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Category Archives: Religion

100 years of the Salvation Army in Korea

23-Nov-08

100 years of the Salvation Army in Korea

By Michael Rank London isn't exactly full of reminders of Korea, so I was surprised to discover in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, a newly placed plaque in memory of the man who brought the Salvation Army to Korea. The black marble plaque describes in English and Korean how "With Marching Orders from [Salvation Army founder] William Booth in hand, the then Colonel Robert Hoggard arrived on the Korean penninsular [sic] on 1st October 1908 to commence The Salvation Army ... He waved the Blood and Fire Flag throughout the land of Korea as Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army from 1908 to 1916, by which time some 87 officers had been trained; 1,201 Salvationists sworn-in; 3,500 copies of The War Cry ...
Also filed in DPRK, Foreigners in Korea, Historical | Tagged , | Comments (4) »

The Tripitaka Koreana part 2 - the Depository Building

20-Nov-08

The Tripitaka Koreana part 2 - the Depository Building

Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea's past The depository buildings which house the Tripitaka Koreana library are unique in almost every sense. Officially the largest wooden storage complex in the world, they are registered together with the Tripitaka itself as part of the UNESCO World Heritage (http://whc.unesco.org/). [caption id="attachment_6968" align="alignright" width="220" caption="The windows of the depository building..."][/caption] The woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana were originally stored on Kanghwa Island. The current depository complex was built in 1398 at Haeinsa temple, located far inland, to be beyond the reach of enemy forces invading from the north, and invasions by pirates. The 108 columns of the buildings symbolize the 108 defilements, or impurities, believed to separate the mind from ...
Also filed in Historical, KSCPP, Permanent displays | Tagged , | Comments (0) »

The Tripitaka Koreana - part 1

02-Nov-08

The Tripitaka Koreana - part 1

Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea's past One crowning achievement of Korea’s Buddhist heritage that is not included in the Bozar ‘Smile of Buddha’ exhibition is the Tripitaka Koreana. There is a practical reason for this, as it consists of 81,258 woodblocks, weighs 280 tons in total, and would take 30 years to read, even with a reasonable grasp of classical Chinese. The collection of Buddhist scriptures is currently housed in the thousand-year-old Haeinsa temple, and undoubtedly one of the foremost wonders of Korea. Tripitaka is a Sanksrit word meaning ‘three baskets’ – referring to the teachings of the Buddha (Sutra Pitaka), the precepts followed by monks and lay followers (Vinaya Pitaka), and commentaries on ...
Also filed in Historical, KSCPP, Permanent displays | Tagged , | Comments (0) »

Radio 4: Korean missionaries abroad: Bible Studies with Taekwondo

27-Mar-08
Crossing Continents - a BBC Radio 4 broadcast from earlier today. Ulli Schauen visits Korea to find out why Koreans are such fervent evangelists. 16,000 work abroad as Christian missionaries, a total surpassed only by the US. The 30 minute programme can be heard here. You'll catch the tail end of a news broadcast at the start of the clip. Don't be put off. Note that these broadcasts only stay on the BBC site for a week, I think, and maybe cannot be listened to from outside the UK. There's a related article on the BBC website here, focusing on the work of the missionaries the city of Sihanoukville, Southern Cambodia. Related posts:Korean missionaries in Afghanistan I just received a request from a reader for ...
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Pastor Bae Hyun-kyu

29-Jul-07
Just received from a reader On behaf of Avaaz.org, I am asking the Korean Community to remeber the death of Pastor Bae Hyun-Kyu who was killed on his 42nd birthday on Wednesday 25th July by the Taliban militia in Central Afghanistan. Also, let us remember the 22 remaining hostage in Ghazni, who were due to be executed on Saturday. The Taliban have delayed the time of their execution, but we do not have minutes but only seconds to release these hostages. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION at: http://www.avaaz.org/en/honour_the_afghan_code/ This is an urgent appeal to the Taliban to release the hostages unharmed. Thanking you in advance for supporting this petition. Rosa Manson Links: Avaaz blog Taliban Kidnapper of Korean Hostages Killed, Chosun, 19 September Korea "paid $20 million to ...
Also filed in ...blow by blow | | Comments (1) »

What makes Juche bigger than Judaism?

