• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.20
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• pp.1-24
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• 2009

The doctrinal ideas within Daesoon thought are based on the faith of Daesoonjinrihoe (The Fellowship of the Truth of the Great Itineration), which is grounded upon the Jeongyung, the official scripture of the religious order. Today the religious order is faced with the problem of how to develop and deepen the study of Daesoon doctrine. If this project is carried out successfully, a theory would be presented that would provide not only a firm foundation for their religious work, but also systematic research of Daesoon doctrine necessary for greater understanding by people of other cultures and religions. The field of Daesoon studies has emerged along with the development of the Daesoon religious order, as research was initially carried out by the Institute at the Daesoon headquarters. More recent research has been undertaken by Daejin University and The Inter-Academic Society in Korea. What is needed now is to evaluate the findings of the research, which will be instrumental in focusing the vision of the religious order within the context of Daesoon thought.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-102
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• 2021

This study attempts to investigate the role of children in the Korean new religious movement, Daesoon Jinrihoe. The research method combined archival studies with qualitative research; interviews with two members involved in educating youth through the establishment of Youth Camps and Donggeurami, the order's youth magazine. Our four research questions were: 1. Do children play a central role in the millennial vision of this NRM? 2. Are children separated from the world? 3. Have Daesoon childrearing methods been challenged by secular authorities or anticult groups? 4. Are there procedures to educate children in the religious beliefs and values of their parents and the community? Our results found that Daesoon Jinrihoe appears to be a religion designed for adults. Children do not usually participate in religious activities. On the other hand, since 2005 there has been a strategic effort to educate the children in the faith of their parents, through the establishment of Youth Camps and the youth magazine, Donggeurami.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.51-72
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• 2023

This article explores the intersection of freedom of religion, sangsaeng, and symbiosis when considering the post-COVID study of religions, especially new religions. When it comes to the study of new and alternative religious groups, where there is more potential for misunderstanding and misinformation, it becomes all the more important-and indeed mutually beneficial, in the areas of religious liberty, religious freedom, and cross-cultural dialogue-to learn about a tradition by taking into account the spiritual life and practices of members themselves and their own sacred writings and practices. Daesoon Jinrihoe offers a case study of the importance of this principle and the notion of sangsaeng in particular is a fruitful utilitarian lens for thinking about how scholars, journalists, and others might approach the study of religion in our complex and global digital age of (mis) information. Daesoon Jinrihoe is also considered in light of Roy Wallis's typology of world-rejecting, world-affirming, and world-accommodating new religious movements. Open areas for sociological research are proposed and the nascent field of Daesoon studies is compared to some similar scholarly endeavors within NRM studies.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.31
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• pp.1-45
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• 2018

Daesoon Jinrihoe is one of Korea's most influential religious organizations. Its doctrines and creeds include a rich variety of concepts, and among these, the philosophical notion of 'feminine virtue' holds tremendous value. This paper will explore the multitude meanings of feminine virtue, assume these as a foundation, and then examine the doctrines of Daesoon Jinrihoe to analyze the universality and uniqueness of the philosophical notion of feminine virtue. Additionally, background theoretical points of interest and distinctive features will likewise be analyzed to show the truly valuable lessons that this concept holds for today and why it is so worthy of research and promotion.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.133-157
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• 2022

Applying the long and distinguished heritage of rhetorical theory to any sacred text, such The Canonical Scripture of Daesoon Jinrihoe, could fill many volumes of many books. This study, then, will provide some suggestive prolegomena for directions rhetorical criticism of the Scripture can take, now and in future research. This study will, further, make necessarily broad strokes in order to familiarize audiences and scholars of new Korean religions, and Eastern thought generally, with Western, both ancient and more modern, modes of rhetorical thought. As rhetorical criticism is increasingly embraced by Western religious scholarship, and as comparative religious studies remain an important dimension of textual scholarship, this article will contribute to both areas by presenting perhaps the first rhetorical-critical approach to the sacred scriptures of Daesoon Jinrihoe. When the new English translation of the Scriptures becomes available in the West, general and scholarly readers will be interested to find parallels and departures with religious and critical traditions with which they are already familiar (in this case, early American Protestant Calvinism). This study will make contributions, then, to the areas of rhetorical-religious criticism, comparative East-West presentations of nature within scriptural contexts, and establishment of grounds for further comparative investigations of Western traditions and Daesoon Jinrihoe.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.48
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• pp.239-268
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• 2024

