Abstract

The politico-economic waives of Western imperialism and colonialism, along with Christianity, affected East Asia's geopolitical landscape in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While the Korean people (of the Joseon Dynasty) witnessed the incompetence of Buddhism, Confucianism, and folk religions in maintaining social cohesion with a sense of frustration, the new religious movements (NRMs) emerged to provide altrnative teachings of hope through historical figures like Choe Je-u, Kang Il-sun (or Kang Jeungsan), Na Cheol, and Pak Chungbin. In terms of popularity, colonial Korea (1910-1940) was impressed by the native groups of Cheondogyo (=Donghak), Bocheongyo, and Mugeukdo. Son Byong-hee (1861-1922) was the third leader of the first Korean NRM, but both Cha Gyeong-seok (1880-1936) and Jo Cheol-Je (= Jo Jeongsan) (1895-1958) participated in the post-Jeungsan grassroots movements. How, then, did both of these new religions originate? How did they conceptualise their deities and interpret their teachings differently? What was their policy for national independence? The article explores the socio-religious leaders, historical origin, organizational structure, deities, teaching and doctrines, patriotism, and conflicts of both NRMs in a comparative context. As such, this article argues that they both maintained patriotic characteristics, but that Cha's Bocheongyo community with its ' 60-executives' system (60 bang) failed to manage their internal conflicts effectively. Meanwhile, Jo Cheol-Je of Mugeukdo had the charismatic leadership needed to maintain Mugeukdo, despite being seen as a pseudoreligion under the colonial pressure of Shintoism.