『동학사』의 편찬 경위 (History of Dong’hak, how it was compiled)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국사연구회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국사연구 / 170호 / 29 ~ 58페이지
· 저자명 : 김정인

초록

오지영은 일제시기 천도교 혁신파 지도자로 활약하면서 강한 동학 적통 의식과 절대평등론을 바탕으로 천도교 혁신운동을 주도하고 만주로 이주하여 독립 운동과 평등한 자치공동체 생활을 실천한 이론가이자 실천가였다. 그는 동학농민전쟁에서 천도교가 나아갈 바를 구했고 또한 천도교 혁신운동을 통해 이를 계승하고자 했다. 동학농민전쟁이 제시한 자유․평등․해방․정의의 민주주의 가치를 천도교 안에서 구현하고자 힘썼으며, 천도교연합회를 만들어 분립하고 만주로 건너가 자치공동체를 만드는 등 급진민주주의자의 길을 걸었다.
『동학사』는 천도교 혁신파 지도자로서의 오지영의 궤적이 오롯이 녹아 있는 저술이라 할 수 있다. 동학농민전쟁을 비중있게 다루고 천도교 혁신운동을 상세히 설명하여 그 계승성을 입증하고자 했다. 그는 천도교가 친일 변절의 길을 걷자, 1920년대에 쓴 초고본에 실증성을 강화한『동학사』를 1940년에 발간했다. 동학 적통 의식에 기반한 ‘동학의 도=동도(東道)’를 다시 한 번 돌아볼 것을 호소하고자 함이었다.

영어초록

Oh JI-yeong, who authored History of Dong’hak, was a leader of the Renovation party inside the Cheondo-gyo order during the Japanese occupation period. He had a strong sense of being the Dong’hak movement’s true successor, and also an undivided aspiration for absolute equality. He led the renovation movement of the Cheondo-gyo order, and later moved to Manchu, where he continued to engage in liberation efforts and staunchly support equality in lifestyle. He was both a theorist and an activist. He believed the Dong’hak Peasantry war was the way the Cheondo-gyo order should honor and follow, and to him the renovation movement was the way to do just that. He wanted to bring all the values declared by the Dong’hak war: freedom, equality, liberation and justice, all the democratic elements to the Cheondo-gyo order, and after he failed to seize power, he moved to Manchu and continued his actions as a radical democracy believer.
Since the 1920s, Oh Ji-yeong remained as the most crucial leader of the Cheondo Order renovation movement. The book, History of Dong’hak, epitomizes his goals, his methods and most of all his attitude. In this book, he documented the Dong’hak Peasantry war with great details, and also elaborated upon the Cheondo Order renovation movement, while trying to connect Cheondo and Dong’hak and also suggest that the path taken by the latter was the path that the former would have to tread on. Later, when the Cheondo-gyo order defected and became pro-Japanese, he revised the initial draft written in the 1920s and published History of Dong’hak again in 1940, in which he reemphasized the Way of Dong’hak from the perspective of a Renovationist.

참고자료

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