The spread of religious beliefs and practices from the culture or nation of their origin is a well-known historical phenomenon in which I have had a professional and academic interest for more than thirty years. In particular, I have been interested in a multiplicity of issues arising from the transmission or “diffusion” of Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) into Korea beginning in the late eighteenth century. To examine this cultural process of religious diffusion, I developed a model derived from a pilot study of the broad historical trends characteristic of the first 600 years of Buddhism in China. This model described a process that I called “emplantation”—the rooting of a new religious tradition in the soil of a culture alien to its place of origin. The model showed that there were three phases through which any newly transmitted religion had to pass successfully before it could become a stable element within the religious culture of the receiving society. These three phases were (1) contact and explication, (2) penetration, and (3) expansion, with the first phase being divided into two subphases: contact and emplantation. In phase 1, the resolution of three issues was essential to the growth and acceptance of a new religion—linguistic and conceptual barriers that might impede the growth of the new religious tradition; toleration by the political elite of the receiving society of the new teaching and of the community accepting it; and the resolution of contradictions between the core values of the receiving culture and the religion being transmitted to it.
This research showed clearly that while all three of these issues were important to the acceptance and growth of a new religious tradition, the resolution of conflicts between two sets of core values was crucial to further growth and development. Even if “missionaries” of the new tradition had acquired a good knowledge of the local language, used terms that appropriately expressed key doctrines of the new religion, and were tolerated by the political leadership, any unresolved conflicts of values nonetheless would impede significantly the further development of the new tradition (Grayson Reference Grayson1985, 1–5).
In the case of the Christian church in Korea, which possesses a strongly Confucianized culture, this meant that conflicts between ritual expressions of filial piety (the core Confucian value) and idolatry (a key Christian concern) had to be resolved. In researching this issue, it became clear to me that the principal means by which this resolution was accomplished within the Protestant community was through the creation of a Christian ritual, popularly called ch'udo yebae (追 悼 禮 拜, grieving rite), the performance of which substituted for the performance of the parallel Confucian ancestral rites (Grayson Reference Grayson and Howard1998, 145–46). In this article, I examine how this rite came to be, how it became transformed and embellished as it grew, and how, in the end, this Christian rite in its turn experienced a form of Confucianization.
Chosŏn Korea: The Creation of a Model Confucian Society
Martina Deuchler, in her seminal work The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology (Reference Deuchler1992), examined in detail how Korean society from the late fourteenth century onward was transformed significantly by the increasingly thorough adoption and development of neo-Confucian sociopolitical philosophy in all aspects of the social, cultural, and political systems of the Chosŏn kingdom (1392–1910). This process of the “Confucianization” of society began early. Chŏng Tojŏn (鄭 道傳, ?–1398), perhaps the chief architect of the new state and of the radical implementation of the policy of Confucianization, argued (among other matters) for two socioreligious policies—the suppression of Buddhism, and the legal requirement for the performance of Confucian-style ancestral rituals through the maintenance of family ancestral shrines. In the sections on rituals of his comprehensive legal-philosophical work of 1394, Statutes for the Governance of Chosŏn (Chosŏn kyŏngguk-chŏn, 朝鮮經國典), he argued for the establishment of these shrines along with other ceremonial practices such as the Confucian coming-of-age ceremony as a means for creating a normative Confucian society (Chung Reference Chung, de Bary and Haboush1985, 63–73). Through the adoption of these and other policies for the Confucianization of the nation's culture, governments and society in general came to place a strong emphasis on “filial piety,” or hyo (Ch. xiao, 孝)—respect for one's parents and reverence toward one's ancestors—as the key personal and social moral value. In Confucianism, the visible—that is, the ritual expression of hyo—was seen to be the outward sign of the inner moral condition of the person. Consequently, elite families were encouraged to maintain family ancestral shrines and to regularly perform ancestral rituals, called chesa (Ch. jisi, 祭 祀), as a means of giving ritual expression to their sense of filial piety, as well as providing for the moral disciplining of their selves.
Over the course of centuries, the elite of this very long-lived dynasty pursued a policy of thoroughly “Confucianizing” all aspects of society. One principal means for the promotion of this project of “Confucianization” at all levels of society was the encouragement of village elites to adopt compacts, or hyangyak (Ch. xiangyue, 鄕約, village compact), that bound the members of village society to adhere to Confucian moral concepts and patterns of behavior (Henthorn Reference Henthorn1971, 161–62; Lee Reference Lee1984, 209). The project to adopt these covenants began in the early sixteenth century under the auspices of the radical reformer Cho Kwangjo (趙 光祖, 1482–1519) and continued to be pursued throughout the century. Prominent among the promoters of these compacts were the two greatest intellectual figures of the century, Yi Hwang (李 滉, 1501–70, pen name T'oegye, 退溪) and Yi I (李 珥, 1536–84, pen name Yulgok, 栗谷). The latter's format for the compacts appears to have become the standard form that was adopted generally throughout the dynasty's history (Tadao Reference Tadao, Theodore de Bary and Kim Haboush1985, 323–44).Footnote 1
As ritual became increasingly important in the project to express Confucian values formally, the use of books of ritual practice was encouraged in order to create a uniformity of practice. The standard handbook in use throughout Korea was the Jiali (Kor. Karye, 家禮, Book of Family Ritual) by Zhu Xi (朱 熹, 1130–1200), which contains precise descriptions of how to perform the four types of rites that were thought to maintain proper social etiquette.Footnote 2 These rites were the capping or coming-of-age ceremony, the marriage ceremony, mourning rites, and ancestral ceremonies.Footnote 3 The Jiali contains a detailed outline of each stage of each ceremony, providing the precise words to be used and indicating the exact actions to be taken (kneeling, movement to a new place, and so forth). Under the section on sacrificial (i.e., ancestral) rites, the Jiali specifies six separate types of rituals—rituals for the four seasons, the earliest ancestor, early ancestors, the “fathers,” death dates, and sacrifices at grave sites. In the sense of its precise description of ritual actions and ritual phrases, the Jiali is the Confucian equivalent of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, first published in 1662. Among the ancestral rituals, the death date memorial, or ki'il-je (Ch. jiri-ji, 忌日祭), was the principal family ceremony, as it became the vehicle for the collective ritual expression of filial piety.
