The Review of Korean Studies
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- P-ISSN1229-0076
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ISSN : 1229-0076
Militarized Masculinity with Buddhist Characteristics: Buddhist Chaplains and their Role in the South Korean Army
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Abstract
Chaplaincies traditionally played an important role in the South Korean army, as religion was supposed to be an ideological weapon in the struggle against “godless Communist” North Korea. Protestant and Catholic chaplaincies were established in 1951 and then contributed greatly to the high-tempo growth of churches in post-Korean War South Korea. Buddhist chaplaincy was first permitted in 1968, as large number of Buddhist draftees was to be sent to fight in Vietnam. Since then, it has been seen by the Buddhist community as a crucial tool in securing the loyalty of the draftees; there is a widespread understanding that the religious loyalties defined among the hardships of conscript life in the military last for lifetime. As Buddhist chaplains (gunseung) numerically amount only to ca. one-half of the Protestant chaplains (gunmok) and the Buddhist field temples constitute only ca. one-third of the number of Protestant churches in the military units, Buddhist chaplains mostly see themselves as fighting an uphill battle against their Christian competitors. This paper focuses on the ways in which Buddhist chaplains define their tasks—often referred to as “increasing the spiritual strength [of the army]” (jeongsinnyeok ganghwa)—and ideologically legitimize their work in terms of their own religious doctrine. It will explore the ways in which they construct a model of desirable masculine behavior for the Buddhist draftees, and also on the responses they receive from their draftee audience. It will emphasize the methods they use to simultaneously justify the supposedly licit violence of the state militarist machine and prevent the illicit violence (hazing) between the soldiers. It is mostly based on the in-depth interviews conducted by the author with the Buddhist chaplains, current and former, in Seoul in July 2013.
- keywords
- Chaplaincy, Korean Buddhism, military, Jogye order, religious market
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