SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis attempts to apply inculturation theory to early Catholicism in Korea, focusing specifically on applying it in a way which recognises Korean society’s influence on the incoming belief system. Previous studies of the subject have tended to deal with Western influence on Korea’s society – my hope is to recognise and discuss the flow of influence in the opposite direction: how did mainstream Korean worldviews, including Confucianism, shape the Korean understanding and expression of Catholicism? The study period dates from 1784, when the first Korean was baptised into the Catholic church, to 1886, when France and Korea signed a treaty which gave the first official recognition to Catholicism within Korea. This work analyses the poems, letter, catechisms and writings of those involved with early Korean Catholicism to provide examples of points when a unique, syncretic form of Catholicism emerged, fusing Catholic beliefs with classical Eastern aesthetic forms and thought-modes.