A Thorn in Imperial Japan's Side: The Shifting Politics of Protestant Christianity in Colonial Korea
Historians have highlighted the deep connection between imperial ideologies and Christian evangelism that undergirded Western colonialism. This intimate relationship between church and state was far more complicated in colonial Korea because Japan maintained non-Christian religious traditions, yet J...
| Published in: | Journal of religious history |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2022
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| In: |
Journal of religious history
Year: 2022, Volume: 46, Issue: 1, Pages: 122-142 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Korea
/ Japan
/ Orchestration
/ Religious policy
/ Protestantism
/ Mission (international law
/ Resistance
/ Shintoism
/ History 1900-1945
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BN Shinto CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations CG Christianity and Politics KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBM Asia KDD Protestant Church SA Church law; state-church law |
| Online Access: |
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| Summary: | Historians have highlighted the deep connection between imperial ideologies and Christian evangelism that undergirded Western colonialism. This intimate relationship between church and state was far more complicated in colonial Korea because Japan maintained non-Christian religious traditions, yet Japanese colonial authorities still needed the collaboration of Korean Protestant communities to meet the material and ideological demands of Japan's imperial enterprise. This article examines how Western missionaries and Korean evangelicals engaged with colonial rule — that engagement reflected the fluid nature of religious culture in colonial Korea and changed as imperial Japan faced internal and external challenges. Initially, many Protestant churches remained politically neutral to appease the Japanese regime but some supported anti-Japanese activities, prompting the Government-General of Korea (GGK) to try to prevent Protestant churches from becoming loci for rebellion against its rule. The GGK switched from “military rule” to a less harsh “cultural rule” in the 1920s, which motivated Protestants to adopt an uneasy coexistence with colonial authorities. In the 1930s–1940s, the GGK hardened its stance on religion and insisted on peninsula-wide observance of State Shintō; some Protestants acquiesced to the authorities, but others bravely refused to worship Shintō deities, a ritual that contravened Christian strictures against idolatry. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9809 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/1467-9809.12832 |