"This book studies the religious community's response to these vast material and ideological developments in colonial society through an examination of the origins of faith-based social movements in Japanese-occupied Korea (1910-1945) in institutions that used religion as a vehicle to question the established norms of modernity, pursue social change, and promote the achievement of political, economic, and social justice. ... this study, in particular, focuses on the pursuit by the rural movements of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), the Presbyterian Church, and Ch'ŏndogyo to create a heavenly kingdom on earth anchored in religion, agriculture, and a pastoral life. "--Introduction, page 3.