Montanism and the "Empire of Mount Sion (시온산 제국)": Lessons from the Early Church and the Early Korean Church

Comparing events from the early decades of the Christian Church in Korea with the history of the Early Church is a potentially rich form of research as the experience of the Early Church can help to both highlight distinctive characteristics of the Early Korean Church and to point out the broad similarities of Christian experience regardless of cultural and temporal differences. Both the Early Church and the Early Korean Church had a strong millenarian element in their history. The earliest example of a distinct millenarian movement in the Early Church which separated from the mainstream was the Montanist group, whereas in Korea one can point to the Empire of Mount Sion movement of the 1940s and its subsequent denomination. Both of these groups arose at a time when the state was imposing a cult of the worship of imperial rulers for the purpose of creating national unity.