13-May-07
In a rather strange survey, adherents.com have produced a ranking of major "world" "religions". Let's take a look at the list. 1. Christianity: 2.1 billion 2. Islam: 1.3 billion OK so far. Let's carry on. 3. Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist: 1.1 billion Sorry? "Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist" is a world "religion"? Oh well, I suppose there's got to be a bucket for the "don't knows". Let's skip to number 10: Juche. So what makes Juche a religion? From a sociological viewpoint Juche is clearly a religion explains the website, without further elaboration. The site elsewhere explains what qualifies as a religion for the purposes of the list: We are using the groupings most described used in contemporary comparative religion literature And ...
Also filed in DPRK, Statistics | | Comments (0) »

Korean missionaries in Afghanistan

07-Feb-07
I just received a request from a reader for any means of contacting the organisation which has sent Korean missionaries to Afghanistan -- or indeed contact details for any of the missionaries out there. The reader is anxious to contact a relative who is with the missionaries and who hasn't been in touch for a while. Can anyone help? Related posts:Korean Christians in Afghanistan Every now and then I notice a story which has...Radio 4: Korean missionaries abroad: Bible Studies with Taekwondo Crossing Continents - a BBC Radio 4 broadcast from earlier...Afghanistan worst fighting “since the Korean War” It’s taken the interview over a week to make it... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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Priceless

16-Aug-06
A picture to gladden the heart. Thanks as ever to Tom Coyner for this treasure. And another, unrelated, bizarre item from the North, from Der Spiegel: this coming weekend will see the opening of Pyongyang's new Russian Orthodox church, whose priests are all ex-DPRK intelligence agents. Related posts:Holiday snaps from the DPRK Tom Coyner has delivered another gem of an email to...Cheju, the love island We all knew that Cheju-do was a holiday destination for...DPRK propaganda films As promised yesterday. Thanks to Tom Coyner for circulating this... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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Korean Christians in Afghanistan

06-Aug-06
Every now and then I notice a story which has probably been bubbling away for a while in the background but which then suddenly grabs my attention by chance. One such has been the Korean Christian missionaries in Afghanistan. A couple of google searches reveals the significant missionary activities of the Korean churches, particularly in Muslim countries. And they aren't deterred by danger - in fact they seem positively attracted by it. The New York Times reports that there are more missionaries supplied by South Korea than any other country apart from the US, which considering its size is remarkable. We recall the missionaries who got kidnapped in Iraq, and remember with horror the one who was murdered by his captors. Less ...
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Nobble your vicar

19-Jun-06
The organisation of the Global Week of Prayer for North Korea has been impressive. The website has been up for ages, allowing ample time for word-of-mouth. And then a week or so ago there was a bulk mailing. I happened to be around at the vicarage the other day for a meeting of the church finance committee and saw on the coffee table a flier which was basically a print of the home page of www.prayfornorthkorea.org. And the vicar didn't just have it on display because he knows I've got this Korean thing going: he had just opened his post and this is what had just come out of the envelope. Someone has been stuffing envelopes and sending mailshots to, ...
Also filed in DPRK, Human Rights | | Comments (0) »

Banning the Da Vinci Code

04-May-06
The Christian Council of Korean has been trying to prevent the screening of the Da Vinci Code. I suppose that films which touch on religion are always likely to spark controversy in certain circles. But does noisy protest do more harm than good? There's a thoughtful article in the Winter 2004 edition of the Korea Journal which documents the backlash by netizens against the more evangelical tendency, which suggests that it does. I know there was some controversy in Winchester Cathedral, which is where some of the scenes are apparently filmed, but the consensus was let's pocket the money and also let's encourage debate. I confess to having read the book (on holiday: I'm too ashamed to be seen reading it ...
Also filed in Film | | Comments (0) »