{"title":"Incarnation and Divine Essence in Daesoon Thought: A Comparative Study between Daesoon thought and Christianity","authors":"B. Rigal-Cellard","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.61","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.61","url":null,"abstract":"This article compares the concepts of divine incarnation as expounded in Daesoon Thought and in Christianity and questions the essence of the divinity in both traditions. In Daesoon Thought, The Supreme God, Sangje, saw major disorganization leading to extreme violence and doom and decided to incarnate on earth under the human form of Kang Jeungsan (1871–1909). Then the living God taught the solution to human suffering through the revelations he sent in 1917 to Jo Cheol-Je, or Jo Jeongsan (1895– 1958) and the revelations were passed on to Dojeon Park Wudang who in 1969 founded Daesoon Thought. In Christianity, God incarnated in his son, Jesus Christ, who allowed for the radical transformation of the condition of man through his physical sacrifice. Daesoon differs in that Sangje did not offer himself as sacrifice when he came on earth but reorganized the world and taught how to apply benevolence to establish the Earthly Paradise. The affirmation that Daesoon Jinrihoe is both monotheistic and polytheistic is then analyzed. If the concept of monotheism seems to differ vastly between the two traditions, it appears that biblical monotheism is itself relatively young in the history of world religions so that Christianity has ancient roots germane to those of Daesoon Jinrihoe. The article concludes on the originality of this religion: though it is built on Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, it has transformed their vision of the deity and of its message in a most convincing manner.","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130385996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vietnamese Syncretism and the Characteristics of Caodaism’s Chief Deity: Problematising Đức Cao Đài as a ‘Monotheistic’ God Within an East Asian Heavenly Milieu","authors":"C. Hartney","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.41","url":null,"abstract":"Caodaism is a new religion from Vietnam which began in late 1925 and spread rapidly across the French colony of Indochina. With a broad syncretic aim, the new faith sought to revivify Vietnamese religious traditions whilst also incorporating religious, literary, and spiritist influences from France. Like Catholicism, Caodaism kept a strong focus on its monotheistic nature and today Caodaists are eager to label their religion a monotheism. It will be argued here, however, that the syncretic nature of this new faith complicates this claim to a significant degree. To make this argument, we will consider here the nature of God in Caodaism through two central texts from two important stages in the life of the religion. The first is the canonized Compilation of Divine Messages which collects a range of spirit messages from God and some other divine voices. These were received in the early years of the faith. The second is a collection of sermons from 1948/9 that takes Caodaist believers on a tour of heaven, and which is entitled The Divine Path to Eternal Life . It will be shown that in the first text, God speaks in the mode of a fully omnipotent and omniscient supreme being. In the second text, however, we are given a view of paradise that is much more akin to the court of a Jade Emperor within an East Asian milieu. In these realms, the personalities of other beings and redemptive mechanisms claim much of our attention, and seem to be a competing center of power to that of God. Furthermore, God’s consort, the Divine Mother , takes on a range of sacred creative prerogatives that do something similar. Additionally, cadres of celestial administrators; buddhas, immortals, and saints help with the operation of a cosmos which spins on with guidance from its own laws. These laws form sacred mechanisms, such as cycles of reincarnation and judgement. These operate not in the purview of God, but as part of the very nature of the cosmos itself. In this context, the dualistic, polytheistic, and even automatic nature of Caodaism’s cosmos will be considered in terms of the way in which they complicate this religion’s monotheistic claims. To conclude, this article seeks to demonstrate the precise relevance of the term ‘monotheism’ for this","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115172234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disseminating Daesoon Thought: A Comparative Analysis","authors":"George D. Chryssides","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.13","url":null,"abstract":"The author examines three new religious movements in South Korea: Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Unification Church, and the Daesoon Jinrihoe, and aims to identify the factors that are conducive to the growth of each. All three organisations believe in a coming paradise, and the article explores their respective attempts to interest the populace in their appeal. Discussion is given to membership statistics and the problems of measuring allegiance and moves on to consider methods of propagation. Most obviously, evangelisation strategy is important: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unificationists have tended to engage the interest of strangers, while followers of Daesoon Jinrihoe are more inclined to evangelise family and friends. Additionally, there are other factors that determine an organisation’s progress: cultural appropriateness, engagement in social and educational work, and attitudes to conflict and peace, the latter being particularly important in a society that has experienced war and occupation. Reference is made to the ways in which these three organisations finance themselves, and it is argued that financial resources merit greater attention in the scholarly study of religion, since monetary assets are needed to secure a spiritual movement’s existence. Of the three organisations under discussion, the Daesoon Jinrihoe has been the most successful, being South Korea’s largest new religion, while Jehovah’s Witnesses are in steady state, and the Unification movement is experiencing slight decline.","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"121 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115588751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"David W. Kim (ed.), New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives (Lanham, Boulder, New York and London: Lexington Books, 2020); xix, 285 pp.; ISBN: 978-1-7936-3402-3; Hardback; US $115.00.","authors":"C. Cusack","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.171","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127453386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Spreading of Caodaism to Taiwan: Man’s Will versus Divine Will","authors":"Tuan Em Nguyen","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.115","url":null,"abstract":"Caodaism officially came into existence in 1926 in Southern Vietnam and soon became a spiritual phenomenon, in the sense of spiritual and social influence. Despite being sandwiched between political forces and ruling governments, Caodaism steadily grew far beyond its national boundary. After 95 years, Caodaism eventually reached Taiwan when a new small Cao Đài Congregation, approved by top Cao Đài Dignitaries in Vietnam, was established in Zhongli District, Taoyuan City by a group identifying as ‘Vietnamese New Immigrants’ in Taiwan. This article traced this religious organization’s doctrine, philosophy, prophecy and relevant socio-cultural factors and found that (1) Caodaists see the successful spreading of Caodaism to Taiwan as having been prophesied long ago; (2) Caodaists believe that any human efforts by Cao Đài missionaries to spread Caodaism overseas without approval from Divinities could end up in failure; and (3) the similarities in social, cultural, and religious practices between the peoples of Vietnam and Taiwan lay a strong foundation for Caodaism to further develop in Taiwan.","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130513889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Daesoon Thought as the Source of Daesoon Jinrihoe’s Social Work","authors":"Rosita Šorytė","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.89","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.89","url":null,"abstract":"Both in Korea and internationally, many know and appreciate Daesoon Jinrihoe for its social work in the three main areas of education, social welfare and health care, and charity aid. The article surveys Daesoon Jinrihoe’s activities in these three areas and proposes a comparison with the charitable and ecological work performed by the Taiwanese Buddhist charity (and new religious movement) Tzu Chi, the peace activities of Soka Gakkai, and the projects developed in Bhutan to implement the policy of Gross National Happiness. Tzu Chi is mostly known for its massive recycling activities, but in fact its view of charity and ecology is based on a specific Buddhist theology. Soka Gakkai’s vision of peace relates to its interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism. Gross National Happiness in Bhutan is a project promoted by the government, but scholars who have studied it have concluded that it is deeply rooted in Drukpa Kagyu, the dominant school in Bhutanese Buddhism. Similarities are noted, as well as differences with the Western Christian and post-Christian approach to charity, which is largely based on an affirmation of the self. Daesoon Jinrihoe’s social work shares with the Buddhist cases studied in the article the idea that the self may deceive (self-deception) but appears to be inspired by the unique principle of Sangsaeng, and by the idea that the root causes of social problems are grievances accumulated through thousands of years and in need of being resolved.","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122389124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chang Chia-Lin (張家麟), Chinese Religiosity (華人宗教) GPS3, Taipei: Taiwan Religion and Society Association, 2020, Hardcover. Pp. 224. $523.","authors":"Edward Irons","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.165","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115649691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Traditions of Western Rhetoric and Daesoon Jinrihoe: Prolegomena to Further Investigations","authors":"B. Fehler","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.133","url":null,"abstract":"Applying the long and distinguished heritage of rhetorical theory to any sacred text, such The Canonical Scripture of Daesoon Jinrihoe, could fill many volumes of many books. This study, then, will provide some suggestive prolegomena for directions rhetorical criticism of the Scripture can take, now and in future research. This study will, further, make necessarily broad strokes in order to familiarize audiences and scholars of new Korean religions, and Eastern thought generally, with Western, both ancient and more modern, modes of rhetorical thought. As rhetorical criticism is increasingly embraced by Western religious scholarship, and as comparative religious studies remain an important dimension of textual scholarship, this article will contribute to both areas by presenting perhaps the first rhetorical-critical approach to the sacred scriptures of Daesoon Jinrihoe. When the new English translation of the Scriptures becomes available in the West, general and scholarly readers will be interested to find parallels and departures with religious and critical traditions with which they are already familiar (in this case, early American Protestant Calvinism). This study will make contributions, then, to the areas of rhetorical-religious criticism, comparative East-West presentations of nature within scriptural contexts, and establishment of grounds for further comparative investigations of Western traditions and Daesoon Jinrihoe.","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130109754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"EDITOR’S PREFACE","authors":"C. Cusack","doi":"10.3726/978-3-653-01641-3/1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-01641-3/1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126865033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"David W. Kim, Daesoon Jinrihoe in Modern Korea: The Emergence, Transformation and Transmission of a New Religion. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020. Hardcover. Pp. 406. £67.99.","authors":"M. Introvigne","doi":"10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25050/jdtrea.2022.1.2.161","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":259212,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128242032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}