Early Protestantism Research Articles

The Introduction of “Religion” in Early Korean Protestantism

The Introduction of “Religion” in Early Korean Protestantism

Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea by Kevin N. Cawley

Reviewed by: Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea by Kevin N. Cawley Yeonwoo Joh Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea by Kevin N. Cawley. New York: Routledge, 2019. xxiii, 197 pp. Kevin N. Cawley’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea is the latest introductory text in a growing list of English studies on Korean religion and philosophy. It traces the historical development of Korean intellectual traditions, focusing on key figures, concepts, and texts. By referencing up-to-date studies and making occasional comparisons with the theories of Western philosophers such as Derrida and Heidegger, Cawley provides Western readers with a concise and readable overview of the history of religion and philosophy in Korea. Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea consists of six chapters, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. In the first chapter, Cawley acknowledges the Western connotations of the categories “religion” and “philosophy” while introducing an alternative term, “pathway,” to better refer to the individual traditions of Korean religion based on the concept of Dao [K. Do] 道. His description of each pathway as a “route to becoming a better person” (2) effectively demonstrates how religion in Korea represented a modus vivendi of sorts, rather than an adherence to a certain dogma or faith. He then provides an overview of the main religious traditions of Korea: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism and Shamanism. In Chapter 2, Cawley begins his journey through Korea’s extensive intellectual history. Opening with the cultural significance of the Tan’gun [Dangun] myth and describing the arrival and development of Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms period, this section culminates with a detailed look into the texts and ideas of Wŏnhyo [Wonhyo] and Ŭisang [Uisang], two extremely influential Buddhist monks of early Korea. Chapter 3 covers the progress of Korea’s intellectual history, spanning from [End Page 411] the emergence of Sŏn [Seon] Buddhism during the Unified Silla period to the founding of the Chosŏn [Joseon] dynasty. Cawley illustrates the dynamic religious landscape of Koryŏ [Goryeo], focusing especially on the conflict between the numerous Buddhist schools by introducing the ideas of Ŭich’ŏn [Uicheon] and Chinul [Jinul], two monks who attempted to reconcile the textual Kyo [Gyo] lineages and the meditative Sŏn lineages in different ways. Cawley then moves on to the rise of Neo-Confucianism and the subsequent dynastic transition from Koryŏ to Chosŏn. Here, Cawley examines the conflicting views of the Confucian scholar Chŏng Tojŏn [Jeong Dojeon] and the Sŏn monk Kihwa [Gihwa], and presents Confucian critiques of Shamanism to highlight the establishment of Confucianism as a unified, exclusive state ideology. Chapter 4 further elaborates on this “Chosŏn Confucian ideology” through the philosophies of T’oegye [Toegye] and Yulgok. Following their contributions to the metaphysical Four-Seven debate, Cawley discusses the arrival of Western teachings and Catholicism. He emphasizes the role of women and the Chŏng [Jeong] brothers in the development of the early Catholic church in Korea, and provides a close examination of Tasan Chŏng Yag’yong’s [Dasan Jeong Yagyong] texts in particular, stressing the “Christo-Confucian transcultural transformation” (111) that took place. Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the emergence of new religions in a more modern, changing cultural context, the first being Ch’oe Che-u’s [Choe Jeu] Tonghak [Donghak] (Eastern Learning), which arose in response to the influence of Sŏhak [Seohak] (Western Learning). Other new religions such as Chŭngsando [Jeungsando], Daesoon Jinrihoe [Daesun jillihoe], and Taejonggyo [Daejonggyo] are also introduced. Cawley goes on to explain the development of early Protestantism in Korea and the active role women played in propagating it. Chapter 6 explores the survival and change of Korean religious traditions throughout the period of Japanese colonial rule and its aftermath. After briefly looking into some of the more recent religious movements, Cawley concludes his journey through Korean history with a special emphasis on the persistent influence of Shamanism, as it finds ways to adapt to the increasingly technology-driven modern era. Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea is commendable first and foremost for its readability. Surprisingly dense for a book of its length, it is well-organized and presented in a clear, coherent...

