초기 한국 천주교의 변증론

A study on the Apology of the Early Korean Catholic Christian

&nbsp;&nbsp;The early Korean Catholic Christians have been persecuted by the government of Chosen dynasty. There were several Christian apologists appeared in the late 18th and the early 19th century. In this paper three christian apologists are introduced. Jeong-Yakyong was one of the most brilliant thinkers in the 18th century. He accepted the Christian faith in his youth, but gave it up in the persecution situation in 1791. But the influence of Christian faith remained in his thought. According to his idea, he tried to reform Jujahak(朱子學) with the personal concept about God.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Jeong-Yakjong, the martyr established the apology of the Korean Catholic church. He insisted that Christian faith should complete Confucianism. And he differentiated Christianity from Buddhism, Taoism and Shamanism. He appealed to the government to give religious freedom to the Christian who were the very loyal people.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Jeong-Hasang, son of Jeong-Yakjong died in 1939 under the persecution of the government. He also appealed to high authority of government that Christianity is not harmful but an innocent and ethical religion.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;In the works of Jeong-Yakjong and Jeong-Hasang, they tried to accord traditional and national values with Christian belief. Especially he emphasized that serving parents and the king(忠孝) is the most important command in the Christian faith.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Early Korean Catholic apologists showed the naive form of idea of Korean nation-church. And it means there was a close adhesion and relation between Christian church and national identity in Korea mission history.