[KS] Hananim

[James H Grayson]

12.12.03

Dear List readers,
The discussion of the origins of the term 'Hananim' have made for 
very interesting reading.

In terms of its usage in Protestant circles,  the term  originates 
with the translation of the New Testament by John Ross, a 
missionary of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland residing 
in Manchuria from the early 1870s. Before he went to China, Ross 
was already bi-lingual as he was a native Gaelic speaker. In total 
he had a command of 11 languages. In the nineteenth century, 
missionaries were divided over the 'Term Question' - that is, what 
term do you use for the One and Only God - an issue which had 
been wrestled with by the Jesuits centuries before. There are 
essentially three options - use an existing term, transliterate a 
European (Greek or Latin) term, or create a new term. The Jesuits 
opted for the latter. Most Protestants in China (including the 
eminent James Legge) opted for the first option, choosing the term 
Shang-ti. They did so because of a type of missionary theology 
called Fulfillment Theology, that is the high god of a particular 
people is in fact the one and only god known through Jesus Christ. 
Ross was clearly in this camp. In fact, his penultimate book 
published in 1909 was called 'The Original Religion of China' and is 
based on this thinking. It also fits in with an academic line of 
thought from Andrew Lang to Wilhelm Schmidt. 

Thus, when Ross conceived the idea of translating the New 
Testament in the mid-1870s, he had a principle that wherever 
possible Korean terms should be used in preference to Chinese or 
Sino-Korean terms. This was especially important regarding the 
term for God. This issue would have been discussed at length with 
the varying team of Korean translators who worked with him and 
his brother-in-law John McIntyre. The translation work was done 
from the Delegates' Version of the Chinese Bible and the Greek 
Bible, and was done four times before the publication of the first 
two Gospels in 1882.  Certainly, the term Hananim and variants 
must have had some general currency by that time as it was 
known to Ross's colleagues who were moderately educated, from 
the northwestern part of the peninsula, and were neither Catholics 
nor members of the Tonghak. 

One possible explanation for why there were three (or more?) 
different versions of the term may be that we should not think of 
Hananim as a proper name, but rather think of it as a descriptive 
word - the ruler of Heaven. If that is the case, to my mind it would 
not be surprising to find variation in terminology.  What is important 
is what is being described, a high god.  High gods are not unusual 
in world pantheons, and it would be no surprise to find such a diety 
amongst the Korean pantheon. In fact, one could argue that one 
reason for the ready acceptance of Catholicism is that the concept 
behind 'Ch'onju' resonated with an existing belief. 

The explanation 'hana' in 'Hananim' as meaning 'one' is quite 
common  amongst many Protestants today, and I think may have 
begun with ideas of James Gale. Certainly, it is often used by 
contemporary Protestants to distinguish the 'Christian' God from 
what they see as the polytheistic high god of Korea. This idea, of 
course, runs counter to the intention of people such as John Ross.

It is my impression that overwhelmingly contemporary Korean 
Protestants use the term 'Hananim' for God rather than 'Hanunim'.  
The latter term was used in the first thoroughly modern translation 
of the Bible, the Kongdong ponyok of the early 1970s with  
Protestant and Catholic translators, but did not find favour with 
many Protestants because it was the term popularly used by the 
Catholic Church. The most recent translation, the P'yojun sae 
ponyok of the early 1990s reverts back to using 'Hananim'. 

For me, the importance historically of the Ross Translation is it 
that led to the formation of groups of (Protestant?) Christians before 
the arrival of missionaries in the mid-1880s. This has meant that, 
unusually, the Protestant community (like the Catholic community) 
was self-evangelised from the beginning, and forms an important 
part of the explanation for the rapid growth of Christianity in Korea. 
The use of the word 'Hananim',  whatever its history, is a key part 
of that history.

Best wishes,
James H. Grayson




























Prof. James H Grayson, Ph.D.
Director, Centre for Korean Studies
School of East Asian Studies
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, UK  S10 2UJ

j.h.grayson at sheffield.ac.uk

Office: +44 114 222-8418
FAX:  +44 114 222-8432