Nonofficial Religion in South Korea: Prevalence of Fortunetelling and Other Forms of Divination
Nonofficial religion, also called "folk," "common," or "popular" religion, refers to religious and quasi-religious beliefs and practices that are neither accepted nor controlled by official religious groups. As the religion of the general populace, nonofficial religion...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publications
2005
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2005, Volume: 46, Issue: 3, Pages: 284-302 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Nonofficial religion, also called "folk," "common," or "popular" religion, refers to religious and quasi-religious beliefs and practices that are neither accepted nor controlled by official religious groups. As the religion of the general populace, nonofficial religion comprises such diverse elements as superstition, magic, the paranormal, and the occult as well as astrology. Traditionally, these non-institutionalized religions had exerted profound influences on the lives and worldviews of large numbers of people all across the world. Even today a considerable number of individuals, irrespective of age, gender, class, and education differences, still engage in nonofficial religious beliefs and practices. In spite of the continuing relevance of nonofficial religion in modern life, however, little scholarly attention has been paid to the topic. South Korea is no exception. There has to date been no sociological analysis of the nature of nonofficial religion in the country. To redress this imbalance, this paper examines the main aspects of nonofficial religion in South Korea and probes the ways in which Koreans practice it. Belief in extrascientific explanations and techniques, particularly fortunetelling and other variants of divination, remain popular in South Korea: nonofficial religious beliefs and practices are fairly common among Koreans who now live in a vastly modernized and urbanized society, and nonofficial religion is patronized almost evenly by people of diverse backgrounds. Many practitioners of nonofficial religion are also adherents of official religion. The paper then re-examines the secularization debate in light of nonofficial religion in South Korea. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3512557 |