A Case Study of the Reception of Aristotle in Early Protestantism: The Platonic Idea of the Good in the Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics

The present article examines the philosophical ethics of Protestants teaching in higher education during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their reception of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 1.6. Two theses are illustrated. First, the survey of fourteen commentaries shows clear parallels with the medieval interpretation of the Ethics, which the Protestant authors creatively expanded. Thus, the continuity of Protestantism with the earlier tradition of Christian philosophy is substantiated in this specific case for a representative group of authors. Second, over against the prejudices according to which Protestantism simply censured ethics and subsumed it into moral theology, this article shows that, in truth, Aristotle was still the fundamental philosophical reference in a topic as central as the definition of happiness, and that the Platonic “theological” alternative was not considered appropriate for a philosophical discipline.

The Student’s Hand: Industrial Education and Racialized Labor in Early Korean Protestantism

Abstract In the 1900s American missionaries used the industrial vision of the African American leader Booker T. Washington to instill the idea of economic progress in Koreans. Inspired by this uplift model, the Korean intellectual Yun Ch’i-ho (Yun Ch’iho) and US Southern Methodists founded the Anglo-Korean School in 1906, where students would later produce textile products called “Korea mission cloth” for global sale. This article examines the promotion of manual labor in the intersection of religious propagation and educational reform during the early twentieth century. The author argues that the idealization of industrialization by American and Korean Protestant leaders was a vehicle to both disseminate American discourses of race and institutionalize a system of capitalism in the name of modernizing Korea. This early history of Korean Protestantism has influenced the hierarchical conceptualizations of the white, black, and Asian races, which has been obscured by the benevolent achievements of missionary work.

The Making of Speaking Subject in Early Korean Protestantism: Focused on the Educational Spaces for Women

The Making of Speaking Subject in Early Korean Protestantism: Focused on the Educational Spaces for Women

Formative Worship ‘at the End of the World’: The Worship Practices of Methodists, Baptists and Plymouth Brethren in the Emergence of Protestantism in Argentina, 1867–1930

Framed by formative worship theory, this paper examines the worship practices of the Methodists, the Baptists and the Plymouth (Free or Christian) Brethren in Argentina (1867–1930) and the beliefs and values these practices imprinted on a minority group striving to find its own identity at its inception in a predominantly Roman Catholic country. This essay not only aims to contribute to a better understanding of early evangelical Protestantism in Argentina, but also intends to foster a broader reflection on the formative power of Christian worship and the importance of its study, especially in missionary contexts. 1

죄와 고백 : 초기 한국 개신교 의례를 중심으로

이 글은 한국 초기 개신교 의례에서 나타난 고백을 분석하고 그 성격을 파악하고자 한다. 고 백은 독백이 아닌 발화라는 특징을 갖고 있으며 의례에서 가장 잘 포착된다. 의례는 참여자의 몸짓에 의해서 만들어지기 때문에 우리는 의례가 어떻게 구성되는가에 주목했다. 이를 위해서 우선, 초기 개신교의 다양한 의례에서 등장하는 고백의 문법을 확인한 후, ‘평양 대부흥’의 의례 화를 살펴보았다. 고백을 가능하게 하는 설교, 찬송, 기도 등의 여러 감각적인 요소들을 살피고 고백이 만들어지는 과정에 주목했다. 평양 대부흥은 흔히 성령의 임재나 오순절 등의 성서적 이미지로 설명되고 기억되는데, 신자들이 적극적으로 수행한 고백이 중심에 있었다. ‘진정한’ 고백에 관한 평가는 연출된 의례의 성공을 의미했으며, 이는 의례 참여자들이 빚어낸 행위의 ‘열심’을 해석한 것이었다.

