The Making of Korean Christianity: Protestant Encounters with Korean Religions, 1876-1915

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271 Now Koreans say [to the missionaries], “Some of you go back to John Calvin, and some of you to John Wesley, but we can go back no further than 1907 when we first really know the Lord Jesus Christ.” —Willing and Jones, The Lure of Korea, 19131 During the Great Revival Movement (hereafter GRM) of 1903– 1908, indigenous Christian rituals and spirituality developed within Korean Protestantism, and a group of Korean leaders emerged. Repented, reconciled, spirit-filled, and empowered Korean Christians participated in nationwide evangelistic, educational, and enlightenment movements with the vision of a Christian Korea. The direct effect of the GRM was the emergence of self-supporting, self-propagating, self-governing, and evangelical Korean Protestant churches. In the long run, the revivals provided the young Korean churches with enough spiritual power to endure Japanese colonial rule. From the perspective of the history of Korean religious history, the GRM transformed Protestantism from a foreign religion into a new national religion. The central figure of the GRM was Kil Sŏnju of Pyongyang, who converted from popular Daoism to Protestantism. The first seismic shift of the revival hit a Methodist church in Wŏnsan, in August 1903, and it reached its peak at the winter Bible class held at the Central Presbyterian 1 Jennie Fowler Willing and Mrs. George Heber Jones, The Lure of Korea (Boston : Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church, 1913), 21. — 6 — Rituals Revivals and Prayers 272 — The Making of Korean Christianity Church in Pyongyang, January 1907. Kil made it a nationwide movement . As one of the first ministers ordained in 1907 and an assistant pastor at the Central Presbyterian Church in Pyongyang, he initiated the Christianization of several Daoist rituals and relocated them into the church. This chapter argues that a group of Daoists in Pyongyang had typical born-again experiences of evangelicalism around the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, and that the conversion of Kil Sŏnju became a template for other Christians.2 It investigates his motives for conversion, which demonstrated a paradigm shift in popular Korean spirituality from its private orientation to the public sphere; it looks at Kil Sŏnju and other Daoist Christians’ introduction of the dawn prayer meeting into the program of the Bible training class and regular church liturgy; and it investigates the historical meanings of the revival movement, which antedated the advent of Korean leadership of the church and shifted the center of gravity of the church from Seoul to Pyongyang, which became the “Jerusalem of the East” in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This chapter shows the localized form of Protestantism that was centered in Pyongyang in the 1900s. Daoist Christians in Pyongyang Popular Daoism in the Cities Daoism in Korea was a fluid and complex tradition. From its introduction to the land in the fourth century, Daoism mixed with shamanism, Buddhism, and even Confucianism. In Neo-Confucian Chosŏn society, religious Daoism was generally suppressed as a heterodox teaching, though philosophical Daoism was widely and privately accepted by the sociopolitically marginalized educated classes. Daoism was not an organized religion but a submerged folk religion or cult. Popular Daoism in Korea emphasized internal alchemy (neidan 內丹) that aimed to cultivate physical vitality for longevity and immortality.3 Daoism here does not mean philosophical Daoism, but popular Daoism or religious Daoism , which was called Sŏndo (仙道 the Way of the Immortals) in Korea. 2 For a definition of “evangelicalism,” see A. Scott Moreau, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of World Mission (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 337–41. 3 See Yi Nŭnghwa, Chosŏn togyosa [History of Daoism in Korea], trans. Yi Chingŭn (Seoul: Posŏng, 1986). Rituals — 273 Most Daoists in Korea did not commit themselves to Daoism exclusively , but their predominant religious practices were related to Daoism. Daoism had a great influence on folk religions—morality, the belief in geomancy, stars, exorcism, and incantation for prosperity and healing .4 Professional geomancers selected auspicious sites for houses and tombs.5 In addition, people worshipped the Spirit of the Big Dipper (the Seven Stars Spirit), a major household god said to govern the life span of children and the prosperity of family members.6 People recited a Daoist incantation, Okch’ugyŏng (the Thunder Spirit Scriptures) for the sick, believing in the healing powers of incantations and talismans. Many medical books, like Hŏ Chun’s (1546–1615) Tong’ŭi pogam (Treasury of Eastern Medicine...