Gwon Cheol-sin (權哲身, 1736 – April 4, 1801 (22nd day of the 2nd lunar month)) was a disciple of Yi Ik, a scholar of the Joseon late-period Seongho school, a Catholic with the baptismal name Ambrosius, and a martyred Catholic. Influenced by Yi Seung-hun, he became a Catholic believer, and in 1777, in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, he took part in a study group on Western learning and Catholic teachings together with Silhak scholars of the Southern Faction such as Jeong Yak-yong and Yi Byeok. In 1801, the first year of King Sunjo, during the Sinyu Persecution, he was imprisoned together with Yi Ga-hwan, Yi Seung-hun, Gang Wan-suk, and the Chinese priest Ju Mun-mo, and at the advanced age of 66 he died in prison after being tortured. He was the elder brother of Gwon Il-sin, who had been very active in Catholic missionary work and who died during the Sinhae Persecution.
Biography
Early life
His family seat was Andong. His courtesy name was Gimyeong (旣明), and his pen name was Nokam (鹿庵). His great-great-grandfather was Grand Preceptor Gwon Jeok (權蹟), his great-grandfather was Chief Secretary Gwon Heum (權歆), his grandfather was Gwon Don (權敦), a Jinsa (licentiate), and his father was Gwon Am (權巖).1 During his great-grandfather's time, he lost his official post due to the Gapsul Incident and retired to the countryside, living in the Yanggeun area.2 The family belonged to the Gihoi Namin (Southern Faction of Gyeonggi and Chungcheong), and it formed marriage ties with other Southern Faction families. Born into a declining yangban family, he gave up on the civil service examinations early on.3 Gwon Cheol-sin studied under his father, and before he became absorbed in Catholic teachings, he studied Confucianism like other ordinary yangban scholars. At the age of 24 he entered the school of Yi Ik (李瀷) of Seongho and studied under him.
He interacted with Gihoi Namin scholars and gradually became a leading scholar of the Seongho school. Figures who influenced the formation of his scholarship included Yi Byeong-hyu, An Jeong-bok, Yun Dong-gyu, and Hong Yu-han, but the influence of Yi Byeong-hyu was especially great. Gwon Cheol-sin also trained many disciples. His disciples included Hong Nak-min, Yi Seung-hun, Jeong Yak-jeon, Jeong Yak-yong, Yi Yun-ha, Yi Byeok, and Yun Yu-il. His scholarship is evaluated as containing a will for reform of real society and the economy.2 He criticized orthodox Zhu Xi Neo-Confucianism and also showed a deep interest in Yangming learning. In particular, he was not bound by the scholarly methods of earlier masters and overcame the limits of Confucianism by interpreting the classics freely.
Catholic study gatherings
At that time, many books on Western learning translated into Chinese had come into Joseon from China, stimulating the intellectual curiosity of scholars.4 Gwon Cheol-sin, who had great interest in Western learning, studied Western philosophy, mathematics, and religion that had been transmitted to China. He also held activities by convening the Western Learning Doctrine Study Group, a gathering for studying Western learning and Catholicism. The meetings were held in a remote Buddhist temple to avoid being discovered by the authorities. In 1777 and 1779, at lectures held while moving between Jueosa and Cheonjinam temples on Mount Aengja in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, scholars of the Namin lineage such as Yi Byeok, Jeong Yak-yong, Jeong Yak-jeon, Gwon Il-sin, Yi Ga-hwan, Yi Gi-yang, and Yi Seung-hun took part.56
They studied Catholic books, including Matteo Ricci's work The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, and also researched the existence of the Lord of Heaven and fundamental questions of human life. Regarding Catholicism as a kind of Western culture or learning, they studied it from a supplementary-to-Confucianism (補儒論) perspective,78 and gradually came to grasp something of the truth of Catholicism and accepted it as a practical learning. However, they always felt the limits of their research and lamented the lack of materials. Then, in 1783 (the 7th year of King Jeongjo), they learned that Yi Seung-hun's father was going to Beijing as a member of an envoy,9 and they persuaded Yi Seung-hun to accompany the envoy.10 They collected travel expenses for him,11 and asked him to examine the doctrines carefully and bring back many Catholic books.12
Entry into Catholicism
Yi Seung-hun, who had gone to China, received baptism and then obtained many books on Catholic teachings, returning home in 1784. Afterwards, Yi Seung-hun ran a faith group called the "Myeongnye-bang Community" in Myeongdong, Seoul, and devoted himself to missionary work.13 At this time, Yi Byeok, who had been baptized by Yi Seung-hun and become a Catholic, conceived the idea of winning over highly learned scholars such as Gwon Cheol-sin to establish a foundation for Catholicism.14 Accordingly, in September 1784 (lunar calendar), he first visited the Gwon family living in Yanggeun and urged them to enter the faith. The third son, Gwon Il-sin (權日身), entered immediately,15 while the eldest, Gwon Cheol-sin, at first hesitated somewhat but eventually entered and received baptism from Yi Byeok.416 Afterwards, his younger brother Gwon Il-sin became a fervent evangelist, but Gwon Cheol-sin did not evangelize directly and did not actively involve himself in Catholic affairs. He always devoted himself to study and religious life at home.
Sinyu Persecution
After the Myeongnye-bang Incident in 1785, in the aftermath of which Catholicism was designated a heterodox teaching in 1788, a ban on the circulation of books was imposed. Afterwards, the Sinhae Persecution occurred in 1791 over Yun Ji-chung's abolition of ancestral rites and burning of ancestral tablets, and in 1795 the Eulmyo Persecution broke out in the aftermath of the secret entry of the priest Ju Mun-mo. Each time, opponents of Catholicism accused him of being the leader of the Catholics, through circulars and sometimes memorials, but he escaped disaster thanks to the protection of Jeongjo.4 In 1799, Senior Censor Sin Heon-jo also accused him, together with Jeong Yak-jong, of being a Catholic, but King Jeongjo instead stripped Sin Heon-jo of his rank and prohibited the issue of Western learning from being raised, and so he was again able to avoid disaster.3
During the Sinhae Persecution (1791), many believers, including his younger brother Gwon Il-sin, became martyrs. However, because he did not evangelize actively and quietly practiced his faith through study and doctrine, he appears to have been able to avoid persecution. Yet after his younger brother Gwon Il-sin died from miasma poisoning while being transported to his place of exile, he is said to have fallen into grief, shut his doors, and not gone outside for more than ten years.17 After King Jeongjo died, the Sinyu Persecution was launched in 1801 (the first year of King Sunjo) by the Noron and Byeokpa factions, and Gwon Cheol-sin was also arrested together with prominent Namin scholars such as Yi Ga-hwan and Jeong Yak-yong and interrogated (gukmun). He was sentenced to death together with Jeong Yak-jong, Hong Nak-min, Yi Seung-hun, Hong Gyo-man, Choi Pil-gong, and Choi Gwan-cheon.
Death
Before the execution, on the 22nd day of the 2nd lunar month of 1801, at the age of 66, he died of miasma poisoning in prison.3 The Doosan Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture record that he died as a martyr without renouncing his faith, but the online Catholic dictionary "Good News," operated by the Catholic archdiocese, records that he renounced his faith during interrogation.18 In addition, it is noted that "Claude-Charles Dallet regards him as a martyr in his work Histoire de l'Église de Corée, but this seems to be based on Hwang Sa-yeong's White Silk Letter (帛書). However, as Hwang Sa-yeong himself said, records of events before the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month are not reliable." Lee Deok-il, in his book Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 1, stated that Gwon Cheol-sin and Yi Ga-hwan were abandoned in the street after dying in prison.19
Legacy
As a disciple of Yi Ik and an elder and leader of the Namin school, he is counted among the masters of the Western school (西學派) who, together with their family members, entered Catholicism, kept their faith, and died as martyrs. His extant works include a Eulogy (追悼文) for Hong Yu-han (洪有漢), a fellow student and senior, the two-volume Siching (詩稱), and the one-volume Daehaksel (大學說). In addition, several handwritten letters he exchanged with Hong Yu-han survive.20
Family
Footnotes