Page 36 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

Preaching in the Stage of Explosion (1960s-1980s)

The early 1960s were a revolutionary period in modern Korean history. The two

revolutionary events, the “4.19 Student Revolution” in 1960 and the “5.16 Military Revolution”

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in 1961, ushered in rapid transformation of every segment of Korean life. Moreover, since the

time of military revolution, Korea industrialized rapidly; hence, the generations of the 1970s and

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1980s witnessed an era of economic success.

In 1959, the Presbyterian Church, the largest denomination in Korea, divided over

theological debate concerning an ecumenical issue. Not only did the Presbyterian Church split

over the issue, but also the rest of the Korean churches. “Liberal Indigenous Theology” and

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“Radical MinJung (People) Theology” emerged in this period; and in the midst of the
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theological turmoil, Korean Christianity grew explosively.

This period also witnessed Korean preaching in general expressed emotionalism,

sentimentalism, and lack of intelligent judgement that arose out of the intellectual, theological

weakness of preachers. Secular materialism and western pragmatism were strong influences

over many preachers of this period. Preaching became regarded as a means of solving human

47
Seung Jin Kim, “Development of Protestant Theologies in Korea” (Th.M. Thesis,
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1986), 4.

48 Boo Yoo, Korean Pentecostalism, 139-43.

49 Ibid. Seung Kim deals with Protestant theologies of this period in the thesis.

50
James Huntley Grayson, Early Buddhism and Christianity in Korea: A Study in the
Implantation of Religion (Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1985), 126. He provides a table
that shows the growth of number and percentage of Protestant church against the whole
population. In 1957, the number of Protestants was 844,000 and percentage 3.7%. In 1981, the
number was 7,637,000 and 19.8%.