[KS] most Christian city in Asia

[John Holstein]

In regards to the popularity of Christianity in Korea, a Protestant
missionary recently told me that he has noticed a decline in the
number of Christians, beginning around the '88 Olympics. He says that
Korea is slowly becoming a more secular society, and that the
Christian churches aren't adapting to this change.

--- "T.N. Park" <tnpark at mac.com> wrote:
> Wayne Patterson <wayne.patterson at snc.edu> wrote:
> 
> >Dear Ruediger --
> >
> >	I too have seen this quote somewhere but, like you, cannot 
> >remember where I saw it.  But, the fact of the matter is that 
> >the statement is not true.  Manila would qualify as the most 
> >Christian (Catholic) city in Asia.
> 
> You have touched upon a key problem one encounters when studying
> religion in Korea: 'kidokkyo,' the word for Protestant, is probably
> more often than not translated as 'Christian.' This, in turn, leads
> to a reverse translation of 'Christian' being translated, often
> inappropriately, as 'kidokkyo.'
> 
> This is often self-reinforced, even by Korean Catholics, who might
> say in English, "I'm not Christian, I'm Catholic."
> 
> Certainly it is sometimes useful to differentiate between Catholics
> on the one hand and Protestants on the other, but not to the point
> of labeling Catholics and Orthodox, both of whom have a notable
> historic presence in Korea, as non-Christian. Catholics make up a
> fairly significant minority in this country (former President Kim
> Daejung is Catholic), and the combined numbers of Catholics and
> Protestants make South Korea one of the most Christian countries in
> all of Asia, not just East Asia.
> 
> I'm not sure when/where the kidokkyo="Christian" label came into
> being in Korea, or how it ended up sticking so well, but I
> speculate it may have come from Protestant missionaries themselves,
> though I have nothing to back that up with. Does anybody know for
> sure?
> 
> A few years ago when I was a master's candidate at Yonsei, I took a
> class called "History of Christianity in Korea," and the professor
> was baffled when I and another student expressed interest in also
> knowing about the history of Catholicism in Korea, not just
> Protestantism. He had prepared nothing on Catholics, telling us
> they weren't "Christian." I think they have since renamed the
> course or changed the curriculum, though I'm not sure.
> 
> T'NP
> 


=====
John Holstein
Sungkyunkwan University
Seoul 110-745, Rep. of Korea
e-mail: jfholstein at yahoo.com
Cell phone: 82-17-727-0264; Office: 822-760-0264; Home: 822-942-7718
Web site "Korea Mosaic": http://koreamosaic.net

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