기독교인 장준하의 생애와 자유‧민권 사상

Abstract

This paper examines the life of a 20th century Korean Christian Jang Jun-Ha (장준하) and aims to analyze the peculiarities and development of his thoughts on “liberty” and “civil rights” .Through the research of life of Jang, who was greatly influenced by Christian ideas, it is possible to shed light on the situation of Contemporary Christianity in Korea and the changes in Korean theological thought. Furthermore, the study of Jang's thoughts on freedom/liberty and civil rights reveals changes in Jang's value system, spirit and his relations with Christianity. Jang was born into a family of a pastor. Following in his father's footsteps, during the Japanese colonial period Jang attended Christian high schools run by missionaries. Therefore, he was accustomed to Christian faith since childhood and there he had become acquainted with the notion of ‘nation' and ‘democracy' as well. Jang graduated from Tokyo Union Theological Seminary and successfully continued his studies in Hanshin University. After the liberation of Korea he and other alumni attended Christian gatherings. Afterwards, he worked in media and politics and joined hands with Korean ecumenical camps of the progressive Korean Christians to oppose President Park Chung-Hee's dictatorship regime in 1960-70s. Meanwhile, since 1950s in his political magazine 「Sasangge」 Chang promoted his thoughts on the importance of securing individual’s liberty and people’s rights in Korea. Sasangge also contained articles in which Christians from the ecumenical camp discussed the value of democracy from the Christian perspective. Jang strongly believed that individual’s liberty is inviolable and urged every citizen in Korea to protest against the government's corruption and injustice. He referred to “peoples' rights(民權)” as contradistinguished from “governments' privileges”. During 1960-70s, Jang wrote a number of articles persuading readers that in order to obtain liberty and civil rights they need to oppose President Park and his government. He also highlighted the unity of patriotism, nationalism and the struggle for both liberty and people’s rights and emphasized that, in some cases, sacrifice of citizens, including himself, can be a necessary step to obtain liberal democracy values. As it appears, his understanding of ‘liberty’ and ‘civil rights' has changed since 1950s. After 1960s, he put less attention to the importance of individualism. In his arguments about the necessity of proper securing of liberty and civil rights in Korea, Chang quoted passages from the Bible and Christian theologians. Accepting the Christian values of democracy, he resolved to devote himself to pursuing liberty and civil rights and also encouraged the readers to do the same. During the Japanese colonial regime in Korea Jang carried out some pastoral duties, but after the liberation of Korea his direct involvement in the church activity has weakened. Nevertheless, he attended Christian gatherings and maintained contact with alumni from his seminaries and with Korean Christians from ecumenical camps. All his life he remained a Christian, while shortly before his death he converted to Catholicism to satisfy his wife who was a Catholic Christian. That shows us that just as his idea of liberal civil rights changed over time, so did his Christian faith.