The fact that late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century global Western Protestant missionary activities produced one of the most spectacular successes in South Korea is by now well known. The growth of Protestant evangelicalism in South Korea, achieved especially during the country's economic “takeoff” period after World War II, is unusual not only in the world, but within the East Asian region in particular. Despite this distinctive development, the phenomenon of South Korean evangelicalism has not received the attention it deserves in the Western academy. Timothy S. Lee attempts to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive mapping of the birth, growth, and distinctive character of Korean evangelicalism, starting from the period marking the arrival of Western Protestant missionaries in Korea in 1885 up to the present.
The book is divided into four chapters, followed by an epilogue that considers the recent travails of Korean evangelicalism. The first three chapters are...
