본고는 한국문학사에서 프로문학 운동을 주도했던 문제적 비평가이자 작가인 김남천의 기독교 인식의 특징을 작품을 통해 살펴보았다. 이러한 작업은 기존의 김남천 연구에서는 간과되었던 부분으로 식민지 시대 프로문학 계열의 작가, 작품 연구에서 일반적으로 배제되는 영역이다. 대부분의 프로문학 작가들이 기독교에 반감을 갖고 기독교를 사회주의 운동이 타개해야 할 대상으로 언급했기 때문에 개개인의 의식 속에 있는 기독교 인식의 다양한 측면은 간과되었다. 그러나 김남천의 경우 개인적 체험과 삶의 과정 속에서 경험한 기독교에 대한 긍정적 인식이 작품을 통해 형상화되어 여타의 프로문학 작가들과는 변별되는 특징을 보인다. 김남천의 소설에서 기독교적 요소와 긍정적 인식이 드러나는 것은 주로 카프 해체 이후 1939년경부터이며 전향소설로 규정되는 작품들 가운데서 찾을 수 있다. 그는 기독교를 자아 각성과 민족개화의 매개사상으로 인식하면서 기독교가 한국사회에 미친 긍정적인 영향을 작품에 표현하거나, 기독교인을 개화인의 표상으로 묘사하고 있다. 그러나 기독교를 종교적 차원의 개인적 신앙으로 승화시키지 못했기 때문에 기독교인으로서 행동의 변화와 깊이 있는 종교 인식은 부재한 양상을 보인다.

In this article I studied the novels and essays of Park Hwa-Seong, who was a representative woman in the 1920-30s as a tendency writer. She wrote a lot of novels over 60 years from 1925 when she became a writer till 1988 when she died. The literary world of Park Hwa-Seong changed greatly according to the conditions of times. In this article, above all, I want to focus on her novels that dealt with the christianity as a subject matter in order to prove the characteristics of recognition of christianity expressed in her works. This study can be an example of how the tendency writers of the 1920-30s recognized christianity and expressed their ideology in their work. Park Hwa-Seong had a specific biography in respect of christianity as a tendency writer in the 1920-30s. She was baptized as an infant and led a religious life very eagerly in her youth. However, as she became a tendency writer and wrote realistic novels reflecting the conditions of the bard times, Japanese colonial era, she wrote novels which expressed negative recognition of American missionary and protest providence of God. In the 1920s-30s, the tendency writers looked upon christianity as a certain ideology for tbe perspective of socialism and criticized it on the ground that christianity could not improve the conditions of colonial reality. As an intelligent leader, she considered anti-christian emotions as an act of nationalistic faith to overcome Japanese colonial conditions. So the reason why she wrote negative christian view in her novels in the 1930s was to disclose the feeling of helplessness of christianity which couldn't revolutionize the dismal reality of nation. For examnple, the short story "Hangui" showed the question of theodicy, why the good had to suffer from hunger and poverty despite the prosperity of the evil. She doubted about the presence of God and became a skeptic of God in her life. Nevertheless she didn't leave the christianity and lived a christian life in a specific method. If she had not known the christianity，she could not have written such a novel that raised a metaphysical question about the providence of God. Through her life, Park Hwa-Seong created works differently according to the times. But as she was a writer who had related with christian background from her childhood，in the time of Japanese colonial period, she used christianity as subject matters in her works. AIso she showed christian consciousness in the form of negative as a tendency writer and expressed writer's recognition of chrisrianity as a skeptic of God honestly in the latter part of her literary world.