By the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, Korean culture had been significantly remolded by an ongoing project for the Confucianization of society that had, for our interest, three developments: a focus on the importance of filial piety as a core personal and social moral value; the prescription of the expression of filial piety through the regular ritual performance of ancestral rites; and the use of books of ritual practice to ensure conformity to accepted canons of action and presentation.
Idolatry and Memorial Rites
By the late eighteenth century, when Roman Catholic Christianity began to spread into Korea from China, filial piety, ritually expressed through chesa, had come to be seen as the core moral value upholding society. However, contrary to the urgings of the earliest Jesuit missionaries to China, the Vatican finally decreed that Confucian ancestral rituals were idolatrous because they were thought to be the worship of spirits other than Almighty God and not memorial rites.Footnote 4 In Christian theology, the uniqueness of God and the consequent worship of him alone is a key moral and theological value.Footnote 5 This view is summarized in the first two of the Ten Commandments, which enjoin the believer to worship God alone and to make no idols.Footnote 6 Thus, Christianity in its earliest stages in Korea had to deal with a clash of two core values: the Confucian values of Korean society as embodied in concepts of filial piety, and the values of the new religion proscribing the practice of idolatry. The result of this clash was more than three-quarters of a century of severe persecution of the Roman Catholic Church, whereby successive Korean governments attempted to eradicate what was seen to be a pernicious doctrine, resulting in the deaths of thousands of early Catholic believers (Grayson Reference Grayson2002, 214–46).Footnote 7
Following the signing of Western-style diplomatic treaties by the Korean government in the mid-1880s, various Protestant missionary bodies, largely North American Methodists and Presbyterians, began to establish missionary work there. Protestant missionaries of all denominations took the same view toward the performance of the chesa rites as had the Catholic Church, with the result that converts to either Methodism or Presbyterianism were forbidden to participate in them. Although the Korean government of the late nineteenth century did not pursue a policy of persecution for noncompliance in the practice of ancestral rituals, centuries of Confucian moral discipline had created in the minds of the early converts a strong desire to find a way to ritually express their feelings for their deceased parents, especially on their death date.
Four Stages in the Development of Ch'udo yebae
Stage One, 1897: An Early Resolution to the Conflict of Values
On April 5, 1885, Easter Day, the first formally appointed Protestant missionaries arrived in Korea, among whom was the Reverend Henry Gerhard Appenzeller (1858–1902), representing the Methodist Episcopal Church (Northern Methodist Church of the United States) (Moffett Reference Moffett2005, 2:532–36; Paik Reference Paik1929, 82–95, 110–22). Appenzeller became a leader in the educational and publications ministry, founding the first Western-style boys' school, Paeje haktang, in 1886, and establishing and editing the first Methodist church newspaper, Chyosyŏn K'ŭrisŭdo-in hoebo (죠션 크리스도인 회보; title in English, The Korean Christian Advocate), in 1897. This newspaper, published fortnightly, was the principal means by which early converts and church leaders could keep up to date about events held in other churches and learn about the experiences of other early Christian communities as they tried to live a Christian life in a non-Christian society. Consequently, it is a prime source of information for historians of the early Korean church about the experiences of the earliest Protestant communities. The newspaper had a regular column called Hoejyung sinmun (회즁신문, News from the Churches), which discussed controversial issues that had come up and how individual churches or converts had dealt with them. In the “News” section of the issue for August 11, 1897, we find a reference to the conflict that had developed in the minds of early Korean Christians over the propriety of observing ancestral rituals.Footnote 8
Currently, Yi Muyŏng,Footnote 9 who is the Director of the Royal Household Agency, is a beloved brother of our church. The 29th day of the sixth lunar month was the second memorial death dayFootnote 10 of his mother. This brother, with a grief-striken mind and deep emotion, asked “How can I restrain [these feelings]? We worship God, and believe in the Lord Our Saviour, but unlike other people we can't put out food and hold chesa. When the datesFootnote 11 for our parents' chesa comes around and we have the heart of a filial son,Footnote 12 how shall we hold [a ritual]?” Saying this, he invited several brothersFootnote 13 from the church. In the maru roomFootnote 14 of his home, he set up and lit a candle. He prayed to God on behalf of the soul of his mother, sang a hymn, remembered her faith in God, her admonitions and wise and virtuous behaviour, and read a passage [of scripture]. The church members then comforted Yi Muyŏng and prayed to God [on his behalf]. Gradually, the night passed on and in this way they celebrated a chesa on behalf of his mother with a true heart. Wasn't that really beautiful? After that, other members of [our] church have done as Yi Muyŏng did when the death date of their parents comes around. (Chyosyŏn K'ŭrisŭdo-in hoebo 1, no. 28 [August, 11, 1897]: 4)Footnote 15
This short passage provides an enormous amount of information about the origins of the ch'udo yebae rite, such as when the rite first was practiced, what reasons there were for instituting it, who first performed the rite, and what precisely occurred. The passage also provides information on the reactions of the early Christians who were the first attendees at this rite. Their immediate approval meant that the rite became standard practice in their church, Chŏng-dong First Methodist Church, Seoul.
From this passage, we can draw the following conclusions. Even if we suppose that Yi Muyŏng's ritual was not the earliest example of this type of rite, but only the earliest recorded example, we can still conclude that within the first decade or so after the arrival of foreign missionaries, the first generation of Korean Protestant Christians faced a conflict between Confucian and Christian values and found a culturally sensitive way in which this conflict could be resolved. It is important to note that the resolution of the conflict was the work of the first generation of Korean Christians themselves, and not the work of the foreign missionaries. However, it is also important to note that, as this article appears in an early Christian newspaper whose editor was the chief Methodist missionary of the time, the rite must have met with the approval of the first generation of missionaries, who thus appear eager to promote the practice of ch'udo yebae as a means of spreading Christianity in Korea.
A related point that can be drawn from this article is that the type of early Christian who is first recorded to have initiated this rite was a member of the aristocracy, the yangban (兩班) class (which, of all classes, was the most deeply imbued with the values of Confucianism), while at the same time was also a member of the movement for national reformation. Thus, while he would have had a strongly Confucian point of view, he also would have accepted the need for change and alteration in cultural practice.
Why did the ritual solution to this conflict of values arise within the context of Methodism and at such an early date? The form of Methodism transmitted to Korea was American, not British Methodism. When Methodists in America separated from the Church of England after the American Revolution, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, sent to the Methodist societies there a blueprint for their ecclesiastical order (with leadership vested in “superintendents” who quickly became “bishops”), and a book of liturgy—essentially a reduced version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.Footnote 16 Consequently, the American branch of Methodism is closer in ritual practice to the Church of England than it is to either the Presbyterians or the British Methodists, and it places a greater emphasis on a formalized liturgy. Thus, the emergence in the late nineteenth century of a new Korean ritual tradition, ch'udo yebae, was the result of the encounter between the liturgical traditions of Confucianism and of American Methodism.
The contents of this brief column overturn a conventional view held by many church historians in Korea that although the early creation of ch'udo yebae could not be ruled out, it was unlikely because the majority of the first Korean Christians were not from the aristocracy, but from the lower classes. These early Christians would have held a more revolutionary view with regard to the values of late nineteenth-century Korea and would have rejected the practice of chesa. Such scholars point to the years 1903–1905 as a period when a significant number of important yangban converted to Christianity, including such future leaders as Yi Sangjae (李 商在, 1850–1927), Yi Sŭngman (Syngman Rhee, 李 承晩, 1875–1965), Sin Hŭngu (申 興雨, 1883–1959), and Ch'oe Pyŏnghŏn (崔 炳憲, 1858–1927). Such progressive, reforming members of the aristocracy, it is argued, would have been the first to see the connection between the performance of chesa and the Fifth Commandment to “honor your father and your mother,” the Christian parallel to Confucian filial piety.Footnote 17 According to this view, ch'udo yebae could not have originated before about 1910. What the contents of the article in the Korean Christian Advocate show, however, is that the ritual resolution of this conflict of values happened very early, at least a decade prior to conventional assumptions. However, church historians who hold to a late date for the origin of ch'udo yebae are right in one major respect: The creation of a ritual means to resolve this conflict of values was the work of a member of the aristocracy, but one whose generally progressive views enabled him to seek a Christian response to the conflict, rather than to reject Christian belief because Christian teaching contradicted a core Confucian value.
Stage Two, 1897: Resolution, but Irresolution
Although a means to resolve the conflict between Confucian and Christian values existed at a very early stage, the conflict between the two systems of values continued, as an examination of the minutes of missionary meetings and early church synods gives eloquent testimony. For decades after 1897, early Korean Protestant Christians either were tempted toward the performance of the chesa rites or were persecuted by neighbors, family, and friends for not doing so. The journal of the annual meetings of the Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, year after year, provides examples of the difficulties facing Christian converts who, for conscience's sake, could not perform the chesa ritual. In 1899, George Heber Jones (1867–1919) spoke at length to the Methodist Conference of the trials facing converts because of their fervor against idolatry (Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1899, 19).Footnote 18 Subsequent journals are a rich repository of information about the difficulties facing the early converts, including condemnation of an eldest son for not performing a rite for his deceased father (Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1903, 55), consternation over the return of the tablets of a deceased adoptive father by his adopted son who was a Methodist convert (Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1906, 52), the burning of ancestral tablets (Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1914, 58), and the work of a convert wife to make her husband give up the practice of performing chesa (Korean Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1917, 40).
The minutes of the annual meetings of the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, popularly called Southern Methodists,Footnote 19 illustrate similar tensions, such as the situation of a young male convert who refused to perform chesa and was being kept constantly busy at work so that he would not have any contact with foreign missionaries (Korea Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 1898, 14–15); an eleven-year old boy who would not participate in chesa for his grandfather, to whom he had been devoted (Korea Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 1901, 30–31); and a husband and wife who had destroyed family “fetishes” (Korea Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 1903, 58–59). This clash of values was not a Methodist problem, as an examination of similar Presbyterian records confirms. Within that communion, the issue of idolatrous activity seems to have come to a head in 1915, when a question was raised in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. A member of a provincial congregation had been accused of holding a chesa-like rite with other members of the church. The local church authority was instructed to investigate the situation and to take appropriate action against the members involved in the incident (Chyosyŏn Yesu-gyo Chyangno-hoe Ch'yonghoe-dye sahoe hoerok 1915, 23, 34).
By 1920, this clash of values that had rumbled on for more than three decades within the Christian community burst onto the national scene with an article that appeared in the Tonga ilbo newspaper on September 1. The article, written by the director of the YMCA, Yi Sangjae, described the household conflict between a husband who was a Christian convert and his wife who was not. The husband had forbidden his wife to prepare food for the chesa ritual for his deceased father, but the wife secretly did so anyway, went to the tomb, and committed suicide because she could not be a filial daughter-in-law. As a result of this tragic incident, Yi Sangjae argued for the acceptance of chesa as fulfilling the intent of the Fifth Commandment to “honor your father and your mother.” This article, in turn, spurred a national debate that was carried on in the newspapers. Taking the opposite view of Yi Sangjae was the leading Methodist clergyman, Yang Chusam (梁 柱三, 1879–1950?), who thought that Yi completely misunderstood both the nature of chesa and the commandment (Kim Sŭngt'ae Reference Sŭngt'ae1987, 18–20). Likewise, the diary of a leading Methodist layman, Yun Ch'iho (尹 致昊, 1865–1945),Footnote 20 gives clear evidence of this conflict. His diary for 1898 states that he refused to bow before the family ancestral tablets (Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏn-hoe 1975, 5:127),Footnote 21 an issue that persisted for decades, as a diary entry for 1917 says that his aunt was still urging him to restore the performance of the chesa rites for his grandparents (7:72).Footnote 22 Nonetheless, in 1916, Yun records that he began holding memorial rites, but undoubtedly not chesa, for his father (7:44).Footnote 23
Although a solution to the conflict of values between Confucian filial piety as expressed in the performance of the chesa rites and the Christian refusal to participate in any ritual that might be seen to be idolatrous had existed from the end of the nineteenth century, the conflict of values persisted as a major problem for early converts to Christianity for decades afterward. The reason for the widespread and continuing nature of the conflict may have been, in part, that the ch'udo yebae rite may not have become widely known. It may have been an informal practice frequently used in many churches, but not otherwise known outside these circles. This possibility is strongly suggested by the contents of a book published in English in 1926 and addressed to the missionary community in Korea. In My Attitude toward Ancestor-Worship, Yung Tai Pyun (Pyŏn Yŏngt’ae, 卞 榮泰, 1892–1969) argues that because the tradition of performing chesa will die out eventually, and because the prohibition of its performance is a hindrance to the acceptance of Christian belief by many people, its continued performance should be tolerated (Pyun Reference Pyun1926, 71–85).Footnote 24 Curiously, nowhere in this book does Pyun give any indication that he is aware of the existence of the ch'udo yebae rite.
Stage Three, 1935: Formalization of the Ritual
In early December 1930, 100 delegates met to merge the missionary conferences of the Northern and Southern Methodist churches into an autonomous Korean Methodist Church. Among the decisions taken by the Korean delegates at this organizing conference were the decision to ordain women and the promulgation of a distinctive Korean statement of faith, the “Korean Creed,” which is now used by the United Methodist Church of the United States as an alternative creedal statement (Sauer Reference Sauer1973, 27–30).Footnote 25 These two decisions indicate that the ethos of the newly autonomous Korean Methodist Church was both innovative and progressive.
At the second conference, convened in 1934, members requested that the “Committee on the Revision of the [Church's] Discipline and Conference Course of Study” prepare a liturgy for a Christian memorial rite for deceased parents (Kidokkyo Chosŏn kamni-hoe che 2-hoe ch'onghoe hoerok 1934, 51). Called Pumo-nim ki'il kinyŏm-sik sunsyŏ (Liturgy for a Memorial Rite on the Death Date of Parents), this liturgy appeared in the Yemun (禮文, liturgy) section of Kyori-wa changjŏng, the Methodist book of administrative discipline and doctrines. Published in 1935, this liturgy was the first standardized format for the ch'udo yebae ritual to appear in any liturgical work in Korea (Kidokkyo Chosŏn kamni-hoe ch'ongni-wŏn 1935, 230–31).Footnote 26
This early liturgy is very simple, only providing basic instructions about when to host the ritual, and it consists of the following seven sections: an opening hymn, an opening prayer, the reading of three passages of scripture, the recollection of the virtues of the deceased, another hymn, silent prayer, and the prayer of dismissal. The opening prayer is very brief, and specific hymns are not stipulated, although specific passages of scripture from both the Old and New Testaments are prescribed (Kidokkyo Chosŏn kamni-hoe ch'ongni-wŏn 1935, 230–31). The basic order and elements of this formalized ritual closely follow the pattern established by Yi Muyŏng in 1897.
