The Review of Korean Studies
- Apply for Authority
- P-ISSN1229-0076
- E-ISSN2773-9351
- SCOPUS, ESCI
ISSN : 1229-0076
Kim Il-yeop and Christianity: The Influence of Christianity on the Life and Identity of Kil Il-yeop
- Downloaded
- Viewed
Abstract
Kim Il-yeop is considered to have been a pioneering female writer in the history of modern Korean women’s literature, beginning in the 1920s; she was Korea’s first female editor and publisher of a magazine for women, Sinnyeoja. She was one of the first generation of Korean “new women” and “modern female writers.” More importantly, however, Kim Il-yeop had a close relationship with Protestant Christianity and was at one time in her life a devout Christian. This paper investigates what in fact Christianity meant to Kim Il-yeop in her own life, in other words, how exactly she understood the Christian religion and in what ways she experienced and practiced it. Christianity shaped the landscape of her childhood, which included a Christian home, a Christian education, and her father’s embodiment of a fine Christian character as a pastor. Concerning her personality in her childhood, Kim Il-yeop herself attributed her fine and optimistic character to her Christian faith. On the other hand, however, she characterized Christianity as a religion of “repressive ideas” whose doctrines operated as a moral force that compelled strict self-regulation. More importantly, Kim Il-yeop understood herself through her identity as a pastor’s daughter and according to the expectations of her father. She experienced and understood Christianity and the true Christian life through her father. Her father’s influence on her derived primarily from the lessons she learned in observing his sincere religious life, rather than Christian doctrine. Kim Il-yeop understood the lessons of his Christian life more broadly and practiced them in her religious life after she became a Buddhist monk. Later on in life, Kim Il-yeop began to present a growing skepticism about Christianity, and this resulted in the weakening and final rejection of her Christian faith. She ultimately repudiated all the beliefs and claims she had accepted before. The motivation behind her repudiation of Christianity was the fact that she was interested in “free love” and even enjoyed romantic relationships during her youth. Indeed, her life as a new woman went against strict and conservative Christian norms and ethics. Kim Il-yeop’s repudiation of Christianity was in a broader sense related to the traditional and patriarchal Christian churches of Korean Christianity at that time. For her, Christianity itself never became a real power and source of energy with which she could handle the reality and difficulty of life, and in the end, she failed to save her faith.
- keywords
- Kim Il-yeop, Christianity, new woman, free love, religious conversion
Reference
Baek, Nakjun. 1973. Hanguk Gaesingyosa [The History of Modern Korean Protestantism]. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.
Bak, Yongok. 2001. Hanguk Yeoseong-ui Geundaehwa-wa Yeoksajeok Maengnak [Korean Women’s Modernization and its Historical Context]. Seoul: Jisik Saneopsa.
Bang, Minho. 2006. “Kim Il-yeop Munhag-ui Sasangjeok Byeonmo Gwajeong-gwa Bulgyo Seontaeg-ui Uimi” [The Ideological Change of Kim Il-yeop’s Literature and the Significance of Her Religious Conversion]. The Studies of Contemporary Korean Literature 20: 360-66.
Choe, Hyesil. 2000. Sinnyeoseongdeur-eun Mueos-eul Kkumkkueonneunga? [What Did Korean New Women Dream Of?]. Seoul: Saenggagui Namu.
Ewha Womans University Archives, ed. 2005. Ewha Old and New: 110 Years of History 1886-1996. Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press.
Go, Misuk. 2000. Bipyeong Gigye [Critiquing Machine]. Seoul: Somyeong Publishing.
Jeong, Huiseong. 2005. “Han Gidok Sinnyeoseong-ui Gyeongheom-e Gwanhan Yeongu” [A Study of the Religious Experiences of a Christian Woman]. Theology and Thoughts 131: 201-32.
Jeong, Huiseong. 2009. “Hanguk Geundae Gidokgyo-wa Yeoseong-ui Tajahwa-Jeondobuin-gwa Gidokgyo Sinnyeoseong-eul Jungsimeuro” [Modern Korean Christianity and the Otherization of Korean Christian Women—with a Focus on Bible Women and Christian New Woman]. Korean Journal of Christian Studies 64: 211-37.
Kim, Chong Bum. 2008. “For God and Home: Women’s Education in Early Korean Protestantism,” Acta Koreana 11 (3): 9-28.
Kim, Gyeongil. 2004. Yeoseong-ui Geundae, Geundae-ui Yeoseong [Modernity of Korean Women and Korean Women of Modernity]. Seoul: Pureunn Yeoksa.
Kim, Hwayoung. 2007. “Geundae-wa Yeoseong-ui Munje” [Questions of Modernity and Women]. A Journal of Japanese Literature and Language 39: 275-83.
