Religion and the Cold War: A View from Korea

Abstract:Religion has recently appeared as an important subject of inquiry in Cold War studies. Referred to as religion and the Cold War, the rise of this research activity has since provoked interesting debates on the place of religion in Cold War power politics. Korea's Cold War experience has much to say in these debates. This article reviews issues raised in recent religion and the Cold War scholarship and asks how studies on Korea's religious culture can contribute to this rapidly growing research domain. The discussion will focus on the partition of the nation and the subsequent civil war, two important elements of Korea's early Cold War history, and their impacts on the country's Protestant movement and communities. The article argues that while dealing with such milieus in which the bipolarization of politics and the decolonization of the political order were concurrent processes and manifested in violent ways, the analysis may not ignore the forces of violence in propelling changes in religious culture and in shaping Cold War culture more broadly.