When Ghost (Gwisin) Becomes Demon: Mistranslation of Demon/Unclean Spirit to Gwisin in Mark

Abstract Most Korean Protestant Christians consider the traditional concept gwisin (ghost in English) as absolutely evil. This abhorrent attitude toward gwisin , I argue, has been influenced by the misuse of gwisin in Korean Protestant Bibles to identify demon/unclean spirit. Focusing on the Gospel...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jun, Sunhee (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2021
In: International journal of Asian christianity
Year: 2021, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 94-115
Further subjects:B ghost
B demon and unclean spirit
B the Watchers tradition
B the translation history of Korean Bibles
B the Gospel of Mark
B gwisin
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:Abstract Most Korean Protestant Christians consider the traditional concept gwisin (ghost in English) as absolutely evil. This abhorrent attitude toward gwisin , I argue, has been influenced by the misuse of gwisin in Korean Protestant Bibles to identify demon/unclean spirit. Focusing on the Gospel of Mark, this paper will show gwisin cannot be conceptually equated with demon/unclean spirit, which are always evil in Mark. To substantiate the point, first, I will examine translation history of the Korean Protestant Bibles in terms of demon/unclean spirit in Mark to show that gwisin has been demonized in Korean Protestants’ minds for a long time. Secondly, I will explore the concept gwisin in Korean culture and demon/unclean spirit in Mark. By comparing the two, I argue that the use of gwisin by translators, who were mostly missionaries, to identify demon/unclean spirit was a misrepresentation.
ISSN:2542-4246
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal of Asian christianity
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/25424246-04010006