This paper examines Ahn Jeong-bok’s awareness and response to Catholicism in the late 18th century, focusing on the 19 letters he left. The reason why we specifically examined his letter in this paper is to understand Ahn Jeong-bok’s awareness and...
This paper examines Ahn Jeong-bok’s awareness and response to Catholicism in the late 18th century, focusing on the 19 letters he left. The reason why we specifically examined his letter in this paper is to understand Ahn Jeong-bok’s awareness and response to Catholicism in more detail by life cycle, taking into account the timing and recipient of the letter. Through this, this paper attempted to understand various problems in the early days of the establishment of the Korean Catholic Church by identifying Ahn Jeong-bok’s activities and actions in the final years of his life after writing a critical article on Catholicism.
Ahn Jeong-bok became a disciple of Lee Ik and encountered Catholic books, and in his mid-40s, he read De Deo Verax Disputatio(天主實義) and pointed out heresy based on discussions on the theory of heaven -hell and soul theory. In particular, Ahn Jeong-bok criticized the contradiction between the concepts of Li(理) and Taeguk(太極) used by Matteo Ricci from the perspective of Confucian Neo-Confucianism. However, at this time, his criticism of Catholicism remained largely at the level of academic research.
On the other hand, as a young disciple of Lee Ik engaged in full-fledged Catholic faith activities after 1784, Ahn Jeong-bok’s criticism of Catholicism changed into a steep difference between “heretical exclusion” to protect Neo-Confucianism. This period corresponds to the later years of his life, over the age of 70, and he recognized the danger of Catholicism until his death. He wrote letters to the young disciples of Lee Ik to recommend that he stop Catholicism. In addition, he also left critical writings on Catholicism such as the Cheonhakgo(天學考) and the Cheonhakmundap(天學問答) In addition, efforts were made to promote a coalition of criticisms of Catholicism with colleagues around him, while spreading awareness against Catholicism. In particular, it is a very remarkable point that Ahn Jeong-bok devoted himself to the spread and sharing of anti-Catholicism awareness right up until the moment he died. As such, Ahn Jeong-bok’s series of responses to Catholicism can be said to explain why he is a key figure in the group that criticizes Catholicism.