The Confucian-Christian Context in Korean Christianity
By Young-Gwan Kim
Since Confucianism in Korea greatly influenced the
Korean people's way of thinking and social behaviour, Martha Huntley has
suggested that, from the beginning of the early Catholic and Protestant missionary
activities, Confucianism played an important role in the growth of Christianity
in Korea. The initial contact with Western Christianity occurred through Korean
Confucian scholars who found compatibility between Confucianism and
Christianity; especially their common understanding of God (T'ien, or
"Heaven" in Confucianism), mutual human responsibility for a better
community and the importance of familial and social structures. Confucian
scholars who converted to Christianity translated the English and Chinese Bible
into Hangul (Korean) and published some important Christian literature in
Korean for the common people. They also translated the Lords Prayer, the
Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, hymns, and other articles of faith from
Chinese or English. Thus some scholars argue that Korean Christianity is
basically a "Confucian-Christianity." Accordingly, it is argued that
no one can fully understand Korean Christian thought without a
pre-understanding of Confucianism. This paper will thus describe Korean
Confucian scholars' early contact with Christianity and then evaluate the
validity of the Confucian-Christian context in Korean Christianity.