Kim, Il-yeop. 1960. Eoneu Sudoin-ui Hoesang [An Ascetic’s Memoir]. Yesangun: Sudeoksa Gyeonseongam.
Kim, Il-yeop. 1962. Cheongchun-eul Bulsareugo [Burning of Youth]. Seoul: Munseongak.
Kim, Il-yeop. 1964. Haengbok-gwa Bulhaeng-ui Galpieseo [In the Gap between Happiness and Unhappiness]. Seoul: Hwimun Publishing.
Kim, Il-yeop. 1974. Miraese-ga Dahago Namdorok [The Collected Works of Kim Il-yeop]. 2 vols. Edited by The Committee for the Publication of the Collection of Kim Il-yeop’s Works. Seoul: Inmuryeonguso.
Kim, Il-yeop. 2008. Kim Il-yeop Sanmunjip [The Essays of Kim Il-yeop]. Edited by Yi Huijung. Seoul: Jisigeul Mandeuneun Gojeonseonjip.
Kim, Miyeong. 2004. “1920 Nyeondae Sinnyeoseong-gwa Gidokgyo-ui Yeongwanseong-e Gwanhan Gochal” [A Study of the Relationship between the 1920s Korean New Women and Korean Christianity]. The Contemporary Korean Novels Studies 21: 67-96.
Kim, Sangbae. 1982. Jaetbit Jeoksam-e Sarang-eul Mutgo [Burying Love under the Ash-Colored Jacket]. Seoul: Solmoe.
Kwon, Bodeurae. 2004. Yeonae-ui Sidae [The Age of Love]. Seoul: Hyeonsil Munhwa Yeongu.
Kwon, Bodeurae. 2005. “The Paradoxical Structure of Modern ‘Love’ in Korea: Yeonae and Its Possibilities.” Korea Journal 44 (2): 185-208.
Min, Gyeongbae. 2005. A History of Christian Churches in Korea. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.
Oak, Sungdeuk. 2010. Horace Grant Underwood and Lillias Horton Underwood Papers: The First American Missionaries to Korea and the Founder of Yonsei University, 1909-1913. Vol. 4. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.
Seo, Hyeongsil. 1994. “Iljesigi Sinnyeoseong-ui Jayuyeonaeron” [Korean New Women’s Discourse on Free Love during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea]. History and Criticism 27: 108-22.
Sin, Sujeong. 2006. “Hanguk Geundae Yeoseongsoseor-e Natananeun Gidokgyojeok Gyeongheom-ui Hysteric Byeonnyong Yangsang” [Aspects of Hysterical Transformation in Christian Experiences in Modern Korean Women’s Writings]. A Journal of Korean Literature and Language 34 (3): 327-49.
Sin, Yeongsuk. 1986. “Iljeha Sinnyeoseong-ui Yeonae Gyeolhon Munje” [The Questions of New Women’s Love and Marriage in Korea’s Colonial time]. A Journal of Korean Studies 45: 182-217.
Yi, Gyeongsu. 2009. “Geundae Chogi Yeoseongsi-e Natanan Gidokgyojeok Sangsangnyeok-gwa Yeoseong Pyosang” [Christian Imagination and the Representations of Women in Female Writers’ Poems of Early Modern Korea]. Literary Criticism 33: 371-89.
Yi, Hyojae. 1985. Yeoseong! Kkaeljieoda Ireonaljieoda Noraehaljieoda [Women! Awake, Rise, and Sing: The One Hundred Year History of Korean Christian Women]. Seoul: Daehan Gidokgyo Chulchansa.
Yi, Sukjin. 2006. Hanguk Gidokgyo-wa Yeoseong Jeongcheseong [Korean Protestantism and Women’s Identit]. Seoul: Handeul Chulpansa.
Yi, Sukjin. 2010a. “Chogi Gidokgyo-ui Honin Damnon” [Discourse on Marriage in Early Modern Korean Protestantism, with a focus on “early marriage,” “concubinage,” and “free love”]. Korean Christianity and Its History 32: 35-62.
Yi, Sukjin. 2010b. “Jeohang-gwa Pohoeg-ui Seosa: Gidokgyo Sinnyeoseong-ui Seong, Sarang, Gyeolhon” [The Narratives for Resistance and Trapping: Christian New Women’s Sexuality, Love, and Marriage]. Paper presented at The 130th Monthly Forum of the Christian Institute for the 3rd Era, Hanbak Church, April 26.
Yi, Taesuk. 2000. “Yeoseongseong-ui Geundaejeok Gyeongheom Yangsang” [Modern Experiences of Femininity in Korean Women’s Literature]. PhD diss., Korea University.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations