Christianity in Korea /

Christianity has remained on the edges of Asian cultures from the 17th century until the present, by and large isolated on the cultural edges of societies where Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist traditions, or mixtures of those traditions, played the defining cultural roles. The single exception is Korea, particularly South Korea, where Christian tradition has firmly become an ingredient in the cultural traditions along with Buddhism and Confucianism. This book's collection of remarkable essays takes an interdisciplinary approach to clarifying the growth and development of Korean Christianity and the importance of this development for Korean politics, religion, gender issues, social issues, and interreligious dialogue. Since Western scholarship has mostly ignored this aspect of Korean history and the history of Christianity, this book makes an important contribution toward filling a void. Given current Buddhist-Christian hostilities that occasionally break out in South Korea, the book's concluding essay on how best to encourage Korean Buddhist-Christian dialogue is particularly important. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty/researchers. P. O. Ingram emeritus, Pacific Lutheran University