Missionary narratives

[Matthew Hurwitz]

I found myself in a similar position during class! I kept waiting for the familiar narrative of missionaries coming in and destroying the local culture through violence and indoctrination, thinking that at some point that was going to be the all too predictable and depressing result. I was surprised and a little thrown when that narrative did not play out in exactly that fashion, and also found myself curious to learn more about how Christianity was integrated with far less violence (or so it seems) than in other parts of the world. I would have liked to hear about how the Christian church is seen today in Korea given the past history of foreign intervention by a variety of countries and people in the 19th and 20th century, and whether that has led to any tensions in current day religion/politics in the country.