현대 한국 교회 성장에 대한 종교현상학적 이해

In this paper, I describe a major religious reason for the church growth of Korea on the basis of my field research and from the point of view of beliefs and practices in the field of phenomenology of religion. To do this project, I prefer to use the categories of phenomenology of Christianity as described by Peter McKenzie who has adapted the methodology from Friedrich Heiler`s categories of phenomenology of religion.<BR> Before doing this project, however, for better understanding of many forms of contemporary Korean Christianity, a brief historical background of Korean Christianity is needed. Although the methodology of phenomenology of religion I use is largely ahistorical, its application does not deny or reject relevant historical facts for interpretation. Thus, I intend to develop a preliminary understanding of two contextual aspects that have led to the different kinds of forms within contemporary Christianity in Korea: the socio-political aspect and the religious aspect. The socio-political aspect influenced Koreans to follow Western Christendom, but the religious aspect led Koreans to make their own indigenous or syncretistic folk Christianity.<BR> Among these different types of Korean Christianity, I find the indigenous religious patterns by using the categories of phenomenology of religion which could be categorized into as follows: (1) regarding the church sanctuary as the holy place of God, (2) emphasizing Sunday morning worship service as God`s sacred time, (3) receiving sermons as God`s holy words, (4) worshipping God through offering tithe as God`s sacred materials, (5) belief in empowerment of pastors as God`s sacred people. These indigenous patterns of Korean Christianity must be a major religious reason for the church growth of Korea that should not be reduced or de-emphasized by Korean Churches.