1. The Twentieth-century Transformation of Religion in Korea, with particular emphasis on South Korea
Jan. 9, 2014

2. A tale of 2 Koreas
Before 1945 Korea was one country, but northern Korea was more religious than southern Korea, though most Buddhists (80%) were in the south.
In 1945, 50% of Korea’s Catholics (55,000) lived in Hwanghae and P’yŏngan provinces, as did 61% of Protestant Koreans. (That is 234,159 out of a total Protestant population of only 382,718.) 70 percent of the approximately 100,000 Ch’ŏndogyo believers also lived in northern Korea at that time.
But overall Koreans with a specific religious affiliation were a minority before
In 1916, only 530,000 out of million ( 3%) said they were religious. In 1940, 1 million out of 23.5 million (4%) did.
But 18% of people in northern Korea (400,000) proclaimed a specific religion.

3. Defining a revolution The state of religion in South Korea today
How is religion defined, how strong are religious organizations, and how do religions relate to the state?
Religion in the Chosŏn kingdom ( )
How was religion conceived? How did the state deal with religion? Were the people religious?
What caused all that to change?
The impact of Christianity and Tonghak on early modern Korea

4. Traditional “religion”
The term “religion” did not exist until the end of the 19th century. There were only “teachings,” the Way, practices, etc.
Only ritual specialists (Buddhist monks and nuns, shamans, Confucian ritual performers,etc) had a specific religious affiliation.
The boundaries between religions were porous
There were “ritual-based” communities rather than “faith- based” congregations.
What people did (ethics and ritual) was more important than what they believed (theology)

5. Religion Defined today
The modern definition of religion implies a community that is confessional and congregational.
The religion label also implies:
a theocentric belief in God or gods, with monotheism seen as superior to polytheism.
a creed- a clear statement of doctrines
a distinctive moral code
a compact collection of sacred writings, preferably revealed.

6. Religion also implies
a formally trained clergy, and a clerical hierarchy.
standardized rituals, with regular meetings for communal worship and/or ritual
placing more importance on life after death than on material benefits in this life.
boundaries of creed and/or practice between one religious community and another, such that participation is more than one community is discouraged.
Proselytizing, convincing others to join your community, is encouraged.

7. Problems with this definition
This understanding of religion, brought to Korea at the end of the 19th century by Christian missionaries, made it difficult for Westerners to appreciate traditional Korean religiosity when they first encountered it.
Japanese colonial officials used this imported definition of religion to dismiss Korea’s new religions as “pseudo-religions.”
It is the reason shamanism doesn’t appear in official census figures today.
It is also the reason the influence of Confucianism on contemporary Korean society is underestimated, and its rituals are seen as more cultural than religious. It is also difficult to view Confucianism as a religion because of the detachment of Confucian ethics from its Confucian base.

8. Religion in (South) Korea Today
A sharp rise in religious affiliation, both Christian and Buddhist
Religions today are confessional and congregational
Doctrine-based and defined in terms of both clergy and laity
Lay pilgrimage is on the rise
Mono-devotionalism is replacing polytheism
Denominations and sub-denominations, defined by doctrines
Religious pluralism and religious freedom

9. Religion as understood today
Religious communities are now understood as people sharing similar beliefs (a creed) meeting regularly as a congregation to express through ritual their common beliefs and values.
Such an understanding of religion assumes a conscious affiliation with a particular religious community rather than the ad hoc resort to religious specialists and religious activities that we find in traditional Korea.

10. The rise in religious affiliation
,000 out of million 3%
million out of 23.5 million 4%
million out of 28.2 mil %
million out of 41 mil %
Achieving a majority religious population
million out of 44.5 mil %
Gallup Poll %
million out of 47 million %

11. Architectural Evidence
No. of Buddhist temples in ,306
No. of Buddhist temples in ,561
_______________________________________
No. of Protestant churches in ,785
No. of Protestant churches in ,046
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No. of Catholic churches in
No. of Catholic churches in ,366

12. No one religion dominant
According to the government, in 2005,
22.8% of South Koreans were Buddhist, 18.3% were Protestant, 10.9% were Catholic, 0.2% called themselves Confucians,
0.3% called themselves Won Buddhists, and 0.5% had another religious affiliation.
This is a slight change from the 1995 census
23.2% Buddhist,
19.7% Protestant, 6.6% Catholic,
0.5% Confucian, 0.2% Won Buddhists, and 0.6% other religions.
[Catholicism and Won Buddhism were the only ones to show significant growth.]

