Reimagining Korea : Identity and Values in a Changing World

This volume project explores how evolving values and identities in contemporary Korean society are interpreted, particularly through the lens of religion, positioning it as a window into Korea’s dynamic cultural and social landscape. As Korea grapples with rapid modernization, shifting religious beliefs and expressions reflect new aspects of the Korean people’s values and identity, in both personal and communal dimensions. We believe that this dynamic backdrop creates a complex web of tensions as Koreans negotiate between established norms and newly infused or internally emerging global ideas, inspiring and provoking efforts to navigate and advocate for future directions both within and beyond the country.

Yohan Yoo is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Seoul National University, South Korea. His research adopts a comparative approach to diverse religious topics, encompassing areas such as indigenous shamanic beliefs and practices in Jeju, Korea, theory and methodology in religious studies, iconic and performative aspects of sacred texts, and intersections between myth and cotemporary literature. He is the author of Korean Religious Texts in Iconic and Performative Rituals (Equinox, 2024) and three books in Korean: Myths of Our Era (2012), Understanding Religious Studies (2020), and Understanding Religious Symbolism (2021). He also co-authored Cosmologies of Pure Realms and the Rhetoric of Pollution (Routledge, 2021) and co-edited Books as Bodies and as Sacred Beings (Equinox, 2021) with James W. Watts.

Song Chong Lee is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Seoul National University, South Korea. He is the author of Ham Sok Hon’s Ssial Cosmopolitan Vision (New York: Lexington Books, 2020). His most recent publications include “Bringing Back the Old Religiosity: Interfaith Cosmopolitan Civil Religion,” Journal of Church and State (Oxford University Press, 2024), “The Violence of New Religious Movements and the Entrepreneurial Model: With a Focus on the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Korea,” The Journal of Religion 3, no. 3 (The University of Chicago Press, 2023), and “Homo-Historicus of Wilhelm Dilthey and Ham Sok Hon,” Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History 50, no. 2 (Indiana University-Purdue University Press, 2023). Lee’s research covers themes in the sociology of religion, such as civil religion, cosmopolitanism, and NRMs (New Religious Movements), through humanistic interpretation and writings.