Page 42 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

ceases to be who and what one is. Culture is also a semiotic context within which social events

and behaviors of individuals or institutions can be intelligibly described and have an intended

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meaning. Meaning “happens” in the context of this ubiquitous framework of societal
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relationships. Culture influences relationships in a given society, including that relationship

with God and other supernatural beings.

People who are shaped by a given culture, also contribute in re-shaping that same culture.

Culture, then, is not static but dynamic. In Korea, the modern trend of anthropologists is to

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perceive culture from the 1990s as “process rather than system.” They understand culture as
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“something that is being constructed, consciously manipulated, and politically transacted.”

The Korean culture is no exception, as evidenced by the Korean current socio-political situation.

Socio-Cultural Context of the Contemporary Korean Church

The Korean church has influenced Korean society and has itself been influenced by it.

Since the culture of a society is the context of a church, it is essential to comprehend the socio-

cultural background of current Korean society in order to grasp the state of the contemporary

Korean church. Korean society experienced a drastic cultural change beginning with the 1960s.

The rapidly changing culture affected the contemporary Korean society and church in every

niche of its life. This section, therefore, expounds the major cultural “Geists” that were

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Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Culture (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 14.

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William F. Foe, Mythmakers: Gospel, Culture, and the Media (New York, NY:
friendship Press, 1990), 13.

69 Okpyo Moon, “Korean Anthropology: A Search for New Paradigms,” The Review of
Korean Studies 2 (September 1999), 128.
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Ibid., 127