Korean religious culture and its affinity to Christianity: The rise of Protestant Christianity in South Korea

This study offers an analysis of the affinity between Korean traditional re ligious culture and Protestant Christianity in order to bring into sharper relief several important points of contact that strengthened the appeal of the imported faith in South Korea. In particular, Korean Shamanism, the end uring core of Korean religious and cultural thought, is given special atten tion in order to explain the prominence of its worldview and practices in t he uniquely Korean form of Protestantism. The paper also examines the way i n which specific Protestant doctrines and practices were modified or accent uated to suit the disposition of the Korean people. What this study reveals is that Christian conversion in South Korea did not involve an exclusivist ic change of religious affiliation, meaning that it did not require the rep udiation of traditionally held beliefs. Instead, millions of South Koreans eagerly embraced Christianity precisely because the new faith was advanced as an extension or continuation of Korean religious tradition.