Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Religious Studies

First Advisor

Kim, Hwansoo

Abstract

This dissertation covers the roles of multiple empires in the discursive formation of religion in modern Korea, with emphasis on the period from 1876 through 1948. I argue that although semi-analogous terms and ideas to “religion” existed in Korea prior, the coinage of the modern Korena term for religion, chonggyo (종교, 宗敎) in 1883 and its subsequent discursive development were heavily shaped by imperialism, colonialism, and modern globalization. The pressures and influences of empires triggered a coalescence of Korean concepts of religion and related ideas. But the involvement of multiple empires as well as Korean interests, and the beliefs and ideas of diverse religions, contributed to a complex debate contesting the meaning of religion, non-religion, religious freedom, and ancillary concepts. This process began in the Open Port era of the late nineteenth century, when numerous empires negotiated the concepts of religion and religious freedom with the Korean government, and Korean intellectuals and leaders developed their own responses to thinking about and handling religion. The Japanese colonial regime actively shaped religion by defining and regulating it categorically and through the lens of colonialist views but faced with pushback from Koreans and non-Koreans on the meanings of religion and religious freedom. Subsequently, American and Soviet forces upended the politics and landscape of religion in Korea to implement approaches aligned with their own ideologies. This history reveals that the underlying similarities, the unavoidable politics and subjectivity of defining and religion and its relationships, run continuously through history, with changes to form rather than function. No approach to religion is neutral or apolitical, and even attempts to separate religion from secular politics will inevitably interfere with religion.

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