A History of Korean Christianity by Sebastian C.H. Kim and Kirsteen Kim (review)

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1 A History of Korean Christianity by Sebastian C.H. Kim and Kirsteen Kim (review) Sean C. Kim Journal of Korean Religions, Volume 6, Number 1, April 2015, pp (Review) Published by University of Hawai'i Press DOI: For additional information about this article Accessed 3 May :39 GMT

2 266 Journal of Korean Religions 6/ In summary, Carl Young s book is a fascinating and detailed study of an organization, a nation, and a region of the world in steep transition, at the end of one century and at the birth of another. A professor of Korean history at Yonsei University in Seoul once described the period 1860 to 1910 as the most crucial and complex in Korea s extensive history. In examining this period through the prism of Tonghak/Ch ŏndogyo, its leader Son Pyŏnghŭi, and his predecessors Ch oe Cheu and Ch oe Sihyŏng, Young not only shines a spotlight on a world of events which incorporates the whole of Northeast Asia, but offers an erudite interpretation of them. Consequently, Carl Young s book Eastern Learning and the Heavenly Way: The Tonghak and Ch ŏndogyo Movements and the Twilight of Korean Independence, should be required reading for all those who research, write about, teach, or study this particular period of world history, as well as for those who have an interest in the socio-political, cultural, economic, historical, ethical, and religious events which evolved rapidly and unpredictably in Northeast Asia during this period, and which sent shocks and aftershocks reverberating throughout the emergent twentieth century. Paul Beirne Emeritus Professor MCD University of Divinity A History of Korean Christianity. By Sebastian C.H. Kim and Kirsteen Kim, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015, 361pp. The biggest lacuna in the study of Korean Christianity has been the need for a good general history. The long wait is now over with the publication of Sebastian C.H. Kim and Kirsteen Kim s A History of Christianity. A superb one-volume history of Korean Christianity, the book provides not only a comprehensive overview but also rigorous historical and theological analysis. Its ecumenical scope covers Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as Anglicanism, Orthodoxy, and new religious movements, while its geographic focus extends beyond the Korean peninsula to the overseas missionary move-

3 Book Reviews 267 ments and the diaspora communities. In spite of the challenges of such an ambitious project, the work succeeds in constructing a lucid, coherent narrative rich in detail and insight. The book traces the dramatic sweep of Korean Christian history, with all its vitality and energy, from its beginnings to the present. Chapter 1 describes the Korean religious and cultural landscape before the advent of Christianity, namely Confucian ethics and social norms, and Buddhist and shamanistic beliefs and practices. Chapter 2 looks at the first phase of the Korean encounter with Christianity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the Roman Catholic faith clashed with the official Confucian ideology of the Chosŏn state ( ) over such issues as ancestor veneration and the association of Catholicism with foreign powers. The waves of persecutions that followed produced a tragic history of martyrs. Chapter 3 introduces the Protestants, who launched their missions in the late nineteenth century amidst the national crisis that confronted Korea in the age of imperialism. Establishing the first Western-style schools and hospitals, the Protestant missionaries helped lay the foundations of modernization. At the same time, native evangelists and revivalists carried out a process of indigenizing the imported faith and produced a distinctively Korean version of Protestantism. Chapter 4 examines the Korean Christian responses to Japanese colonial rule ( ), ranging from Protestant nationalism and resistance to the millennial movements that envisioned a new, divine order. Chapter 5 deals with the post-world War II or Liberation period, when the churches struggled through national division and the Korean War ( ). During these turbulent times, the center of Christianity shifted from the north to the south. The North Korean communist regime cracked down on religion, and a massive migration of the faithful to the south took place. Chapter 6 discusses the spectacular growth of Christianity in South Korea in the latter half of the twentieth century and the role that church leaders played in democratization and other social and political movements. Chapter 7 concludes with an exploration of the major issues in contemporary Korean Christianity, such as reunification, the environment, and religious pluralism. Christianity has taken deep root in Korea; a third of the South Korean population claims the faith, making it the country s largest organized religion.

4 268 Journal of Korean Religions 6/ Christians occupy a prominent place in all areas of national life. Another couple of million Korean Christians live in the diaspora. Moreover, a vibrant missionary movement has made South Korea second only to the United States in the number of its overseas missionaries. Korea has become a major force in global Christianity. Although A History of Korean Christianity displays the broad title and the chronological structure characteristic of a general history, it does much more than just offer a basic survey. For one, Kim and Kim have exhaustively combed the scholarly literature on Korean Christianity and have synthesized both classic and contemporary works on the subject. The list of citations reads like a who s who of the field. Equally impressive is their integration of the historiography on modern Korea, drawing on the best in historical research. The co-authors skillfully weave the story of Korean Christianity with the political, socioeconomic, and cultural context. In other words, the book is good history and it is also good theology. Kim and Kim have published extensively on Christian theology, and their expertise shows in the firm grasp of the doctrinal debates and controversies, which have been legion in Korean Christianity. Whether it is the dispute over Christian participation at Shinto ceremonies during the colonial period or the divergent attitudes toward South Korean dictators, the authors attempt to present all points of view and avoid facile generalizations. The book also addresses certain imbalances in the study of Korean Christianity. One is the overemphasis on missionaries. From early Catholic and Protestant histories to recent monographs and articles, many works approach Christianity in Korea from a missiological standpoint (i.e., the study of Western missionary strategies). Kim and Kim, on the other hand, adopt a Korean perspective. How did Koreans understand and experience the Christian message? What did they do to establish and develop the faith? Another related imbalance concerns the exclusion or marginalization of women in the Korean Christian narrative, in spite of the fact that they have almost always outnumbered the men and so many have played leadership roles. The book highlights the ministry of such women as the Catholic catechist Kang Wan-suk (Columba), who helped establish the infant church at the cost of her own life, and the untold numbers of Protestant Bible Women, who traveled enormous distances spreading the new faith and even headed local congregations in the early years. A

5 Book Reviews 269 History of Korean Christianity recognizes the Koreans women and men as the principal historical agents in the origins and growth of their faith. Sebastian C.H. Kim and Kirsteen Kim have written the definitive general history of Korean Christianity. No other work comes close in breadth, thoroughness, and quality. The book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike. On the one hand, it can serve as an ideal introduction to the topic of Korean Christianity. At the same time, it is filled with information and analysis that experts will also find useful. A seminal contribution to the fields of Korean history and religion, mission studies, and global Christianity, A History of Korean Christianity opens up a host of new possibilities for future research. Sean C. Kim Associate Professor, Department of History and Anthropology University of Central Missouri Songs of Seoul: An Ethnography of Voice and Voicing in Christian South Korea. By Nicholas Harkness, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014, xv, 303pp. Songs of Seoul, winner of the 2014 Edward Sapir Book Prize by the Society of Linguistic Anthropology, is a semiotically informed anthropology of voice and specifically of sŏngak, or European-style classical vocal music, in Evangelical Christian South Korea. Research for this work was carried out at a major Protestant church (Somang Presbyterian Church) located in the upscale district of Gangnam and at a top educational institution for voice (Department of Voice, Seoul National University) with mostly Christian singers and students. Through Songs of Seoul, we learn that the voice what Harkness analytically and methodologically conceptualizes as the phonosonic nexus, that which links and twines the phonic production, shaping, and organization of sound, on the one hand, and the sonic uptake and categorization of sound in the