Expansion of Christianity in the Korean Peninsula from the late 19th – 20th Century

When considering the history of Christianity in Korea, it is impossible to remove nationalism from the equation. Because Korea is surrounded by the powerful nations of Russia, China, and Japan, nationalism and Christianity have inevitably converged. Furthermore, separating church and state is a notion born of the Western world, where the survival of Christianity in its purist form required this disunion, as corruption dominated the Western church, leading to the Reformation. Separating nationalism and Christianity is an indeed an unrealistic feat, illustrated by Ephesians 6:12, which states that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Seemingly contrary to Paul’s description of tension between Christianity and earthly governments, Peter instructs the Christians of the early church to submit to authorities. In the case of Korea, the constant threat of war and domination from neighboring powers, and the crumbling of political and social institutions, led people to turn to God and the church in desperation, seeking God’s word for answers, and decisively trusting Him wholeheartedly. The church became the only place to find solace and peace of mind. The brotherly love of missionaries vanquished the suspicion of foreigners and merged with the hope of Korea’s independence, as the gospel transcended ancient customs, religions, and monarchies. Was the merging of nationalism and Christianity ambiguous in nature? Or did the expansion of Christianity in the Hermit Kingdom reveal the hand of God at work? To answer these questions, it is necessary to begin by examining how Christianity managed to infiltrate a nation fiercely resistant to outsiders.

Because of geographical proximity, missionary activity in China gradually spilled over into nearby Korea, beginning as far back as the second half of the 16th century with Matteo Ricci. The Italian Jesuit missionary was successful in making a breakthrough in Beijing because like the apostle Paul, Ricci had a deliberate plan to build a team of missionaries who were focused on cultural accommodation and contextualization. These strategies were necessary to bring to light the truth of the gospel in an area dominated with competing religions like Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Despite the propensity of syncretism, Ricci’s methods were successful. Some of Ricci’s first converts included Emperor K’ang and his soldiers, an account comparable to Constantine who had hundreds of his soldiers baptized, and the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts who returned to his homeland with the message of the gospel. Ricci’s missionary works, including vernacular translations of Scripture, shaped the history of Christianity in China and Korea for centuries to come.

After Ricci’s death, “the mission of the Jesuits was in a flourishing condition” (Neil, 1990). He inspired the numerous works of missionaries in China and Korea well into the 19th century, like James Legge and John Ross. Furthermore, his written works influenced both Chinese and Korean culture. Finally, his accommodation strategy was well received by young missionaries in Korea.

The British Protestant missionary Robert Morrison boldly entered China at a time when there was a prohibition on missionaries, meeting with similar success. As opposed to developing a strategy aimed at the conversion of indigenous peoples, he followed his calling to prepare the way for other missionaries in the region of China. From the late 18th century to the early 19th century, Morrison made it his lifelong occupation to learn and translate the Bible into Chinese, and forged relationships with supporters of his work which had far reaching effects in China and Korea. Although he converted fewer than a dozen people to Christianity, he urged more missionaries to come to China, training and educating them once they arrived. His efforts lead to the gradual increase in the missionary presence on the coast of China at a time when it was punishable by death for a Chinese person to teach a foreigner Chinese. These events occurred mere miles from the North shores of Korea, long before the division of North and South and the demilitarized zone, and therefore led to the spread of the Christianity in China and Korea, explaining the thriving Protestant church still in existence in Korea today.

The expansion of Christianity, and more specifically Protestantism as a denomination, was in full force in Korea in the late 19th century. Henry G. Appenzeller, a product of the Drew Theological Seminary, oversaw the first Methodist church in Korea, established Methodist societies, and was responsible for the first translations of the Bible into Korean. His methods were based on a model of U.S. independence, democracy, and modernization, as he envisioned Korea as “A City on a Hill.” He strongly believed that the hand of God was at work in the U.S. to serve as a model for an independent Korea. Despite his initial ethnocentric worldview, he envisioned a multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual Kingdom of God. He was a passionate enemy of Satan, the source of all sin, human misery and social ills, including corruption and degradation. Therefore, it is logical to reason that his evangelical efforts met with the political concerns of Korea at that time. In fact, during the first ten years of his missionary work, he emphatically opposed China’s political and cultural domination of Korea.

