A Postcolonial Reflection on US Impact on Korean Worship

This essay aims to reflect on the impact of "the US" on the Korean liturgy and liturgical studies from the perspective of postcolonialism. As a Korean pastor and liturgical scholar who has experienced multiple academic and pastoral settings in both countries, I seek to scrutinize the US impact in consideration of non-Korean readers. As the essay begins with a description of the historical and contemporary context of Korean liturgy in which the US church has strongly influenced the formation of its practices, piety, and theology, I expect the colonized mindset and practices deeply embedded in Korean liturgy will be unmasked through the descriptive research so that the readers can figure out what the US does to us and what form it exists in us, Koreans. Based on it, I will discuss what we should do with "the US in us" in light of postcolonial optics. Thus, this essay moves from the description of the US's impact on Korean liturgy to the evaluation of the current situation and prescription to develop a model of decolonized Korean liturgy.