Responses to Climate Change and Natural Disasters in Pre-Modern Korea: Missional Implications for the Korean Church

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Unfortunately, though I found the author's argument interesting, this article has too many broad assertions which go beyond what historical data supports. Here are areas in which I see a need for improvement:

Line 9 its influence on Korea afterwards.

 

Line 50-51. king ordered to call upon mudangs (shamans)

 

line 70-71 “To restore balance, they attempted to reflect heaven's will on earth by imitating the shape and structure of heaven.”  I am not sure what it means to imitate the shape and structure of heaven. My understanding is that they tried to conform to the moral principles which would align them with the model of appropriate behavior Heaven provided. 

 

Line 74. Tongqikamenglon doesn’t appear to be a Korean term, since Korean does not have a q sound. Also, in Korean “ng” would be followed by “n,” not “l.” And “k” in the middle of a word should be romanized as “g.” 

 

Line 101 Kāmsûn is also a strange romanization. It should be Kamsŏn. 

 

The author confuses Heaven and the heavens. When not capitalized, the heavens refers to celestial bodies.  When capitalized, Heaven, on the other hand, refers to the impersonal moral principles of selfless interactions we can see when celestial bodies interact appropriately. 

 

Lines 139-140 I’m not sure what the author is referring to in this discussion of capitals being relocated. In the pre-Koryŏ the capitals of the Three Kingdoms moved under military pressure. Koryŏ kept the same capital for over 4 centuries, and Chosŏn, which moved its capital southward for geomantic reasons, kept the same capital for over five centuries.

 

p. 148 Pungsudocham should be P’ungsudoch’am. 

 

Line 158 Koreans left a nomadic existence behind long before the Koryŏ period. 

 

Line 165. The reference to regime’s lifespans being curtailed is strange, since Koryŏn lasted from 918 to 1392, and Chosŏn lasted from 1392 to 1910! They both lasted longer than any regimes in China or Japan over the last 2,000 years! 

 

Lines 176-78. “However, Buddhism, which was the prevailing religion of the Koryŏ dynasty, emphasized internal spiritual development and otherworldliness.” This is a misunderstanding of Buddhism in Koryŏ. Temples were often situated in locations to enhance good p’ungsu, and prayers and rituals in temples were often focused on this-worldly benefits such as the longevity of the dynasty and the health of the royal family. 

 

p. 192. “The lowest social class collapsed, and many became refugees, contributing 

to social unrest (Lee 2023: 95-106).” I am a historian of Chosŏn Korea, but I have no idea what this is a reference. I know of no evidence that the lowest social class collapsed, unless this is a reference to the decline of slavery, which was caused by population increases, not by government or yangban corruption. And there is no evidence that escaped slaves contributed to social unrest. 

 

Lines 240-251 I have studied the early Korean Catholics and have found no evidence of Maitreya belief among them. Moreover, Maitreya belief was rare among the common people. As for the Chŏnggam-nok, it was illegal because it prophesied the fall of the Yi family, who ruled Chosŏn. The secondary sources the author relies on to assert a relationship between the Chŏnggam-nok and Catholicism relies solely on superficial similarities. There is no explicit textual data to support a claim of the influence of one on the other. 

 

lines 262-4.  Kim Sŏnju emerged as a powerful Christian evangelist decades after Koreans experienced “forced labor and the distressing reality of Japanese military-controlled rape camps.”

 

Line 285 The imported religions from China included the p’ungsu thought the author appears to think was indigenous. 

 

Line 291 What is “frequent capital relocations undertaken in the Koryŏ dynasty” referring to? 

 

Lines 332-35 “Catholicism introduced to Korea in the 18th century was perceived as a novel solution capable of resolving the societal contradictions in the corrupt and oppressive political sphere experienced by the marginalized Confucian elites.” This is a popular misconception. There is no evidence in early Catholic writings that people thought that Catholicism could solve social problems. Conversion to Catholicism was religion, not political. 

 

The reference to the “National Institute of Korean History Database” needs to specify which specific title (Koryŏsa) in the database was accessed. 

