"Poverty" emerges as a recurring keyword in the life of Cardinal Kim Su-hwan (1922-2009), one of the most revered religious leaders in contemporary Korea. Through close textual analysis of eight selected messages drawn from The Collected Works of Cardinal Kim Su-hwan and key primary sources, this study demonstrates that poverty stands at the very heart of his spirituality and pastoral ministry. Cardinal Kim distinguishes between enforced poverty-rooted in structural injustice that dehumanizes both the poor and the wealthy - and the voluntary poverty of Jesus, characterized by material destitution, freedom from need and possession, and kenosis (self-emptying). His emphasis on poverty rests on three convictions: that the poverty pervading the whole life of Jesus is ultimately grounded in the poverty of God himself; that "the spirit of poverty and love is the glory and witness of the Church"; and that the poverty chosen by Jesus is the path toward human fulfillment and liberation. His lifelong pursuit of following the poor Christ renders him worthy of the designation praecipuus paupertatis amator ("a most excellent lover of poverty")-a phrase attested in the canonization proceedings of Thomas Aquinas-and his spirituality of poverty and its pastoral praxis deserve to be remembered as one of the most precious legacies of the Asian Church in the twentieth century.
This study explores the lives of Tatar Muslim migrants in Korea from 1920 to 1945, shedding light on their little-known history and the impact they left on the Korean Peninsula. Originating from the Volga-Ural region in Russia, in the 1920s Tatar Muslims migrated to Manchuria, Korea, and Japan due to Russia's anti-Islam policies and Japan's pro-Islam stance. After settling in Korea, they maintained their identity as Muslims and, by relying on Japan's imperial and colonial policies, were able to preserve their religious and ethnic identities throughout the Japanese colonial period. Through a literature review and case analysis, this research documents their migration, settlement, religious practices, education, and community organization. Primary sources consulted include twentieth-century newspapers, Tatar Muslim publications, government reports, and interviews. By reconstructing their history, this study provides insights into the cultural and social dynamics between the Korean Peninsula and the Tatar Muslim community, emphasizing that community's unique identity and contributions during a complex historical period.
This article traces the historical reclassification of Korean shamanism (musok) from the Confucian category of & ubreve;msa (illicit rites) to the modern designation of "superstition,"arguing that this shift reshaped the evaluation of ritual mediation, authority, and moral legitimacy. In the Choson period, critiques of & ubreve;msa focused less on belief in spirits than on the problem of unauthorized mediation within a hierarchical ritual order. With the emergence of modern classificatory regimes, this framework was displaced by the category of misin (superstition), through which shamanic practices were recast as epistemically unreliable and morally suspect. By connecting this historical transformation to contemporary political controversies, the article shows how successive regimes of classification continue to structure public perceptions of spiritual mediation. It argues that debates surrounding Korean shamanism reveal deeper tensions between competing models of mediation, authority, and ethical responsibility, demonstrating how categories such as "religion"and "superstition"are historically produced and mobilized in modern public life.
The purpose of this study is to historically examine the gradual transition in Horace G. Underwood's attitude toward divine healing during his missionary work in Korea. When Underwood arrived in Korea in 1885, he had had no direct exposure to the divine healing movement that was gaining attention in Europe and North America, and he initially showed little interest in such practices. However, through his engagement with Korean Christians and under the influence of such figures as John L. Nevius, Underwood gradually developed a more receptive attitude toward the notion of divine healing. This study analyzes the mention of prayer in relation to illness in Underwood's personal correspondence as a key indicator of his evolving stance toward divine healing. In the earliest phase, prior to 1891, references to illness were devoid of any spiritual or prayerful context. Between 1891 and 1897, however, a subtle linkage between illness and prayer began to appear. And from 1898, Underwood explicitly prayed for divine healing and acknowledged its occurrence. From this time he also began to include accounts of healing practices among Korean Christians in his publications, indicating a theological shift in his attitude toward divine healing. Nevertheless, Underwood's attitude toward divine healing remained only moderate, and he never abandoned his primary belief in medical knowledge to treat illness. This study also seeks to understand the shift in Underwood's attitude from the perspective of Paul Hiebert's notions of critical contextualization and biculturality.
The Korean Catholic Church observes June 25, the day the Korean War began, as a "day of prayer for national reconciliation and unity."The observation in 2023 marked 73 years since the outbreak of that war, and 70 years since the armistice agreement. This article will examine the discourse created by various official and official-adjacent Catholic sources, including homilies given by bishops at Myongdong Cathedral, videos on peace produced by the Catholic Committee on National Reconciliation, church bulletins, Catholic news reports, and other such sources connected to these two significant dates. This article will argue that official Catholic discourse focuses on these issues from a primarily moral, non-political standpoint that understands "national"division to be both between North and South Korea and within South Korea itself so as to encourage Catholics to maintain hope in eventual unification and to serve as a foundation for concrete actions relevant to Catholics' daily lives, while largely avoiding potentially disruptive political differences between them.
