Author ｜
In-jae Song
Abstract ｜
This article aims to investigate the connotation and context of the concept of “culture” in the text corpus of GaeByeok《開闢》, the Cheondokyo 天道教 journal, by conducting co-occurrence analysis in order to understand the nature of the cultural movement of Cheondokyo in 1920s. The result of co-occurrence analysis suggests that the terms co-occurred with “culture” the most are “East,” “West,” and movement. It indicates that, during the period, the relation between culture and movement was stronger than at any other time. At that time, members of Chendokyo accepted reformism, personalism, and culturalism from Japan, which led to the shift of the thoughts of Gaebyeok from “creating” to “reforming” and from “human as heaven” to “personalism.” The concept of culture was the pivot and mediator of this transformation. Culture is understood to represent the attributes and achievement of human as an actor who reconfigures nature. Furthermore, culture was understood as a concept representing the orientation toward a new society along with enlightenment and civilization. This has served as a concept to realize the historical task beyond the definition of culture in dictionary. The theory of East and West culture influenced by China's New Culture Movement and the discourse of the old culture and the new culture that made intense criticism about Confucianism dominated the discourse and discussion regarding culture. The object of the reconstruction was the old Eastern culture which was formed by Confucianism. Korean culture was described as an experiment for this movement of cultural reconstruction. A young man who learned theology from abroad was noted as the leader of this reconstruction movement. Lee Don-hwa (1844-1950), who led the New Culture Movement, presented a rough idea for re-constructing the “new culture” of Korea. On the other hand, it still referred to Donghak as a religious root in pursuing a new culture. The articles on culture in GaeByeok demonstrated the efforts of the Cheondokyo community to fulfill its social mission through culture.
keywords ｜
GaeByeok, culture, chosen, East and West, old and new