Join the KCC in partnership with Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism and take a step inside to Korean Temple Food with Venerable Jeong Kwan. Get to learn the culinary philosophy and the mindfulness of Temple Food and have a sneak peek at her new recipe book! Venerable Jeong Kwan is Abbess of Cheonjinam Hermitage, Baekyangsa … [Read More]
Category: Religion and philosophy
SOAS–SKKU Symposium on Korean Philosophy and Society
The first symposium organised by jointly the SOAS Centre of Korean Studies and Sungkyungwan University will offer an opportunity for both established academics and PhD students from the two institutions to present their current work on topics related to Korean Confucianism and the roles of women in Chosǒn society. Time Description 1:00pm-1:15pm Opening remarks 1:15pm-3:00pm … [Read More]
[Durham] The “Glorious Glosters”: Christianity, Chaplaincy and Captivity
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Join Durham’s Oriental Museum for an evening talk by Canon Professor Michael Snape FBA (Durham University), ‘The “Glorious Glosters”: Christianity, Chaplaincy and Captivity in Cold War Korea’ The Korean War (1950-53) is widely billed as a forgotten conflict, and yet it was the scene of the fiercest fighting experienced by the British Army since the … [Read More]
[Durham] Personal Patterns of Enlightenment: the chant styles of Buddhist monks
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Join Durham’s Oriental Museum for an evening talk by Professor Simon Mills of Durham University’s Music Department, entitled Personal Patterns of Enlightenment: the chant styles of Buddhist monks in South Korea. FREE of charge. Booking essential. The Jogye Order is the biggest Buddhist sect in South Korea today, administering over 1700 temples spread across the … [Read More]
[Manchester] Jane Jin Kaisen: Community of Parting screenings
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Community of Parting (2019) traces a different approach to borders, translation, and aesthetic mediation by invoking the ancient shamanic myth of the Abandoned Princess Bari and engaging female Korean shamanism as an ethics and aesthetics of memory and mutual recognition across time and space. Rooted in oral storytelling and embodied by female shamans, the myth about … [Read More]
Histories of Philosophies in the Peripheries: The Case of Korea
There is still no standard work on the history of Korean philosophy in a Western language. Even in Korea, there is no general consensus on whether premodern intellectual traditions in Korea qualify for a history of philosophy: a well-known situation for us working in global or intercultural philosophy. However, a distinctive Korean interest in philosophical … [Read More]
Seminar: The Political and Social Role of Confucian Thoughts in Koryŏ Dynasty
How did bureaucrats as intellectuals ruling Koryŏ dynasty (918~1392 C.E.) shape their political thoughts to govern the country and what kinds of thoughts influenced them? This talk will try to find the answer. Koryŏ dynasty located on the Korean peninsula is generally regarded as a Buddhist society. Of course, people of Koryŏ dynasty lived their … [Read More]
When a PowerPoint presentation can hold your attention for almost two hours…
How long is it since the time when we could go in person to a talk given by a real person in an actual physical room? I reckon it’s around 15 months. Since the beginning of March last year, Zoom has been the norm. Online talks do have advantages over a traditional lecture theatre: you can … [Read More]
Online talk: Korean Neo-Confucianism and its Shrines
This is a first for LKL. After more than 15 years online, we’re organising our first ever event! Having sat through rather too many online seminars which I logged on to because they happened to be available, I suddenly realised that I really didn’t find many of them all that interesting. And then I discovered … [Read More]
Book review: Christopher Lovins on King Chŏngjo
Thus far this year I’ve been focusing on literature in translation. As I wait for the next major wave of publications to hit the shops, I’ve turned my attention to non-fiction. And the first title I reached for was Christopher Lovins’s King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea, which came out in paperback … [Read More]
Nine Confucian academies listed at UNESCO
For visitors to Korea (such as myself) who like to try to get round all the UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, the list just got longer. On Saturday 6 July, the World Heritage Committee included nine Seowon, or Neo-Confucian Academies, in the list. The nine seowon are dotted around the central and southern parts of the … [Read More]
2019 Travel Diary #4: Seosan – Haemi Eupseong and Gaesimsa
Sunday 5 May 2019. My leisurely weekend in Taean was coming to an end, but Chris and Eunok are always generous enough to take me the scenic route to Cheonan Asan station before I catch the KTX down south. We had a relatively early start to the day: we wanted plenty of time to get … [Read More]
2018 travel diary 3 – The Smile of Baekje
10 – 11 November 2018. My trips to Korea are usually preceded by a hurried piece of research on the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) website trying to find out what notable items of tangible or intangible heritage, or what other historic or scenic sites there might be, to attract an inquisitive traveller to the places … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: Shamans and Confucian Public Officials
The first SOAS seminar of the month: Shamans and Confucian Public Officials: Religion and Social Recognition in Korea Dr Antonio J. Domenech (Universidad de Málaga) Friday 1 March 2019, 5:15pm Room B104, Brunei Gallery, SOAS University of London This seminar is free, but registration is required. Register here Abstract The general objective of this presentation … [Read More]
Lee Geonyong receives Thomas Cranmer Award
Congratulations to Dr Lee Geonyong, director of music at Seoul’s Anglican Cathedral, granted the Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 6 April 2018. The Cranmer Award for Worship was first awarded by Archbishop Justin Welby in March 2016. It is named after Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to … [Read More]
The LKL quiz of the year 2017
I’m currently going through my 2017 press cuttings and trying to make sense of them, in the hope that as in (some) previous years I’ll be able to pull together a series of posts summarising some of the most newsworthy stories of the year. In case I don’t manage to get that done (after all, … [Read More]