ABSTRACT
There are three general themes which we can discern in the history of the several religious traditions of Korea.
1. The influence of the primal religion. The primal religion of Korea is the original and most ancient religious tradition in Korea. Characteristic of the tribal groups of the Korean peninsula and southern Manchuria prior to the advent of Chinese civilization, this primal religion was of a type known commonly as shamanism. Among the functions of the clan or tribal leader during the ancient period was the intercessory role which he played between his people and the realm of the spirits. As in other societies with a shamanistic type of primal religion, shamans interceded on behalf of ordinary mortals for the purpose of obtaining blessings, the curing of disease, and the propitiation of the spirits of the dead. The primal religion of the ancient period did not disappear with the advent of Buddhism in the fourth century. Rather, it became the substratum of all Korean religious experience and has shaped the development of all religions and philosophies which have been transmitted to Korea, including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity.
