The Korean Church and Shamanism

Background

Shamanism is a religious phenomenon in which a shaman mediates between spirits and human beings to heal illness, invoke blessings, and ward off misfortune. In Korea it is commonly called musok or mugyo. The term musok is said to have been coined by the Buddhist scholar Yi Neung-hwa. The term mugyo ("shamanistic religion") is said to have been used by the Protestant theologian Yu Tong-shik, who regarded shamanism as an independent religion. When Protestantism arrived in Korea in the late nineteenth century, Confucianism, Buddhism, and shamanism were intermingled. Because Protestantism refused to blend with other religions, it came into particular conflict with shamanism.

Development

Confrontation in the Early Missionary Period (1884–1910)

According to a 2018 study by Yoon Eun-seok, the early missionaries to Korea regarded shamanism as the most influential belief system and the foundation of Korean religion as a whole. The missionaries saw in shamanism a blessing-seeking mentality and a fear of evil spirits. Homer Hulbert described Koreans as Confucianists in their social life and Buddhists in their thought, but spirit worshipers in times of trouble. Regarding shamanism as an obstacle to evangelism, the missionaries chose confrontation over dialogue. Some missionaries, such as William Noble and Annie Baird, even wrote novels intended to show the futility of shamanism.

Indigenization Theology and the Study of Mugyo

After Korea's liberation, a debate arose over indigenization theology, which asked how the gospel relates to Korean culture. Yu Tong-shik (1922–2022), a leading figure in this debate, received his doctorate from Kokugakuin University in Japan in 1972 for research on Korean mugyo. In The History and Structure of Korean Shamanism (1975), he described mugyo as the deepest layer of Korean culture and interpreted foreign religions and civilizations as having been received on that foundation. He later proposed pungnyu theology, which interprets Korean religious culture as pungnyudo, "the way of pungnyu."

Consequences and Influence

Critics both inside and outside the church have continued to attribute certain features of the Korean church to shamanistic influence. The following are most frequently cited:

• A blessing-seeking faith that treats belief as a means of obtaining health, wealth, and success in this life
• An attitude that regards the pastor as a shaman-like intermediary between God and human beings
• A tendency to pursue experiences such as ecstatic trance (ipsin) and visions, moving from one revival meeting and prayer retreat center to another
• An attitude that places devotional fervor above truth and separates worship from everyday life

In a public lecture, the New Testament scholar Seyoon Kim identified shamanistic blessing-seeking and the pursuit of experiences of spirit descent (gangsin) as the main reasons society criticizes the Korean church. Critics often cite passages such as Deuteronomy 18:10–12, which forbids divination and consulting mediums, and call for a return to a Word-centered faith.

Assessment

Views on this subject vary.

• Critics hold that shamanistic blessing-seeking is incompatible with salvation by grace, the heart of the gospel, and that it weakens the church community and fosters materialism.
• Proponents of indigenization theology do not regard mugyo merely as something to be overcome. They see it as a key to understanding the Korean religious mind and to building a distinctively Korean theology.
• Those who emphasize divine healing and blessing explain healing and prosperity as biblically grounded promises of God and object to equating them with shamanism.

The criteria for distinguishing shamanistic influence from expressions of biblical faith differ from one commentator to another. The question therefore continues to feed a broader discussion about where the boundary lies between the indigenization of Christian faith and syncretism.