The choice of name for the rite reflects both Confucian thought and values, and represents as well an attempt to distinguish this Christian ritual from the Confucian chesa rite. The choice of the Confucian term ki'il for “death date” reflects the Confucian practice of holding ancestral commemorations on that day. However, to indicate that this rite is not a Confucian ritual suitable for any class of relative, the title specifically stipulates that it is for one's parents (pumo-nim). To reinforce the idea that the rite is not idolatrous—that no other spirits than God himself are addressed—the rite is referred to specifically as a kinyŏm-sik (memorial rite). Thus, this rite was created for the purpose of formally resolving the conflict of values between Confucian thought and Christian theology by providing a standardized liturgical format, while at the same time avoiding any implication that the rite was actually addressed to the spirits of the deceased as a petitionary rite.
Development of the Formal Ritual: 1939–
A revision of the ritual appeared four years later in the 1939 edition of Kyori-wa changjŏng. Although the meaning of the title remains the same, the term yemun (禮文), for “liturgy,” is substituted for the final word sunsyŏ (順序). The liturgy now appears in eight sections with a hymn being inserted between the section for the readings from scripture and the recollections of the deceased. The most important alteration is the increased specification of the words to be used in the rite. First of all, the general preparatory instructions are more specific, and the people who are to perform each part of the ritual are stipulated for the first time. The scriptural text to be used is now included in the words of the liturgy, not requiring the reader to read the passage from a copy of the Bible. There is also some change in the choice of scriptural passages. The hymns (but not the words) which are to be used during the rite are stipulated in the text, as is the prayer of dismissal as the Lord's Prayer. The 1939 format for the rite remained essentially unchanged until the revised version of the Methodist liturgy appeared in the 1973 edition of Kyori-wa changjŏng.
From the 1960s on, there was an increasing concern for the appropriate way to conduct Christian rituals, in particular the substitute for Confucian ancestral rites. In 1964, the Board of Education of the Korean Methodist Church issued a book entitled Yesik kyubŏm (Regulations for Liturgy), which provides detailed instructions about how to properly conduct all types of Christian rituals—baptisms, weddings, funerals, and, of course, what it calls Ch'udo kinyŏm yebae. The use of the word kinyŏm (memorial) in the title of the chapter on these memorial rites reinforces the idea that this is a Christian, not a pagan, rite. The book does not provide words for the liturgy, as it assumes that the Methodist liturgy will be used. Instead, it provides detailed information on how to conduct the ritual. The chapter on ch'udo yebae includes sections on the meaning of ch'udo yebae, preparations for worship, the layout of the room in which the memorial rite is to be conducted, the arrangement of the objects on the memorial table including a picture of the deceased and candles, clothing to be worn by mourners, the use of specific recollections of the deceased including objects used by the deceased and preferred scriptural passages and hymns, the structure of the formal presentation of recollections of the deceased, who can perform the ch'udō-sik, how often and when it should be held, and the length and place of the rite. The chapter also includes a detailed sketch of the layout of the room in which the rite is to be held. This sketch provides information on the layout of the memorial table and the seating location of the different types of people attending the ritual.
In the instructions, there are two points of interest. First, the instructions imply that it is possible to hold this rite for family members other than one's parents, moving away from the tradition established in 1935. Moreover, the instructions indicate that there had been an ongoing discussion in the Christian community about how often and how long a person should continue to conduct the ch'udo rite. The instructions given here say that it should be conducted for three years after the death of the person, and after that according to family circumstances. The mention of three years refers to the Confucian tradition of a three-year mourning period, during which time the chesa rites would have been performed (Kidokkyo Tae Han kamni-hoe ch'ongni-wŏn kyoyuk-kuk 1964, 110–15). The Yesik kyubŏm in its description of ritual activity reflects the tradition of prescriptive ritual activity found in the Jiali, the Confucian Book of Family Rituals.
In the Yemun section of the 1973 edition of Kyori-wa changjŏng, the title of the ritual is changed, the number of elements in the rite is increased, and the level of specificity of the instructions is expanded. The rite is now called Pumo-nim ch'udo-sik yemun. For the first time, the specifically Confucian element of the ritual's title (ki'il) is removed and replaced by the more neutral or general term ch'udo-sik (追悼式, grieving rite). However, the retention of the term pumo-nim for parents is a clear indication that this is a memorial rite and that it is for one's parents only. The initial instructions to the ritual leader are even more carefully described than before, and the phrasing for each element of the rite is not only provided but is lengthier than before. As previously, specific hymns and Scriptural readings are stipulated. The readings have been changed from the 1939 liturgy, and the person responsible for the conduct of each section of the rite is now clearly specified. The number of sections in the rite has now been increased to nine. The additions to the format of the rite enhance the role of the ritual leader—almost certainly a minister or deacon of the church—and the formality of the rite itself. In this regard, the addition of the initial words of invitation by a minister, and especially the formal benediction or blessing at the end, which can only be done by a minister, reflect a trend toward greater clericalization of the rite (Kidokkyo Tae Han kamni-hoe ch'ongni-wŏn 1973, 178–81).
