A Critical Observation to the Korean Catholic Evangelization Comparing between Joseph H. Fichter`s and Gerhard Lenski`s Theories

The Korean Catholic church has achieved considerable growth in it's population. For instance, Catholics represented 10.9% of Koreans in 2006 according to the National Statistical Office representing a 74.4% increase in comparison with 10 years The Protestant and Buddhist population equally decreased during this same period. Furthermore, the Vatican appointment of a new cardinal in early 2006 may help explain the remarkable growth of the Korean Catholic. The new Cardinal, who occupies the Seoul archdiocese, has proclaimed the '2020' movement striving to increase the Korean Catholics population to 20% by 2020, as a policy of Korean evangelization. In spite of the numerical growth, however, inner and outer growth should be differentiated using the theories of both sociologists Joseph H. Fichter and Gerhard Leaski, First, Fichter's typology theory, as one of the most influential contributions to the sociological study of religion, legitimates that the simple number of a religious population does not accurately represent the evangelization which Korean Catholics pursue. Fichter proved that there are many different religious dimensions within a religion, categorizing ordinal and nominal measurements. According to the ordinal measurement, one religion, strictly speaking American white catholic in his survey, could be divided into four groups: nuclear, modal, marginal, and dormant believers of Catholicism. Although his clarification of diverse religious dimensions proven by psychosocial analysis successfully explains religious life, the ordinal measurement reveals it's limitation to just Catholicism. Lenski's theory goes beyond just Catholicism extending four religious dimensional categorizations including associational involvement, communal involvement, doctrinal orthodoxy, and devotionalism to all religions. He also addresses involving oneself in religious life and how to be oriented. This theory compensates for the limitation in Fichter's theory, applying to all religions such as Protestantism, Buddhism, etc. When considering Lenski's and Fichter's theories and applying them to the Korean Catholic Church, we are able to recognize that the mere number of a religious population does not accurately represent evangelization. If it does, we should reexamine the meaning of evangelization and critical measurements reflecting religious life. For this reason, the sociological approaches suggested by Fichter and Lenski to the study of religion may be complimentary rather mutually exclusive in helping to explain the rapid growth in the Korean Catholic Church