• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.29
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• pp.134-167
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• 2016

This paper aims at exploring the characteristics and meanings of religious freedom controversy surrounding religious education, with special reference to proselytism, in protestant mission school in recent Korea. Most of protestant mission schools have been providing students compulsory religion class and chapel service in the name of religious education. According to the school authorities, religious education should be provided for the realization of founding philosophy, and they say that mission school has the right to religious education. On the contrary, many non-christian students argue that their religious liberty is seriously violated by required religious education especially compulsory chapel worship. So serious conflicts broke between mission school authorities and students. Supreme Court decided that Soongsil University has the right to maintain compulsory chapel service, ruling that Daegwang High School should not maintain required chapel worship. It seems that Supreme Court gave different decisions to high school and university respectively, considering the differences between high school and university in application for admission to a school, students' critical consciousness, school's autonomous rights, etc. However, these precedents are being challenged by many peoples and groups. There are three agents which are involved in religious freedom controversy in mission school. The first are mission school authorities supported by religious groups, the second government supported by political parties, and the third mission school students guided by NGO. Among them protestant groups are playing the major role in making religious freedom problems in mission school. Protestant groups try to convert mission school students to protestantism by compulsory chapel service and religion class. Such a protestant proselytism becomes a cause of oppressing students' human rights and religious liberty. In this situation government has a responsibility to protect the students' rights to religious freedom. But government seldom impose sanctions on the protestant mission schools' compulsory programs. The reason why government does not restrict mission school's unlawful religious education is because protestant groups have strong influence in voting. Eventually civil movements organizations involved in religious freedom controversy for the sake of students's human rights. In conclusion, the assailment is protestant proselytism, the accessory is government, the victim is students in the religious education in mission school in recent Korea.

• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.31
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• pp.141-172
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• 2017

The objectives of this paper are to investigate hunting, stock raising, sacrifice recorded in the oracle bone inscriptions of Shang Dynasty. I want to raise two basic questions. First, what were the functions of hunting, stock raising, sacrifice, which constructed the world of life in Shang Dynasty? Second, what were the relationships of gods, men, animals derived from them? These questions are brought up to how the commoners of Shang Dynasty build the world and perceive it. I adopted positively prevalent theories for answering those questions. I am particularly provided with Michael J. Puett's insightful remarks in this presentation. He criticizes the previous viewpoint that the relationships of gods and men in ancient China were harmonious and mutually respondent. According to him, in the ancient way of thinking of China the world of gods was full of whimsical and unpredictable power and also contained the risks, which led to disaster to the human world. So it is needed to be controled in a certain way. The sacrifice and the divination must have been instruments for controlling it in ancient China. In the same vein his arguments can be applied to the special connotations of hunting and stock raising, by the benefit of which I developed my own ideas in this paper. The conclusions are as follows. First, Shang dynasty tried to suppress the latent danger of two worlds. The nature represented by animals and the world of gods were respectively considered as the unknown domains, which is to threatening human life. Hunting, stock raising, sacrifice were the ways and means of controlling these two domains of power, which cause chaos in life. Second, the relationships among gods, men, animals had various functions and changed their status role, depending on the circumstances. Hunting and stock raising were important methods to domesticate animals with violence. In this domestication process animals became "victims" but animals are also to be the messengers to gods through being slain in the sacrifice. In this way animals are both inferior and superior to men and hold a unique status between gods and men.

• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.31
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• pp.255-287
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• 2017