The 1977 revision of the liturgy follows this trend by increasing the number of sections in the liturgy to ten by adding a sermon after the words of recollection (Kidokkyo Tae Han kamni-hoe ch'ongni-wŏn 1977, 64–67), further reinforcing the role of the clergy. This ritual pattern, with some variation in phrasing, remained unchanged until the publication of a separate book of Methodist liturgy in 2002.
In 2002, the liturgy section of Kyori-wa changjŏng was removed and published as a separate book, called simply Yemun (liturgy). The name of the ritual is changed again from ch'udo-sik to ch'umo-sik (追慕式, mourning rite), reflecting a current of thinking in late twentieth-century Korea that ch'udo gives the sense that the spirits of the dead are being worshipped. Regardless of whether this is a correct interpretation, the reason for the change is clear—the need to demonstrate that this ritual is Christian and not a pagan or an idolatrous rite. The structure remains essentially the same except there are now options in the choice of prayers to be used during the ritual.
For the first time, the Yemun of 2002 introduces a new rite, Ch'ŏt sŏngmyo (First Visit to the Tomb). The sixth of the ancestral rituals specified in the Jiali, the Confucian ritual guide, are the myo-je (墓祭), or grave rituals. The introduction of Christian rituals at grave sites is one further reflection of the need to have a Christian response to the ritual traditions of a deeply Confucianized society.Footnote 27 Two major differences with the Ch'umo-sik rite are the substitution of the recollections of the deceased with the recitation of the Apostle's Creed and the elimination of a sermon. As with the Ch'umo-sik ritual, there is a high level of specificity in the phrasing to be used and the hymns to be sung. Optional phrases as in the Ch'umo-sik are provided.
A survey of the history of the written liturgy in the Methodist Church shows that there has been a consistent trend toward standardization in wording, an increase in the number of elements in the rite, and the standardization of the style of performance, resulting in a greater focus on the role of the clergy. Moreover, the initial ch'udo yebae rite has now become part of an emerging complex of Confucian-influenced funerary rituals. Within 100 years, a Christian response to the Confucian tradition has become, in turn, the basis of a Confucianized Christian ritual tradition.
Stage Four: Beyond Methodism, the Universality of Ch'udo yebae
By the 1970s, most other Christian denominations had begun to adopt a formalized ch'udo-sik liturgy. Surprisingly, the several Presbyterian denominations did not have a book of liturgy until that time. However, it is within this tradition that a complex death and post-death ritual system has developed, surpassing the Methodist tradition, which has tended to retain only the ch'udo-sik and the rite for the first visit to the tomb. Smaller Protestant denominations have also adopted the ch'udo-sik rite.
The Presbyterian Community
Unlike the Korean Methodist Church, which has remained a single denomination since its founding in 1930, the Presbyterian tradition in Korea is divided into two main groups. One major stream of Presbyterianism is the Yesu-gyo Changno-hoe (Jesus Presbyterians), which comprises three subgroups: the Hapdong group (founded in 1959), the T'onghap group (founded in 1959), and the Koryŏ-p'a group (founded in 1952). The second stream is the Kidokkyo Han'guk Changno-hoe, or Christ Presbyterians, founded in 1953 (Pak Yonggyu Reference Yonggyu.2003, 1017, 1025–26, 1036–41).Footnote 28
Jesus Presbyterians
The earliest example of a book of liturgy from the Hapdong group is the Kyohoe yesik-sŏ (Book of Church Liturgy) of 1977 (Pak Pyŏngjin Reference Pak1977, 171–72), which, like the Methodist Kyori-wa changjŏng, brought together the rules of church governance and liturgical practice under one cover.Footnote 29 Prior to this, there was no book of liturgy as such, but only suggested formats or structures for worship in works such as Moksa-ŭi p'irhyu (The Minister's Requisites) (Clark Reference Clark1932). The Kyohoe yesik-sŏ has a well developed, fourteen-section liturgy for a ch'udo-sik. Although there is very little specification of liturgical text (except for scriptural passages), there is unequivocal specification of which persons are responsible for performing which actions—clearly defining the functions of the clergy and the laity. Many of the elements of the 1897 informal Methodist liturgy are present. Although the liturgy retains the use of the passage from Genesis contained in the original Methodist liturgy of 1935 (which was subsequently dropped by the Methodists), there are no readings from the New Testament. The revision of 1992 (Pak Pyŏngjin Reference Pak1992, 320–27) retains the same fourteen-section structure and provides the words and musical notation for specified hymns, the outline for a six-point sermon, and the text for the sermonizer's prayer. Thus, while the liturgical structure remains the same, the level of liturgical specification has increased, and the role of the clergy been enhanced further.
