Joo Mee Hur: Inheriting the Mother’s Name (Leseprobe)

Joo Mee Hur
Inheriting the Mother’s Name
Women’s Subjectivity, Intercultural Theology and the Arts
Contact Zone

Content
Introduction 7
Chapter 1
The Poor and Minjung. Sociological and
Theological Perspectives
1. Religion of Illusory Happiness 13
2. The Poor in a Christian World 17
3. Minjung in a Multi-religious World 23
Conclusion 34
Chapter 2
The Female Face of Minjung. Han-pu-ri and the Subjective-
Objective Approach
1. Methodologies of Third World Theologies 37
2. Oppression against Women 46
Conclusion 56
Chapter 3
The Emergence of Female Marriage Migrants in Korea. Contextual
Transformations, New Subjects and Continuing Oppression
1. Minjung in our Times? 59
2. The Increase of Female Marriage Migrants 62
3. Female Marriage Migrants in Agony 64
4. The Decline in International Marriages 78
Conclusion 81

6 Content
Chapter 4
Literature, Contrapuntality and Confluence of
two Traditions. Aesthetic Perspectives
1. Literature as Source of Theology 83
2. Contrapuntal Reading 92
3. Confluence toward Theology of Liberation 101
Conclusion 104
Chapter 5
A Theological Dialogue between Film and Bible.
Aesthetic Perspectives
1. Interaction between Text and Context 107
2. Film and Biblical Narrative 111
3. Contrapuntal Reading 114
Conclusion 127
Chapter 6
New Faces of Minjung, Liberation Hermeneutics and the
Reign of God. Biblical and Theological Perspectives
1. Bible for the Oppressed 129
2. Hermeneutics for the Liberation of Female Marriage Migrants 138
3. Reign of God and Human Action 150
Conclusion 155
Chapter 7
Faith, Action and Subjectivity. Ethical Perspectives
1. The Female Face of Minjung 159
2. Faith and Action 160
3. Subjectivity 176
Conclusion 179
Bibliography 181

Introduction
Sometimes I was not convinced of what I have learned in theological
seminary. When prosperity and success were mentioned as a privilege
which Christians could enjoy in their lives, I cannot accept it easily
when I think of the pain in people’s lives. In response to my doubts
about the promise of prosperity and success it was corrected as to be a
spiritual one. However, people’s pain on earth has been neglected by
the traditional theologies. My doubts still remained with me, but I did
not talk about it any further. Honestly, I was not sure exactly what
questions or doubts I had at that time. Yet I had the impression that
theology might not answer my questions properly.
Sometimes I felt very uncomfortable when sitting in the pews listening
to sermons from the pulpit. When the biblical stories related to
women were told, I was annoyed as a woman by the way those stories
unfolded or by the biblical or pastoral interpretations of those stories.
At such times, I wondered if it is only me who was annoyed with what
I heard and I used to have a look around carefully. Women were the
majority of the congregation, but I could not read any embarrassment
on their faces with those sermons. I was not sure exactly what was
annoying me, but this happened to me often.
Maybe I have followed the wrong path and it might not be too late
to find other paths. “Let’s leave quietly, without making any noise.”
When I almost lost my interest in theology, I have been introduced to
the other kinds of theology. There are concerns about the issues of the
secular life and about the comprehensive understanding of the reign of
God not only in heaven but also on earth. I was hooked on to them
immediately. They have helped me to understand what questions I
have. I used to hesitate to proclaim any spiritual blessing, with ignoring
the pains of the people on earth. I just want to be able to say that
we are blessed and at the same time we still have pains to be solved.
After entering into eternity, it will not be a problem anymore but be-

8 Introduction
fore that, how do we deal with the pains in our lives, which are extremely
short compared to eternity? 1 I have started to know how to
name the irritations I have had. It turned out that they were violence to
hurt others. This is also called oppression, or more specifically, sexism,
classism, racism, etc. 2
Since 1993, Korean Chinese Women started to immigrate to
South Korea through international marriage by reason of “the relief of
Korean single farmers”. 3 In the 2000s the rate of international marriages
between poor Korean men in urban and rural areas, and women
coming from other Asian countries began to increase as the target
range for foreign spouses of Korean men has been extended into
Southeast Asia. 4 It has often been reported that many migrant brides
are experiencing a wide variety of oppression and discrimination in
their marriage process and marriage life. This is based not only on the
needs of bride’s parents who would marry off their daughter to Korean
men but also of groom’s parents who would take a daughter-in-law
from abroad through international marriage brokers who are interested
in making profits. 5 With its patriarchal, sexist and racial discrimination
against women, this perilous phenomenon calls attention not only
of social scientists but also of pastors, missionaries and theologians in
faith communities. For my master thesis, I was inspired to write about
the oppression of women in my context in our times and I have been
doing research on issues related to female marriage migrants since
then. 6
In 1988, feminist theologians Katie Geneva Cannon, Ada Maria
Isasi-Diaz, Kwok Pui-lan and Letty M. Russell edited a volume titled,
1
See Chapter 1.
2
The term classism is casually used in these listings for what I would rather call social injustice.
3
Han Kuk-yeom, 우리 모두는 이방인이다: 사례로 보는 이주여성인권운동 15 년 (We are all
Strangers: 15 years of Women Migrants’ Human Rights Movement in Korea), Paju 2017, 31.
4
Ibid. Part of an earlier version of this paragraph has been published in 결혼이주여성을 중심으로
읽는 로안과 룻의 이야기 (The Story of Loan and Ruth in light of Female Marriage Migrants, in:
민중신학의 여정 (Minjung Theology: A Journey Together), the Korean Society of Minjung
Theology (ed.), Seoul, 2017, 242–265 and Film und Theologie treiben im Heute. Loan und
Ruth, stories zweier Heiratsmigrantinnen, in: Theologie und Kunst unterrichten, Volker Küster
(ed.), Leipzig, 2021, 235–252.
5
Han, We are all Strangers, 31f.
6
Joomee Hur, Our Brown Mothers: Migrant Marriage Women in South Korea from Minjung
Perspective, unpublished Masterthesis, Kampen 2011. I thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.
Volker Küster for encouraging me to develop this further into a PhD-project; it has become
the seed of the current book.

