Christianity and korean culture

Maria Lissette Plaza 201503750

Nereida Alvarez 201503752

김찬우 201200860

한정익 201603696

Understanding of Korean Thoughts

홍성민

Index1. What is christianity?

2. Christianity History in Korea

3. How different Christianity in Korea is

4. Christianity issues in Korea

5. How christianity has contributed to

Korea

6. Conclusion

What are the differences between the Orthodox Church

and the Catholic Church? •The Orthodox does not accept the figure of the pope as supreme head. For them all bishops are equal, without exception.

• In the Orthodox Church three-dimensional images, the statues are not venerable, only they have a decorative character.

•In the Orthodox liturgy is not any musical accompaniment are used only the human voice is allowed.

•The Catholic Church holds that from the first moment the Virgin Mary was free from sin, the Immaculate Conception, that is, no one had sex with anyone.

•In contrast to the Orthodox Church the Virgin Mary was conceived as the rest of beings.

•In the Catholic Church the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

For Orthodox Church is only from the Father.

Orthodox decorative character Catholic statues

What are the differences between Protestantism and

Catholicism?

● The Protestants don’t venerate the Virgin

Mary as Catholics believe, they do not

believe in the Immaculate Conception. It

is only the mother of Jesus.

● They do not recognize the supremacy of

the pope.

● The clergy may marry.

Catholic, Protestant and

Orthodox are Christian Churches.

•There is only one God or Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity made man. He suffered and died on the cross to save us.

• The Ten Commandments are the summary of morality that must be practiced.

• Baptism is the beginning of the Christian life.

•Prayer and Bible are essential; etc.

The ten commandments

The Beginning of Christianity in Korea

● The first seeds of Christianity, more specifically Roman Catholicism, were sown in Korea in the late Joseon Dynasty

● In 1603,a korean diplomat named Yi Gwang-jeong brought back several theological books from China

● These books were written by Matteo Ricci, A Jesuit missionary

Origin Continued...

● Crown Prince Sohyeon of the Joseon Dynasty encountered Catholicism when he was a hostage in China

● In 1645 he brought back books on Catholicism, treasures related to the religion, and Catholic Chinese Eunich

● He mysteriously passed away 2 months after his return and had he not Christianity might have grown much earlier and faster in Korea

● Many commoners embraced Catholicism in Korea around the 17th century because of ideals of equality among the people. In contrast, many nobles and those of royal family disliked it greatly and thus many persecutions began just like in Japan

The Persecution of Christianity in Korea

● King of Yeongjo of Joseon banned the practice of Catholicism in 1758, because he considered it an evil practice.

● There were 3 major persecutions of Christians in Korea: The Sinhae Persecution in 1791, the Sinyu Persecution in 1801, and the Byeongin Persecution of 1866

● It is estimated that around 10,000 missionaries and followers of the faith were killed in just these three events

● Korea was a country that was against having foreigners from the West visit their country openly until the late 1800s

Continued…

Nowadays

● Through the open-mindedness of Korea

to accept foreigners and foreign

influence in the late 1800s, the

Protestant Church was introduced

● In 1884, the first Protestant Church

was built by Suh Sang-ryun and also the

first Protestant missionary, Horace

Newton Allen entered Korea

● The growth of Christianity was gradual

and slow at first

● In 1945, only 2 percent of the

population was Christian. Then in 1991

a big boom occurred where 18 percent

of the population became Protestants

and 7 percent became Catholics

● As of 2014, about 30 percent of the population of South Korea is declared as Christian

● Many schools are also affiliated with the religion and are considered Christian schools

● However in recent years there have been many scandals involving church leadership so one could say that the growth has somewhat slowed down

Differences between Korean Christianity compared to the West

Differences between Korean Christianity compared to the West

Differences between Korean Christianity compared to the West

“The Christian faith has a relatively short but very interesting

history in Korea”

Korea is about the land mass of Kentucky. Yet it’s home to five of the world’s 20 largest congregations, including the world’s largest Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist congregations, plus dozens of other churches that each draw more than 2,000 worshipers weekly.

