[KS] most Christian city in Asia

[Keith Pratt]

Pastor Hahn Manyoung told me a week ago that he places the high water mark
of Christianity (by which he means, no doubt, Protestantism) at 1992, when
1 in 4 Koreans claimed to be Christian. Since then middle-class
consumerism and apathy have begun to take the same toll in Korea as in the
UK.

Keith Pratt

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003, John Holstein wrote:

> 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
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard
> http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree
>
>