황해도 동학농민군과 기독교 선교사의 접촉과 소통 -매켄지(William J. McKenzie) 선교사를 중심으로-

Abstract

The Tonghak [Eastern Learning] was founded opposing the western learning, especially the Catholic belief, and it also criticized Christianity, protestant churches. While Tonghak followers requested the rehabilitation of their founder and sought the expulsion of foreigners, they made clear the anti-western stance. However, there was no direct confrontation between those two forces because westerners, fear of anti-western movements, avoided the confrontational spots. Interestingly, there was a Christian missionary who spent seven months among the Tonghak peasant army. The missionary was William J. McKenzie who came from Canada. He found that Christianity and the Tonghak have some common grounds in terms of the concept of God and religious doctrines. Even he noticed that some persons among the Tonghak peasant army arrived at the deep understanding of Christian doctrines while carrying the New Testament Bible. McKenzie also sought and studied the Tonghak canons. The similarity between two belief systems provided the favorable conditions for religious conversion. The Tonghak peasant army arose for the eviction of foreign forces and for the regime reform while Christian missionaries like McKenzie came to Korea for Christian mission. Two forces had very different aims and purposes and met each other in Changyŏn Country, Hwanghae province in fall 1894. Two parties considered each other to be absorbed into each circle. However, their encounter and communication implied the possible communality between two religions in the context of Korean national crisis.