A Critical and Theological Assessment of Protestant Churches’ Contribution to the Political Ideology of Division in South Korea from 1948 to 2022

Abstract

The primary questions of the thesis are: what is the political ideology of division, and what theological contributions do the conservative and progressive factions of the South Korean Protestant Church make to that ideology? This thesis addresses these research questions from the perspective of theological political theology, which delineates the church’s role in the political ideology. The thesis explicitly explores this perspective within the framework of power and salvation. It defines the political ideology of division as anti-communism. In this context, power signifies a mechanism that either reinforces or challenges the ideology. This thesis hypothesises that salvation results from the influence and direction of that power. This is specifically the peace on the Korean Peninsula that both conservative and progressive churches seek to realise through anti-communism: either perpetuating the division of the Korean Peninsula or transcending it. Part Ⅰ of this thesis focuses on historical, socio-political, and theological dimensions of anti-communism. The thesis analyses the background and important factors that led to the formation of anti-communism as the dominant discourse before and immediately after the establishment of separate governments in North and South Korea (1948), including the period of the United States Army’s Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK, 1945−48). Part Ⅱ of this thesis analyses the theological contributions of conservative and progressive churches in South Korea to the political ideology of division, particularly anti-communism, by scrutinising selected theological discourses in three distinct periods. The first period (1948−1980) examines the sermons, publications, and newspaper articles of Han Kyung-Chik and Kim Jun-Gon. The second (1980−2003) and third (2003−2022) periods analyse the official statements and newspaper articles of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) to investigate their theological underpinnings. In Part Ⅲ, this thesis identifies the challenges arising from the two churches discussed in Part Ⅱ. With this analysis, the thesis proposes theological alternatives to the South Korean church’s political ideology. To achieve this, the thesis compares these two churches’ theological differences regarding sin, salvation, and apocalypse, as well as their political theologies of power and salvation, employing the frameworks of Carl Schmitt’s political theology and Johann Baptist Metz’s new political theology. This thesis concludes that the imagination of Salim and a theology of the Eucharist serve as theological alternatives to transcend the political ideology of division rooted in anti-communism. This thesis academically clarifies the changes in anti-communism in the South Korean church and its theological content. This analysis serves both academic and practical purposes. It will provide a crucial scholarly basis for comprehending anti-communism and related phenomena, such as extreme right-wing movements, which are currently a problematic issue in the South Korean church.

Date of Award	28 Nov 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Peter Scott (Main Supervisor) & Michael Hoelzl (Co Supervisor)