• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.74
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• pp.189-208
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• 2023

Spiritual direction is not a product created and developed by an individual, but a historical product that includes the church, believers, society, and the contexts of the times. Among the social changes related to spiritual direction, this study pays attention to monasticism and the Reformation. Focusing on these two social changes, this study analyzes the social dimension of spiritual direction indicated by the occurrence and change of spiritual direction and discusses its meaning. Around the time Christianity was officially recognized by the Roman Empire, monasticism began its long history, and Athanasius spread his ideal of monastic life and at the same time pursued the unity of the church and the monastic movement. Through this process, spiritual disciplines and educational models interacted and changed. During the Reformation period, Protestantism began to form new spiritual education and training. The Catholic Church pursued renewal through new concepts and practices of spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is being formed and recognized as a means of helping the spiritual life of individual Christians. The origin and change of spiritual direction mean that spiritual direction can be understood and applied differently reflecting the contexts and situations due to social interaction. Also, it should not be overlooked that spiritual direction can act as a cause of integration or division of the Korean Protestant churches.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.171-201
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• 2004

Modern sciences in the West are deeply rooted in the Greek and Roman cultural heritage. Consequently, the academic achievements accomplished by the scholars of the Arabs including Persian world, the profound thoughts developed in the Indian subcontinent, and the excellent works made by the East Asian scholars have mostly been neglected in the past. This paper attempts to compare the thoughts and theories on population developed by the Western scholars with those of East Asian scolars, in chronological order, ancient, mediaeval, and modern period before Malthus. The thesis that excessive population growth may reduce output per worker, depress levels of living for the masses and engender strife is of great antiquity. In fact, overpopulation in East Asia, especially in China, goes back to very ancient times, most Confucian scholars maintained the notion of a numerical balance between population and environment. They also looked for means to check the increase in numbers. The foundations of a theory of optimum population level, fully developed in the twentieth century, can be found in their writings. Although early population thoughts in China had not advanced far in the analysis of the significance of population size and growth, it had taken only a few steps forward. At some times and to some observers, populousness appeared desirable; at other times and to other observers, it seemed all too evident that the number of people could become too great. These viewpoints foreshowed some of the later developments. The early population literatures reviewed here seem to consist of a number of quite isolated contributions. In fact, however, there may have been a greater continuity of thought than now appears, for many of the contributions may have been lost and there are many gaps in the record. An intensive review on comparing two works, those of Malthus' and Hong, Liang-chi's, are presented in this paper. Only five years before Malthus published his famous work, An Essay on the Principle of Population, Hong published his theories on population. Some of them, Hong insisted, are very similar to the Malthusian concepts of geometrical increase, natural and artificial checks of population. Despite the excellent works in the ancient period, this paper concludes with an investigation of the reasons why modem achievements in scientific areas in the East Asia have been far behind that of the West.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.39
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• pp.113-123
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• 1998