Between 1885-1894, China required Koreans to pay tribute for protection from Japan. China also controlled the conservative nobility and aristocracy in Korea, the major opposing force of Christianity and modernization of the peninsula. Furthermore, the education system employed a Confucian curriculum conducted in the Chinese language. For Appenzeller, and many other missionaries, these circumstances were the manifestation of spiritual warfare before their very eyes. Commissioned by King Kojong, Appenzeller began promoting Christianity, equality, industry and patriotism in the Trilingual Press. Ironically, it would be the betrayal of King Kojong that would be the demise of many missionaries in Korea in the years to come.

Political unrest and the threat of war affected Korea as a nation, as well as the psyche and national identity of each individual Korean. The Japanese became a serious threat when they assassinated Queen Min, causing King Kojong to escape to Russia. After negotiations between the King and Russian imperialists, Russia seized control of Korea in 1897, taking control of Korea’s military and finances. In response to these developments, Appenzeller established the Korean Repository, a publication used to condemn Russia’s imperial design. He also formed an organization called The Independence Club with Philip Jaison as an obstacle to imperial control. Unfortunately, Emperor Kojong’s fear of conspiracies aimed at toppling the monarchy led to the imprisonment, banishment and execution of many Christian leaders and students. As these historic events unfolded, Appenzeller’s work constituted the beginning of the convergence of Christianity and nationalism.

The story of the first Protestant resident missionary to Korea, Horace Allen Newton, is a fascinating one. As an evangelical medical missionary arriving from China to Korea in 1884, he treated Prince Min Yong-Ik after a vicious attack, in which Yong-Ik’s arteries were severed. Undoubtedly due to the bond created between these two men in brotherly love, Newton was appointed to a prominent position within the Korean court, reminiscent of the story of Joseph in Egypt. In 1887, the Korean King asked Newton to become foreign secretary, responsible for escorting representatives to Washington. At the same time, Newton was serving on the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. His approach to spreading the gospel included contextualization as opposed to overt mission work, and he served as a Christian witness to political justice. This came at a time when missionaries were strongly advised not to get involved in politics, causing Newton to receive criticism from his colleagues. In 1888, Allen formed a capitalist syndicate that utilized American investment to construct mines in Korea which lead to economic development, modernization, and technological advancement. Throughout his career, Newton continued to lobby vigorously for Korea’s sovereign rights against China and Japan. In 1897, he became the U.S. minister and counsel general to Seoul, and over the course of his life he translated a vast amount of Korean literature for the Western World.

In contrast to Newton’s indirect method of proselytizing, Horace Grant Underwood, the first evangelical missionary to enter Korea, based his approach on the longing he had in his heart for the return of the Lord vividly illustrated in Scripture, which created a sense of urgency in his missionary endeavors. While in India, Newton learned that over 12 million people in Korea had not heard the gospel. He felt called to Korea despite the eminent danger to the lives foreigners who seemed to force new beliefs on the inhabitants of the Hermit Kingdom. Underwood was sent to Incheon, South Korea at the age of 26 by the Presbyterian Board of Missions as a clerical missionary. Like Appenzeller, his vision was that of unity among denominations, nations, and people groups. To achieve this goal, his methods included a more direct teaching of the gospel in educational settings and founded schools for orphaned boys and Christian workers, including a college and theological seminary. Newton was also known for employing direct methods like reading the Bible on street corners, and gradually built close relationships with the natives, Korean teachers, and scholars. The first known convert evangelized by Underwood was a Korean scholar named Mr. No, who was curious about the gospel and read the Scriptures in Chinese. This is only one story of the fruits of contextualization, an evangelistic tool that illustrates the far-reaching effects of missionary efforts that were rooted in China. Despite he and his wife being the first white foreigners to travel into the interior of Korea in 1889, Underwood’s literature became the main vehicle for spreading religious content. Underwood published dictionaries and grammar books as valuable tools for missionaries to learn the Korean language and opened English to Koreans. By 1893, Underwood was also responsible for the translation of hymn books used widely throughout Korea that would become well known to Koreans throughout Japanese occupation and World War 2.

Underwood so passionately opposed the betrayal of Korea by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, that he wrote “The Call of Korea.” He believed the church was obligated to seize the opportunity to support the needs of Korea during crisis and political strife. While the United States government supported Japan for its own political gain, breaking the Korean-American amity treaty of 1882, Underwood demonstrated his love for the Lord and his love for Korea through his direct and indirect methods of evangelizing and calling missionaries from all over the world the peninsula. He is credited 100,000 converts on the Korean peninsula where there were none.

