Ham as a Humanist
Ham's merging of Western Christianity with East Asian philosophies and his tendency to be a Universal Christian stemmed from his deep humanism, which went beyond the institutional Christian church. Ham maintained, "Christianity is greater than the Church, Religion is greater than Christianity, Life is greater than Religion." God exists beyond time, space and formality, but within our lives and ourselves. Jesus also acted and lived beyond the formality of the times.
A Confucian thinker, Hsun Tzu, pointed out over two thousand years ago: "Blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself. Ice is made of water but is colder than water ever is." Confucius also said "Even when walking in the company of two other men, I am bound to be able to learn from them. The good points of the one I copy; and the bad points of the other I correct in myself." Various people have been influential in formulating Ham's own thinking through the various stages of his life: such as, Yu Yongmo, Yi Sunghun, Uchimura Kanzo, Kim Kyosin and Chang Chunha. Like Confucius, Ham copied their good points and corrected in himself their negative points. By doing so, Ham thoroughly digested others' views and beliefs and created his own distinctive thoughts and life.
For example, Ham acquired the core of the religious pluralised view through Yu Yongmo. But unlike Yu, Ham refined, developed and applied the religious pluralised view in respect of political reality, by embracing dissimilar religiously-oriented people. Although Yu Yongmo greatly inspired Ham through his religious pluralised views in Ham's youth, without Ham's contribution, it is doubtful that the popular effect of religious pluralism would have developed in the Korean public. Yu was a recluse, an ascetic man and puritan whilst Ham was more sociable, with a view that took the middle road between secular and sacred issues, and settled a matter from a broader point of view.
Ham learnt ardent nationalistic Christianity from Yi Sunghun and Kim Kyosin, yet Ham did not remain a nationalistic Christian. Ham predicted the globalization of the world as he developed Christianity as a Universal faith not just for Christians. What is more, through various East Asian philosophies, Ham could comprehend more deeply and extensively the meaning of Christianity without any sense of partiality. As a result, Ham believed in the universality of the truth rather than insisting on one religion's superiority.
Over and above this, Ham also adopted various points of view from miscellaneous foreign thinkers at different stages of his life: He learned the principle of non-violence from Gandhi; the resistant spirit from Percy B. Shelley; the synthesis between religion and science from Teilhard de Chardin; the ideal of the Non-Church from Uchimura; pacifism and the spirit of social reform from the Quakers; transcendentalism from Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu; religious mysticism from Kahlil Gibran; cosmopolitanism and historical optimism from H.G.Wells; humanitarianism from Tolstoy; and the virtue of "love your enemy" from Jesus.
Did the above elements make Ham a Universalist rather than a Christian? Obviously Ham had the highest admiration for Jesus as his personal God, even more than his love of the East Asian Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu: "I love both Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, but it is Jesus that I believe in. There is no God for me except His God." But was this enough to make him a Christian? Not absolutely, because Ham also emphasised the necessity of having wide ranging views which embraced other religions and other thoughts: "If anyone said 'my painting, my poem, and my song are the only great ones, and declares others' paintings, poems and songs are terrible!', he does not understand the real meaning of the arts."
Ham only desired to expand the truth of caring for one another and of being true to the spirit, which is God. He desired us to care for one another as we would desired to be cared for. Ham never desire any glorification of 'a' religious system, because a system tends to remain static. A system is always behind an idea; it is only valid when we assume that it will be changed continually. What was appropriate in a preceding era need not be appropriate in a succeeding era. Ham also tried to separate himself from any religious denomination or political formulation. He believed the origin of the truth came from the conscience of humanity rather than any religious conformity or external political decree. Ham's life as a Christian, particularly as a Quaker, was an attempt to find the truth within his specific historical era, an era of political oppression and religious narrow-mindedness.
As Jesus said: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working", Ham, as a Christian, emphasised both the necessity of working historically now and spatially here, and his notion of Heaven as ever-present. That is why throughout his public activities, he criticised the secular injustices and dictatorial regimes of his time. His religious criticism was the manifestation of his beliefs and his pursuit of the righteous way, along with his humanitarian concerns: the way of God as well as the way of people. Similarly Ham's political activities were his endeavours to share the whole common people's suffering and misery as if it were his own, and as a means of the redemption from his personally committed 'sin', since he believed God to be wholeness.
While Korean Christians are enthusiastic toward the Christian faith, they have tended to be contemptuous both of other religious faiths and scientific attitude. They actively emphasise the life to come rather than this life, thus they have been isolated from the socio-political reality of their time. That is why Ham stressed that religion should have realistic, rational and scientific views.
In a similar way Ham also saw the aims of religion and science to be interlinked. He believed that religious views should be affected by secular views, and the latter were necessarily shaped by scientific advance. Therefore, Ham conceived the relationship between religion and science to be inseparable. In the final analysis, Ham believed that science and religion would gradually approach each other and reach a converging point. Thus Ham did not accept an un-scientific religion, and he was more willing to throw away theology than science, if he was forced to choose between the two. Ham believed that science is the most suitable way of understanding the phenomenal world, whereas religion is an appropriate method of understanding the spiritual world. At the same time, Ham bore in mind that religion and science were not different in terms of the pursuit of the truth. Ham explained the relationship between science and religion in the following example: "It is like opening a mountain path by the cutting of a tunnel from either side of the mountain. This tunnelling of the mountain begins in totally opposite directions, yet ultimately, the aim is the same. By approaching the centre [essence] of the mountain [truth] from different directions, they will meet at the mid-point of the mountain."
Although Ham emphasised the value of wholeness, his notion of wholeness is not the corporatism or collectivism of authoritarian societies. Ham's idea of wholeness was rather a mature stage of individualism along with a community spirit among individuals. To Ham, there was no distinction between an individual and the whole; both blend together inseparably. This is the reason Ham thought the truth and the freedom of each individual could only come through the communion of the wholeness. Ham assumed a oneness between God and the common people, there being no difference between service to God and service for the common people: "God is the common people, highest is lowest, holiness is secular --- and the common people are the truth."; "God's message came from common people's mouths --- God cannot work without people."
To sum up, Ham was not a theologian nor a clergyman; as a layman he synthesised Western Christianity and East Asian philosophies from the Korean point of view. By doing so, Ham re-discovered and created a new identity for Koreans and Korean Christians. As a 'heretic' Christian, Ham did not fight against Christianity, he only fought against corrupt men and opposed the system of immoral rulers, who happened to be influential men in the established Korean churches. Ham was seeking to purify Christianity in Korea from the abuses and corruption which had crept in. He was also someone of deep religious conviction who questioned the rigid dogmas of the Korean church. It seems Ham may have felt that the Korean church had deviated from its origins and he thought himself closer to the spirit of Jesus than were the magnates of the Korean church.
Overall, it could be said that Ham 'Christianised' the Western-centric, 'shamanistic' and Confucianized Christianity of Korea in the sense of restoring the original socio-political meaning of the Christian message. Ham knew that Korean Christians were 'too emotional and dogmatic', lacking the discerning philosophy and ability to act against social injustice. In this respect, Ham's merging of Western Christianity with East Asian philosophies, and his Universal perception and comprehensive understanding of Westernised Christianity, as an East Asian man, is a grand legacy to the 100 years of Korean Protestantism. Yet even so, how can one bring the light to others if we have no eyes to see? Like Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his day, Ham's views on Christianity were condemned by many.
Ham's sense of religion can best be summarised in Jesus' own word: "A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem --- the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth --- God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Conclusion: Ham Sokhon - Between the City of God and the Secular City
Table: A Chronology of Ham's Life Table of Contents Home Page