This paper analyzes the religious circuit of suicidal concept based on verbal expression and ritual acts, which are found in the suicide discourse of Korean Catholic Church and Protestant Church. In the relationship of suicide and religion, it is easily overlooked the religious circuit and its construction that forms the concept of suicide among the religious laymen. It is assumed that the belief system of traditional religions prohibits suicide and the laymen accordingly construct a perception or concept of suicide along with this belief system. Various studies on this subject have proved it. However, in order to understand the religious way of constructing the concept of suicide on a personal level, it is necessary to pay attention to the religious environment in which the concepts and emotions of suicide circulate. The laymen do not passively and perfectly accept the finely established suicide concept provided by the doctrine or the theology. Rather, the laymen tend to collect the pieces of concept over the suicide that are drifting in the religious environment of his/her daily routine life and to make an concept of suicide in an incomplete form. We can find the unstable and imperfect traits of such a suicide concept through the experience of suicide survivors who have a religious background. For the suicide survivors with religious beliefs, they resist the formal doctrinal and theological provisions to suicide, or try to understand the notion of suicide in their own contexts. In terms of linguistic expressions and ritual acts relating to suicide, the attentions are differently directed in the public and the private domain among the religious groups. Considering on the high rates of suicide in Korean society, the Korean Catholic Churches are increasingly tolerant over the suicide and accept it in the public sphere. It is unlikely when comparing to the negative attitudes of the suicide in the past. However, such tolerance does not go beyond the doctrinal and ethical judgment that defines suicide as a serious sin. The once-committed lay believer's speech and gestures usually contain the various emotions, such as sadness, grief, anxiety, regretfulness, eagerness, and pain in the private spheres. The language and gestures with these emotions have been activated in the religious circuits of suicide, being extended to the religious apparatus for the person who died of suicide. In case of Protestantism, the institutional organizations, such as the particular denominations and the individual-churchism of the Korean Protestant Churches, and their own interpretations of the Bible have in the private sphere strongly effected on the linguistic expressions and the rituals related to the suicide. The religious-ethical judgment of the suicide is varied how the suicide is interpreted by the theologians and the pastors. And the ritual acts for healing the complex feelings and the psychological wounds of the suicide survivors are not actively explored and adopted yet. It makes harder to approach and heal the protestant followers since they emphasize the innermost belief and the salvation assurance faith.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.40
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• pp.111-131
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• 2015

An unusual success engendering loyalty among cult fans in the United States, Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk anime, Ghost in the Shell (GITS) revolves around a female cyborg assassin named Motoko Kusanagi, a.k.a. "the Major." When the news came out last year that Scarlett Johansson was offered 10 million dollars for the role of the Major in the live action remake of GITS, the frustrated fans accused DreamWorks of "whitewashing" the classic Japanimation and turning it into a PG-13 film. While it would be premature to judge a film yet to be released, it appears timely to revisit the core achievement of Oshii's film untranslatable into the Hollywood formula. That is, unlike ultimately heteronormative and humanist sci-fi films produced in Hollywood, such as the Matrix trilogy or Cloud Atlas, GITS defies a Hollywoodization by evoking much bafflement in relation to its queer, posthuman characters and settings. This essay homes in on Major Kusanagi's body in order to update prior criticism from the perspectives of posthumanism and queer theory. If the Major's voluptuous cyborg body has been read as a liberating or as a commodified feminine body, latest critical work of posthumanism and queer theory causes us to move beyond the moralistic binaries of human/non-human and male/female. This deconstruction of binaries leads to a radical rethinking of "reality" and "identity" in an image-saturated, hypermediated age. Viewed from this perspective, Major Kusanagi's body can be better understood less as a reflection of "real" women than as an embodiment of our anxieties on the loss of self and interiority in the SNS-dominated society. As is warned by many posthumanist and queer critics, queer and posthuman components are too often used to reinforce the human. I argue that the Major's hybrid body is neither a mere amalgam of human and machine nor a superficial postmodern blurring of boundaries. Rather, the compelling combination of individuality, animality, and technology embodied in the Major redefines the human as always, already posthuman. This ethical act of revision-its shifting focus from oppressive humanism to a queer coexistence-evinces the lasting power of GITS.

• 기호학연구
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• no.57
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• pp.7-26
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• 2018

The purpose of this paper is to interpret the discourse on design thinking through the perspective of Roland Barthes' Mythologies. To this end, this paper will explore the mythologization process of design thinking using the methodological framework of Barthes, which structurally interprets the connotations produced using semiosis. Design thinking originally refers to a method which is used in the process of planning ideas about designs in order to create the final products for professional designs. However, design thinking has recently attracted more interest from the public because it has become known as a tool for solving various problems which exist outside of the field of design, such as social issues, management, and marketing strategies. Barthes points out that myths are used as a tool to deliver ideologies. He also emphasizes the importance of 'structural thinking'. It interprets the inherent connotative meanings more than the denotative meanings, which are explicitly shown. One of the most powerful ideologies which our society embraces today is creativity. Design thinking realizes the manifestation of creativity through a schematized process. This can be explained by considering design thinking as an icon that is specifically turned into a figuration to realize its objectness, in which a discourse for solving issues and social codes meet together and form a mythology. The mythologies that Barthes cites in his book refer to mythical values created by the cultural codes which humans have produced in our modern and contemporary age. The symbolic value of design thinking has become more important than the signifier which design thinking itself presents. This means that design thinking has become a sign that has mythical properties. In other words, the ideology of creativity embodied by design thinking has attained a mythological status, as it produces a new cultural code through innovation. The process of interpreting a phenomenon using the perspective of semiotics is an important tool that allows us to examine the concept of an object and its surroundings thoroughly. This paper attempts to expand the external scope of critical analysis about social phenomena by using the signs which continuously reveal themselves in common ideologies, such as design thinking, which has been gaining more popularity recently.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.32
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• pp.71-106
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• 2016

This study analyzes the current work of the traditional theater around 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' of theatre troupe 'Saninomou'. 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' has proved that it is possible modernization while at the same time preserving the traditional theater. As a result, 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' regained the spirit of contemporary social criticism and reality inherent in Kokdugaksinorum. The performance are beyond the traditional production method, which has created a new performance aspects. 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' has created the puppets like this 'Kimga' 'Seweolho' 'Ryukbang' 'Chourani'. Traditional and creative dolls has criticized our modern society at the same stage. On the other hand, plays such as tightrope, Pungmul, Burna confirmed the spirit of Namsadangpae, and gave a dramatic fun. 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' has dual stage. The dual stage will produce a magnificent spectacle, and has provided a variety of attractions. 'Back Parkcheomji(season2)' re-created the traditional theater of Namsadangpae in vivid contemporary version. The performance has made the opportunity to think again about the value of classical and allowed to recognize the new phase of classical theater.

• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.32
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• pp.257-287
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• 2017

It seems to be quite an ambitious endeavor to trace back the translation history of Catholic Vulgate Bible from Latin language to Asian languages since 16th century. I try to bring out the translation(translative) procedure of Latin Bible to the Chinese Version, which is eventually come up (and the latter)to the Korean Version. It has been supported and funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea. This task has a three-year plan. For the first step(operation), I examined and searched the European situation of the Vulgate Bible in the Catholic Church, i.e. the ritual use of Vulgate Bible in the Mass and the religious retreat. The liturgical texts, to begin with, were analysed to disclose how the Vulgate Bible was reflected in them. The Lectionary and the Evangeliary were the typical ones. The structure or the formation system of the Lectionaries for Mass was based on the liturgical year cycle. From this point, the Vulgate Bible was rooted in the religious life of European Catholics after the Council of Trent which had proclaimed the Vulgate to be authentic source of the Revelation, therefore, to be respected as the only authoritative Bible. How did the Catholic Church use the Vulgate Bible out of the context and the boundary (sphere) of liturgy? The Meditation guide books for the purpose of instructing the religious retreat was published and (diffused) circulated among the priests, the religious persons and even the laymen. In those books also were included (found) the citation, the interpretation and the commentaries of the Vulgate Bible. The most of the devotees in Europe read the biblical phrases out of the meditation guide books. There are still remained the unsolved problems of how to understand (for understanding) the actual aspect of the Vulgate Bible in the European Catholic Church. All the Biblical verses were translated into French and included in the meditation guide books published in France. What did the Holy See think the French translation of the Vulgate Bible? Unfortunately, there were not found the Vatican Decrees about the European translation of the Vulgate Bible. The relationship between the Vulgate Bible and the Meditation guide (Those) will be much important for the study of Chinese translation of it. The search for the Decrees and the researches on it and the European and the non-European translations of the Vulgate Bible will be a continuous task for me as well as the other researchers on these subjects in the future.

• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
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• no.32
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• pp.186-218
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• 2017

The ritual food is one of the indispensable elements in rituals of Korean folk beliefs. This is ascertained by the fact that a very simple ritual cannot be practiced and performed even without offering a bowl of water. In this regard, it is properly claimed that food is an essential medium of communications between man and gods if they spiritually meet and communicate each other by way of various rituals in Korean folk beliefs. It is possible to point out Gut, the typical ritual of Korean Shamanism as an example of serving the ritual foods among Korean folk beliefs. One of the striking phenomena in Gut(Korean Shamanism's rituals) is various ritual foods on the tables for Gut. There is no Gut performances without offering ritual foods, and the ritual food in Gut practices is more than just food offering to the gods. Moreover the ritual food tells that what kind of Gut it is and for what purpose it is performed, for whom it is set up. And even the invited gods of Musok are disclosed according to the ritual food in Gut. Also some parts of Musok's worldview are appeared and actualized through the ritual food in Gut. In this sense the ritual food in Gut is one of the important channels for understanding Gut and Musok, and one of the explanation systems about Musok. Even if recognized the importance of the ritual food in Gut, it still has not been draw proper attentions to deserving its importance in the researches on Musok and Gut. Upon the critical reviews on such tendencies of the previous studies this paper tries to clarify the characteristics and significances of the ritual food in Gut by examining the Jinjuk Gut in Seoul area as an case study. On the basis of this examination, the ritual food in Gut comes up to be one of the important paths to understanding Gut and Musok as an explanatory system on Musok in general.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.102-123
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• 2013

This paper is a study about the Gang Sehwang's (姜世晃 1713~1791) Ink Orchid Painting. Gang Sehwang is a representative literati gentleman who painted Four Gentlemen, for the first time, during the late Joseon Dynasty. There are 20 pieces of Ink Orchid Painting of his in Korea. His recognition of the Ink Orchid Painting can be understood through his records and analysis of his Ink Orchid Painting. He considered the sketch from the nature (寫生), practice of old paintings (古畵), and copy-training of the manual of paintings (畵譜). Particularly, Gang Sehwang focused on the copy-training of old paintings (古畵臨倣) which integrates the will and spirit of old literati gentlemen. This means that he had recognized the picture as a means of 'literature carrying morality (載道). Also, we could read self-discipline (修己的) values from his continuative copy-training of the manual of paintings (畵譜臨倣). Next, his Ink Orchid Painting were divided into the first half of the term (his 30s to 40s) and the second half of the term (his 60s to 78 years old). He had polished up on the Jieziyuanhuazhan ("芥子園畵傳") during the first half of the term and on the Shizhuzhaishuhuapu ("十竹齋書畵譜") or the Maejuknanguksabo ("梅竹蘭菊四譜") during the second half of the term. Therefore, it could be understood that he had depended on the manual of paintings (畵譜) for a long time. Nevertheless, he had completed the elegant and graceful Pyeoam Orchid (豹菴蘭)' based on his skill of the manual of paintings (畵譜) in his 70s. Finally, the 18th century Ink Orchid Painting and painters who lived (worked) at that time were investigated. He made?? the Albums of Calligraphy and Painting (書畵合壁帖) with Shim Sajeong (沈師正) and Choi Buk (崔北). They also interacted with each other by Calligraphy and Painting (書畵). Also, Yi Insang (李麟祥) and Im Heeji (林熙之) contributed to the diversification of the 18th century Ink Orchid Painting style by imitating Ink Orchid Painting with the manual of paintings (畵譜). Moreover, it is meaningful that the Ink Orchid Painting of Gang Se-hwang and the18th century Ink Orchid painters influenced the foundation of the 19th century Ink Orchid Painting fashion.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.22
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• pp.287-325
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• 2011

