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The study of East Asian Christian history presents several mysteries. Japan, despite the early optimism of missionaries and significant investment into gospel presentation, seems highly resistant to the Christian faith. Meanwhile, its closest neighbor, South Korea, boasts of several of the world’s largest church congregations and a robust foreign missionary movement, despite its relatively short historical exposure to Christianity and the fact that prior to 1950, the Christian population in Korea was concentrated in what is now North Korea. This dissertation explores the question of what historical factors led to these divergent realities in the history of East Asian Christianity through a primarily literature-based comparative historical lens. Specifically, it considers the roles played in the formation of the Christian church by regional geopolitics in East Asia, the interaction between Christianity and the local religious context – addressing the state of both traditional religions in East Asia and the New Religious Movements, selective theological developments (selected because of their role in affecting the wider historical development), missionary strategies and ethical questions of missionaries as representatives of their own homelands.
The primary point made is that the differences in current shape of Christianity in each context (North Korea, South Korea, and Japan), including the nuances and parallel realities that are often missed and ignored, are best to be understood in the context of history – especially when considered together. Additionally, because international relations and geopolitical ethics were discernable factors in the three outcomes considered, including interactions between the nations in question, that historical analysis needs also to be considered with the histories of each context in conversation with one another.