The Religion & Culture Web Forum

October 2007

Beleaguered Success: How Korean Evangelicalism Fared In The 1990s

By Timothy S. Lee
Assistant Professor of Church History
Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

Respondents:
Daniel Bays, Calvin College
Kelly H. Chong, University of Kansas
Hyojae Lee, Regent College
Paul C. H. Lim, Vanderbilt University
Elizabeth Underwood, Eastern Kentucky University

The October issue presents an examination of the triumphant and less-than-triumphant aspects of Korean Evangelicalism in the last decade of the twentieth century, a century marked by growth from insignificance to the nation’s predominant religion:

… Evangelicalism was South Korea’s most successful religion in the 1990s, not only in sheer numbers but also in social, political, and economic influence. This tells only half the story, however, and the other half is not very pretty—at least for Evangelicals. For if the 1990s were a decade of preponderant (though not quite hegemonic) sway for Evangelicals, it was also a decade of beleaguerment for them: the decade when the growth of their churches slowed, scandals involving some of their high-profile members shocked the public, and open conflict arose between them and other religious groups.

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