Process of configuration of the catholic religion, for the integration in the Korean culture during XX-XXI centuries

Abstract

Catholicism has had a considerable evolution within the Korean culture over the past 50 years. However, the reason for its acceptance comes from centuries ago and has been influenced by some determining factors during its configuration process, managing to integrate and spread itself in the culture of South Korea, which was closed to beliefs different from their own, up to current practice. This work focuses on the analysis of the configuration process of the Catholic religion in South Korea, excluding Protestant Christian religions, during the 20th and 21st centuries. As a result of this investigation, we can affirm that in two centuries this religion has positioned itself and has had a considerable increase in its followers. To carry out this analysis, we start from the beginnings of Catholicism and the actors who integrated the Catholic religion into Korean culture, going through the persecutions and repressions to which the defenders of Catholicism were subjected in a society so rooted in the culture of Buddha and Confucius, and finally it is described its acceptance between Koreans.