Asking the right questions

I hear it all the time. “Do you believe in Jesus?” The question is common to many who identify as Christians these days. If I answer “yes,” the following question is usually, “Presbyterian or Methodist?” The two common denominational markers in Korea are limited to those two polities. Doctrine and actual congregational governance aren’t too different, even though there are dozens of Presbyterian denominational bodies in Korea and many in Methodism.

Perhaps the most challenging marker is the definition of the term “Christian.” For most Koreans, the term means “Protestant church, which excludes Catholicism.” Korea is one of the only places I’ve ever lived where Catholics are not included in the general Korean understanding of “Christian.” Part of that stems from the Korean word being used; another part is a strong anti-Catholic bias among Protestants. The Korean word for Christianity is “gidokgyo,” which comes from Chinese characters, but the general definition has always meant “Christ’s church or teachings.” And a person who so believes is a “Christian.” There is another word for “Protestant church” (gaeshingyo). Scholars are generally found using that terminology.

The Korean Protestant churches are generally quite conservative in theology and practice. They take a rather narrow and literalistic understanding of the contents of the Holy Bible. Most Protestant believers seem to have more faith in their particular pastor’s interpretation than in exploring the history, culture and theology.

Another prevalent question among conservative Christians is, “Are you saved?” If I answer in the affirmative, they want to know when, how, etc. This hyper-individualistic “salvation” is a sad commentary on Western Christianity and its spread to other places by Western missionaries. Such individualistic salvation is what made slavery possible in past centuries. That interpretation drove the aggression of invaders, the theft of lands from first peoples and the consumer capitalism that drives most of the world’s economies. Institutional sin, repentance and responsibility are largely absent from the Western interpretation of the Christian faith.

Though we call the region the “Middle East,” most believers forget that the ancient Hebrew people and their stories are Asian. Modern Christianity, perhaps beginning with Paul’s Hellenized interpretations, is a Western configuration. European cultures adopted Greek linear thinking (logic) and saw it through that civilization’s interpretation rubric.

It is, then, no wonder that Asian cultures have had difficulty adopting a religion that is not foreign to Asia but has been preached through Western understanding. Japan is a prime example of the failure of Westernized Christianity. Personal identity and how the individual relates to society are concepts few Westerners can grasp. Sure, some of us can understand the idea after decades of engagement, but those old Western individualism “tapes” still play in the back of our minds. I’ve seen this myself through mission work in rural villages in India. All the villagers do what the headman does. If he becomes a Christian, the entire village is baptized on the same day. In the state of Odisha, where I spent considerable time, the region where I worked counted 113 villages of the tribal group. One hundred nine villages were Christian, while the remainder still practiced Hinduism.

Despite the large numbers in both countries, India and China have no more than 3 percent Christian populations. Taiwan is slightly higher, with almost 4 percent, and Japan comes in at less than 1 percent. Oddly, South Korea has a whopping 30 percent of its population who identify as Christian. Yet, all these countries/cultures are Asian.

Why is Korea such a Christian-populous country? I think geography had a lot to do with Korea’s Christianization. Squeezed between three of the world’s great powers (Russia, China and Japan), the kingdom’s only strength was in making alliances. All three empires had both economic and military strength. All three saw the Korean Peninsula as key to controlling East Asia. Over the years, those three countries vied for supremacy. Japan ultimately won its prize.

Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonization pushed Koreans to resist in every way they could. For many, Christianity offered hope for the future. Many of those who became key leaders in the aftermath of the Japanese defeat in August 1945 were Korean Christians who had become Westernized through educational pursuits and long-term residency in the United States or elsewhere.

Thus, Christianity has great power and influence in southern Korea. But Korean Christianity has lost the collective mindset of Jesus’ teachings. It has traded community for Western individualism, and the resulting loss of Christ’s dream for a world where people love God and love their neighbors may be difficult to recover. And yet, the collectivism continues in the church in Korea because no one dares question the honorable pastor’s teachings.

Rev. Steven L. Shields, FRAS {slshields@gmail.com} has lived in Korea for many years, beginning in the 1970s. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, he is also a lifelong member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Korea, of which he was a director, vice president, and president. He was a copy editor of The Korea Times in 1977. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect The Korea Times’ editorial stance.