Pilgrims and progress : the production of religious experience in a Korean religion

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Pilgrims and progress : the production of religious experience in a Korean religion Bell, Kirsten

Abstract

Since its inception, Chondogyo has self-consciously maintained an identity as a “new” and “modern” Korean religion. These claims have seen ongoing efforts to rationalize religious practice and theology and purge the movement of “anti-modern,” “superstitious” elements. This article explores the differing receptions of pilgrimage and ecstatic trance within the organization: the two major forms of embodied religious experience in Chondogyo. While the former has been actively promoted as a “legitimate” (and modern) form of religious experience, the latter is treated with ambivalence and is often connected with backward superstition. Through a comparison of these practices, I explore the ways in which they intersect with, bolster and challenge conceptions of Korean modernity.

Item Metadata

Title	Pilgrims and progress : the production of religious experience in a Korean religion
Creator	Bell, Kirsten
Publisher	University of California Press
Date Issued	2008
Description	Since its inception, Chondogyo has self-consciously maintained an identity as a “new” and “modern” Korean religion. These claims have seen ongoing efforts to rationalize religious practice and theology and purge the movement of “anti-modern,” “superstitious” elements. This article explores the differing receptions of pilgrimage and ecstatic trance within the organization: the two major forms of embodied religious experience in Chondogyo. While the former has been actively promoted as a “legitimate” (and modern) form of religious experience, the latter is treated with ambivalence and is often connected with backward superstition. Through a comparison of these practices, I explore the ways in which they intersect with, bolster and challenge conceptions of Korean modernity.
Subject	new religious movements; pilgrimage; Chondogyo; religious experience; religion
Geographic Location	Korea (South)
Genre	Article
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2015-12-19
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
DOI	10.14288/1.0221486
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/55976
Affiliation	Anthropology, Department of; Arts, Faculty of
Peer Review Status	Reviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications