Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) was a Protestant denomination based in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
; it is currently separated into many branches.
History
The first Korean Presbyterian church was founded by
Seo Sang-ryun
Seo Sang-ryun (, 1848–1926), along with his brother Seo Sang-u (), founded the first Protestant church in Korea in 1884. It was established in the village of Sorae, Hwanghae province, where his uncle lived.
Seo Sang-ryun was involved in the t ...
in
Hwanghae
Hwanghae Province (''Hwanghae-do'' ) was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon era. Hwanghae was located in the northwest of Korea. The provincial capital was Haeju. The regional name for the province was Haeseo.
History
In 139 ...
province in 1884.
Shortly thereafter, several foreign Presbyterian missionaries arrived on the peninsula, including
Horace Allen,
Horace G. Underwood, and
Henry Davies.
Like other Christian groups, the Korean Presbyterians such as
Gil Seon-ju were closely involved in the peaceful
March 1st Movement
The March 1st Movement, also known as the Sam-il (3-1) Movement (Hangul: 삼일 운동; Hanja: 三一 運動), was a protest movement by Korean people and students calling for independence from Japan in 1919, and protesting forced assimilation ...
for Korean independence in 1919.
By 1937, the Presbyterian churches were largely independent of financial support from the United States.
[Kenneth Scott Latourette, ''Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: Vol. 5: The Twentieth century outside Europe'' (1962) pp 414-5] Presbyterianism in Korea was reconstructed after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1947. The church adopted the name the Reformed Church in Korea.
In the 1950s, the church suffered tensions because of issues of theology, ecumenism, and worship. The first of these occurred in 1952, over issues related to ''shinto'' shrine worship, resulted in the formation of the
Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin). In the second in 1953, the "
Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea" separated from the PCK. In the third schism in 1959, the Presbyterian Church of Korea broke into two equal sections: the
Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap)
The Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap) is a mainline Protestant denomination based in South Korea; it currently has the second largest membership of any Presbyterian denomination in the world. It is affiliated with its daughter denomination, ...
and The
Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong)
The Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) is an Evangelical Presbyterian denomination, which is the biggest Christian church in South Korea. The headquarters of the church is in Seoul, South Korea.
History
In 1959 at the 44th General Assembly ...
.
General assembly
See also
*
Christianity in Korea
The practice of Christianity in Korea is marginal in North Korea, but significant in South Korea, where it revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 millionAccording to figures compiled by ...
*
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
*
Presbyterianism in South Korea
In South Korea, there are roughly 20.5 million Christians of whom 15 million are Protestants; of those some 9 to 10 million are Presbyterians. Presbyterians in South Korea worship in over 100 different Presbyterian denominational churches who trac ...
References
Further reading
* Clark, Donald N. ''Christianity in Modern Korea'' (University Press of America, 1986)
* Grayson, James H. ''Korea—A Religious History'' (Routledge Curzon, 2002)
* Kang, Wi Jo. ''Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea: A History of Christianity and Politics'' ( State University of New York Press, 1997)
* Latourette, Kenneth Scott. ''Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: Vol. 5: The Twentieth century outside Europe'' (1962) pp 412–23
* Lee, Timothy S. "A Political Factor in the Rise of Protestantism in Korea: Protestantism and the 1919 March First Movement," ''Church History'' 2000. 69#1 pp 116–42
in JSTOR* Mullins, Mark, and Richard Fox Young, eds. ''Perspectives on Christianity in Korea and Japan: The Gospel and Culture in East Asia'' (Edwin Mellen, 1995)
* Park, Chung-shin. ''Protestantism and Politics in Korea'' (U. of Washington Press, 2003)
*
*
{{Christianity in Korea
Presbyterianism in South Korea
Religious organizations established in 1884