한국 신종교 민족주의 운동의 변화와 전개

Abstract

This study examined the flow of nationalist movements in the Korean history of new religions through the relation of anti-foreign-power and anti-feudal logic and sect protectionism. For this study, we divided the history of nationalist movements into four periods and reviewed the development of such movements in each period, and discussed the meanings of the nationalism of Korean new religions in the current situation that the role and importance of nationalism are fading away in today’s trend of globalization. New religious movements in Korea, which have been continued from 1960 to the present, have contributed to the establishment of national identity and integrity in the modern sense in reaction to class contraction and nation contradiction. While maintaining sect protectionism for their survival and growth as religious sects at the early stage of development, they played certain roles in the development of Korean nationalism by paying attention to the promotion of anti foreign powers, national identity, anti-feudalism, human rights and the consciousness of equality. For major new religious sectors in Korea, the port-opening period was their quickening stage. Such new religions quickened as the active expression of anti feudal and anti-foreign-power nationalism. As they were treated as so-called quasi-religions under the religion control policy of Japanese imperialism during the period under the rule of Japan, new religions had to adopt sect protectionism in order to protect their sects. After the Liberation, new religions, which had innate resistant nationalism, shrank and were disorganized as a result of pro-Christianity, pro-American and anti-Communist policies of the American Military Government and Lee Seung-man’s regime and the Western-style modernization from the 1960s. It was from the 1970s that Korean new religions, which had been weakened since the period under the rule of Japanese imperialism, began to show signs of the revival of their status mainly thanks to Korean people’s awakening to national culture throughout society. Social phenomena starting from the 1980s such as new spiritualism,informatization and globalization have become turning points for reformation and innovation to Korean new religions. Today’s globalization and new religion movement seem to have strong selective affinity to each other. What is more, it is a historical mission of new religions to save people from difficulties that they are faced with in the flood of globalization and informatization.