S(e)oul Search: The Changing Religious Landscape in Seoul and Its Implications for Defining “Asia”

Abstract

There is a saying that if one looks at Seoul at night from afar, one will see a large city covered with neon-lit red crosses. It is also said that a Christian church can be found on every other block in the streets of Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea). To be sure, this is not the case. Yet this embellished illustration of Seoul as a Christian symbol of a cross-covered city conveys the message that Christianity is no longer a foreign or a Western religion, but has, rather, become a major religious tradition in South Korea as represented in its capital. Christianity may not be the majority religion in terms of demographics, but it has certainly become a dominant religion in terms of social and political influence as well as economic power in South Korea.