Book

A history of the church in Korea: vol. 1

Victor Palmé • Paris • Published In 1874 • Pages:

By: Dallet, Charles, Messner, Charles A..

Abstract
Dallet's 'A History of the Church in Korea', a two volume work, is preceded by a long introduction on Korean history, institutions, language, mores and customs. This introduction is the closest approximation to a complete ethnography extant in Western language materials on Korea. It shares with Hulbert's work the distinction of significance for and influence on all subsequent students of Korean culture. Dallet's sources for his ethnographic introduction are largely the numerous letters written to him by French missionaries who were working in Korea. Liberal quotations from a number of these letters are included in the text. A comprehensive description of most aspects of Korean culture is presented in fifteen chapters. The allocation of prestige, class and political structures and their integration are clearly shown. The material on social structure relies heavily on the norms, both ideal and actual, of the nobility, but this limitation is clearly recognized by Dallet and, wherever possible, he lists the situations where different behavior is expected in other strata. Indication of how the articulation of power, wealth and prestige with the most available avenues of mobility in the Korean social system introduces stress and strain is given in chapters on examinations, government, and social structure. The translation was of the introduction to the book, hence pagination is in Roman numerals.
culture
Korea
HRAF PubDate
1998
Region
Asia
Sub Region
East Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Missionary
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
UNK ; Elden Johnson ; 1952
Field Date
No date
Coverage Date
not specified
Coverage Place
Korea
Notes
[by] Charles Dallet
Translation of: Histoire de l'Eglise de Corée.
The original French text is not included in the HRAF Collection
Translated from the French for HRAF by Charles A. Messner
LCSH
Koreans