Abstract
Abstract Steve Bruce’s and Karel Dobbelaere’s secularisation theses – that industrialisation, urbanisation, societalisation, and rationalisation erode religion on macro-, meso- and micro-levels – can be challenged by reference to the growth and vitality of Christianity in China and South Korea. Christianity propelled economic growth and political change in South Korea at the end of the twentieth century, and has recognised potential in China. Religious institutions play critical roles in contemporary South Korean and Chinese communities. Although in an economically dynamic age permeated by scientific thinking, Christianity thrives in the private sphere in China. The plateauing of the growth rate of South Korean Christianity in recent decades coincides with widespread stability and prosperity in the country, which may have reduced the psychological and practical needs for religion. Thus, the Secularisation Thesis ought to be recast: social stability and prosperity better explain religious decline than industrialisation, urbanisation, societalisation, and rationalisation.
Highlights
The Secularisation Thesis postulates that modernity precipitates a decline in the social significance of religion
In an economically dynamic age permeated by scientific thinking, Christianity thrives in the private sphere in China
This article aims, first, to challenge the application of the Secularisation Thesis in South Korea and China, and thereby substantiate the existing concerns about the thesis voiced by scholars of religion in non-Western contexts
Summary
The Secularisation Thesis postulates that modernity precipitates a decline in the social significance of religion. From 1962 to 1992, South Korean gdp rose an average 9% annually, from US$2bn to $276.8bn.2 During this time, its combined Protestant and Catholic communities grew from 1.32 million to 10.8 million, as the total population increased from 26 million to 43 million.. The rate of growth has slowed, South Korea’s total Christian population numbered over 13 million in 2015.5 Religious practice in South Korea is animated and lively. Estimating the size of China’s Christian population is challenging due to the number of unregistered churches and the lack of census data on religion. Number of Religious People Affiliated to Catholicism in South Korea Form 1985 To. 2015 (Seoul: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2020). China’, Journal of The American Academy of Religion, 85 (2017), 1132–1136, at p.1134; and the Catholic population of 3.2 million, Henry Kamm, ‘Pope Calls on China to Renew Its
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