● In South Korea there are roughly 20.5 million Christians.

● 15 million are Protestants● 9 to 10 million are

Presbyterians● Presbyterians in South Korea

worship in over 100 different Presbyterian denominational churches

Megachurches in South Korea:

● Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea (253,000)

● Nambu Full Gospel, Seoul, Korea (110,000)

● AOG Grace and Truth, Kyanggi-do, Korea (105,000)

● Kum Ran Methodist, Seoul, Korea (80,000)

● Young Nak Presbyterian Church, S. Korea (60,000)

● Soong Eui Methodist, Inchon, Korea (47,000)

How do they work?

The global megachurch phenomenon is centered in new urban areas, often with a new and/or rapidly growing Christian population and growing economies, where the gospel addresses pressing social needs and where churches exploit both new formats and new technologies.

1. Regular Sunday services.2. Youth service.3. Service for kids.4. Morning prayer service.5. Evening prayer service.6. Wednesday service.7. Holiday services.

1. Tithes.2. Weekly offering.3. Thanksgiving offering.4. Offering for building the church.5. Mission work offering.6. Youth service monthly fee.

These churches have some similarities in the way they are run to the huge family run conglomerates, known as chaebols, that make up most of Korea’s most successful businesses such as Samsung and Hyundai.

Christian organization CCK (Christian counsel of Korea)

It is made up of 69 denominations and 20 Christian organizations

➔ Its purposes-To unite korea’s christianity-To spread gospel in korean-Unification of South Korea and North Korea

➔ In order to become chairman of this organization

You have to pay $10.000.000If you pay $5.000.000 you will fail to become one

➔ 5 years ago 길자연

Presbyterian churchHe is retired.

The Dami Mission ( 다미선교회)

● Christian religious movement

founded in South Korea by Lee Jang

Rim (이장림; 李長林)

● It had over 300 churches and 20,000

followers in South Korea, Los Angeles

and New York.

● It received worldwide attention after

Lee predicted that the rapture and

end of the world would occur on 28

October 1992.

● It caused a “Social crisis" in Korea.

● Lee Jang Rim was arrested in

September 1992 for fraud and illegal

possession of money

● A woman who had been trying to conceive for 3

years aborted her 7-month-old foetus.

● At least 4 followers committed suicide in

anticipation.

● Chang-Young Mun died of malnutrition on

September 8, after fasting for more than 40 days at

a Dami Mission church in Los Angeles.

● On 4 December 1992, Lee was convicted of fraud

and sentenced to two years in prison because he

had collected $4.4 million from his followers.

● The group remains listed (达米宣教会) as a

proscribed religion in China.

How christianity has contributed to Korea

•Christian missionaries established schools,

hospitals and publishing companies

•Old traditions such as alcohol, tobacco and opium

was banned

•Christianity sought for women’s right

•Christians also influenced the government and

social reform

•The church took the role as a reformer and

cultural developer

ConclusionAs we have seen, Christianity remains numerically probably the largest world religion. Besides, Christianity

has been divided into so many different categories, Nevertheless, Korea has been one of its main target in the

last decades. Throughout Korean history Christians have been both accepted and rejected within Korean

Society carrying a huge influence among those who are Christians or not. In addition, It might seem that

Christianity has brought about a bunch of issues in a worldwide scale and Korea is not the exception.

However, Korean Christianity has contributed in such a significant way to this nation that wouldn't be the

Korea you know today without it

References

eyondhallyu.com/culture/the-bigger-the-better-

megachurches-in-south-korea/

http://m.busan.com/m/News/view.jsp?newsId=20110708000128

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dami_Mission

http://www.dci.org.uk/main/largestchurch.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_service

http://m.blog.naver.com/acoloje/220610702470

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterianism_in_South_Korea