The T'onghap branch of Presbyterianism first published a book of liturgy in 1977, called Yesik-sŏ (Book of Liturgy). In that book, the ritual is called a Ch'udo-sik consisting of eight sections, and it is proceeded by instructions as to why the rite should or should not be conducted. The three suggested texts of scripture are the same texts suggested in the 1939 Methodist liturgy. Although the liturgy assumes that the minister will officiate at the rite, the hymns are a free option and not stipulated (Tae Han Yesu-gyo changno-hoe ch'onghoe kyoyuk-kuk 1977, 138–40). Ten years later, in 1987, the revised version of Yesik-sŏ shows considerable development from the first version. The book of liturgy now contains four rites connected with postfuneral rituals. These are (in order) Chŏt sŏngmyo (First Visit to the Tomb), T'alsang (Removal of Mourning Clothes), the Ch'udo-sik, and Sŏngmyo (Visit to the Tomb). In the revised edition, there are two forms of the ch'udo-sik, one carried over from the 1977 edition, and the other a newly created form. Likewise, two forms of the sŏngmyo ritual are provided. In both cases, sermon notes are provided for the minister (Tae Han Yesu-gyo ch'angno-hoe ch'onghoe 1987, 179–85, 220–22).
In 1983, the Koryŏ group—considered to be the most conservative of the four major branches of Korean Presbyterianism—produced its own book of liturgy, the P'yojun yesik-sŏ (Standard Book of Liturgy) (Tae Han Yesu-gyo changno-hoe ch'ong-hoe yesik-sŏ chejŏng wiwŏn-hoe 1983, 88–91). This work contains two separate post-funeral rituals and, for the first time in any book of Korean liturgy, introduces a cremation. The latter ritual is particularly interesting, as the practice of cremation has generally been considered to be a Buddhist not a Confucian or Christian practice. The ch'udo ritual is called a Pyŏlse (inserted here are the number of years since the death of a relative) chunyŏn kinyŏm-sik (Memorial Ritual for the [number] Year of the Death of a [relative]). This terminology is interesting because it does not use either the term ch'udo or ch'umo, which could suggest worship of spirits, but chooses phrasing similar to the traditional phrasing of the Methodist ritual focusing on the death date of a parent. The rite here consists of twelve sections, divided into two parts—the service of worship itself, and the ritual of remembering the deceased. This format is essentially an outline of practice, and consequently no text is provided for prayers, sermon or other elements. However, there is a careful specification of which persons perform what particular actions. The main role is reserved for the minister. The second ritual is an eight-section ritual for the first visit to the tomb of the deceased. As with the previous rite, it is a skeleton outline of the ritual without any textual specification.
Christ Presbyterians
Although it is said that the Christ Presbyterian Church had a formalized ch'udo-sik ritual in 1964, this ritual was not officially recognized by the denomination until the publication of the first denominational book of liturgy, the Yesik-sŏ, in 1978,Footnote 30 a year after the T'onghap and Hapdong groups produced their books of liturgy. The text of this book remained unchanged until the publication of the Hŭinyŏn yesik-sŏ (Jubilee Book of Liturgy) in 2003, published to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the denomination. Although the order and liturgical text are clearly specified, the leadership of the elements of the ritual is not given (Han'guk kidokkyo changno-hoe ch'ong-hoe 1978, 130–34). This book also introduces a new prefuneral ritual called Imjong yebae (Deathbed Worship), to be held immediately after the death of a person (Han'guk kidokkyo changno-hoe ch'ong-hoe 1978, 113–17). The Hŭinyŏn yesik-sŏ contains not only a ritual for a ch'udo-sik but a whole panoply of rituals related to death and deceased relatives. In addition to funeral and burial rituals and—as in the 1978 book—a ritual for use at the time of death, there also are rituals for cremation and the ritual placement of the ashes of the deceased,Footnote 31 the first visit to the tomb of the deceased, removal of the mourning clothes, the removal of the tomb to a more appropriate place, and a Christian form of a ch'arye (Ch. chali, 茶禮) rite, a Confucian ritual performed for one's ancestors on a traditional holiday date (Han'guk kidokkyo changno-hoe ch'ong-hoe 2003, 417–58).Footnote 32 The ch'udo-sik, here called a ch'umo yesik, consists of the same ritual elements in the 1978 text with the same level of specification in the liturgical texts, hymns, and readings (Han'guk kidokkyo changno-hoe ch'ong-hoe 2003, 451–54).
In a sense, Hŭinyŏn yesik-sŏ represents the culmination of more than a century of the development of the traditions surrounding the ch'udo-sik rite, which has now become part of a range of death and postdeath rituals. This series of rites has become a ritual system for dealing with everything from the point of death to the commemoration of the deceased, not only on the death date but also at times of traditional holidays and ceremonial visits to the tomb of the deceased. Not only is each stage of mourning and recollection of the dead dealt with by a Christian ritual, associated issues such as the final removal of one's mourning clothes (indicating the end of the period of mourning) and the removal of the deceased's tomb are handled in a ritual manner. Modern issues arising from the practice of cremation, not a traditional Confucian custom, are also dealt with. The ethos of this ritual system, however, is Confucian, as can be clearly seen in the adaptation of the ch'arye ritual and the need to formally indicate the end of the period of mourning through ritual, and it represents a high level of accommodation to the prevailing Confucian ethos of Korean society.
