[KS] Beyond Dallet

[Jacqueline Pak]

 Dear Dr. Grayson,

 Thank you for your comments.
 Your reply makes me realize that religion and race are indeed a volatile
mix
 and hardly "simplistic" matters of suggestion.

 Are we really disagreeing?  In terms of Janus-faced nationalism with its
 positive/negative pulls, its more negative manifestation is racism based on
 sentiments of racial and ethnic superiority, prejudice or exclusion.
Often,
 racism accompanies differences of perception. I was, in fact, referring to
 the historically (and historiographically) encoded problematique within the
 nature of the Western gaze or perception of the "other people" which, as
you
 say, were "not an unsual phenomenon".  What does the very prevalence of
 attitude and behavior toward 'the other' reveal? Does that itself not make
 an arresting subject of inquiry?

 As a fifth-generation Korean Christian, I can assure you that I have all
the
 respect and appreciation in the world for the sacrifices of the early
 missionaries and early Christians in Korea, which after all is a phenomenal
 success story as a living legacy to such early sacrifices. Yet, that is
 precisely why we need to explore more in terms of  "understanding and
 scholarship".  Surely, there are issues beyond implanting Christian faith
on
 a foreign soil. The Korean Christian history embodies much of the
 self-defining tensions, paradoxes and struggles of modern history of the
 nation itself.  And my earlier query and concerns were broader than just
 Dallet's accounts.  As a possible 'Orientalist critique', I was more
 intrigued by the unfolding process of relationship and dynamics between
 early missionaries and Korean Christian converts, and the evolving manner
of
 difference and/or assimilation of racial/cultural perception between
 them --- as Koreans came to grasp and define what constituted
 Christianization and Westernization as well as modernization and
 democratization.

 For example, my own research into the lives of Protestant leader An
Ch'angho
 and Catholic An Chunggun amply revealed the racial and cultural cleavages
 between the Western missionaries and indigenous believers who felt
perfectly
 equal to them as Christian brothers, once they were converted.  Frequently,
 there was the thorny issue of self-determination and self-governing
 vis-a-vis foreign control and influence. I understand that there are
already
 studies being done about these and other issues between the early foreign
 missionaries and Korean Christians and hope to learn more on the new
 discourse and insights.

 Cheers,
 Jacqui




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