Korea - A Religious History

Rating:
Summary: Informative, interesting, brief.
Review: This book briefly covers Korea's religious history from prehistory until the present. It's an interesting story because Korea has always been a unique society: in the ancient past it bred unusual forms of Buddhism; then it was the most Confucian society in history; today it is the only country in Asia to really embrace Protestant Christianity, while at the same time interesting syncretic religions emerge and the shamanist traditions continue.

Grayson gives the most important facts and a few interpretations about each of these phenomena; but the book is too brief to go into any depth on any matter. It's a good first book on Korean history and religion, but I constantly wanted to know more than he was telling me. Like me, you'll probably want deeper books after this fine introduction.