신사참배 관련 소수파 의견: 해럴드 헨더슨(Harold H. Henderson)의 사례

Abstract

The Shinto Shrine Controversy has been studied mainly as a part of the suffering of the Korean people during the Japanese colonial regime, and hence the “minority” opinion regarding the controversy has not received much attention. This article will try to examine Harold H. Henderson's missionary career and reveal some key aspects of the minority opinion. Henderson, a missionary of the Northern Presbyterian Board and a long-time principal and founder of Keisung Academy in Daegu, was at the center of the controversy. He consistently insisted that his mission should compromise with the Japanese authorities on the shrine attendance issue and continue operating the mission schools; he put his opinion into practice at Keisung Academy. Henderson harshly criticized the mission's “majority” leaders who decided to prohibit any participation in the shrine ceremonies and tried to close all mission schools; refusing their instructions to resign, he continued to perform the duties of Keisung's principal and founder. This led the majority leaders to ask the board to order him to resign from the school posts. The Shinto Shrine Controversy was primarily a theological issue for the missionaries, whereas it had a nationalistic dimension for the Koreans. It was basically an extension of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy in the Northern Presbyterian Church in America, and became a conflict between a “liberal minority” party and a “fundamentalist majority” party. The conservative majority party took control of the Korea Mission and had the final say on the issue. However, they were a small minority within the larger stage of Japan and its colonies where the shrine attendance was demanded.