 

Line 374 “the dynasties' lifespan was shortened, and institutional religions lost their

dominance.” I have no idea where the author got these ideas. There is no evidence in Korean historical records to support such a claim. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There were only a couple of places in which the English needs to be corrected. Otherwise, the English is fine. 

Author Response

I appreciate the reviewer’s comments, and thank you for the insight regarding historical aspects. In response to the observation about ‘going beyond what historical data supports,’ I would like to offer the following responses. 

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Author,

The paper offers a comprehensive examination of the role that religion played in the face of ecological crises in pre-modern Korea. The paper in particular analyzes the religious worldviews and indigenous religions that played an important role in the Goryeo and Joseon periods and explains how they influenced the people of those times to cope with the disasters. The researcher's arguments concerning the role of apocalyptic worldviews were particularly noteworthy, and it can be argued that they shed light on the religious responses that inevitably accompany environmental disasters. 

However, the results and discussion section of the paper requires logical improvement in order to relate the findings to Korean Christianity in the post-pandemic period. In particular, the researcher's use of the phrase ‘Christian mission’ to recreate the way Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and other religious perspectives have acted in the past in the face of disasters may be a result of a lack of understanding of Christian mission. Additionally, it can be attributed to the researcher's lack of a clearly defined understanding of Christian mission and an adequate description of the practice of Christian mission. A considerable amount of research and reflection has already been conducted within Korean theological circles on the role of the church and the practice of mission in the context of the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, if the researcher could complement the findings of this study by referring to these existing studies, the paper would be much improved.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English is required.

Author Response

I appreciate the reviewer’s comments. In this paper, I sought to extract lessons for the contemporary church based on the outcomes observed when the dominant religions of the past were unable to adequately fulfill their societal roles during times of national disasters and crises, which were driven by climatic changes and pandemics, and their subsequent consequences. As the reviewer pointed out, I have added the research and reflection of Korean theological circles to the bottom of the result and discussion section accordingly.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The submission is much improved over the earlier version I saw. However, there are still a few places where changes should be made to save the author embarrassment when this is published. 

Line 50-51.“ordered to call”  should be “called for mudangs”

 

line 70-71 Instead of “by imitating the shape and structure of heaven (celestial bodies,” it should be “by aligning with the movements of celestial bodies.”

Line 197. The author should add “By the nineteenth century” before “this situation made life unbearable for the vulnerable.”

line 22-21 The author is correct that there was some people in the 2^nd half of Chosŏn who believed in the millenarian promise of Maitreya descending to earth and creating a paradise here.  However, that has nothing to do with the Chŏnggam-nok. The Chŏnggam-nok is partially based on P’ungsudoch’am. The author is correct in saying that in line 220. But the Maitreya tradition is totally separate. Acccording to a recent English translation of Chŏnggam-nok by John Jorgensen (The Foresight of Dark Knowing), there is no mention of Maitreya in Chŏnggam-no, p. 134) The author can leave the references to Maitreya in but should drop mention of Chŏnggam-nok. There were a few among the first Catholics who had read the Chŏnggam-nok, but most made no reference to it when they were interrogated (I have read the interrogation records from 1801 and earlier). And it does not appear to have had much impact, if any on the thinking of those early Catholic converts. 

I respectfully disagree with what footnote 12 says several respectable Korean scholars have claimed about indigenous origins of p’ungsu. I have yet to see any textual evidence for such a claim. Moreover, I have read Choi Changjo and found him talking about p’ungsu thought being imported from China to Korea.  It is true Koreans may have had concepts of auspicious geography before they encountered p’ungsu, but those concepts do not represent anything as systematic as p’ungsu sasang. To be safe, the author should replace references in footnote 12 to indigenous fengshui to references to indigenous concepts of auspicious geography. (By the way, the arguments of Deuk-Whang Kim often go far beyond what actual archaeological and textual data say.) 

 

Author Response

I appreciate the reviewer’s comments. Thanks to their feedback, I believe my paper has improved and become more refined. I am grateful for their constructive criticism.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Author,

The incorporation of a concluding paragraph in the discussion section enhances the persuasive quality of the text. I find it advantageous that your discourse references recent theological studies of Korean society. I believe that this is a suitable time to publish your work. 

Author Response

I appreciate the reviewer’s sincere work in improving the quality of my paper.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf