The Review of Korean Studies
- P-ISSN1229-0076
- E-ISSN2773-9351
- SCOPUS, ESCI
ISSN : 1229-0076
King Jeongjo's Political Role in the Conflicts between Confucianism and Catholicism in Eighteenth-Century Korea
Abstract
This article explores King Jeongjo’s role in coping with the religious conflicts among the intellectuals in eighteenth-century Joseon. My argument is that King Jeongjo’s ruling style led Catholicism debates into political persecutions. He has been regarded, in most existing works, as generous and tolerable to Catholicism. In those works, King Jeongjo was on the defense line against Anti-Catholicism attacks during his reign, but after his sudden death, Pyokpa, the political rivals of the Namin, took retaliatory action in the name of ‘Western Learning. Of course, King Jeongjo had a great interest in “Western Learning” and protected some scholars of the Namin against political attacks. But he took measures that created distrust among his subjects in order to weaken their power. He often followed the tactic of “divide and rule,” so called “like cures like.” In the mean time, the relationship among his subjects grew worse. The leaders of the Noron, for example, said to those of the Namin in the public places, “I will not live with you under the sky.” The Namin, to make things worse, were unexpectedly divided into two groups; pro-Catholicism and anti- Catholicism. The distrust and attacks among the Namin scholars made them irreconcilable, and such became one cause of the martyrdoms of 1801. In sum, King Jeongjo was responsible for the immense political persecution, although it was the unintended results of his actions after his death.
- keywords
- King Jeongjo, Anti-Catholicism, Confucian mourning rituals (祭祀), Tangpyong 蕩平), Western Leaning (西學), ExpeditiousMeasures (權道)., King Jeongjo, Anti-Catholicism, Confucian mourning rituals (祭祀), Tangpyong 蕩平), Western Leaning (西學), ExpeditiousMeasures (權道).
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