) (a Ph.D. dissertation, in Korean) (Seoul: Institute for Korean Church History, 1999), p. 145. His message of "Triple Blessing" touched the heart of common Koreans, moved it, and made it pulsating with power. It ignited the "will to live" and reinforced the conviction that "we can do." What is remarkable in this movement is that "filled with the Holy Spirit" is regarded as the most effective means for the Triple Blessings. Speaking with tongues and "fasting and praying" are strongly recommended. The most effective way to cope with daily problems is to pray in fast at the Kidowon. Beside the "Yoido Sanctuary" Yuido Full Gospel Church manages one of the biggest Kidowons nearby Seoul.
In my opinion, Yonggi Cho is more successful than any other person, in the last two decades, in the spontaneous and natural indigenization of Christian faith on Korean cultural soil. This is not to say that he intended to do this as some theologians tried by means of "theology" since 1960's. He did not start from a doctrine or a theology. Quite contrary to the attitude of the Presbyterian and Methodist pastors forming the majority of Korean churches, Cho captured actual problems of the people in sufferings and helped them to a solution. "He stressed what he called the here-and-now of the gospel, plus love," says his biographer.) Nell L. Kennedy, Dream Your Way to Success. The Story of Dr. Yonggi Cho and Korea (Plainfiled, New Jersey: Logos international, 1980), p. 165. For Yonggi Cho, faith is needed for problem-solving. He advises us: "Have faith in God in order to solve your problem!". His ministry is directed to problem-solving. This is shown in his attitude to preaching. When he prepares for Sunday sermon, he says,
So, I go to our prayer mountain on Saturday, crawl into a prayer grotto, close the door and sit there until the Holy Spirit comes and gives God's spoken Word. Sometimes I stay the whole night through during that time praying, "Lord, tomorrow the people are coming with all kinds of problems, -sickness, disease, family problems, problems in business - every type of problem that can be imagined.
They are coming not only to hear general knowledge about you, but they are coming to receive real solutions to their problems. If we don't give them living faith, then they are going to go back them without receiving their solutions. I need to have a specific message for the specific people on this specific Sunday.
After I preach, people in the congregation come to me and say, "Pastor, your sermon was exactly what I needed. I've got the faith that my problem will be solved." Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension, p. 106.
This attitude of problem-solving is in itself not to blame. It is human reality that there are so many people with so many problems and troubles. In Matthew 4, we read: "When Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them."(4:23-24) Many people came to Jesus with their own problems. Jesus never dismissed the people. He had compassion for them.
What I find difficult in the problem-oriented ministry of Yonggi Cho is its formative power which has reinforced a specific type of the practice of faith, viz., "faith oriented in this-worldly blessings." To speak honestly, this is not the invention of Yonggi Cho. "This-worldlism" is the most persistent characteristics of religious practice in Korea, whether Buddhism or Confucianism. This is rooted so deeply in the religious affections of Koreans, strongly influenced by Korean shamanism, throughout their history. In my opinion, Yonggi Cho definitely contributed to annexing Christian faith to this form of Korean religion. He and other revivalists and many pastors following him widely outside the Pentecostal movement, have disseminated the thought that this-worldly material prosperity is the good sign of God's blessing. Christians are encouraged to strive for material prosperity and worldly success much more than non-Christians. Listen again to Yonggi Cho in the seventh preaching of his Fourth Dimension:
Dear Brothers and Sister in Christ, as Christians you too have all of God's power dwelling within you right now. You can tap that resource for your tuition, your clothes, your books, your health, your business, everything!) Yonggi Cho, ibid., p. 206.
Recently, Cho frequently accentuates the primacy of the well-being of the soul over material prosperity and health. Nevertheless, his concern lies undeniably in providing solutions to the problems of his audience like "sickness, disease, family problems, problems in business." As far as I am constantly oriented to this kind of problem (problem of "my" family, "my" success, and "my" church) they come first and other people’s sufferings and troubles are secondary and mostly overlooked. This type of the practice of faith, starting from my needs, is inevitably self-centered. Isn't self-centered Christian faith contradicitio in termis?
6. Faith, Human Needs and Beyond Needs
Let's consider the relationship of the practice of faith and human needs. Religious faith is always related to human needs. As Nicholas Wolterstorff precisely expressed it, faith is for some "the solution of a sense of guilt so deep and pervasive that nothing in the world will free them".) Nicholas Wolterstorff, "Faith and Philosophy," in Alvin Plantinga (ed.), Faith and Philosophy (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1964), p. 28. Wolterstorff continues in the same passage,
For some, it is a way of calming fears and anxieties and finding the peace that passes understanding. For some it provides inspiration and drive where otherwise they would flag in performing the tasks and duties or ultimate security or awe and mystery. For some it "explains" miraculous happenings, explains the design and order of things, explains why there is anything at all. For some, it is an alternative and preferable way organizing their beliefs about the universe to that which can be found in natural science. For some it answers the riddle of human existence and reveals the meaning of human life.
Wolterstorff concludes this passage by saying: "The character of man's faith depends on which of these needs he feels; its focus depends on which of these needs he feels most deeply." And the needs, I believe, depends on cultural tradition and social situation as well as on personal quests and strivings. Three persons I discussed here are no exception. Yun was in a solitary and frustrating situation in Shanghai, an exile place for him after the failure of revolution in 1884. Later on, he saw in Christianity the alternative to Confucianism for personal perfection and social reform. An Taoist Kil, seeing the nation almost collapsing and having to escape out of Pyongyang due to the war between Japan and China, which made the Korean peninsula their battlefield, sought for true Tao, the Way, which can provide with real power to transcend and manipulate this world. Cho, being brought up during Japanese colonialism and Korean War, confronted with poverty and sickness. Their needs enticed them into Christian faith.
But my question is this. Can I practice my faith in Jesus Christ, persistently on the basis of my needs, my problems or my troubles? Surely, Jesus invites us: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give rest."(Matthew 11:28). Before this passage, in chapter 4 we read: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him al who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them."(Matthew 4: 23-24) Jesus touches human needs and gives solution. But I think that Jesus does not want me to be one of the crowds(okloi) who follows out of needs(Matthew 4: 25). He wants me to be a disciple who must deny oneself and take up one's cross and follow him (Cf. Matthew 16: 24). A disciple of Jesus is someone who lives out of God's command, not out of his needs. True Christian must confess as Paul confesses: " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."(Galatians 2: 20).
One's motif and focus in faith can be varied, but all Christians share belief, trust and obedience to the triune God in common.) These three elements of faith are discussed by Dewey J. Hoitenga, Jr. See his Faith and Reason from Plato to Plantinga. An Introduction to Reformed Epistemology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), p. 38ff. Christian faith is a personal commitment to God. Though the practice of faith can be clothed by cultural tradition, faith is personal in its core, a relationship to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This personal relationship to God brings change in life, in the direction of life and in world view. So, if this change does not occur, faith and eventually God might be merely an instrument of my needs, my strivings, my plan of life. This tendency lies deeply in human religiosity: to make use of God or the Transcendent in order to implement my needs and desires. Even though it might be an exaggeration to say that Korean church is driven by the kind of religiosity, nevertheless, this is one of the biggest dangers inherent in Korean religious culture. Korean church and Korean Christians are really in need of meeting Jesus Christ as the "critic" who brings everything into crisis, as well as the healer and a "life-giving spirit" (I Cor. 15:45).