Customer Reviews

Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea (Suny Series, Korean Studies)

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This is by far the best book on this topic available today. Dr. Kang has accurately captured religion during a period that has not been well documented. Anyone interested in learning more about the modern history of Korea must read this definitive work.

Mr. W. J. Kang, in the Chirst and Caesar in Modern Korea, tackled a subject which is very difficult to find in English language: Korean Christianity. More specifically, as the title suggests, Mr. Kang attempted to explore and discuss the development of Korean Christianity in political perspective. While his effort was noble and provided an invaluable service, the book suffers seriously from lack of original research and even-handed view of Korean Christianity. While conveying the political-activism of some South Korean Christians in the political reform, democratization, and reunification, Kang lumps a very diverse Christian groups in South Korea into one lump, giving the reader a very biased impression. Contrary to Kang's proposition, many of various politically active Christian groups and figures were and are outside of Korea's mainstream religious organizations. Kang's descritive narration of the history of Korean Christianity leaves anyone who has any knowledge of Korean Christianity with little insight. In addition, Kang, in his last chapter, states based on hearsay, that there are 5000 to 10,000 Christians in North Korea. As a Korea specialist, I find this sort of conjectures by the author, not only irresponsible but also misleading, as the North Korea's oppressive regime has systematically persecuted and outlawed any independent religion in North Korea. Had the author referred to Amnesty International's report on North Korea, he would have found the North Korea's official figures of North Korean Christians highly problematic, if not blatantly false. His enthusiasm for promoting reunification of Korea through religious cooperation seriously undermines his study. Moreover, Kang painstakingly tries to reconcile the fundamental Christian belief of One God with North Korea's Chuch'e Ideology and the personality worship of Kim Il-song and Kim Chong-il: "This anthropocentric political philosophy is an arrogant philosophy of humanism, placing human beings as the center and basis of all the judgement of human life and the world...However, Christians do take human justice and justification seriously. It was Christ himself who broke the Sabbath law of the Old Testament for the well-being of humanity..(p.162)" The author's justification of the North Korean regime which has imprisoned tens of thousands on trumped-up charges and other political/religious convictions under the Chuch'e Ideology (which the author ridiculously compares with Christianity) will baffle any reasonable reader. Furthermore, Kang portrays the 1994 nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula solely at the feet of US and South Korea. His lack of balanced view and deeper understanding of the issues involved left me speech-less. In sum, while the book, in general, is filled with important historical discussion, it suffers greatly from the author's own political agenda and bias.