Inheriting the Mother’s Name 9
Inheriting our Mother’s Gardens: Feminist Theology in Third World
Perspective. The collected articles include autobiography as a method
to talk about the stories of authors’ mothers and grandmothers related
to theological discussions. 7 The female authors have decided to inherit
the lessons critically from their mothers. This reminds me of my
inheritance from my own mother and grandmothers. I inherited my
surname from my father’s side, but it has a very unique story regarding
its origin. The progenitor of my family name was not a man but a
woman. Besides, she was a stranger, who has been known to come
from India. In Korea, children follow traditionally their father’s surname,
but women do not change their surname after marriage and
keep them. However, children of single mothers can follow their
mother’s surnames since the abolition of the Patriarchal Family Register
System Act in 2005. 8 In Korean history, there is only one exceptional
case, as far as I know. It is the surname Hŏ (Heo, Huh, Hur, etc.
various spellings in English, 허 in Korean character and 許 in Chinese
character), which is taken up as the mother’s surname in the ancient
history of Korea, even though it has never been repeated but happened
one time only with the progenitor.
According to the foundation myth of Kingdom Gaya (Samkuk
yusa [Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms], Part 2.23 “Karak kukki”),
King Kim Suro was married to a princess Hŏ Hwangok from Ayut’aguk,
“the ancient Indian city of Ayodhya near Faizabad, Utta Pradesh
State” in AD 48. 9 Her Indian name was Suriratna and her name was
changed to Hŏ Hwangok after marriage. 10 Queen Hŏ gave birth to ten
sons and the first son took their father’s surname Kim and two sons
took their mother’s surname Hŏ and the other seven sons became
Buddhist monks. 11 My progenitor was a female marriage migrant two
thousand years ago in our land. Korea used to be known as a homoge-
7
Letty M. Russell, Kwok Pui-lan, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz and Katie Geneva Cannon (eds),
Inheriting Our Mother’s Gardens: Feminist Theology in Third World Perspective, Louisville
1988, 15.
8
Chan S. Suh, Eun Sil Oh, and Yoon S. Choi, The Institutionalization of the women’s movement
and gender legislation, in: South Korea Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil
Society, Gi-Wook Shin and Paul Y. Chang (eds), London and New York 2011, 151–169.
9
James Huntley Grayson, Myths and Legends from Korea: An Annotated Compendium of
Ancient and Modern Materials, London and New York 2001, 26, 110f, 113; Cf. Choong Soon
Kim, Voices of Foreign Brides: The Roots and Development of Multiculturalism in Korea,
Lanham, Maryland 2011, 25–47.
10
Kishore Kunal, Ayodhyā Revisited, New Delhi 2016, 26.
11
https://yongin.grandculture.net/Contents?local=yongin&dataType=01&contents_id=GC009
01250 (accessed on Jan. 21, 2020).

10 Introduction
nous country ethnically, but it will not be easy to maintain that claim
when we look back in our history.
When I as a Korean woman see the agony of female marriage migrants,
I cannot see them simply as strangers. Many female marriage
migrants in our history have already belonged to us, Korean women.
The historical scrutiny on female marriage migrants shortens the distance
between female marriage migrants and Korean women. The
matters of female marriage migrants are not those of others, but they
became our matters to take care of together with empathy. It has been
the stories of our mothers and grandmothers and of our neighbors
alike.
The prominent postcolonial critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
raised the famous question, Can the subaltern speak? 12 Many readers
of her essay about this question have been disappointed with her conclusion
that the subaltern cannot speak, but she answered in an interview
with Donna Landry and Gerald Mclean that it means how difficult
it is for the gendered subaltern to speak and to be heard. 13 Spivak
even suggested the agency of the post-colonial intellectual for subaltern’s
public speech acts. 14 However, it is still a reminder to be careful
about others in taking the role of agency. I try to create a space of empathy
to shorten the distance between subaltern and others and develop
a hermeneutics of empathy in understanding our experiences. It
reminds me of Jesus’ identification with the oppressed in Matthew 25.
This dissertation consists of 7 chapters. Chapter 1 revisits Karl
Marx’s famous notion, that religion is the opium of the people. It focuses
on his observation that religion can be seen not only as illusion
but also as liberation. 15 I accept his criticism and negative definition
of religion as an illusory happiness, but I embrace his positive definition
of religion as a humanistic impulse at the same time. I connect
this with Christian theology, especially liberation theology in Latin
America and minjung theology in South Korea. I look into their main
concepts such as the poor, oppression, minjung and han. It shows how
liberation theology has enhanced the liberation aspects for the oppressed
within Christianity.
12
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?, in: Marxism and the Interpretation
of Culture, Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds), Urbana, Illinois 1988, 271–313.
13
Stephen Morton, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (b. 1942), in: From Agamben to Žižek: Contemporary
Critical Theorists, Jon Simons (ed.), Edinburgh 2010, 210–226, 218.
14
Ibid.
15
Denys Turner, Religion: Illusions and liberation, in: The Cambridge Companion to Marx,
Terrell Carver (ed.), Cambridge 1991, 320–337.

Inheriting the Mother’s Name 11
Chapter 2 introduces the theological methodologies to reflect on
the socio-political realities of the oppressed, which have been applied
by third world theologies. I look into the theological methodologies
adopted by minjung theology and Asian women’s theology, and I
suggest the complementary subjective-objective approach to analyze
my context by combining Han-pu-ri and social biography: each stresses
the storytelling of the voiceless and the social analysis including the
connectivity between the past, the present and the future. Before entering
into the current context in Chapter 3, I examine the oppressions
against women in the history of Korea since the Chosun dynasty (late
fourteenth to early twentieth century’s) to the 1980s. I listen to the
stories of Korean women under the patriarchal system of Confucianism,
military sexual slavery by Japan, military brides in America,
nurses dispatched to West Germany, and women in urban squats and
women workers as representatives of the oppressed groups.
Chapter 3 examines the validity of the term minjung of the 1970s
and 1980s in our times (the 2000s and the 2010s). Minjung theologians
and minjung communities have not confined this so-called outdated
term minjung to the faces of minjung in the 1970s and 1980s and
they have paid attention to the new faces of minjung thereafter. Female
marriage migrants emerged as the new faces of minjung since
the 1990s. I scrutinize their socio-political situations by using the subjective-objective
approach, which has been introduced in the previous
chapter. By telling the stories of Korean women in Chapter 2 and
those of migrant women in Chapter 3, a space of empathy is cultivated.
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 participate in theological dialogue with
the arts, producing a critical response and fostering a hermeneutics of
empathy. First, chapter 4 discusses how literature has been used as
source of theology, in particular in dialogue between minjung theology
and minjung literature, and between womanist theology and black
women’s religious narratives. I read contrapuntally two stories of migrant
brides, one is a Vietnamese migrant bride in South Korea and
the other is a Korean picture bride in Hawaii. This contrapuntal reading
broadens the hermeneutical horizon and deepens the analysis,
where the discourses of liberation or that of domination will be detected.
Chapter 5 initiates a dialogue between film and bible. It is another
kind of contrapuntal reading of a short film and a biblical narrative,
the book of Ruth, which both deal with the issue of female marriage
migrants. This encounter starts with the similarities between them, but
it develops to compare difference between them as well, and it offers

12 Introduction
us a more critical analysis of social issues related to female marriage
migrants. I follow Chung Hyun-Kyung’s bold claim to reverse our life
as our text and the bible and church tradition as the context as an
Asian feminist theologian. It is contextual hermeneutics rather than
textual hermeneutics. The hermeneutical demand for our life cannot
be confined in the solutions which were formulated only in the context
of the biblical text and its traditional textual interpretations, but the
context of the reader should be considered seriously.
Chapter 6 articulates the biblical interpretation for female marriage
migrants. In the postcolonial era, South Korean people have a
double identity not only as the victimized but also the victimizer and
we should make our effort to decolonize oppressive situations from
both positions with the current social issues in a globalized era. From
the new position as the victimizer, we still need to consider which
stance to take on a certain issue. Regarding this, I will seek the advice
from the past by introducing two opposite stances, pro-slavery ideology
and anti-slavery ideology among Christian ministers in pre-Civil
War America. In response, I will take a stance toward liberation hermeneutics
for female marriage migrants. I will collect the liberating
messages against the oppressions which female marriage migrants are
experiencing from the Scriptures and theological discourses. The liberation
hermeneutics reminds us of the reign of God on earth and its
relation to human action.
In the final Chapter 7, I focus on Christian women who have
stood with the oppressed since the 1960s in South Korea. The liberation
project in Christianity does not stop in changing the way we think
only by articulating a theology of liberation but it becomes action,
especially by women in our Christian history. The face of female
minjung has been changed and their faces from each time period will
be introduced along with those of Christian women who have stood in
solidarity with them including their oppressions and liberations. Subjectivity
will be suggested as one of the virtues we should pursue in
the struggle for liberation of the oppressed.

Chapter 1
The Poor and Minjung.
Sociological and Theological Perspectives
When we contemplate about a Christianity for everyone, regardless of
class, gender, race, etc., we do not need to start from zero. We cannot
claim that the main concern of Christianity has been the least of our
brothers and sisters in its history but there always have been people of
faith with warm attention towards them, in spite of their minority
standing. I try to examine this legacy of our predecessors in faith. My
models do not come from the remote past but from recent history. I
will limit my scope to liberation theology in Latin America and
minjung theology in South Korea. As one of the external influences to
have challenged these liberation theologies, I will revisit Karl Marx’s
criticism of religion (of illusory happiness) first. Even though Marx’s
criticism of religions has been well known, I will focus here on religion
of liberation as the other side of his criticism of religion.
1. Religion of Illusory Happiness
Karl Marx (1818–1883) is well known for his remark about religion,
“Sie ist das Opium des Volks (It is the opium of the people).” 1 This
famous statement has been excerpted from his article, Zur Kritik der
Hegel’schen Rechts-Philosophie (Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy
of Right) published in 1844 in the Deutsch-Französische
Jahrbücher (German-French Yearbooks). The first two pages of this
article left us his brief but critical stance on religion. Even though
Marx did not write much about religion in it, he nevertheless regarded
the criticism of religion as the prerequisite to all criticism of Germany
1
Karl Marx, Zur Kritik der Hegel’schen Rechtsphilosophie von K. Marx, in: Deutschfranzösische
Jahrbücher, Arnold Ruge und Karl Marx (eds), Paris 1844, 71–85, 72.

14 Chapter 1
in his times. 2 Marx used the comprehensive concept religion instead
of referring to certain religions which he has been accustomed to in
his context such as Christianity, Judaism, etc. Yet the domain of religion
that Marx argued with seems to have been very much limited,
compared to an inclusive concept of the world religions in the 21 st
century.
Marx did not point to the specific religions but his criticism was
directed against religions offering “die phantastische Wirklichkeit des
Himmels (the imaginary reality of heaven)” instead of “die wahre
Wirklichkeit (the true reality of the earths).” 3 The religions of the imaginary
reality are also described as “des illusorischen Glücks des
Volks (the illusory happiness of the people)” and this expression helps
us to understand better his famous metaphor, religion as the opium of
the people. 4 But, opium is not only known as the source of the highly
addictive drug but also of a potent pain reliever for centuries. 5 Morphine
and other opiates, which are extracted, isolated, and purified
from opium are prescribed by doctors to relieve severe pain of the
patient such as after injury or major surgery today. 6 These two faces
of opium hinder the reader from interpreting Marx’s opium metaphor.
If we pay attention more to the expression “illusory happiness”, the
opium metaphor seems to imply the negative aspect of religion as illusion.
7
However, Marx also presents us his definition of religion as the
true reality of the earth and within it there is no place for the religions
talking about the imaginary reality of heaven and the illusory happiness
of people. To him, “der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur (the sigh
of the oppressed creature)”, “die herzlose Welt (a heartless world)”
and “geistloser Zustände (the spiritless situation)” are much more important
than the people of the illusory happiness in the imaginary
heaven. 8
Das religiöse Elend ist in einem der Ausdruck des wirklichen Elendes und in
einem die Protestation gegen das wirkliche Elend. Die Religion ist der Seuf-
2
Op. cit., 71.
3
Ibid.
4
Op. cit., 72.
5
M. Foster Olive, Prescription Pain Relievers, New York 2005, 36.
6
Op. cit., 40.
7
Marx, Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 72.
8
Op. cit., 71f.; The English Translation from Karl Marx, Contribution to the Critique of
Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction, in: On Religion, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
(eds), Chico, Calif., 1964, 42.

The Poor and Minjung 15
zer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der
Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volks (Religious distress
is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real
distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless
world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the
people). 9
According to him, religion embodies the “Ausdruck des wirklichen
Elendes (the expression of real misery)” and “die Protestation gegen
das wirkliche Elend (the protest against real misery).” 10 If we listen to
his description of religion as the true reality of the earth, the opium
metaphor seems to express the positive aspect of religion as liberation.
11
When we puzzle with his metaphor, he draws a bit hasty conclusions
about people who have religious beliefs. Marx did not stop just
to criticize the religions of the imaginary reality or the illusory happiness
and claimed radically to discard it through his metaphor of the
chain and the flowers.
Die Kritik hat die imaginären Blumen an der Kette zerpflückt, nicht damit
der Mensch die phantasielose, trostlose Kette trage, sondern damit er die
Kette abwerfe und die lebendige Blume breche (Criticism has plucked the
imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man will wear the chain without
any fantasy or consolation but so that he will shake off the chain and cull the
living flower). 12
Next, he argued that it is the religions of the illusory happiness which
prevent people from the life of reason. He urges man not to revolve
round religion, “die illusorische Sonne (illusory sun)”, but to revolve
round himself and round “seine wirkliche Sonne (his true sun)”.
Die Kritik der Religion enttäuscht den Menschen, damit er denke, handle,
seine Wirklichkeit gestalte, wie ein enttäuschter, zu Verstand gekommener
Mensch, damit er sich um sich selbst und damit um seine wirkliche Sonne
bewege. Die Religion ist nur die illusorische Sonne, die sich um den
Menschen bewegt, so lange er sich nicht um sich selbst bewegt (The criticism
of religion disillusions man to make him think and act and shape his reality
like a man who has been disillusioned and has come to reason, so that he will
revolve round himself and therefore round his true sun. Religion is only the
9
Ibid.
10
Marx, Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 71.
11
Turner, Illusions and liberation, 333.
12
Marx, Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 72; Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,
42.

16 Chapter 1
illusory sun which revolves round man as along as he does not revolve round
himself). 13
Then, he underscored the task of history, philosophy, law and politics
to establish “die Wahrheit des Diesseits (the truth of this world)”,
while “das Jenseits der Wahrheit (the other world of truth)” is to be
gone, that is understood as the task of religion and theology. 14 It is
clear that he demanded the immediate turnabout from the way for the
truth of the other world to the way for the truth of this world. To him,
religion is understood as the chain to be thrown away, giving the people
the illusion in the afterlife, without giving the liberation in this
earthly life. In fact, he claimed the abolition of religion.
Taking into account Marx’s context in the Germany of the 19 th
century, the religion Marx criticized would be Christianity, though, in
a broad sense, any religion could be included as object of his criticism
if offering the people, the illusion of heaven without the liberation on
earth. Marx presented not only the abolition of religion as illusion but
also the affirmation of religion as liberation. His radical conclusion to
abolish religion is hard to accept for anyone with any religious tradition.
Yet his criticism, not as a whole but as a selective modification,
has been accommodated by anyone who attempts to reform their religious
tradition based on the humanitarian motivation inspired by him.
Besides, there is an eschatological tension regarding the reign of God
between now already on earth and not yet in heaven in Christian faith,
especially refocused and reinterpreted by Jesus Christ. 15 If Christianity
is talking only about the imaginary reality in the afterlife as Marx
pointed out, it fails to teach one of the most important Christian doctrines,
the incarnation of God or the divine presence (or intervention)
in history in its religious tradition and practice. Marx offers the religious
reformists, especially in Christianity a useful impulse to reflect
on themselves in terms of the reality of the earth and to redirect their
religion into the way of balance concerning the eschatological tension.
The ideal religion described above by Marx can be reaffirmed and
practiced within Christianity at their own free will without the elimination
of religion. The major rationale behind Marx’s criticism is that
religion is an illusion provider. Therefore, two tasks are given for
Christians who are willing to converse with his criticism to complete:
13
Marx, Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 72; Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,
42.
14
Marx, Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 72.
15
Cf. Volker Küster, The Many Faces of Jesus Christ, Maryknoll, NY 2001, 144f.

The Poor and Minjung 17
one is to be a liberation provider and the other is to present the feasible
truth of heaven as an extension of the true reality of the earths.
2. The Poor in a Christian World
Who takes the initiative in the process of liberation in the Christian
community? 16 Gustavo Gutiérrez suggests that it is the poor that initiate
this process, and he refers to that process as “the irruption of the
poor.” 17 Not only in the society but also in the church the poor had
been of little or no significance but they have come to reveal their
situations as active agents in the decades before the rise of the basic
church communities in Latin America as well as in other third world
countries and even among the racial and ethnic minorities and the
poor of rich nations. Then theologians began critically reflecting on
this historical event in order to read the sign of the times in a theological
register. 18 This commitment has brought a new theological perspective
to Christianity.
Liberation theology speaks of salvation in terms of liberation and
thereby strives to balance concerns for life after death with concerns
for life on earth. The latter has received much less attention in the history
of Christianity. Liberation theology treats human beings not only
as sinners who violate God’s law (personal sin) but also as victims
who are violated by structural sin. 19 The concept of the poor in liberation
theology thus applies to anyone suffering from the various oppressions.
20
Orthopraxis
An encounter between the Catholic Church and the poor in Latin
America can be found in the basic church communities. Leonardo
16
Part of this chapter was published as Faith, Action, and Subjectivity: The Social Engagement
of Christian Women in South Korea, in: Theologies on the Move: Religion, Migration,
and Pilgrimage in the World of Neoliberal Capital, Joerg Rieger (ed.), Lanham 2020, 73–89.
17
Gustavo Gutiérrez, The Irruption of the Poor in Latin America and the Christian Communities
of the Common People, in: The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities: Papers from
the International Ecumenical Congress of Theology, February 20-March 2, 1980, Sao Paulo,
Brazil, Sergio Torres and John Eagleson (eds), Maryknoll, NY 1981, 107–123, 107f.; Gustavo
Gutiérrez, Option for the Poor, in: Systematic Theology: Perspectives from Liberation Theology,
Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Ellacuría (eds), Maryknoll, NY 1996, 22–37, 22f.
18
Gutiérrez, The Irruption of the Poor, 108–110; Gutiérrez, Option for the Poor, 22f.
19
Raymond Fung, Compassion for the Sinned Against, Theology Today 37, no. 2 (July 1980),
162–169, 162.
20
Gutiérrez, The Irruption of the Poor, 111f.; Gutiérrez, Option for the Poor, 23f.

Chapter 2
The Female Face of Minjung.
Han-pu-ri and the Subjective-Objective Approach
New types of theology have emerged from the third world in response
to the oppressed situations of the poor in their contexts in the late
1960s. Before entering into a theological conversation with my context,
I want to review what theological methodologies have been developed
in my context before adapting some of those methodologies. I
will also focus on the matters of women as “the doubly oppressed and
marginalized among the poor.” 1 In order to find the least of our sisters
in the place and time I am living in, I will follow the traces of their
oppressed lives in our society with a hermeneutics of empathy. I will
start this search not from ancient time but from the time onwards that
was under the strong patriarchal system, which still today has negative
impacts on women’s lives.
1. Methodologies of Third World Theologies
I will explore what theological methodologies have been applied to
aim for the liberation of the oppressed in third world theology. First, I
examine han-pu-ri and social biography which have been evolved in
the South Korean context and then some other methodologies
emerged from the third world will be also introduced. 2
1
See above chapter 1.
2
“[T]he ‘First World’ referred to the powerful, capitalist nations, mostly of the West; the
‘Second’ to the socialist countries of the East; and the ‘Third’ to the non-aligned ‘underdeveloped’
and ‘developing’ countries in the rest of the world. Currently ‘Third World’ is used as a
self-designation of peoples who have been excluded from power and the authority to shape
their own lives and destiny. As such it has a supra-geographic denotation, describing a social
condition marked by social, political, religious, and cultural oppressions that render people
powerless and expendable. Thus Third World also encompasses those people in the First

38 Chapter 2
Social Scientific Methodologies in Theology
Suh Nam-Dong proposed the new hermeneutical framework of socioeconomic
history and the sociology of literature in minjung theology.
Suh was convinced that this hermeneutical framework, which is
adapted by political theology, could overcome the limitations of the
traditional dogmatic and existentialist theology, having little concern
for the context of the present time. 3 Especially, he explained that the
research of the socio-economic history of Korea enables theologians
to understand the reality of the minjung objectively. 4 Suh introduced
Asian theology, as it has been developed by the prominent Taiwanese
theologian, C. S. Song. Suh praised Song for his theological ability
and accomplishments, especially of inculturation theology, the theology
of transposition as it was called by Song. 5 Yet Suh also pointed out
its lack of the sociological perspective. 6 Suh saw him struggling with
cultural theological ideas concerning the supra-structure rather than
with structural sin of political and economic institutions concerning
the infra-structure. 7 Suh also wrote about the sociology of poverty and
theology of poverty and he used case studies, statistics and theories in
sociological research and introduced international declarations and
regulations related to the human rights in order to analyze the social
problem of poverty. 8 Suh recognized the need of liberation theology
alongside inculturation theology in Asia. In Africa, Charles Nyamiti,
the Tanzanian Roman Catholic theologian also subdivides African
theology into two main schools of inculturation and liberation theology.
9
The Indonesian woman theologian, Marianne Katoppo wrote her
small but innovative book, Compassionate and Free: An Asian Woman’s
Theology in 1979 and she also includes the socio-political reali-
World who form a dominated and marginalized minority. [...] Theological groups in the Third
World, for example, EATWOT, affirm the term as valid and significant for their selfidentification,
and maintain it for its theological and evangelical relevance as an alternative
voice.” Virginia Fabella, MM and R. S. Sugirtharaja (eds), Dictionary of Third World Theologies,
New York 2000, 202f.
3
Suh, Historical References, 157f.
4
Op. cit., 167.
5
Suh Nam-dong, Cultural Theology, Political Theology and Minjung Theology, in: CTC
Bulletin Vol.5. No.3 – Vol.6. No.1, 1984/1985, 12–15,12.
6
Suh Nam-Dong, 민중신학의 탐구 (The Study of Minjung Theology), Seoul 1983, 382.
7
Ibid.
8
Cf. Op. cit., 383–406.
9
Charles Nyamiti, African Christologies Today, in: Faces of Jesus in Africa, Robert J.
Schreiter (ed.), Maryknoll, NY 1991, 3–23, 3.

The Female Face of Minjung 39
ties of Asian women who are confronted with the various forms of
oppression using statistics and case studies. 10 Ada María Isasi-Díaz,
one of the pioneers of mujerista theology analysed census and statistics
in order to manifest the socioeconomic reality of the oppressed
Hispanic women in U.S. society. 11 Besides, Isasi-Díaz took another
step forward to provide a platform where the voices of grassroot Hispanic
women can be heard in the theological discourse and she
adapted ethnomethodology, “a critique of professional social sciences
that focuses on the particularities of the persons being investigated” in
articulating mujerista theology. 12 Therefore mujerista theology uses
the lived-experience of Hispanic women as the source of doing theology.
13 Isasi-Díaz has also made every effort to support grassroot Hispanic
women as agents and subjects rather than to objectify them by
speaking about them and for them. 14 In the current global context,
Peter C. Phan, a Vietnamese-American theologian, also places emphasis
on the experience of migration as source of intercultural theology
saying that “the existential predicament provides, as it were, a perspective
for the elaboration of a theology not merely about but out of
the migration experience.” 15
The Subjective-Objective Approach
Theologians from the third world have reflected on the socio-political
realities of the oppressed and they have suggested the use of social
scientific methodologies including the voice of the grassroots and
their lived experience. What methodologies can be used in the context
of South Korea? Here two methodologies from the contextual theologies
in South Korea will be introduced and based on them I will develop
a complementary way of the subjective-objective approach.
10
Ursula King (ed.), Feminist Theology from the Third World: A Reader, Maryknoll, NY
1994, 114; Cf. Marianne Katoppo, Compassionate and free: An Asian Woman’s Theology,
Maryknoll, NY 1981.
11
Ada María Isasi-Díaz, En La Lucha/In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology,
Minneapolis 2004, 39–43.
12
Op. cit., 80f.
13
Op. cit., 184.
14
Op. cit., 80f.
15
Peter C. Phan, The Experience of Migration as Source of Intercultural Theology, in: Contemporary
Issues of Migration and Theology, Elaine Padilla and Peter C. Phan (eds), New
York 2014, 179–209, 182.

40 Chapter 2
(1) Han-pu-ri
Suh Nam-Dong urges Christians (Churches) to become the priest of
han who considers oneself as the medium of the voice of the voiceless
by resolving and consoling han of the oppressed, rather than the priest
of the atonement in western theology, who considers oneself as the
medium of the atonement by making people feel guilty and forcing
repentance. 16 Raymond Fung, the former secretary for Evangelism in
the World Council of Churches’ Commission on World Mission and
Evangelism stated that a person among the poor in the third world is
not only a sinner, but also the sinned against. 17 His insight gives a
fresh look at the oppressed people and how to look at the causes that
make people oppressed. Jesus was called “a friend of sinners” (Matthew
11:19, Luke 7:34). 18 Fung urges us to rethink whether the people
Jesus met can be seen only as sinners or not. Fung says that “men and
women are not only willful violators of God’s laws, they are also the
violated.” 19 The violated people should never be treated as sinners at
one with the sins which must be destroyed, but the violated human
dignity should be restored by removing the sins against them. Minjung
theologians give the so-called sinners (but who are sinned against in
reality) a Korean name, minjung of han. 20 The sinned against
(minjung or victims) should be restored (or healed) in the image of
God and the sins against people (which became han to the victims)
should be removed.
Chung Hyun Kyung paid careful attention to the role of a shaman
as a priestess of han in the shamanistic ritual han-pu-ri from a feminist
perspective. In the Korean history, women have been living painfully
in the patriarchal society which has been supported by imported and
institutionalized religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity
with their “male-centered, power greedy and authoritarian”
characteristics. 21 On the contrary, shamanism has been an indigenous
religion to express the “living faith and daily struggles” of people and
it has liberating elements for women in spite of its oppressive ele-
16
Suh, Study of Minjung Theology, Seoul 1984, 37–44.
17
Raymond Fung, Good News to the Poor – A Case for a Missionary Movement, in: Your
Kingdom Come. Mission Perspectives, Report on the World Conference on Mission and
Evangelism, Melbourne, Australia 12–25 May 1980, Geneva 1980, 83–93.
18
Cf. Wolfgang Stegemann and Luise Schottroff, Jesus and the Hope of the Poor, Maryknoll,
NY 1986; Wolfgang Stegemann, The Gospel of the Poor, Minneapolis 1984.
19
Op. cit., 84. See above chapter 1.
20
Küster, Theology of Passion, 85.
21
Kwok Pui-lan, Introducing Asian Feminist Theology, Cleveland, Ohio 2000, 86.

The Female Face of Minjung 41
ments as well. 22 If the liberating elements are to be given attention to,
a shaman has been “a healer, comforter and counselor” for women by
consoling the broken-hearted, healing the afflicted and restoring
wholeness through communication with the spirits. 23 Thus, Kwok
Pui-lan, a Hong Kong born postcolonial feminist theologian introduces
Jesus as the priest of han in the Korean context as the pluralistic
and female image of Christ in her book Introducing Asian Feminist
Theology. 24 This indigenous Christological image, the priest of han
has been discovered through a dialogue with an ancient religion and
culture in Korea.
Buddhism and Christianity are the major religions in South Korea
today. However, in ancient times, before the introduction of foreign
religions, Shamanism was the religion of Koreans and there were even
official shamans who assisted the king while other shamans satisfied
the people’s religious needs. When Buddhism and Confucianism were
adopted by the successive dynasties of Shilla, Koryo and Chosun in
Korea, Shamanism has declined and it has been despised and regarded
as a religion fit for the ignorant in society. 25 When Confucianism was
adopted as official religion in the Chosun dynasty, Korean women
became inferior in status to men and became confined to their homes
according to the patriarchal system of Confucianism. 26 In a family,
women were subordinate to men their whole lives: to a father before
marriage, to a husband after marriage and to a son after a husband
dies. 27 The gender roles of the patriarchal system confined women at
home and the inside of the house became the limited sphere of their
activity while their husbands monopolized the public life outside of
the house. Except for very limited cases, women could not set foot
outside of a house. Women lost their power and their space in society.
Shamanism and women have shared their lower social position and
their limited space in Korean history.
22
Ibid.
23
Op. cit., 88.
24
Ibid.
25
Cf. Volker Küster, Reflections on a woodcut by Hong Song-Dam, in: Exchange: Journal of
Missiological and Ecumenical Research, vol. 26, no.1, Leiden May 1997, 159–171, 162.
26
Volker Küster refers to “the debate whether Confucianism is a religion or a philosophy in
the study of religion” and explains that this debate comes from the emphasis of Confucianism
on “an ethos oriented to creating harmony through a system of hierarchic relationships rather
than a full-fledged religion”. He adds, however, that “ancestor veneration” shows a religious
element of Confucianism, Küster, Theology of Passion, 34f.
27
For more detail, see below chapter 2.

Chapter 3
The Emergence of Female Marriage Migrants in Korea.
Contextual Transformations, New Subjects and
Continuing Oppression
Minjung theology in South Korea has emerged and flourished regionally
and internationally in the 1970s and 80s. The affectionate attention
of its proponents went towards the oppressed and marginalized at
that time and was even further extended back into the history of Korea.
Then, who is minjung in our times, in the 2000s and the 2010s? I
will focus here on female marriage migrants as one kind of minjung in
our times by applying the subjective-objective approach as a methodology,
which was introduced in the previous chapter 2. It will enable
me to listen to the voice of the voiceless, the marginalized and the
oppressed and name the oppressions they experience in our context.
1. Minjung in our Times?
“Isn’t minjung theology on the wane?” 1 In reply to the question raised
by a Korean pastor, Jong-wha Park during an interview with a newspaper,
Jürgen Moltmann, a German Reformed theologian, answered: 2
“The perspective of minjung theology is still the theme of theology.
The term minjung theology is not the issue, but the spirit which drives
it should gain attention. I think that its concern for the poor and justice
as the center of minjung theology is still valid and will remain valid.”
He added, “the approach of minjung theology is all the more impera-
1
Part of this chapter has been published in Embarking on a Theological Journey with Literature
– A Confluence of Two Stories of Migrant Brides, in: Minjung Theology Today, Kwon
and Küster (eds), 127–144.
2
Jürgen Moltmann, 몰트만 “민중신학의 정신은 아직도 유효” (Minjung theology is Still Valid),
Interview by his former PhD-student Rev. Jong-wha Park, Kukminilbo, Seoul, May 12, 2009,
http://news.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0921285760&code=23111111&sid1=chr&sid2
=0001 (accessed on Aug. 20, 2014).

60 Chapter 3
tive in the global financial crisis which is a consequence of neoliberalism”.
Moltmann esteemed minjung theology highly, in particular its
affectionate spirit toward those who are languishing in poverty and are
discriminated against unjustly, which is in accordance with the concern
of Jesus Christ in his life on earth.
The term minjung was a very familiar word to those who lived in
South Korean society in the 1970s and 80s. It was used for describing
a human rights movement in a political struggle and a certain
protestant theology in pursuit of theological reflections on those secular
realities. However, this term does not seem to fit well any longer to
those who live in the 2000s and 2010s, breaking away from the period
of disgrace and darkness in the past and just entering into the period of
justice and transparency, although we have not yet achieved this entirely.
It is not an issue only for minjung theologians to solve in the
post-developmental dictatorship era. Liberation theology in Latin
America is also in the same boat and suspicions are cast upon the relevance
of liberation theology in our postmodern society with its outdated
social analytical tools. On the contrary, Kwok Pui-lan claims
that “the challenge will be how the option for the margin will engage
postmodernity in new ways and generate new insights for theological,
social, political, and economic thinking.” 3 While we are puzzled with
the usage of this so-called outdated term, Ryoo Jang-Hyun, a South
Korean theologian, opines that it is still applicable. According to him,
minjung has appeared to us in different faces in the 2000s and 2010s.
He defines migrant workers, foreign brides, and foreign female sex
workers as “wander-minjung” in the South Korean context, which is
rapidly changing into a multicultural society. 4 These newly appeared
minjung have gained an additional name, “wander” as a compound
word, which is suggestive of a stranger who cannot return home to her
or his homeland, and who has not yet become settled where she or he
is living at present as her or his new home. This reminds me of a
plant, which was originally uprooted from its homeland but could not
put down roots in the ground and can only be potted in a foreign country.
5
3
Kwok Pui-lan, Postcolonial Imagination & Feminist Theology, London 2005, 19f.
4
Jang-Hyun Ryoo, 다문화사회의 떠돌이 민중에 대한 신학적 이해 (A Theological Study of Wander
Minjung in Multicultural Society), in: Theological Thoughts, vol.148, spring 2010, 41–64,
44f. With reference to Gerd Theissen and Ahn Byung-Mu; Cf. Volker Küster, 마가복음의
예수와 민중 (Jesus and Minjung in Mark), Trans. Myung-Su Kim, Seoul 2006, 93.
5
Korean immigrants in the United States share this wander experience. Jung Young Lee in
the parable of the dandelion portrays an Asian American in the United States as a yellow

The Emergence of Female Marriage Migrants in Korea 61
Table 2. The Number of International Marriages
in South Korea, 1990~2008 6
Year
International
Foreign
Foreign
Total
Marriages
Wives
Husbands
Marriages
Number % Number % Number %
1990 399,312 4,710 1.2 619 0.2 4,091 1.0
1991 416,872 5,012 1.2 663 0.2 4,349 1.0
1992 419,774 5,534 1.3 2,057 0.5 3,477 0.8
1993 402,593 6,545 1.6 3,109 0.8 3,436 0.9
1994 393,121 6,616 1.7 3,072 0.8 3,544 0.9
1995 398,484 13,494 3.4 10,365 2.6 3,129 0.8
1996 434,911 15,946 3.7 12,647 2.9 3,299 0.8
1997 388,591 12,448 3.2 9,266 2.4 3,182 0.8
1998 375,616 12,188 3.2 8,054 2.1 4,134 1.1
1999 362,673 10,570 2.9 5,775 1.6 4,795 1.3
2000 332,090 11,605 3.5 6,945 2.1 4,660 1.4
2001 318,407 14,523 4.6 9,684 3.0 4,839 1.5
2002 304,877 15,202 5.0 10,698 3.5 4,504 1.5
2003 302,503 24,776 8.2 18,751 6.2 6,025 2.0
2004 308,598 34,640 11.2 25,105 8.1 9,535 3.1
2005 314,304 42,356 13.5 30,719 9.8 11,637 3.7
2006 330,634 38,759 11.7 29,665 9.0 9,094 2.8
2007 343,559 37,560 10.9 28,580 8.3 8,980 2.6
2008 327,715 36,204 11.0 28,163 8.6 8,041 2.5
1990~
2008
6,874,634 348,688 5.1 243,937 3.5 104,751 1.5
Material: The National Statistical Office of Korea, Annual Report on Live Births and Deaths Statistics
(based on vital registration)
Korean Christian women engaged in the feminist movements have
also detected women workers, comfort women and female marriage
migrants as the new faces of female minjung since the 1970s. 7 Since
1990s, female marriage migrants have become the new face of
minjung, whether they are wander, or female minjung. Ryoo introducflower
in the green lawn. In his parable, dandelions are considered to be weeds and get used
to be uprooted by lawn owners but, at the end of the story they are kept in a plastic cup and
their seeds are blown off all over the rich green yards by the author. This story gives the hope
of settlement to immigrants. Jung Young Lee, Marginality: The Key to Multicultural Theology,
Minneapolis 1995, 10–13; Peter C. Phan, Jesus the Christ with an Asian Face, in Theological
Studies 57, 1996, 399–430, 414.
6
Seol Dong-Hoon et al. (eds), 다문화가족의 중장기 전망 및 대책연구: 다문화가족의 장래인구추계
및 사회·경제적 효과분석을 중심으로 (A Study of the Medium- to Long-term Prospects and
Measures of the Multicultural Family in Korea: On the Focus of the Population Projection of
the Multicultural Family in Korea, and the Analysis of its Socio-Economic Impacts on Korean
Society), Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, Seoul: 2009, 8. The National Statistical
Office of Korea (NSO) was renamed as Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) on July 6, 2009.
7
See Chapter 7 for more detailed information.

62 Chapter 3
es us to some of their agony as follows: they suffer from domestic
violence and abuse by their spouses or their family-in-laws, and they
are economically dependent on their spouses. They are forced “to
work at home, on a farm or at a factory”, and “to take care of the elderly,
the sick or step children” at home. Sometimes, the international
marriages are chosen by South Korean men with “their desire to beget
children”. Divorce as the result of an abusive marriage cannot be a
solution for female marriage migrants, because they will not be able to
see their children any more or they will be deported as illegal immigrants.
Beyond that, even children of those international couples are
under conflict from “the disparity between two cultures, child abuse,
racial prejudice and education problems”. 8
A study on the oppression against female marriage migrants will
be conducted in this chapter based on the subjective-objective approach
as discussed in the previous chapter. Thereby the first two
steps of han-pu-ri will be conducted in this chapter. The voice of the
voiceless based on the social analysis allows the oppressed to speak
and to be heard and their oppressions to be named in this chapter. The
last step, changing will be proceeded in chapter 7, after the continuation
of the naming based on an aesthetic approach in chapter 4 and 5,
and a theological reflection in chapter 6.
2. The Increase of Female Marriage Migrants
In 2008, 36,204 South Korean people married foreigners, more than
double the 15,202 in 2002 (see Table 2 above). International marriages
are 11.0 percent of the total marriages in South Korea. It means that
over one in ten newly-wed South Koreans have married a foreign
spouse since 2004. The number of marriages between a foreign wife
and a South Korean husband (8.6%) are three times higher than between
a South Korean wife and a foreign husband (2.5%) of the total
international marriages (11.0%). Among foreign spouses of the international
marriages (36,204), 78 percent are women (28,163) in 2008.
Increased international marriage can be explained by the “marriage
squeeze”, which is caused by “the shortage of potential brides
because of a low birth rate” and “single farmers who are under stronger
pressure than anyone with poor conditions may go abroad to look
for their brides”. 9 However, the majority of South Koreans live in the
8
Ryoo, Theological Thoughts, 47- 50.
9
Seol, Prospects and Measures, 9.

