Political Faction, Social Memory, and Spirituality: A Phenomenological Study of the Yeosu–Suncheon Incident (19 October 1948) and Korean Christian Spirituality

This study examines the interrelationship between historical and political context, paradigmatic experience, social memory, and the spiritual formation of Korean Christianity. To be specific, this paper investigates the impact of ideological confrontation and political factions on Korean Christianity during the Yeosu–Suncheon Incident in October 1948 (henceforth, the 10.19 Incident). Amid the incident, military rebellion, suppression, and massacres took place, and the Korean Church was simultaneously both victim and perpetrator. Moreover, the impact of the factionalism of that era continues to this day through the subsequent distortion of memories surrounding the incident. Such memories have been preserved and transmitted, shaping the essence of Korean Christian spirituality. In this regard, this article presents a phenomenological analysis of the relationship between political faction, paradigmatic experience, social memory, and Korean Christianity, drawing on memory theory. In contrast to such a phenomenon, this paper also finds an alternative spirituality by recovering silent, unspoken, marginalized, and forgotten memories.