Video content is often used as a means of education due to the characteristics of the medium: representation, information delivery, immersion, and experience. In particular, religious films are being used more often in public schools and religious communities to promote understanding and inspiration. The purpose of this study is to examine how Daesoon Jinrihoe utilizes video content via the film, The Road to Peace and Harmony, and the videos that were made for the Museum of Daesoon Jinrihoe Museum. The study will also make suggestions regarding the future use of such contents. In Section 2 of this study, the status of the video contents as currently used by Daesoon Jinrihoe will be examined and analyzed in terms of how the film, The Road to Peace and Harmony, and the videos produced for the Museum of Daesoon Jinrihoe are being utilized. In Section 3, the limitations of Daesoon Jinrihoe's video contents will be considered in that these materials in terms of how these videos are only used within the religious order. There is the potential that such materials could be used in broader society. Lastly, in Section 4, it is proposed that video materials produced by Daesoon Jinrihoe could be used within multicultural religious education in a public setting beyond mere in-group religious education. Through this, it is hoped that Daesoon Jinrihoe will be able to expand as a world religion in a more timely manner than what would otherwise be achieved.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.35
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• pp.393-426
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• 2020

In the past, holy sites were mainly designated on a basis of archaeological norms and endowed with a specific fixed identity according to historical, religious, and contextual interpretations. However, approaches to these sites are more flexible in recent times. These locations transcend the boundaries of space and time to enable the experience of diverse transformation and reveal multiple religious identities which are embedded in the complex interaction between power and authority. In this regard, the dynamic meanings of the religious symbology of Daesoon Jinrihoe's temple complexes, imagery, and the spatial structures enable us to grant them a new identity by re-establishing these structures as World Heritage sites. Temple complexes (dojang) correspond to the outstanding universal values identified by UNESCO in that the spiritual activities conducted at these holy sites draw the same attention as would be drawn by historical value. In this context, this study aims to explore the potential for Daesoon Jinrihoe's temple complexes to be designated UNESCO world heritage sites. To carry out this study, existing religious heritage sites such as Mount Athos Monasteries in Greece and Lumbini in Nepal are examined as case studies, and the operational plan, conservation, protection of relics, and interaction with its neighboring community and tourists are likewise closely examined in this study.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.13-31
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• 2023

For centuries in the Christian era in the West, rhetoric was considered to be a pagan art, one unnecessary for, and detrimental to, religious propagation. As the Christian era gave way to a scientific one during the Enlightenment, both rhetoric and religion were considered irrational and outside the scope of Cartesian certainty. In recent decades, though, rhetorical studies have regained status in universities and rhetorical studies of religion have proliferated. Much work remains to be done, however. For example, Western rhetorical models do not typically consider religious tenets or creeds in terms of what this article will call rhetorical relationality, because creeds and tenets of Western Christianity tend to be purely exhortative. In the West, then, we lack a framework for such an analysis, but with the Four Tenets of Daesoon Jinrihoe, we are presented with Tenets that can, in fact, be analyzed relationally. In order to analyze them as such, this article draws upon philosophical, legal, and rhetorical frameworks developed by major twentieth- century rhetorician Chaim Perelman to understand the primary concern of mutuality expressed in contemporary rhetorical relationality.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.17-37
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• 2021

Scholars of new religious movements have emphasized the role of "second founders," such as Judge J.F. Rutherford for the Jehovah's Witnesses, Brigham Young for the Mormons, or Deguchi Onisaburo for Oomoto. They systematize and structure movements often created by the "first founders" with a minimal organization only. The paper argues that the model for the sequence first founder/second founder described by these scholars is the relationship between Jesus and Paul of Tarsus at the origins of Christianity. It proposes a comparison between Jesus of Nazareth and Kang Jeungsan, who established the tradition leading to present-day Daesoon Jinrihoe. It then summarizes the biography of Jo Jeongsan, recognized by Daesoon Jinrihoe as its "second founder" within the same tradition, and discusses the analogies between his connection to the "first founder," Kang Jeungsan, and the connection Paul of Tarsus established with Jesus Christ. The paper considers recent scholarship about Paul, often described as the "New Perspective on Pauline Scholarship." Paul never personally met Jesus Christ, except after the latter's death through a spiritual revelation, just as Jo Jeongsan never met Kang Jeungsan, except after his death, when he manifested himself to him in spirit. Nonetheless, Paul was able to decisively shape the largest branch among the followers of Jesus Christ, just as Jo Jeongsan originated the lineage leading to Daesoon Jinrihoe, currently the largest religious order among those recognizing Kang Jeungsan as the incarnated Supreme God.

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.155-157
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• 2023