Between 1890 and 1906, the rise of the Korean church coincided with the continued conflict between Russia and Japan over control of Korea. Patriotism and political and social revolution were in the air. In 1890 “The Nevius Plan” was devised by the Board of Foreign Missions of Presbyterian Church. The goal of this plan was to establish a native church according to the principles of self-support, self-propagation and self-government. Indigenous efforts increased to produce passionate evangelists, to promote the observance of the Lord’s Day, to encourage giving of the Sunday offering, and to serve the poor and marginalized. Korean Christians at the time reported vividly experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This sets the stage for the enigmatic survival of the gospel and the corresponding nationalist movement that transcended the oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan. Because Theodore Roosevelt supported Japan, he betrayed the existing treaty with Korea. During the Russo-Japanese War that ensued from 1904 - 1905, the Korean people were seized with a sense of crisis. In 1905, The Taft-Katsura agreement between the United States and Japan legitimized the occupation of Korea, while the United States were granted occupation of the Philippines without interference. Once the Japanese defeated Russia, Korea fell under Japanese power. Although the Portsmouth Treaty officially ended the Russo – Japanese War, it was the final nail in the coffin for Korea because it recognized the Japanese annexation of Korea.

The power struggles between governments could not deter the spread of Christianity. The church had officially begun to take root in the land of Korea, which can be attributed to not one missionary, church, or society, but to the work of the Holy Spirit, which directed the spiritual, political, and missionary developments in Korea the same way it did in the early church. To illustrate, during the Great Revival in the early 20th century, Evangelist Sun Joo Kil started dawn prayer meetings and initiated a bible study campaign among the churches, leading to faithful study of Scripture throughout the country, both in rural and urban areas. Prayers and bible study became the pillars of revival and became the means by which to contend with political and social institutions. In 1907, an event called “The Great Awakening” became the movement which illustrated increased faith across the nation of Korea.

When Japan annexed Korea, the Japanese governor-general had almost complete power over Korea, employing prison camps guarded by military police. Japanese authorities systematically penetrated Korean society through a highly centralized bureaucracy which carried out surveillance in every village. Even the Japanese public servants and teachers wore swords to intimidate Koreans and maintain control. The Japanese proclaimed a policy of assimilation based on racist policies in every facet of life, such as employment and education, subjecting the Koreans to violence and humiliation on daily basis. These tactics were part of the active campaign to suppress the Korean language, discredit Korea’s culture, and rewrite Korean history to justify the occupation of Korea. Economically, the Japanese exploited the commercial potential of their new territory by making Korea a granary for Japan, dispossessing many Korean peasants and further concentrating ownership in the hands of Japanese land owners and the Korean elite who betrayed their own people, reminiscent of Jewish tax collectors working for the Roman empire. They also developed a system of laws which regulated Korean burial rights, wielding their power over the sacred practice of burying loved ones inflict psychological torment on the Korean populace as a means of control.

During the first decade of colonial rule, the Japanese government prohibited all social and political organizations except for religions. The Japanese saw Confucianism as a tool to maintain moral order, and Buddhism as useful for assimilation. On the other hand, the influence of Protestantism with its missionaries from the West proved to be immensely complicated. The Japanese relied on America’s continued support of colonial policy and missionaries thought it best to remain passive, reluctant to get involved in political matters. The Japanese were also invested in the sociological and technological systems of Western imperialism. However, their strategy of employing the religions of Buddhism and Confucianism as counter measures = to the influence of Protestantism failed. The churches continued to invite foreign missionaries to Korea, and Christianity became a power to be reckoned with because of the relationships that had been forged between missionaries and their Korean counterparts within a growing church. Furthermore, anti-Japanese attitudes began to emerge among U.S. missionaries, as they were increasingly subjected to the same harassment and persecution that their Korean brothers and sisters experienced had endured since the beginning of Japanese occupation in Korea. Once the Japanese viewed Protestantism as a threat to their colonial power, they began to suppress Protestant, Catholic, and Methodist churches and forced Shinto shrine worship on the Koreans. This rising tension culminated in the horrific events of the March 1st Movement of 1919, in which Korean Protestants and American missionaries composed a large percent of those killed during the protest of Japanese occupation in Korea.

In 1924, Korean churches organized the National Council of Churches and joined the International Missionary Council. In 1928, they sent six representatives to the Council in Jerusalem, but the international ecumenical network could not accomplish much due to the suppression by the Japanese occupation state. Nevertheless, Protestantism continued to stand firm the face of opposition as both American and Korean Protestants ministered to family and friends despite persecution, and protestants all over the world supported the Independence of Korea.

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