The 2018 Backhouse Lecture will be given by Cho-Nyon Kim, a Quaker from the Daejon Quaker Meeting in South Korea. He is a professor of Sociology. He edits a magazine on Ham Sok Hon, the prominent Korean Friend known internationally for his peace and justice witness.

Cho-Nyon Kim is deeply committed to peace and care for the environment. His special interest is the encounter between Quaker mysticism and Taoism. He attended the World Gathering of Friends in Peru in January 2016, and the Australia Yearly Meeting gathering of Friends in July 2016. He is a facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project in Korea. He will give the public lecture at the German Quaker Yearly Meeting in 2018.

Cho-Nyon Kim at the World Gathering of Friends in Peru

 This Lecture explores the author’s spiritual journey in the Korean religious environment, in which Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity have all influenced cultural practice and been integrated into daily life.

Cho-Nyon Kim is inspired by the life and thoughts of Ham Sok Hon, a prominent Korean peace activist and Quaker. He asks how we can live a simple life in a complex world. He wants to focus on how we can create a peaceful society in the face of nationalism and self-centredness.

Quakerism has similarities to Taoism in its mysticism and its sense of waiting in a meditative way. Cho-Nyon Kim concludes that he must “lead my life in the manner of those who always seek truth with an open mind”.

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