숭양서원(崧陽書院)을 통해서 본 포은 정몽주의 정치사상사적 위상

The Nature and Educational Activities of Sungyang Academy in Kaesong

숭양서원(崧陽書院)은 도학서원(道學書院) 중 현재 북한에 남아 있는 가장 대표적인 서원이다. 숭양서원은 포은(圃隱) 정몽주의 절의사상(節義思想)과 화담(花潭) 서경덕(徐敬德)의 주기(主氣) 철학이 결합한 매우 독특한 서원문화를 지니고 있다. 본고에서는 우선 북한지역 서원의 유형별 분류를 통하여 도학서원으로서의 숭양서원이 과연 어떠한 정치사회적 위상을 지니고 있었는지를 다루었다. 다음으로 정몽주를 중심으로 한 도학 중심의 도통론이 역사의 진전과정에서 어떻게 해석되고 있었는지를 살펴보았다. 마지막으로는 한말에 이르러서는 정몽주 중심의 도통론이 서경덕을 중심으로 한 주기학파계열로 재편한다는 점과, 이러한 변화가 개성지역의 활발한 개화운동과 연결된다는 점을 다루었다. 숭양서원은 한양(漢陽) 중심의 문화와는 구별되는 개성의 독자적인 문화요소를 간직하고 있다는 점에서 앞으로 좀 더 활발한 논의가 요청된다.

Sungyang Academy 崧陽書院, located in the former Koryŏ capital of Kaesŏng, was the most powerful academy in the northern region and therefore deserves special attention. Unfortunately, the research of northern academies (which are now located in DPRK) has been hampered by some obstacles. Although there is still a necessity for further studies from more aspects, the case of Sungyang Academy certainly illustrates several crucial features specific to northern Korean academies. The central determinant for founding and operating Confucian academies in the northern provinces was the government policy of maintaining the military spirit and culture of the area and suppressing civil forms of education. The second feature of northern academies is their focus on military figures or banished scholars venerated in their shrines. This indigenous academic culture mirrors the national tradition of regarding the region as a frequent battlefield and the remote corner of the country used for exiled convicts. As seen in the case of Sungyang Academy, northern academies were not an expression of local decentralization, but were still under strong influence of the central government. Academies in the northern regions served as an instrument of central government ideology, even though they had little in common with their southern counterparts and had strong autonomous tendencies. On the other hand, during the the demise of the old socioeconomic order, Sungyang Academy showed progressive tendencies toward new trends: Sungyang Academy scholars proposed a new interpretation of Korean genealogy of the Way and established a school to following trends of modern education.