기독교는 서양의 종교인가?-동서양 구별에 대한 비판적 고찰

Abstract

The Purpose of this paper is to criticize the differentiation between the East and the West. Christianity will be looked into as a important approach point to this critique. And I will raise a question, i.e, “Is Christianity a Western Religion?” in this text. The question will be answered in two conflicting types. In the two different answers, we can discern a fact that the Western civilization has formed its own identity through the Eastern and vice versa. Christianity has been regarded as a Western religion. In this paper, the Western civilization is defined as the whole of European cultural areas. By the way, Christianity did not originated in Europe, but it originated in Palestine which the Western civilization called the East or the Orient. Therefore. we can assert that Christianity is not an European religion, but an Eastern religion. Nevertheless, Christianity is certainly considered as an European religion because Christianity has strongly influenced the formation and development of the Western civilization. And Christianity did flourished in the European civilization. We can regard Christianity not as a Western religion, but at the same time as a Western religion. Therefore, we can ask, if a vivid division between the East and the West is fundamentally possible. It is also required to reflect the possibility of the distinct boundary between the Western and Eastern culture. On one hand, they say in general that the Western civilization did extend its influences to the East and even that it enlightened Asia. On the other hand, there are many cases that the Oriental civilization influenced to develope the West and to enlighten the West. Eastern and Western cultures mutually affect each other and develop in their reciprocal effect. Such a representative example of the interactive exchange between the East and the West is Christianity as an universal religion. Thus, Christianity is not just a Western religion, nor is it just an Eastern religion.