1930년대 한중관계에 관한 한 소고: 기독교를 중심으로

Abstract

In the 1930s brutal realpolitik mentality overruled the region of North-eastern Asia where tension between Korea, China and Japan was ever growing; and the early twenty-first century witnesses the reemergence of the tension in the region. Presumably, therefore, the research on the region of the 1930s will be conducive to the understanding of the period under consideration as well as that of today. To do that properly, a comprehensive and synoptic perspective is necessary; and yet previous studies tend to approach the region by each country, or to focus on Korean-Japanese and Sino-Japanese relations, largely neglecting Sino-Korean relations. In a similar vein, there are few, if not any, comparative study of Korean and Chinese Christianities. This paper aims to unearth the Sino-Korean relations by comparing Korean and Chinese Christianities at the time. It is because the comprehensive study of Sino-Korean relations is beyond the limits of a single research paper, and also because Christianity is characterized by dual aspects of nationalism and internationalism and thus can be a lens to look into the reality of the relations of the two countries. To this end, this paper fathoms how those Christianities affect the Sino-Korean relations and what legacy they bequeath to contemporary North-eastern Asia. In doing so, this paper investigates four representative issues: the rise of indigenous Christian groups, the real state of affairs in the Asian ecumenical movement, the social peace-making function of the Christian churches shown in the Manbosan Event, and the relationship between the church and socialism. These issues raise the questions of the diversity of hermeneutics, the balance between nationalism and internationalism of the church, the public-theological function of Christianity, and the probability of the reemergence of Christian socialism, respectively. In the 1930s, both Korea and China suffered from endless conflicts and attempted to respond to the challenges, suggesting various alternatives. Although both the societies and Christianites in the two countries revealed their limitations by failing to build peace and reconciliation, they also showed much of their potential as a pathfinder. Admittedly, contemporary North-eastern Asia faces almost the same challenges. It is against this historical backdrop that this paper is engaged in reflecting the Korean and Chinese Christianities in the 1930s.