성인전(聖人傳)의 관점으로 본 전북 지역 초기 개신교 신자들의 이야기

Abstract

This paper aims to organize the life stories of Korean believers in the early stage of Protestantism in Jeollabuk-do and show how they can be considered as hagiography. The stories of the early Korean Protestant believers in Jeollabuk-do can be regarded as hagiography in the following respects. First, the stories feature detailed and vivid descriptions, as well as passionate expressions of emotion, similar to what one can find in a novel. Second, moved by the main characters’ determination and achievements, readers tried to model their own life on these stories. The difference between Catholic hagiography and the early Protestant believers’ life stories in Jeollabuk-do is that the former values miracles by God’s will, while the latter emphasize the will, efforts, and actions of the main characters. In the earliest stories of Protestants in Jeollabuk-do, sufferings are largely categorized as personal and social sufferings. Again, the former can be divided into sufferings caused by disease and sufferings caused by the imposition of apostasy, and the latter into sufferings because of social status, sufferings because of failed social reform, and sufferings caused by unjust circumstances.