13. Urbanization since 1960
As more and more Koreans have streamed into cities, more and more of them have moved into Seoul or the surrounding area.
In 1966 there were around 4 million people in Seoul.
In 2005, there are 10 million, plus another 6 million in its suburbs. Close to 40% of South Koreans now live in or near Seoul.

14. Religion before 1784
“Religion,” as a separate and distinct sphere of society, was not recognized in Korea before the 18th century.
The notion of religion was introduced by the first Catholic community at the end of the 18th century, adopted by the Tonghak movement in the 2nd half of the 19th century, and further promoted by Protestant missionaries at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.
Therefore we have no figures for religious followers in the general population before 1910, except for Catholics, Tonghaks, and Protestants. Outside of those communities, only the ritual specialists were recognized as having a specific religious identity.

15. Modernization and the growth of religious affiliation
Traditional religion (Buddhism, shamanism and animism, Confucian ancestor rituals) was embedded in village societies. When people moved to urban areas, they often left those village connections behind and had to forge new connections. Religion provided those connections.
Christianity, at first mainly Protestant Christianity, became identified with modernity. Many Koreans began to think that to be modern meant to be religious and even to be Christian.
This is especially true of Seoul, the most Christian city in Korea. It is not so much the case in Pusan and Taegu, two large cities in which Buddhists outnumber Christians 2 to 1.

16. Traditional “religion”
The term “religion” (종교) did not exist until the end of the 19th century. There were only “teachings,” the Way, practices, etc.
Only ritual specialists (Buddhist monks and nuns, shamans, Confucian ritual performers,etc) had a specific religious affiliation.
The boundaries between religions were porous
There were “ritual-based” communities rather than “faith- based” congregations.
What people did (ethics and ritual) was more important than what they believed (theology)

17. Examples of state control of religion
Shamans were expelled from the capital city, and shaman rituals were outlawed. Yet the state appointed shamans to medical clinics and local offices.
The number of Buddhist monks and temples was limited by the state. Yet the state used monks in national defense and had monks produce handicraft items it needed.

18. More on religion before 1775
Ad-hoc gatherings rather than regular worship services
Polytheistic--there is no evidence for a premodern worship of Hanŭnim (The Lord of Heaven) as the One God.
Religions were not the primary generators of moral principles. All accepted Confucian morality, which was enforced by the state.
The state, not religions, decided which rituals could be performed, and by whom. The state exercised ritual hegemony.

19. The challenge presented by Catholicism
A Korean Catholic church is founded by a Korean. This is the beginning of monotheism in Korea. There were no missionaries on the peninsula yet.
Catholics formed a religious community of both clergy and laity.
Catholics insisted that the state had no authority over their ritual practices. To them, the One God is more powerful than any human king.
Catholics insisted that their doctrinal beliefs superseded state-enforced ethics.

20. Tonghak (동학)
Founded in 1860 when Ch’oe Cheu had a personal encounter with God.
Tonghak joined Catholicism in promoting belief in one God, a God more powerful than the state.
Tonghak rejected the attempts by the state to suppress its ritual practices.
Tonghak was composed primarily of lay people, and formed Korea’s first indigenous organized religion.

21. Why were Catholics and Tonghak persecuted?
They rejected the ritual hegemony of the state. Buddhists and shamans accepted state authority over ritual and therefore they were not persecuted.
They formed unauthorized networks of believers (congregations), which the government saw as similar to China’s dangerous secret societies.

22. The end to persecution and the acceptance of a new concept of religion
1886 French military pressure gains freedom of movement for Catholic missionaries.
1884 Protestant missionaries began quietly preaching in Seoul and the countryside. They were not persecuted, since they also offer modern education and modern medicine to Korea
Tonghak was legalized in 1905 (under a new name: Ch’ŏndogyo)

23. The Christian paradigm Not Just for Christians Anymore
Religions in Korea today are defined by their doctrines (particularly by which God they worship) and their sacred texts.
Polytheism is losing ground to mono-devotionalism. (Won Buddhism is an example of mono-devotionalism, Daesun Jinri-hoe is an example of Korean monotheism)
Lay people increasingly identify with a specific religion and join congregations.
Religions are registered by the government, but not controlled. Ritual hegemony is gone.

24. New functions for religions
Religions in Korea today are supposed to
represent a distinctive Korean identity to the outside world
engage in the affairs of the secular world, such as education and medical care.
Some (Christianity and Buddhism) perform those functions better than others (Confucianism, shamanism and the folk religion, and even Korea’s many new religions)
Confucianism and shamanism are seen as out of touch with the modern world, the new religions as too distinctively Korean to engage with the outside world.