Money and Religion: A Consideration on the Attitudes toward and Discourses of Money in Korean Religion

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between 'money' and 'religion' in Korean society, focusing on the following: 1) comparing the attitudes toward money among religions, 2) what kinds of money discourses they produce, and furthermore 3) how to overcome social situations in which money dominates from the religious point of view. According to the survey results, Protestantism showed a tendency to be more sensitive to money than other religions. In this regard, Protestantism has continued various discourses of money including ‘clean rich’ and ‘holy rich.’ However, there have also been warnings of the danger of 'money controlling religion' within the religion itself, and these suggest alternative ways to escape from the domination of money. It seems that humanity requires the role of such a tension―neither being able to escape money nor being plunged into money―of religion in the present money-dominated society.이 논문은 2015년 대한민국 교육부와 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 수행된 연구임(NRF2015S1A5A2A03050036)