Conversion and Moral Ambiguity: An Chunggŭn, Nationalism and the Catholic Church in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Korea

Abstract

This chapter highlights the ambiguities that can be created through the process of conversion, and how the historical context in which it occurs can shape the life of an individual, and history itself. The author argues that central to understanding An's conversion to Catholicism, is his parallel commitment to nationalism, and that his inability to work out the contradictions between them led him to behave in a morally ambivalent fashion that failed to fulfill the demands of either. While An's description of the Catholic faith in his missionary speech, with its focus on the afterlife and its Confucian coloring, shares much with that of Korean Catholics during the era of persecution, it differs in its emphasis on Catholicism's connection with this-worldly reform. Today, the Catholic Church in Korea is led by Koreans, leading to a complete turnaround in how An Chunggŭn is treated. Keywords:Catholic Church; Chunggŭn; Korea; moral ambiguity; nationalism