This paper studies the time-space and appreciation of the performance culture of Gwanseo region, which is considered to have formed a characteristic culture in late Joseon period. For this purpose, 4 gasa written in hangeul (Korean alphabet), as well as 4 yeonhaeng gasa, 108 articles of Gwanseoakbu were examined. Plus, among the 9 types of yeonhaengrok (Documents of Performance culture) written in Chinese character, those parts which describe the performance traits have been analyzed. Then, 'main list of terminology' has been deduced based on the categorization according to the following points : 1) subjects of performance and appreciation 2) time and period of performance 3) space of performance 4) contents of performance 5) background and motive for performance and 6) method of performance. Through this process, various 'nouns' and 'predicate verbs' in relation to performance culture emerged, which were systemized according to types of performance elements and categories. Major terminology includes predicate verbs and symbolic verbs such as nokuihongsang,' 'baekdaehongjang,' 'jeolsaekgeumga,' 'cheonga,' 'hwaryu,' 'gamuja,' and 'tongsoja,' as well as the terms already known such as gisaeng, iwon, yangbang, akgong, and jeonak, which refer to musicians and dancers. Subjects of performance were divided into performers and listeners, categorized into concert, music, and dance, according to performance form. In the case for music, it was divided into instrumental or vocal, solo or accompanied (byeongju, self-accompaniment). In the case for vocal music, noteworthy was the inclusion of profesional artist's singing (called gwangdae or uchang). The record of 23 names of popular artists from Gwanseo region, with mention of special talents for each person, reflects the degree of activeness and artistic level of the province. Depending on the appreciating patrons, the audience were indicated as the terms including 'yugaek (party guest),' jwasang,' 'on jwaseok,' and 'sonnim (guests).' It seems that appraisal for a certain performance was very much affected by the tastes, views, and disposition of the appreciating patrons. Therefore it is interesting to observe different comparative reviews of concerts of different regions given by literary figures, offering various criticism on identical performance. In terms of performance space, it has been divided into natural or architectural space, doing justice to special performance sites such as a famous pavilion or an on-the-boat performance. Specific terms related to the scale and brightness of stage, as well as stage props and cast, based on descriptions of performance space were found. The performance space, including famous pavilions; Yeongwangjeong, Bubyeokru, Baeksangru, Wolparu, and Uigeomjeong, which are all well-known tourist sites of Gwanseo province, have been often visited by viceroys. governors, and envoys during a tour or trip. This, and the fact that full-scale performances were regularly held here, and that more than 15 different kinds of boats which were used for boat concert are mentioned, all confirm the general popularity of boat concerts at the time. Performance time, categorized by season or time of day (am/pm/night) and analyzed in terms of time of occurrence and duration, there were no special limitation as to when to have a performance. Most morning concerts were held as part of official duties for the envoys, after their meeting session, whereas evening concerts were more lengthy in duration, with a greater number of people in the audience. In the case of boat concert, samples include day-time concert and performances that began during the day and which lasted till later in the evening. Major terminology related to performance time and season includes descriptions of time of day (morning, evening, night) and mention of sunset, twilight, moonlight, stars, candles, and lamps. Such terms which reflect the flow of time contributed in making a concert more lively. Terminology for the contents of performance was mostly words like 'instrumental,' 'pungak,' or 'pungnyu.' Besides, contextual expressions gave hints as to whether there were dance, singing, ensemble, solo, and duets. Words for dance and singing used in Gwanseo province were almost identical to those used for gasa and jeongjae in the capital, Hanyang. However, many sentences reveal that performances of 'hangjangmu' of hongmunyeon, sword dance, and baettaragi were on a top-quality level. Moreover, chants in hanmun Chinese character and folk songs, which are characteristic for this region, show unique features of local musical performance. It is judged that understanding the purpose and background of a performance is important in grasping the foundation and continuity of local culture. Concerts were usually either related to official protocol for 'greeting,' 'sending-off,' 'reports,' and 'patrols' or for private enjoyment. The rituals for Gwanseo province characteristically features river crossing ceremony on the Daedong river, which has been closely documented by many. What is more, the Gwanseo region featured continued coming and goings of Pyeongan envoys and local officers, as well as ambassadors to and fro China, which required an organized and full-scale performance of music and dance. The method of performance varied from a large-scale, official ones, for which female entertainers and a great banquet in addition to musicians were required, to private gatherings that are more intimate. A performance may take the form of 'taking turns' or 'a competition,' reflecting the dynamic nature of the musical culture at the time. This study, which is deduction of terminology in relation to the time-space and appreciation culture of musical performances of Gwanseo region in late Joseon period, should be expanded in the future into research on 'the performance culture unique to Gwanseo region,' in relation to the financial and administrative aspects of the province, as well as everyday lifestyle. Furthermore, it could proceed to a more intensive research by a comparative study with related literary documents and pictorial data, which could serve as the foundation for understanding the use of space and stage, as well as the performance format characteristic to Korean traditional performing arts.