Research:Korean Shamanism in the Unification Church

Korean Shamanistic Influences on the Unification Church

Unification Church styles itself the heir to God's Providential History of Restoration commencing with the birth then fall of Adam and Eve and progressing through the Old Testament and New Testament up to the present day. Unification Church considers itself "Christian" in the sense of being an extension of God's restoration work thru prophets as well as the Messianic figure of Jesus. Its teachings are partly based on the Bible, but include new interpretations not found in mainstream Christian tradition. The Church believes it is ushering in a new "Completed Testament" age.

Mainstream Christianity for the most part has rejected the Unification Church and in some cases declared its teachings heretical.

Shamanism is deeply engrained in Korean society and profoundly influences indigenous culture. Roman Catholicism was introduced to Korea in 1785 by French and Chinese missionaries. Since that time, missions have multiplied in Korea and now count over nine million adherents.

All Christian churches in Korea have had to confront the influence of indigenous religious practices with each adopting the approach most appropriate to their beliefs and practices. For the most part, Korean Christians look down on Shamanism as a primitive, negative influence. Distrust of Shamans and Shamanism is so strong in Korea that recent head of state Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed from office in part due to her relationship with shamaness Choi Sun-sil.

The objective of this research is to examine the hidden influence of Korean Shamanism on the Unification Church in order to increase understanding of the church's internal dynamic. While the church presents a Christian facade, Korean Shamanism lies hidden at the heart of Unification practice and culture. Church founder Sun Myung Moon often said that Korean culture is the model for God's Kingdom of Heaven. Examining shamanistic influences on the church will help the student better understand the true nature of the Unification Church.

Korean Shamans believe they had sex with God

• UC is less a Christian sect with adopted Shamanistic traditions than a Shamanistic sect that adopted some doctrines of Christianity.
• Origin of UC is Korean shamanism
• Actual founders of UC are five shamanesses

A modern day Korean shamaness Hiah Park tells in her interview how she was initiated and became a shamaness. The Naerim Kut (The Initiation Ritual) is a rite of unification of the shamaness with God. God will descend upon the shamaness and possesses her body and they have a spiritual sexual union. For shamans, the spirits whom they serve are their final lovers. Through visions or dreams, shamans would feel sexual union with their deities in contemporary Korean shamanism. They feel that they have sacred marriages with their gods. Ecstasy is the most common experience of Korean shamanism. Shamans feel a oneness with the divine gods and they describe this feeling in terms of sexual union during their visions or dreams.

Main Tenets of Shamanism

According to the shamanistic world view it is entirely possible for gods and goddesses to have a sexual relationship with human beings. By means of a sexual intercourse they can have physical sons and daughters on earth.

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