Jun 20, 2026

Korean New Religions

Don Baker

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

Buy Book

Summary

Korean New Religions (Cambridge University Press, 2025) is an excellent primer for anyone interested in modern Korea’s religious landscape. The Korean peninsula has dramatically transformed over the past century, and various new religions have emerged. Dr. Donald Baker outlines these new religions, explores their basic beliefs and shared features, and compares them with the peninsula’s three spiritual traditions (Confucianism, Buddhism, and folk religion). In addition to the interview, Dr. Baker also speaks about his experience witnessing the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a democracy movement that was violently suppressed by the authoritarian government.

Donald Baker is a recently retired Korean historian whose relationship with Korea spans decades. He was most recently Professor in Korean History and Civilization at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Other recent publications of his include A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral: Tasan Chŏng Yagyong’s Reading of the Zhongyong (University of Hawaii Press, 2023), and Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Chosŏn Korea (University of Hawaii Press, 2017) with Franklin Rausch.

Buy Korean New Religions here

Read Dr. Baker’s articles about the Gwangju Uprising:

“Victims and Heroes: Competing Visions of May 18,” Contentious Kwangju: The May 18 Uprising in Korea’s Past and Present (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), pp. 87-107.

"Kwangju, Trauma, and the Problem of Objectivity in History-Writing” in Michael Robinson and Seung-kyung Kim, ed. Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United Studies (University of Washington Press, 1920).

About the host: Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu