Join the Centre for Korean Research (CKR) for a lecture by Professor Gil-soo Han as he examines the rise of hereditary succession in church leadership in South Korea and the socio-cultural factors that have driven this trend, including secularization, undemocratic practices, and Confucian influences.
Speaker Bio:
Gil-soo Han is a Professor of Communications and Media Studies at Monash University in Australia. He has published extensively on media, religion, health, ethnicity, and nationalism in Korea. His recent publications include Calculated Nationalism in Contemporary South Korea (Amsterdam University Press, 2023) and Funeral Rites in Contemporary Korea (Springer, 2019).
Abstract:
Alongside South Korea’s rapid economic development, its churches grew exponentially until the mid-1990s. With the rise of a more affluent Korean economy, people had more disposable income, and churches became wealthier, leading them to deviate further from their original purpose and identity. A notable phenomenon is that many churches completed the hereditary succession of head ministership. This paper analyzes news reports from 2000 to 2022 to identify the socio-cultural and economic factors, both internal and external to the churches, that contributed to this trend. The data shows that Korean churches have merged with the surrounding secular culture to gain material benefits—money, honour, and power—in the name of “Christ” (Niebuhr 1951). In a sluggish economy, head ministers and their sons conspired to control the “church that lays the golden egg.” Undemocratic decision-making, gender inequality, Confucian habitus, and shamanistic spirituality focused on prosperity have all been catalysts for this development.