『환단고기』 위서론의 발생과 최근 동향

The Rise of the Forgery Theory about the Hwandangogi and Its Current Situation

979년 『환단고기』가 출간된 이후 『환단고기』는 많은 대중의 관심을 받았고 사학계에서도 이를 주시했다. 그러나 『환단고기』가 담은 고대사 내용은 역사학 계의 정통 학설과 양립할 수 없었다. 고대사학계의 몇몇 학자들은 『환단고기』가 위서라고 주장했다. 몇 편의 위서론 논문이 발표되었다. 그러나 그 논조와 내용은 대동 소이하며, 『환단고기』의 가치를 인정하는 다수의 학자들에 의해서 충분히 반박되었 다. 한동안 잠잠하던 위서론이 최근 젊은 역사전공자들을 중심으로 다시 제기되었 는데, 이들은 『환단고기』의 내용에 대한 비판이 아니라 『환단고기』를 중심으로 하는 재야사학계의 정통성과 학문적 권위를 문제 삼고 있다. 정통 역사학이 아닌 유사역사학이라는 것이다. 이 논문은 위서론의 성립 배경과 과정을 년대별로 살펴보고, 논박하는 한편, 최근 젊은 역사학자 모임에서 제기한 위서론을 검토 비판하면서, 위서론의 전반적 문제점을 드러내고 그 숨겨진 의도를 파악하고자 한다.

Since its publication in 1979, the Hwandangogi has received much attention from the general public, which interested many scholars in the historical circle. But its contents on the ancient history of Korea were so unique that they could not be harmonized with orthodox theories supported by mainstream scholars. In this context, some of the scholars studying on the Korean ancient history claimed that the Hwandangogi was a forgery by presenting several papers related to the theory of forgery. However, while points and contents they suggested were very similar with one another, their claims were sufficiently refuted by the majority of scholars who had accepted the significant value of the Hwandangogi. Recently, the forgery theory forgotten for a time has been proposed once again by a group of young scholars, who this time around did not target the texts themselves of this ancient scripture but instead raised doubts on the legitimacy of non-mainstream historians and their scholastic authority. The mainstream historians derogatorily claimed that the non-mainstream historians do not deal with orthodox history but pseudo history. This paper reviews in refutation the rise and development of the forgery theory about the Hwandangogi year by year. Also, this study shows an analytical criticism on the forgery theory that was recently suggested by a group of young historians. In this way, this paper discloses the overall problematic matters involving the forgery theory and probes into the hidden motivation behind it.