The reflection paper, based on a range of classes of the course, is aimed at once more reconsidering what I have learnt during the course and the way I was feeling about each of the classes. Before considering each of the classes I would like to mention that all the class were very insightful, and made me more interested in religious studies in general, and the development of religion in Korea.
The introductory class was dedicated to Christianity in Korea. I was interested in general overview of the current state of Christianity in the world. Before the class I used to think that there is only a small number of Christians in the world, and these people live only in Europe and some regions of North America.
As I visited the class I got to know that Christianity is still one of world’s most wide-spread religions, existing in all the parts of the world. It was surprising for me that Christianity is wide-spread in Africa, because I tended to associate African religions with totemic beliefs. I was also impressed by vivid history of Christianity that can be viewed as a multifaceted reflection of the world history.
The thing that was of most significant interest for me is related to the shifts of the centers of modern Christianity from North to South, and from West to East. As the slide “Six phases of Christianity” from the Power Point presentation shows, many European countries have made their contribution into the history of Christianity. It was exciting for me to note that the major trend that can be used to describe the history of Christianity is expansion.
While at some points of its development (especially the earliest ones) Christianity had only one center, at the modern stage of its evolution Christianity does not have a single center. This phenomenon can be explained by the reference to one more trend I detected after having considered the ideas from the class. It can be named “ramification”. The more branches Christianity, the harder it becomes to create a unified center of Christian religion as many countries’ representatives have different interpretations of Christian values. On the other hand, I do not think that it is necessary to create any kind of artificial centre of world’s Christianity. Having single center is threatening for the uniqueness of Christianity in each of the countries in the world.
With regard to the first class I would also like to underline my excitement about the power of interrelations between the history of Christianity and world’s history and the power and variety of ways they influenced on one another. I think that it is worth considering the history of Christianity against the background of world’s history.
The same can be said about the future of Christianity. All the trends that are associated with the future evolution of Christianity need to be viewed along with the general trends of world’s history. To my mind, further shift of Christianity to the South can be viewed as a logical continuation of its evolution. Nevertheless, the trend can change dramatically, dependently on political situation in the world.
The second class I visited was dedicated to the Catholic Century (1784-1883). Most surprising issues for me were the diversity of branches of Christianity and complexity of the development of Presbyterian family branch. After the class I researched into these topics myself, and have learnt variety of interesting historical facts. One of exciting things to note is that vast majority of the branches that have ever appeared in terms of Christianity have been preserved in its terms, and continues to exist nowadays. It surprised me that not only Korea, but also Japan had Catholic century. The reason for this surprise is that vast majority of my Japanese friends never mention they have any kind of religion.
When the professor provided us with the overview of such Korean initiatives as Namin and Seoin, I felt quite comfortable due to the fact that I have already learnt some facts about them. However it was a surprise for me to find out that Yangin was considered to be higher social class than Chungin. Actually, I have always thought the opposite way. It was quite interesting that vast majority of believers were Jangban (27.75%), because Christian beliefs in other countries tend to be more wide-spread among middle class representatives, than the highest class of society.
In the class on Catholic Century I was also impressed by complexity of influence Confucian study in Korea exerted on Christianity that had even led to some persecutions in the end of Catholic century. The example of these persecutions seems to be one of many examples of religion-related persecutions, nonetheless, under modern circumstances it seems quite strange to me that the events of this kind had been happening in my country. Detailed study of the reasons for these persecutions brought me to the conclusion that they were inevitable, taking into account the power of ideological, social and political misunderstandings in society.
Apart from the classes I mentioned I was also interested in discussions, dedicated to comparing the degree of openness to the West of Korea and Japan in 1880-1945, the growth of Christianity in Korea up to 1945, as well as Christian nationalism in Korea between 1895 and 1945 in Korea.
Here I would like to specifically address my opinion about the second issue. I guess that the growth of Christianity in Korea at that time can be connected with the U.S. support of Korea after all the Japanese moved out from the country as the U.S. may have based their support of spreading Christianity as a basis for the start of new era in the history of Korea.
Here I would also like to underline my concern related to frequent associations between Christianity and Nationalism. I think that the issue of usage of religion by nationalistic movement needs to be explored in detail, so that such cases can be prevented in the future. In this regard a case study of India can be of great use (der Veer 3)
The classes concerning the growth of Protestantism (1884-1984) and recent trends in the development of religious affiliations in Korea were logically stemming from the introductory class.
The only thing I was impressed in terms of the two classes is the power of the influence of recent modernization on both the general picture of religiosity in Korea and the development of Protestantism. I associate significant concern with such problems of church as commercialization, secularization and populism. Despite the fact that all these issues have been accompanying the history of religion since its emergence, the trends of modern society development make the influence of these issues stronger and, therefore, there is a need to learn other countries’ experience of combating these issues.
The last two classes I would like to refer to explore such topics as the life of Korean Christians under Japanese colonization and the reasons for the decrease of the number of Korean Christians. During the first class I was really surprised by the description of the lives of women at those times, especially by the fact that women were not allowed to have their own names, and could only have English names. As for the second class, it is interesting to note that while some events are determined by a wide range of different preconditions and reasons, other ones are to great extent related to particular situation. The story of the corrupted pastor Air Jordan that exerted considerable influence on the development of Christianity in South Korea is a wonderful example of particular fact’s global influence. This story is also a good example of the problems of the modern church in Korea I discussed earlier in my reflection paper.
All the classes I mentioned in my assignment were interesting and challenging, as well as capable of stimulating students to complementing their knowledge by researching into some topics more profoundly. The history of different branches of Christianity in Korea and worldwide is very diverse, and strongly interrelated with the evolution of other spheres of life, such as politics, social affairs and the role of the country at the international area. While modern state of church is associated with many issues, more attention is to be paid to the manifestations of these issues and the ways to combat them.
Works cited
De Verr, P. Religious nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India. LA: University of California Press, 1994. Print
