The Catholic Church in Korea: Its Origins, 1566-1784 by Juan Ruiz de MedinaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
A rather fascinating look into the origins of the Korean Catholic Church. Of course, pretty much zero percent of the book actually deals with Korea. It discusses how the first Korean converts were Koreans in exile in Japan (several thousand of them apparently), and how they brought the religion back to Korea. And then, several monks in China were trying to go to Korea to convert people, but apparently never made it. From then on, any information re: actual Catholic converts in Korea is pure conjecture. It seems like they existed, and even now several Catholic families date themselves back to the early 1600's apparently. But still, unfortunately we don't really have any concete information about the start of the Catholic church within Korea.
Also, the fact that the author doesn't seem to speak/read Chinese or Korean seems like a weakness. I can't help wondering if he's missing anything.
Having said all that, I did find the book to be a very interesting look, and I was rather amazed at how much documentation we have about these monks and priests around East Asia in the 1500s and 1600s.
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