안동 지역의 초기 개신교 특징 : 유학과의 관련성을 중심으로

안동 지역의 초기 개신교 특징 : 유학과의 관련성을 중심으로

William Tyndale and Erasmus on How to Read the Bible: A Newly Discovered Manuscript of the English Enchiridion

British Library MS Additional 89149, newly discovered in 2015 at Alnwick Castle, is a previously unknown translation of Erasmus’ Enchiridion militis Christiani into English. Dated 1523, it now represents the earliest surviving English translation of any work by Erasmus. This article presents detailed verbal evidence that associates the vocabulary of imitatio in the translation with William Tyndale’s hermeneutic work on scripture, including his New Testament of 1525–1526. It thus offers the strongest evidence to date of Tyndale's hand in the English Enchiridion, long the subject of scholarly enquiry. It also provides a fresh interpretation of Tyndale’s engagement with Erasmian humanism, and his position on disputes over literal and figurative senses in early Protestantism. At the heart of this is the distinctive English word ‘counterfeit’, the meanings of which are traced through a range of medieval and Renaissance sources, from Chaucer onwards.

Рецензию на монографию Галкиной Е.В. «Ранний американский протестантизм: истоки, становление, многообразие форм»

Рецензию на монографию Галкиной Е.В. «Ранний американский протестантизм: истоки, становление, многообразие форм»

Дуальная система образования Германии: исторический контекст

The article deals with the genesis of the dual system of education in Germany in the historical context: from medieval craft guilds and the formation of Protestantism labour ethics to modern problems associated with the globalization of the educational space, the digitalization of the economy and production, migration crises. It is shown that the dual education in Germany is a unique system, (1) having the established technological parameters of the ratio of theory and practice, the contract interaction of the student and the employer, the economic support of the learning process; (2) based on the paradigm of labour education; (3) involving social partnership of vocational schools and industrial enterprises, supported by the Federal government and the Government of Germany States, Federal Institute of vocational education, public organizations. The stages in the history of the development of the dual education in Germany are described: a creation of the labour schools during the early and ascetic Protestantism, the emergence of the educational theory that combines the idea of work ethic and moral culture in the era of pragmatic Protestantism, Kerschensteiner’s reform of labour (national) school in the era of neo-Protestantism, disintegration of education in the era of world wars and ideological crises, the revival of the dual system of education and its problems in the era of globalism. The results of the analysis of historical and pedagogical research of Russian and foreign authors, official normative legal documents regulating the process of dual education in Germany, the materials of the Congress on professional education, held in Berlin in June 2018 are presented, which allowed to determine the patterns and prospects of development of the dual system of education in Germany.

The multiplier nature of the European Reformation and the peculiarities of its perception in Ukraine

The 500th anniversary of theReformation (1517 - 2017), which is celebrated in Ukraine at the state level, gives an opportunity to evaluate this event in various dimensions of its foundation, development and transformation in the context of the European transition from feudal relations and their citadel - the Catholic Church to the establishment of protestantism as an innovation faith and ideologiy of a new social formation. The process of the spread of early protestantism in Ukraine an its perception by the Ukrainian mentality and modern functionality in independent Ukraine are researched

A Real Presence: Religious and Social Dynamics of the Eucharistic Conflicts in Early Modern Augsburg, 1520–1530 by Joel Van Amberg (review)