This study focuses on the effects of the clothes worn by kisaeng; courtesans trained in singing and dancing, on changes in female psychology as reflected in general women's fashions during the later years of the Chosun dynasty. During this period, the social order had broken down considerable, due in part to the introduction of Roman Catholicism, and in part to the actions of Sil-hak, who emphasized open-ness and practicality in the organization of social affairs. This freer social environment disrup-ted the established social hierarchies. The kisaeng were among the first to respond to the new social mores by adopting more colorful, sensual, and individualized fashions. Their social position allowed them to reflect the new aesthetics of the time right away. Those aesthetics seemed to lay great emphasis on the artistic effects of contrast. The kisaeng would adorn their heads with large Kache (an elaborate wig or hairdo typically reserved for use by women in full formal dress). In contrast to this conspicuous hairstyle, they typically wore very tight-fitting Jogori (short-cropped Korean traditional jackets for women) around their upper torsos. The long skirts emerging from beneath these short jackets would typically flare out dramatically, with the aid of petticoats. However, these skirts would be bound at the waist with a sash, increasing the sexual suggestiveness of the clothing by drawing at-tention to the hips, and by exposing the bottom frills of the petticoats, or the wide pantal-oons and other undergarments the kisaeng wore to add volume to their skirts. The relative freedom enjoyed by the kisaeng to experiment with new fashions was not widely shared by most women. This generated envy from women of the noble classes, who were more bound by convention, and restrained from adopting such a mode of dress. It also generated envy from women of the humble classes, who saw the kisaeng as working little for their wealth, and yet dressing every day in finery that the average women would only ever be able to afford on her wedding day. This envy directed at the relative freedom/wealth of the kisaeng by women who faced greater socioeconomic constraints was given cultural expression through the adoption of elements of the kisaeng's fashion in the fashions of both noblewomen and humble women in old korea. The luxurious Kache sported by the kisaeng had in fact been borrowed from the habitual attire of upper-class women. So to distinguish themeselves from the kisaeng, they began to abandon these elaborate hairstyles in favor of traditional ceremonial hoods (Nel-ul-a thin black women's hood) and coronets (Suegaechima). This supposed reaction to the abuse of the Kache by the kisaeng still remained influenced by the kisaeng still remained influence by the kisaeng, however, as these headdresses became adorned with many more jewels and decorations, in imitation of the kisaeng's adaptations of the coronet. At the same time, noblewomen began sporting the Jangwue ; a headdress previously worn only by kisaeng and lower class women, and lower class women were then permitted to wear the Kache at weddings. All women behan to wear shorter, tighter Jogori jackets, and to add volume to their skirts. They also attached frills to their under-garments in imitation of the kisaeng's exposed petticoats and pantaloons. The impact of kisaeng fashions was thus deep and widespread, and can be understood as an expression of women's longing for freedom from socioeconomic constraints in the late Chosun dynasty. This study adopts an interdisciplinary ap-proach to the understanding of historical changes in women's fashions. Such interdisciplinary work can greatly enrich the study of fashion, often narrowly focused on clothing morphology and broad generalizations about society. For this reason, specific dynamics of feminine psychology in the late Chosun dynasty were elaborated in this study, to provide a deeper under-standing of the changes in fashion underpinned by them. If more such detailed analyses are undertaken, a whole new understanding of changes in fashion can be generated, and perhaps a transformation of the field of fashion history can be ultimately achieved.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.73-94
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• 2022

Florence is the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. It is the result of a combination of medieval humanists' exploration of ancient Greek and Roman knowledge and culture, the leadership of great monarchs and priests, patronage of the Medici family, etc., free-thinking and creativity of artists, and critical consciousness and cultural needs of citizens. However, the Florentine Renaissance could not have blossomed unless the Medici family had collected ancient manuscripts and translations, and built libraries to preserve and provide literature. Based on this logical basis, this study outlined the Florentine renaissance and historic libraries, analyzed the collection and composition of favorite books of the Medici family, and traced the architectural characteristics and metaphors of the Medici libraries, The San Marco Library (Michelozzo Library), Library of Badia Fiesolana, and the San Lorenzo Library (Laurentian Library) were the priming and birthplace of the Florentine Renaissance despite of many difficulties, including earthquake, fire, restoration, transfer, seizure, and closure. In particular, the San Marco Library, which was opened in 1444 based on the financial support of Cosimo de' Medici, Michelozzo's design, and Niccoli's private collections was the first common library in the Renaissance period. And the architectural highlight of the Laurentian Library, which opened in 1571 under the leadership of Giulio (Papa Clemente VII), is Michelangelo's staircase, which symbolizes 'from ignorance to wisdom', and the real value of the content is the ancient manuscripts and early printed books, which were collected by the humanist Niccoli and the Medici family. In short, when discussing the Florentine Renaissance, Medici's collection and historic libraries are very important points. The reason is that the ancient collections were not stuffed products, but syntactic semiotics, and the libraries are telescopes that view the history of human knowledge and culture and microscopes that create knowledge and wisdom. If records dominate memories, libraries accumulate records. Therefore, long breathing and time capsule strategies are also required for the development and preservation of retroactive books in domestic libraries with a relatively long history.