earticle

영어

In retrospect, it is clear that the ‘one united’ Korean Presbyterian Church, “The Presbyterian Church of Korea”, was established as the result of mutual cooperation and collaborative work among missionaries who were commissioned by four different Presbyterian churches in three countries. Furthermore, the ecumenical spirit of missionaries even attempted to merge Protestant mission churches into an united interdenominational national church, “The Church of Christ in Korea”, crossing over denominational borders. However, in the aftermath of the Liberation, such spirit of unity began to be wrecked. The overwhelming joy of the Liberation was short-lived and the era of disputes and conflicts was soon followed. The two questions were hotly disputed in the church: first, the demand of repentance over the Shinto-Shrine worship; and second, the theological difference between the conservative and the liberal. In the 1950s, the Korean Presbyterian Church was divided three times, resulting four different groups. The seed of church disunity had already been sown in the 1930s the kernel of which was the theological dispute at the time and the resolution of the Shinto-Shrine worship in 1938. Moreover, in the wake of the Korean War, the divided groups were eager to justify themselves based on various reasons such as orthodoxy, exclusive in-group consciousness, and anti-Communism, together with black-and-white mentality, aiming to consolidate their status. Meanwhile, various ecumenical organizations and bodies were established for the cooperation and unity of divided Korean Presbyterian families. At the same time, the post-liberation period saw the emergence of the movement of ministers which had the same purpose, that is, church renewal and unity. Nowadays, it is requested that the Korean Presbyterian churches are to make a more strenuous effort to advance the cause of cooperation and unity. Furthermore, the need to booster such cause is strongly felt more than any other time, when considering that the 2013 General Assembly of the WCC is to be held in Korea and thus the Korean Church is expected to serve churches in the world. The best way to pursue the cause of cooperation and unity would be to recover and faithfully follow the ecumenical spirit of the first-generation of the Korean Church. For this, the writer proposes that church historians of different Korean denominations collaborate to write a ‘common church history’ (PCK-Koshin, PROK, PCKGA, and PCK).

한국어

120여 년 전에 시작된 3개국 4개 교단의 내한(來韓) 선교회가 단일(單一) ‘대한예 수교장로회’를 설립했다. 이것이 결실을 맺어서 ‘독(립)노회’가 성립되었고(1907년) 또 이 자리에서 토착 목회자 7명이 목사로 안수 받아 장립했다. 한국 장로교회의 연 합과 일치의 정신은 대략 1930년대 중반까지 이어졌다. 그러다가 교단 안에서 일어난 신학 논쟁, 그리고 총회의 신사참배 강요 굴복이 교단 분열의 씨앗이 되었다. 1945년 8·15광복 직후부터 장로교회는 분쟁에 휩싸였다. 1950년대에 장로교회는 세 차례 분 열을 거듭했고, 그 결과 4개 교단이 생성되었다. 그 이후로 분열된 장로교회의 일치 를 위한 노력과 운동이 계속 일어났다.