From the category archives:

Religion

Details of November’s Global Korea Lecture at the Cultural Centre:
Tuesday 24th November 2009, 6.30pm
Subject: Ch’udo yebae: Christian Accommodation to Korean Ancestral Rites
Speaker: Professor James H. Grayson (School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield)
Venue: Multi-purpose Hall, Korean Cultural Centre
According to the 2005 Korean Household and Population Census, Christians now represent nearly 30 per cent of [...]

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100 years of the Salvation Army in Korea

23 November 2008 DPRK
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Michael Rank on a fascinating connection between an East London cemetery and Korea’s history

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The Tripitaka Koreana part 2 – the Depository Building

20 November 2008 Buddhism
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Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea’s past

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The Tripitaka Koreana – part 1

2 November 2008 Buddhism
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Matthew Jackson continues his series of articles on the important treasures from Korea’s past

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Radio 4: Korean missionaries abroad: Bible Studies with Taekwondo

27 March 2008 Religion

Crossing Continents – a BBC Radio 4 broadcast from earlier today.
Ulli Schauen visits Korea to find out why Koreans are such fervent evangelists. 16,000 work abroad as Christian missionaries, a total surpassed only by the US.
The 30 minute programme can be heard here. You’ll catch the tail end of a news broadcast at the start [...]

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Pastor Bae Hyun-kyu

29 July 2007 ...blow by blow

Just received from a reader
On behaf of Avaaz.org, I am asking the Korean Community to remeber the death of Pastor Bae Hyun-Kyu who was killed on his 42nd birthday on Wednesday 25th July by the Taliban militia in Central Afghanistan. Also, let us remember the 22 remaining hostage in Ghazni, who were due to be [...]

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What makes Juche bigger than Judaism?

13 May 2007 DPRK

In a rather strange survey, adherents.com have produced a ranking of major “world” “religions”.
Let’s take a look at the list.
1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
OK so far. Let’s carry on.
3. Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist: 1.1 billion
Sorry? “Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist” is a world “religion”? Oh well, [...]

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Korean missionaries in Afghanistan

7 February 2007 Ask an expert

I just received a request from a reader for any means of contacting the organisation which has sent Korean missionaries to Afghanistan — or indeed contact details for any of the missionaries out there. The reader is anxious to contact a relative who is with the missionaries and who hasn’t been in touch for a [...]

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Priceless

16 August 2006 DPRK

A picture to gladden the heart. Thanks as ever to Tom Coyner for this treasure.
And another, unrelated, bizarre item from the North, from Der Spiegel: this coming weekend will see the opening of Pyongyang’s new Russian Orthodox church, whose priests are all ex-DPRK intelligence agents.

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Korean Christians in Afghanistan

6 August 2006 Religion

Every now and then I notice a story which has probably been bubbling away for a while in the background but which then suddenly grabs my attention by chance. One such has been the Korean Christian missionaries in Afghanistan.
A couple of google searches reveals the significant missionary activities of the Korean churches, particularly in Muslim [...]

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Nobble your vicar

19 June 2006 DPRK

The organisation of the Global Week of Prayer for North Korea has been impressive. The website has been up for ages, allowing ample time for word-of-mouth. And then a week or so ago there was a bulk mailing. I happened to be around at the vicarage the other day for a meeting of the church [...]

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Christ’s tomb maintained by Japanese yoghurt profits

29 May 2006 Humour

An off-topic post, but this story is too good to pass up. Today’s (London) Times is a bit of a mess. Its leader column, trying to say something witty about our comedy deputy prime minister having an afternoon playing croquet with his aides (why that’s a resignation issue is beyond me – it’s not as [...]

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Banning the Da Vinci Code

4 May 2006 Film

The Christian Council of Korean has been trying to prevent the screening of the Da Vinci Code. I suppose that films which touch on religion are always likely to spark controversy in certain circles. But does noisy protest do more harm than good? There’s a thoughtful article in the Winter 2004 edition of the Korea [...]

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