Letters to the Editor
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Non-Korean honky hazards a guess
I'm guessing that the reason Korea (or at least South Korea) has more Christianity than other Asian nations, is mostly due to the Korean War. During and after the war, I expect a lot of Western churches were encouraged to proselytize in South Korea, to help it stay a proper bulwark against Godless Communism.
And of course, it also presented an opportunity to many churches who sincerely wanted to help their fellow man, as well as convert others to their church.
I would also guess that this occurred less in Viet Nam because the US was much more resented by the populace once they left, and there was less of an ongoing Westernization effort afterwards...
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O'Hehir
I'm as underwhelmed as ever.
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Christianity in Korea
Actually, the Western missionaries were quite active in Korea before it was annexed by Japan. Because Japan was regarded by most Koreans as the colonial oppressor, Christianity was not as stigmatized as a foreign element. Indeed, the churches at times could serve as a rallying point for the independence movement, and many leaders of the anti-colonial resistance were fervent converts. Missionaries from the US were particularly active in modernizing Korean education. The present-day capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, used to be known as the "Jerusalem of the East" (by the way, the Koreans have also been called the "Irish of East Asia"). The historical suffering of the Koreans not only in the 20th century but also in its earlier periods has also played a role in finding a receptive audience for the Christian message.
So Christianity was identified by Koreans as a modernizing force, though some would point out that there is continuity between shamanism and evangelical styles of worship as both can be characterized by demonstrating intense emotional states.
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to add to penaflor
The time frame for Korean conversions to Christianity begins with the late 19th century.
Much like the Meiji restoration of Japan, and the Reform period in the late Qing Dynasty in China, Korea underwent a period of profound upheaval in the late nineteenth century as debates raged among the ruling classes about whether or not to accept western innovations beyond technology to include issues like public education, science and medicine.
Korean Christian churches were seen as centers of learning for people who couldn't afford to educate their children in the traditional Confucian style (usually the province of the wealthy). Missionaries also offered poor and middle-class Koreans a way to partially by-pass the rigid class codes which proscribed social mobility in the 19th century.
Koreans who emigrated to the US (starting in the early years of the 20th century) were often at least nominally Christian and the Christian churches became important community centers and social service providers for the new immigrants.
As penaflore notes, Korean American Christian churches outside Korea became especially important centers for nationalist activity against the Japanese after the Japanese forcibly incorporated Korea into the Japanese empire in 1910.
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Christianity
It would be erroneous to ascribe overwhelming Christianity to Korea above other Asian nations when the Philippines is about 90 percent Christian (and about 80 percent Catholic, I think).
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Eyes
female viewers, I imagine, will find both the James Dean-esque Ha and the model-suave Lee easy on the eyes
But not male viewers, of course, because all men are completely incapable of considering the physical appeal of other men, even in that abstracted sense that some men might be more attractive than others.
Would it have been so hard to write merely "viewers" or "some viewers"?
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Korea and the Phillipines
Both occupied by the U.S. military for decades. In the case of the Phillipines, it was also formerly the colony of a Catholic nation.
There's your answer.
Conservative Christians overwhlmingly supported the Iraq war in the belief that it would crack open the heart of the middle east to missionary work.
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evangelical christianity and korea
my first response to andrew o'hehir's question is -- don't forget the Philippines.
my second is: as a korean-american, i have wondered about this all my life. my family seems to be different (no evangelical christians among us); but one thing i have noticed is that both of my parents, though raised catholic, practice zen buddhism as well and don't see any conflict between the two.
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The Philippines! duh!
Thanks for pointing that out. But the Christian transmission mechanisms seem totally different: The Philippines were directly occupied by the US for a long time, while -- well, OK, South Korea was indirectly occupied by the US. But the Philippines are predominantly Catholic, while Korean Christianity seems to be various flavors of evangelical Protestantism. As several of you have said, Christianity in Korea clearly predates the Korean War by a fair piece. Anyway, thanks for all the feedback.
Pyramus, you're quite right: Male viewers of all persuasions may find the actors attractive. I did. Ascribing such an attitude to the "female gaze" was lazy, and I hereby retract. This film isn't perfectly realized, but its combination of super-good-looking stars, a pulpy plot, and the discipline and undertow of art cinema are what make it interesting.
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uh oh, your americancentrism is showing!
i don't think the christianity of the Philippines is from any US influence, but way before the US was any world force, from the Spanish?
still, you are right that they seem to stem from entirely different scenarios. there's something about christianity that resonated with koreans that just didn't happen to the same extent in other asian cultures.
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Perception is Everything
Speaking as a staunchly agnostic Korean American (with a Buddhist wife), I’d like to point out that your perception of the predominance of Christianity among Koreans might be true among Korean in the US; however, as far as it concerns the denizens of South Korea (at least according to a Pew Forum survey), their religious affiliations broke down as follows: 42% unaffiliated, 25% Protestant, 10% Catholic, 22% Buddhist, and 1% other.
As to the question of why Christianity has taken foot more prevalently in Korea than is other East Asian cultures, I think the previous comments are all relevant so I won’t rehash the existing discourse.
However, one thing I would like to add by way of explanation, besides the historical context, is a possible etymological one. My linguistic ability in Korean is alas quite limited, but my understanding is that one of the Korean words for God is "hananim" or "hanunim," which literally translates as "one god." Its usage is quite old, referring predates the arrival of Christian missionaries on Korean soil.
"Hananim" referred to the belief in a supreme being even during Korea's ancient practices of shamanism and ancestral worship, so it seems many Koreans could have had the mindset to more readily accept a Judeo-Christian concept of one god. Indeed, missionaries doubtlessly capitalized on this parallel in order to facilitate conversions.