A Real Presence: Religious and Social Dynamics of Eucharistic Conflicts in Early Modern Augsburg, 1520-1530. By Joel Van Amberg. [Studies in History of Christian Traditions, Vol. 158.] (Leiden: Brill. 2012. Pp. x, 270. $143.00. ISBN 978-90-04-21698-3.)The Eucharistic Controversy was perhaps most significant crisis to afflict early Protestantism, leading to division between Lutherans and reformed Protestants. In this study of controversy in Augsburg, Joel Van Amberg presents laity as critical arbiters in struggle over doctrine. Opposition to Catholic and Lutheran views on sacrament-what author deems anti-corporealism-represented a rejection of series of overlapping, mutually reinforcing hierarchies (p. 4), and political, that came to dominate social, economic, and political life in late-medieval Augsburg. The revolutionary implications of anti-corporealism ensured, however, that it could never become dominant faith within city. Rather, by 1530, author maintains, sectarian groups had already begun move toward Anabaptism, redefining themselves around rejection of infant baptism rather than real presence.There is much about thesis that is attractive, but serious problems emerge on close examination of case studies that form core of book. A key figure is Hans Schilling, a radical who encouraged revolution ideas in minds of some of his congregants by providing them with religious vocabulary through which to express their discontent (pp. 56-57). The problem is, we do not know what Schilling actually said. None of his sermons survived, and comments preserved in chronicles and other sources-themselves very few in number- refer to Schilling's behavior rather than his words. Consequently, author can only speculate on content of sermons. We are told that the first chapters of Luke provide some passages for a fiery populist preacher (p. 59). These are enumerated, but there is no evidence that Schilling actually preached on these irresistible passages. Indeed, author discusses revolutionary content of Luke 6 all while admitting that Schilling would never get chance to preach beyond chapter three (p. 59). A report that Schilling engaged in insulting (p. 63) about reserving host in ciborium is used as evidence of his anticorporealist theology even though details of this talk are lacking. Schilling was supposed to have cut up a radish and distributed it to a group of people at a dinner in mockery of sacrament. This act is provided as evidence of Schilling's views on Eucharist, although author admits that this story only appears in a seventeenth-century text and is not corroborated by any contemporary source. …

A Switch of Language: Elizabeth I's Use of the Vernacular as a Key to her Early Protestantism

AbstractFrom childhood Elizabeth was trained in the ‘New Learning’ and brought up under Protestant influences. Her juvenilia attest to this immersion in Protestant and humanist education. The youthful Elizabeth often wrote formal Latin letters in the style of the mediaeval ars dictaminis replete with humanist and Protestant imagery. She continued this style of writing throughout her brother's reign. However, after Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity of 1549, Elizabeth stopped writing formal Latin letters to her brother and switched to formal English ones instead. This essay will argue that this switch was intentional on the part of Elizabeth; and set within the context of the time gives an early clue to Elizabeth's solidarity with her brother's Protestant efforts in England.

Lex manens? Some problems in the interpretation of the law in Early Protestantism

Article Lex manens? Some problems in the interpretation of the law in Early Protestantism was published on May 1, 2012 in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie (volume 54, issue 2).

"The Eye of Man Hath Not Heard": Shakespeare, Synaesthesia, and Post-Reformation Phenomenology