Final Observations
This research has shown, first, that the practice of ch'udo yebae–type rituals has been a ubiquitous part of Korean Christian practice since the end of the nineteenth century. The history of the development of this ritual may be divided into four stages: (1) its beginnings in the late nineteenth century; (2) a period from then until the mid-1930s, when the conflict between the core values of Confucianism and Christianity (filial piety and the rejection of idolatry) became intense while the practice of ch'udo yebae was becoming more widespread; (3) a period from the mid-1930s to the 1970s, when the informal practice of this rite came to be formalized and placed in all the books of liturgy of the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition; and finally (4) a phase from the late 1970s to the current day, when these rites were formally adopted by the Presbyterian community and other Protestant denominations, and when the single ch'udo yebae ritual became the center of a panoply of Confucian-inspired rituals covering a wide range of funerary matters.
Second, contrary to received opinion in Korea, this substitute for the Confucian ancestral rituals was created early—within ten years of the arrival of missionaries. Furthermore, the practice was instituted not by missionaries but by the first generation of elite converts, members of the class most influenced by Confucianism. In other words, the resolution of the conflict of values between filial piety and the fear of idolatry was an early and essential part of the accommodation of Protestant Christianity in Korea, and consequently a key factor in the early and rapid growth of Protestantism in that country. This fact confirms one of the principal aspects of the concept of emplantation discussed at the beginning of this article—that an early resolution of a conflict of values is necessary for the development of a religion that is transmitted from one cultural setting to another.
Third, the practice of Confucianism is a liturgical or ritual practice, the forms of which are clearly delineated and prescribed in books of ritual, most notably in the Jiali of Zhou Xi. This book, its variants, and other similar works played a key role in the formalization of actual ritual practice in Korea. The emphasis on formalized ritual practice in Confucianism was paralleled by the liturgical practice of American Methodist missionaries, whose denomination used a book of liturgy from its inception, and therefore instituted the use of such a liturgical work from the earliest stages of missionary activity in Korea. As a consequence, Korean Methodist services of worship have had a more formal and structured character that was largely absent from Presbyterian practice until the early 1960s or 1970s. The emergence within the Methodist tradition of a liturgical response to a ritual need arising from a core Confucian value (filial piety) represents the accommodation of two very different religiophilosophical traditions that both possess a strong formalized ritual character.
Fourth, given the emphasis on liturgy within the American Methodist tradition, it is not surprising that the first formalization of the ch'udo yebae rite occurred with the writing down of the ritual and its placement within the Korean Methodist book of liturgy in 1935, nearly forty years before it appears in the first denominationally approved liturgy book in the Presbyterian tradition. Again, it is important to note that this was the result of the initiative of the early Korean Methodists, and not the missionaries. Moreover, in the 1960s, the Korean Methodist Church issued a book describing the correct preparations and means for performing ch'udo yebae, again reminiscent of the tradition of liturgical prescription established by such works as the Jiali.
Fifth, from the 1950s for the next several decades, a ch'udo yebae liturgy came to be written down in the books of liturgy of virtually every Protestant denomination in Korea. Examination of these later liturgies shows that while they owe much in their inspiration to prior Methodist examples, they are not carbon copies of them.
Sixth, the number of different Confucian-inspired funerary rituals developed at an exponential rate from the 1970s on. In this regard, it is interesting to note that even granting the late emergence of formal liturgical practice in the Presbyterian tradition, the full-blown development of this Christian Confucianized ritual practice has taken place within the Presbyterian fold and not in the Methodist community.
Seventh, the creation of a range of Confucian-inspired funerary rituals indicates that ch'udo yebae, which began as a one-off Christian response to a spiritual and emotional need in a Confucianized society, has become within a hundred years the focal point of a Confucianized Christian ritual system.
Eighth, examination of the development of the format of the ch'udo yebae liturgy used by the various denominations shows that virtually everywhere, there is a general progression from a loose specification of prayers, texts, and prescription of individual ritual performers to a greater prescription of liturgical words in prayers, a greater prescription of specific scriptural texts, and an increased clericalization in the designation of ritual performers. This latter point is especially interesting, as it runs counter to the earliest form of the ritual of 1897, which was conducted entirely by the laity.
Finally, although the creation of the ch'udo yebae rite provided a Christian response to the demand to ritually demonstrate filial piety, there has always been an uneasiness on the part of more conservative Christian groups regarding the performance of ch'udo yebae, that they might be seen to be worshipping the spirits of the dead—the fear that they would be committing an act of idolatry. Consequently, many of the denominational and nondenominational books of liturgy now contain elaborate comments about the issue of idolatry and how to properly understand the performance of these rites.
The examination of the case of ch'udo yebae is important not only because it sheds light on how and when this tradition developed in Korea, but also because it illustrates how, once the holding of these rites had become established, it led to the development an entirely new set of Christian rituals that were unrelated to the ritual tradition established by foreign missionaries. As such, the history of ch'udo yebae, insofar as it confirms one of the key stipulations of the concept of emplantation about the resolution of a conflict of values, suggests that this type of tradition should also exist within the other nations of the Confucian cultural sphere. Further comparative research is necessary to draw out what similarities and differences might exist within the histories of liturgical practice in the churches of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan.
