A peculiar thrust of thinking one can detect in the literature and discourse on the popular religious practices, mostly shamanistic, in contemporary Korean society is found in the conception that Korea is set to emerge as the center of the world in one sense or another. I provide here a number of cases for analysis to bring home their commonality. I see this nation-centrism as a variant of the conceptions of the axis mundi and the center of the world traceable to primitive societies as expounded by Mircea Eliade. It is also reflective of the notion of a chosen people and nationalism. This popular aspiration, somewhat unusually strong and persistent, may be ascribable to a psychological reflex to the dire sufferings of the ordinary people under foreign powers and authoritarian rulers. It is open to other interpretations, leaving one curious as to the epistemological grounds for the claims.
目次
Abstract 112 1. Introduction 112 2. Axis mundi in the context of Korean religious tradition 113 3. Contemporary cases 115 Case 1: A shaman 115 Case 2: A geomancer 117 Case 3: A scientist 117 Case 4: A hidden scroll, ascribed to Wonhyo 118 4. Modern religious movements 119 5. Other cases 122 6. Concluding Remarkds 123 Endnotes 126 REFERENCES 127 Biographical Sketch 128
