The Meaning of the Christianity in Kang Keong and the First Baptist Church in Korea

One of the most impressive thing in Kang Keong was the Churches.
There were so many Protestantism churches in Kang Keong.

In this journey, I could find out the reason why.
Actually Religion has very close contact with the Political situation.

In Korea, Christianity was a symbol and a hope for the declining Dynasty.
Choson Kingdom of was based on Confucian Philosophy, but in changing world of 18-19 century, Confucian philosophy could not resolve the problems what waning dynasty had confronted.

At that time, Catholic was considered as a new theory and a hope to resolve the problems of their kingdom among the scholars of progressive Confucian philosopher.

But during the colonization by the imperial Japan, Catholic Church had showed the limitation to that matter.

In late 19 century, New religion came into Korea through China. It was the Protestantism.
The missionary came from mainly the U.S.
Protestantism was very strong background for Korean people to fight against the imperialist of Japan.

The reason that the Protestantism could support for Korean Independence was there was no Protestantism in Japan.

Even though Japan had accepted Catholic very early, the Christianity could not be approved by the Government.

For Koreans, the Protestantism and America was considered as a savior at that time.
Many people in Korea began to accept the Protestantism for their faith.

Up until now, the Protestantism is one of the most powerful religious faction with Buddhism and Catholic.

I went up to the hill where all city could be seen. The big and high building was the Protestantism church.

Among the protestantism, the Methodist and the baptist church were predominant in Kang Keong Area.

Especially, the baptist church was established in Kang Keong first time in Korea. 1n 1896 Edward Pauling was sent from
Boston to Korea as a first missionary.

The First worship service was held at the house of the first butler. His house was near the hill.

(The first Korean butler)

This house have been well preserved as a historical legacy by the local government.

This house has a really nice view. Here you can see far away.

The protestantism had been a center of national independence movement.
But international situation was changed, Japan and America became enemy from friend.

Due to the political atmosphere, American missionary had been ousted from Korea by Japanese.
By that time, Korean protestantism had suffered severe suppression.
Korean pastors were tortured to death and sentenced to death.

In this posting, I’d like to introduce the reason why Korea had accepted the Christianity so quickly and how they became powerful.

Next time, let me introduce how the Methodist church fought against Japanese oppression on Religion.