Carl F. Young has written a wide-ranging book on two related mass movements in modern Korean history, called Tonghak (Eastern Learning) and Ch’ŏndogyo (commonly referred to as Religion of the Heavenly Way). The temporal frame within which Young discusses their emergence, development, and significance is 1860–1919, and he examines them as both individual and sequentially linked movements. In fact, Ch’ŏndogyo slowly evolved from Tonghak as an expansive, vigorous, and largely distinct organization without renouncing this intimate connection. Young recaptures what is already known, especially about Tonghak, and adds numerous new findings, especially on Ch’ŏndogyo. In the early sections of the book, he also deftly covers the theoretical debates on the subject and amply weaves in the many insights and opinions of both Korean and foreign scholars.
Paradoxically, Ch’ŏndogyo formally came into being under the Japanese Protectorate of Korea. Unlike Tonghak, which had to maintain a stealthy existence, it operated as...
