초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The Great War or World War I, one of the most catastrophic tragedies in history, occasioned the debunking of the reality of the European society and its Christianity: it pitilessly questioned the reality of its civilizing mission and evangelization. It is against this historical backdrop that the then Western Protestant missionaries in Korea participated in the War and even served as the channel through which the Korean Church came to be exposed to the War. This article aims to examine the relationship between the War and the missionaries, in particular their understanding of war and wartime reality, focusing on the Korea Mission Field and other missionary docu- ments. The article argued that although they criticized the War from the Christian perspective expressing various opinions ranging from the tension between nationalism and universalism, to the unity of the Church, and to the issue of war and peace, the missionary group in Korea in general barely showed difference between them and the society in the understanding of the War. For instance, there was no consensus on the participation in the War and they failed to develop a rigorous discourse on war. Furthermore, they were vulnerable to wartime crises as much as the society in that they were confronted with diverse difficulties, including retrenchment in foreign mission work. However, the relationship between them and the War was bi-lateral, since they were both passively suffered from the War and actively joined the War through the participation in the War as soldiers, civili- ans and medical staff, the war support efforts, and the ministry in the battlefield. However, there was not much difference between them and the society in wartime life and work, either. In general, the then Europeans, at home and abroad, were conditioned by the long-stan- ding bond of war and nationalism, and were slow to learn from the War and thus destined to suffer from another World War.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
The Great War/World War I, Japan, Korea, Mission, Protestant missionaries