Phenomenology and TheaterWhy does Shakespeare's Bottom paraphrase Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians (2:9) when he awakens from his dream: of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was? (4.1.207- 10). ' Why does he mangle this gospel verse synaesthetically, crossing hearing and vision, tasting and touching? This essay examines the theologically inflected sensorium of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream by taking ancient theories of syn-aesthesia, or sensing- with, as models for theatrical phenomenology.At the broadest level, Bottom's reference to Paul helps to reconfigure the question of how Reformation dispositions towards the body and the senses informed the experience of theatergoing in early modern England. Current accounts of the historical phenomenology of post-Reformation theater often begin with the basic premise that Protestants devalued sensory experience and bodily praxis. The embodied dimensions of both ritual and theater seem to belong to the incarnational Catholic practices that Protestants sought to disenchant - the adoration of statues of the Virgin and the saints, or the belief that Christ's body and blood were physically present in the consecrated Host. Along these lines, one scholar has suggested that because it is was an embodied phenomenon, theater had an irreducibly Catholic aspect in post-Reformation England.2 Relying on similar assumptions about the body, scholars interested in outlining a Protestant phenomenology of theater often tend to emphasize the inward or the cognitive, pitting the eye of faith against the of the body.3 In both cases, the Reformation becomes a kind of engine of modernity, which demystified the material world in general, not just Catholic rituals and devotional objects.4 And there is much evidence to ground this side of the story, especially as far as the long-term effects of the Reformation might be concerned. Yet to take this position as typical of early Protestantism is to skip an important step in a long and uneven process of English and Continental secularization that could be said to culminate in (not to begin with) the predominance of cognitivist views of religion, in which religious truths were privatized as immaterial, while the spheres of the body and of common sense were relegated to the profane space outside of the church.5Far from giving up the body as either irredeemably Catholic or clearly profane, early modern Protestants such as John Calvin and John Foxe often turned to the body as a divine creation in the world even as they repudiated idols of the human mind and hand. Calvin, for instance, reviews the body's divine origins, its ties to Christ's human body, and its full participation in resurrection when he argues for the body's positive role in the Protestant sacraments. Warning simultaneously of the dangers of idolatrous acts of worship, he dismisses the notion that the bodily component of worship is irrelevant: lordes supper, is it receaved in the minde only, and not also in the handes and mouth? Hath god engraven in oure bodyes the armes and badges of his sonne, that we afterward shuld pollute our selves?6 As with doctrinal disputes over divine grace as the sole engine of salvation, a strict distinction between divine and human agency can be understood to structure Protestant attitudes towards the body: living beings (and nature more broadly) offered reformers dynamic exemplars of divine creations on earth, which they were fond of contrasting with products of human artifice.The Lollard Conclusions, reprinted in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, offer a particularly pithy version of a claim that runs though many iconoclastic writings of this period, up through Calvin and the English reformers: For God did not saye, let us make a block or stone unto our likenes and image, but let us make man. …

Public Scripture Reading Rituals in Early Korean Protestantism

Many scholars assert that the Bible study meeting, which has public scripture reading as its central feature, played a crucial role in the rapid growth of Korean Protestantism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most scholars agree that the Bible study meeting promoted “the Great Revival,” which led to a fourfold increase in church membership in Korea between 1903 and 1907. These meetings have not been widely studied by academics. Analysis of the Korean public scripture reading from a comparative perspective provides a vivid illustration of the social function of the performative dimension of scriptures, but it also suggests the need to further define the meaning of “performative.” As to the first point, the particular ways in which the Bible was read in the Korean context contributed to the growing number of converts to Christianity. Bible readings in the context of study groups in early Korean Protestantism facilitated the absorption of Christianity into Korean culture by building on traditional religious practices and by offering a way for native Koreans to take the lead in the growth of the new religion. Second, these scripture readings were performative in the way defined by J. L. Austin’s theory of performative speech and elaborated by Roy Rappaport’s description of the indexical function of ritual, because they affected Koreans’ conversions into Christianity and strengthened their Christian faith. Austin’s necessary conditions of performative utterances were satisfied through ritualization of the activity of reading and ritualization of the Bible itself.

Nyahovsky teachings as a monument of pro-reform literature

The activities of early Protestantism have been sufficiently researched, especially nowadays. But most of the works are mostly about his penetration into the Ukrainian land and adaptation to new socio-historical conditions. Unfortunately, the original base of early Protestantism, in particular Calvinism, has not been practically studied, though we have preserved two particularly noteworthy testimonies of Ukrainian Calvinists. One of them is the Gospel teachings that emerged in the sixteenth century. in Transcarpathia in the village of Nyagovo of the present Tyachiv district. The monument is so unexplored that even the Calvinist content is expressed in the scientific literature. In this connection, we set ourselves the task of analyzing the content of this monument and bringing it to Calvinism, that is, to reformation.

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism by Roger M. Payne (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. x + 123 pp. ISBN: 1-57233-015-5)

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism by Roger M. Payne (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. x + 123 pp. ISBN: 1-57233-015-5)

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism.

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism.