Individual Self and Communal Self: Developing Integrated Selves in Korean Women for Transformation in the Church Open Access
Yoo-Hess, Seung Hae (2012)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation outlines a Korean yeo-seung pastoral theology and counseling method that helps Korean women attain both strong self-formation and reconciliation with God and the church. The dissertation begins with the narratives of seventeen women who work at Korean immigrant churches in the U.S. The interviews reveal a pattern of oppression equivalent to the psychological and emotional abuse of domestic violence. Expanding upon this correlation, this dissertation attempts to analyze the dominating and oppressive power within the church from cultural, theological, and social-criminological perspectives by focusing on three ways the Korean church suppresses women: androcentric teachings, male-privileged structure and patriarchal traditions, and the consequences of non-conformity.
Culturally, this dissertation attempts to reconcile Korean women and Confucianism and correct the unbalanced status between women and men by reconceiving the two Confucian philosophies (yin-yang and nei-wai) that originally supported gender equality. Theologically, it challenges the church's teachings that support the traditional male image of God undergirding oppression of women. Referencing Elizabeth Johnson, it explores inclusive and liberating images of God that can help women have their own integrated image. Socio-criminologically, it discusses the Korean immigrant church's beliefs that perpetuate its immoral and dominating behaviors toward women. Noting Michel Foucault's notion of discipline and punishment, the dissertation records that the church subsequently disciplined women who went against the church's teachings.
This analysis of the church's mechanism for controlling women drives the dissertation to explore ways of transforming power from a feminist perspective. Referencing Rebecca Chopp and Marcia Y. Riggs, this dissertation suggests that the church should be a place of grace like a chin-jeong, a married woman's ideal parental home where women can experience connection, support, embrace, and trust.
Finally, this dissertation proposes a Korean yeo-seung pastoral theology based on oh-haeng theory to help Korean women develop an integrated self that balances their autonomous and communal selves. To help Korean women achieve harmony with the church, this dissertation advocates that counseling based on the movement of tao or the life force can help Korean women achieve harmony with the community and balance in themselves.
Table of Contents
Contents
INTRODUCTION: THE NEED FOR A PASTORAL THEOLOGY AND COUNSELING FOR
KOREAN WOMEN...1
Women's Struggle to Follow God's Call...2
Questions Raised by the Revelations of Korean Women
Seminarians...5
A Proposal for a Pastoral Theology to Restore Balance and
Reconciliation...6
Presupposition...9
The Literary Foundations for an Indigenous Pastoral
Theology...13
Pastoral Theological and Research Methods...21
Limitations of This Research...26
Brief Description of the Chapters...28
1 LET WOMEN TELL THEIR STORIES...33
Research Design...35
Results: Women's Stories...39
Influence of Oppression on Research Participants...54
Application of the Interview to the Wheel of Power and
Control...60
2 IS CONFUCIANISM WOMEN'S ENEMY?...67
Yin-Yang Theory...71
Nei-Wai Theory...84
Korea and Neo-Confucianism...92
Korean Yeo-seung Pastoral Theology and Counseling (KYPTC) and
Confucianism...100
3 IS CHURCH TEACHING SINFUL?...107
The Church's Androcentric Teaching...108
The Historical Roots of Early Christian Theology...112
Deconstructing Exclusive Theology and Rebuilding Inclusive
Theology...122
Rebuilding Inclusive Theology from a Feminist-Womanist
Stance...128
Reconceiving Pastoral Functions for Women in Oppression...135
4 THE CHURCH AND ITS OPPRESSIVE DISCIPLINE...141
Beliefs of the Korean Immigrant Church that
Maintain Violence against Women...144
Characteristics of the Church's Dominating and Punitive
Systems...148
Mechanism of the Church's Dominating Discipline: Michel
Foucault...150
Applying Foucault's Panopticism to the Context of Korean
Women...156
The Negative Effects of the Church's Discipline on Women Church
Members...159
5 THE TRANSFORMATION OF POWER...164
The Ways of Transforming Power...165
The Church as a Space of Grace...168
The Four Tasks of Pastoral Theology...173
6 KOREAN YEO-SEUNG PASTORAL COUNSELING FOR KOREAN WOMEN...182
Korean Women's Self-formation based on Oh-haeng
Theory...187
Creating a Connection between Korean Women and the Church based on
Tao...219
Theological Implications of Korean Pastoral Counseling based on
Oh-haeng and Tao...233
Biblical Reflections on Korean Pastoral Counseling based on
Oh-haeng and Tao...240
CONCLUSION...243
GLOSSARY...249
APPENDIXES...254
BIBLIOGRAPHY...260
List of Illustrations
1: Lartey's Pastoral Cycle...22
2: The Wheel of Power and Control...62
3: The Wheel of Power and Control by Patriarchal Tradition and
Doctrine...63
4: Neuger's Approach to Counseling Women Based on Narrative
Therapy...191-2
5: The Orderly Interaction of the Five Elements...204
6: The Five movements of Korean Yeo-seung Pastoral Counseling Using
Oh-heang...208
7: The Symbol of Taoism...221
8: A Conflict-Solving Model Based on the Concept of Tao...226
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