Christianity in Korea

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in the last several decades, the expansion of Christianity in Korea, particularly in South Korea, has grown to become the largest religion in the country. The author points out (1) that Catholicism was introduced in 1784 and nurtured with the influx of Protestant missionaries in 1884 and (2) that, from the early search for Christianity by Korean scholars through many invasions and persecutions, the Korean people have battled to retain their rights to religious freedom. The paper relates that, unlike other cultures whose creationist beliefs stemmed from polytheism, the Korean people's beliefs were already founded on monotheistic ideas in that, according to their Creation concepts, the creator was Hananium, who had a son, Hwan-ung, who fathered a human son, Tangun, who "created the nation of Korea";therefore, the Christian churches did not have to go against the Korean traditional teachings of creation but instead incorporated Christianity into their existing structures.

From the Paper:

"The Christians that fled, however, soon realized that the conditions in the south, while superior, was still complicated. Missionaries had begun to revisit the area, but there were countless sects of Protestants that had net been established previously. Additionally, with the Korean War near, and with the Communist conviction that Catholics were "American sympathizers", many Christians who could not escape were killed (Min, 321). However, with the aid provided by many Western countries in the years following the war, Christianity blossomed, and with the provisions of relief food and medical supplies by the missionaries, the Korean people against began to view Christianity in a positive light."

More papers on Christianity in Korea:

• Essay # 91055 : "Shamanism in Korea"
• Essay # 38277 : "Christianity and Korea"
• Essay # 40775 : "Christian Educational Missionaries in Korea"

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