Abstract
Korean churches participated in the democratization movement for three main reasons: first, to set up a new legitimacy formula at a time of rapid socioeconomic change; second, to respond to the demands from other social movements by providing shelters to antigovernment dissidents; and, third, to find themselves a new niche market. Even though both Protestant and Catholic churches participated actively in democratization movements, the Catholic Church and activists gained the upper hand, succeeding in making society believe that they had played a more active role in democratization, even though Protestant churches suffered more imprisonment, incarceration and martyrs. While progressive Protestant activists struggled with conservatives over fighting against dictatorship, Catholic activists overcame the existing division within their own community by the principle of “unity amid diversity” establishing the belief that the Catholic Church contributed more to democratization than Protestant ones.
Hyug Baeg Im, “Christian Churches and Democratization in South Korea,” in Tun-jen Cheng and Debbie Brown (eds.), Religious Organizations and Democracy in Contemporary Asia (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004).
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Notes
- 1.
Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 74.
- 2.
Bruce Cumings, “The Abortive Abertura: South Korea in the Light of Latin American Experience,” New Left Review, no. 173 (1989): 7–8.
- 3.
Jang Jip Choi, “Kwadae Sungjang Kukgaeui Hyungsunggwa Jungchi Kyunyuleui Jungae” [The formation of the overdeveloped state and the development of political cleavages], in Hankook Hyundae Jungchieui kujowa Byunhwa [The Structure and Change of Contemporary Korean Politics] (Seoul: Kkachi, 1989), 104.
- 4.
Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), 49.
- 5.
Chung-Shin Park, Protestantism and Politics in Korea (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2003), 174.
- 6.
Ibid., p. 178.
- 7.
Nyung Kim, “The Politics of Religion in South Korea, 1974–1989: The Catholic Church’s Political Opposition to the Authoritarian State,” (PhD diss., University of Washington, 1993), 221–227.
- 8.
In-Chul Kang, “Religion and the Democratization Movement,” Korea Journal 40, no. 2 (2000): 234.
- 9.
Park, pp. 183–184.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 189.
- 11.
Dohyup Shin, “The Effects of Organizational Coupling on the Legitimacy of Religious Organizations and Social Movements: An Organizational Analysis of Korean Religion in the Democratization Movement, 1972–1987,” PONPO (Program on Non-Profit Organizations), Working Paper No. 203, and ISPS (Institution for Social and Policy Studies), Working Paper No. 2203 (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1994), 4–7.
- 12.
Ibid., p. 6.
- 13.
Juan J. Linz, “Opposition to and under an Authoritarian Regime: The Case of Spain,” in Robert A. Dahl, ed., Regimes and Opposition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1973), 200–201.
- 14.
Shin, p. 4.
- 15.
Hyug Baeg Im, “The Rise of Bureaucratic Authoritarianism in South Korea,” World Politics 34, no. 2 (1987): 254.
- 16.
Dong-Sik Yu, Hankook Sinhakeui Kwangmaek [The veins of Korean theology] (Seoul: Junmangsa, 1982), 238. Prominent leaders of Minjung Theology included the Reverends Moo Ik Hwan, Yu Dong Sik, Seo Nam Dong, Ahn Byung Moo, Park Hyug-Kyu, Moon Dong-Hwan, Kim Chan Kook, and Yoon Sung Bum.
- 17.
Park, p. 189.
- 18.
Shin, p. 32.
- 19.
The six denominations of the KNCC are the Christ Presbyterian Assembly of Korea, Jesus Presbyterian Church of Korea, Salvation Army in Korea, Methodist Church, Anglican Church and Christ Evangelical Church of Korea.
- 20.
Kim, p. 8.
- 21.
Arthur F. McGovern, “Catholic Social Teachings: A Brief History,” in Pedro Ramet, ed., Catholicism and Politics in Communist Societies (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990), 37.
- 22.
Ibid., p. 40.
- 23.
Shin, p. 38.
- 24.
Ibid., p. 39.
- 25.
Mainwaring affirmed this view by noting that “the Church enjoys greater legitimacy in popular circles than do most politicians or political movements … because the Church does not worry about coming to power, it can remain more concerned with pedagogical issues than popular movements or political parties.” See Scott Mainwaring, The Catholic Church and Politics in Brazil, 1916–1985 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1986), 241–242.
- 26.
Kim, pp. 352.
- 27.
Ibid., p. 353.
- 28.
Park, pp. 40–41.
- 29.
Chi Jun Roh and In-Chul Kang, “Haebanghu Hankook Sahoe Byundonggwa Jonggyo” [Social changes and religion in Korea since liberation], in Korea Research Foundation, ed., Collection of Essays Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of National Liberation, Vol.4 (Seoul: Korea Research Foundation, 1995), 195, 207.
- 30.
Soo-In Lee, “Hankookeui Kukgawa Siminsahoe mit Gaesingyoeui Jungchisahoejuk Taedo Byundongeh Gwanhan Younku” [A Study of the State and Civil Society and the Changes of Political Attitudes of the Protestant Church in Korea] (PhD diss., Ewha Womans University, 2002), 142.
- 31.
Roh and Kang, pp. 216–217.
- 32.
Kang, p. 226.
- 33.
Park, p. 192.
- 34.
Hyun Chin Lim, Hyundae Hankoogwa Jongsok Iron [Modern Korea and Dependency Theory] (Seoul: Seoul National University Press, 1987), 249–273.
- 35.
Thomas Robbins, “Cults, Converts and Charisma: The Sociology of New Religious Movements,” Current Sociology 36, no. 1 (1988): 164–168.
- 36.
Kang, p. 229.
- 37.
Ibid., pp. 230–231.
- 38.
Park, p. 192.
- 39.
Ibid., p. 193.
- 40.
Hak-Kyu Sohn, “Political Opposition and the Yushin System: Radicalization in South Korea, 1972–1979” (PhD diss., University of Oxford, 1988), 133–134.
- 41.
Kim, p. 261.
- 42.
Ibid., p. 267.
- 43.
Chul Hee Chung, “Hankook Minjuhwa Undongeui Sahoejuk Kiwon” [Social origins of democracy movements in Korea], Hankook Sahoehak [Korean Journal of Sociology] 29 (Autumn 1995): 501–532.
- 44.
Hyug Baeg Im, “Politics of Democratic Transition from Authoritarian Rule in South Korea,” in Sang-Yong Choi, ed., Democracy in Korea: Its Ideals and Realities (Seoul: Korean Political Science Association, 1997), 84–85.
- 45.
Park, pp. 186–187.
- 46.
Shin, pp. 40–41.
- 47.
Park, p. 192.
- 48.
Shin, p. 44.
- 49.
Scott Mainwaring and Alexander Wilde, The Progressive Church in Latin America (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989), 26.
- 50.
Shin, p. 41.
- 51.
Ibid., p. 42.
- 52.
Kang, p. 243.
- 53.
Kim, p. 351.
- 54.
Ibid., p. 352.
- 55.
Shin, p. 44. The number of Protestant ministers who participated in the democratization movement was 12,700 of 40,700 (about 30%) in 1983, while the number of participating Catholic priests was 200 of 1200 (about 17%) in 1984.
- 56.
Shin, pp. 45–46.
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Im, H.B. (2020). Christian Churches and Democratization in South Korea. In: Democratization and Democracy in South Korea, 1960–Present. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3703-5_5
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