Another Christian right? The politicization of Korean Protestantism in contemporary global society

Abstract

The author explores the political rise of conservative Protestantism in the larger context of Protestant Christianity’s reconfiguration in Korea. The incorporation of East Asia into the modern world resulted not only in the failure to establish a single Korean state, but also in the rise of the category ‘religion’ in this region. The remarkable growth of Korean Protestantism was, in large part, due to its great contribution, as a model religion, to the building of Korea as a modern nation. Since the late 1980s, however, the public has lost confidence in it and there has been a rise in discourses of nation re-building that give great emphasis to indigenous cultures and regional resources. Meanwhile, Protestant Churches have emerged as a key opponent to nationalist aspirations and programmes for social reform. The re-politicization of Protestantism in post-Cold War South Korea reflects the extent of the insecurity stemming from of Korea’s shifting place in a newly globalized East Asia. Religion makes the re-entry of Korea into the late-modern world at once dynamic and unpredictable.