朝鮮後期 西學書의 受容과 普及

Abstract

1n 17th century, Korean society accepted western science and ideas by reading western books translated in China. They called such studies Seohak(西學, western learning). In the domain of seohak, it was catholicism which attracted korean people and provoked many social problems. Since the establishment of catholic church in 1784, seohak had been understood as catholicism and sŏhak books had meant catholic books. Catholic books arrived in Korea in the early 17th century. Catholicism spreaded out not only yangban intellectuals but also common people. Since the years of 1780s, leaders of Korean Catholic Church tried to translate and to distribute catholic books to propagandize people for catholicism. At first they translated chinese written catholic books into hangŭl. In 1801, 83 books(128 volumes) were translated into hangŭl. Some leaders wrote catholic books in hangul like Chugyoyoji (주교요지, the Principle of Catholicism). After the arrival of french missionaries of Missions Étrangères de Paris in 1836, french religious bookswere translated and distributed;Pensez-y-bien (신명초행),la Vie Dévote(프란시스코 살레지오傳) etc. In the begin of 1860s, about 20,000 vernacular catholic books were published and supplied all over the country. The korean government regarded catholicism as a anti-social and anti-confucian idea which denies loyalty to the king and filiarity toward one's parents. The government suppressed catholicism by prohibition of vernacular catholic books and burning their printing blocks. Theefforts to spreadvernacularcatholic books wereunderstood as the ideological defiance to Korean confucian society. Governmental suppression to it was the effort to conserve their traditional orders.