서강대학교

초록/요약

Spirituality as a category distinct from religion is quickly becoming a significant topic of scholarly interest in the Western World. It seems that as the secularisation process continues, the majority of the non-religious are in fact reluctant to abandon a belief in the transcendent. In today’s world where territorial boundaries are increasingly less of an obstacle to the flow of information these spiritual explorers or seekers find themselves presented was a vast array of transcendental knowledge to work with. Those subscribing to a spiritual-but-not-religious (SBNR) identity frequently augment their worldview with cultural ideas from Asian “religion”. But what of Asians themselves? Can a culture with a very different experience of religion be adequately understood through the SBNR/religious dichotomy? As Yoga is popular in Korea and is also an activity that can be approached in either a spiritual or mundane way I felt this was a good demographic to look at in order to study the condition of SBNR in Korean culture. A narrative qualitative study was undertaken involving interviews with a small group of Korean Yoga practitioners in order to ascertain how they articulate Yoga in relation to their larger religious self-identification; or lack thereof. The interviews will be divided into three sections. The first focuses on their motivation and sentiment towards their religious affiliation and how this has changed over time. The second focuses on the frequency and period of their Yoga practice. This will include their thoughts on the purpose and general benefits from practicing Yoga. The final section will look at their experience with other practices outside of any specific religious orthodoxy- but involve a belief in supernatural entities- or are practiced for the purposes of spiritual development. Based on testimony of the study participants I concluded SBNR is not a concept that can be meaningfully applied to Korea. It stems from a rejection of religion unique to the West. In Korea religious blending while preserving a primary religious identity appears to be more permissible thus it would be better described as syncretic popular religion