The Emergence of Female Marriage Migrants in Korea 63
city and many female marriage migrants live in the city as well with
their spouses who are the urban poor. 10
Table 3. The Number of International Marriages between Korean Husband
and Foreign wife by Nationality in South Korea, 2006~2016 11
Year
Korean
Husband
&
Foreign
Wife
Viet
-nam
China
Philipp
-ines
Japan
USA
(Unit: case, %)
other
2006 29,665 10,128 14,566 1,117 1,045 271 331 394 1,813
2007 28,580 6,610 14,484 1,497 1,206 524 376 1,804 2,079
2008 28,163 8,282 13,203 1,857 1,162 633 344 659 2,023
2009 25,142 7,249 11,364 1,643 1,140 496 416 851 1,983
2010 26,274 9,623 9,623 1,906 1,193 438 428 1,205 1,858
2011 22,265 7,636 7,549 2,072 1,124 354 507 961 2,062
2012 20,637 6,586 7,036 2,216 1,309 323 526 525 2,116
2013 18,307 5,770 6,058 1,692 1,218 291 637 735 1,906
2014 16,152 4,743 5,485 1,130 1,345 439 636 564 1,810
2015 14,677 4,651 4,545 1,006 1,030 543 577 524 1,801
2016 14,822 5,377 4,198 864 838 720 570 466 1,789
Thailand
Cambodia
Component
Ratio
Year-onyear
Growth
Rate
100.0 36.3 28.3 5.8 5.7 4.9 3.8 3.1 12.1
1.0 15.6 -7.6 -14.1 -18.6 32.6 -1.2 -11.1 -0.7
According to statistics between 2000 and 2008 from the National Statistical
Office of Korea, female marriage migrants mainly come from
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia,
Uzbekistan and other countries. 12 Chinese brides accounted for the
lion’s share with 46.9 percent, followed by Vietnam with 29.4 percent,
the Philippines with 6.6 percent, Japan with 4.1 percent, Cambodia
with 2.3 percent, Thailand with 2.2 percent, Mongolia with 1.8 percent,
and Uzbekistan down to 1.7 percent in 2008. 13 However, the
new statistics released in 2017 show substantial changes and Vietnamese
brides as the foreign spouses for South Korean men became
the largest group with 36.3% percent, followed by China with 28.3
10
Ibid.
11
Statistics Korea (KOSTAT, formerly the Korea National Statistical Office), 혼인이혼통계
2016 (Marriage and Divorce Statistics 2016), 15, http://kostat.go.kr/portal/korea/index.action
(accessed on Nov. 10, 2017).
12
Seol et al., Prospects and Measures, 11.
13
Ibid.

Chapter 4
Literature, Contrapuntality and Confluence of two
Traditions. Aesthetic Perspectives 1
Social science methodologies have been playing an important role in
assisting theologians to understand the oppressed and their oppressive
situations better. However, there are also other methodologies which
theologians can use. I will apply aesthetic approaches in order to understand
my context from various perspectives in the following chapters
4 and 5. In this chapter 4, I will review how literature has been
used in theological discourse, especially in womanist and minjung
theology and I will enter the conversation between two novels dealing
with the issue of female marriage migrants.
1. Literature as Source of Theology
How can theologians formulate the new theological perspective,
which reflects sensitively on their own context? 1 In the 1970s in
South Korea, minjung theologian Suh Nam-Dong asserts that the liberation-oriented
theology can be formulated through interpreting historical
references and he suggests three historical references: “First,
the events of the Exodus and the Crucifixion-Resurrection”, second,
“the history of the church, which has received the traditions of the
1
Part of an earlier version of this chapter has been published in ‘Embarking on a Theological
Journey with Literature – A Confluence of Two Stories of Migrant Brides’, in: Jin-Kwan
Kwon and Volker Küster (eds), in: Minjung Theology Today: Contextual and Intercultural
Perspectives, Leipzig, 2018, 127–144, 결혼이주여성을 중심으로 읽는 로안과 룻의 이야기 (The
Story of Loan and Ruth in light of Female Marriage Migrants, in: 민중신학의 여정 (Minjung
Theology: A Journey Together), the Korean Society of Minjung Theology (ed.), Seoul, 2017,
242–265, and Film und Theologie treiben im Heute. Loan und Ruth, stories zweier Heiratsmigrantinnen,
in: Theologie und Kunst unterrichten, Volker Küster (ed.), Leipzig, 2021, 235–
252.

84 Chapter 4
Exodus and the Crucifixion-Resurrection”, and third, “the tradition of
the minjung movement in Korean history”. 2 In order to understand
these references he says that the new hermeneutical framework of
socio-economic history and the sociology of literature is required and
it will reveal the identity of the minjung. 3 He provides an additional
explanation of the new hermeneutical framework’s function that “a
study of the socio-economic history of Korea is enabling us to grasp
the reality of the minjung objectively; and the research into the sociology
of literature will help to bring into relief the reality of the minjung
and their corporate spirit.” 4 Suh ties the approach of the socioeconomic
history and that of the sociology of literature together in
terms of the hermeneutical framework.
Collecting theological resources from the life experiences of people
living today can provide faith communities with the power of renewal.
There are theological efforts to interpret this newly rising global
social phenomenon by borrowing social scientific methodologies
and those approaches can offer us so-called objective facts. However,
it does not seem to be enough to arouse our moral commitment.
English novelist Virginia Woolf speaks very highly of storytelling
as being “more truth than fact” and as the most “objective” way in
writing about a social phenomenon, because it gives the “audience the
chance of drawing their own conclusions as they observe the limitations,
the prejudices, the idiosyncrasies of the speaker.” 5 German-born
American political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt like
Woolf also puts the purpose of political theory not on making a descriptively
accurate report of the world but on telling a provocative
and principled story to transcend the limitations of facts and information,
which would engage her audience in making a critical response
to it. 6 So, in a story which is designed to represent a certain
social phenomenon, we cannot see only diverse perspectives of the
author but also the author’s prejudiced perspectives. Suh Nam-dong,
as a prominent first-generation minjung theologian, claimed that “the
authentic medium of God’s revelation is in the form of stories” and
“stories that arise from realistic and concrete experiences and exam-
2
Suh, Historical References, 157.
3
Op. cit., 156f.
4
Op. cit., 167.
5
Lisa J. Disch, More Truth than Fact: Storytelling as Critical Understanding in the Writings
of Hannah Arendt, in: Political Theory, 21, 1993, 688–689.
6
Ibid.

Literature, Contrapuntality and Confluence 85
ples”. 7 I expect that the use of stories in our theological discourses can
bring Christians more critical understanding and more moral commitment
towards the social issues in our times.
Literature has been a vital part of social justice activism by giving
voice to the marginalized groups who have been excluded from dominant
discourse and whose experiences and concerns have been
erased. 8 Literature as a form of activist art has “the power to move
people, to create empathy, and to give readers insights into experiences
different from their own.” 9 Many theorists who have deconstructed
various forms of oppression claim that “reading is a learned and
communal act” and readers interpret not only a particular literary text
but also a “wider cultural code that help shape social relationships”
rather than seeing literature as a luxury. 10 The role of the reader in
literature and activism is significant and the reader engages in producing
alternative meanings “in the process of progressive social transformation”
beyond the multiple levels of meaning in literary texts including
author intentionality. 11
In this chapter, I try to follow Suh’s hermeneutical framework of
socio-economic history and the sociology of literature. I will venture
into literature, the space in which the positive and dynamic power to
make the world better is created when an author’s provocative story
meets a reader’s critical response. The socio-economic history will be
added as a reference to the sociology of literature to give more information
about the wider context beyond the world of a certain literary
text including the world (context) of the reader. It will enable the
reader to reenter into a literary text with a critical response. This process
also includes the stage of selecting literature for theological discourse
and it will be discussed which standards we can consider for
this kind of selection. This process aims at producing a theological
discourse of liberation. Said’s contrapuntal reading and Suh Nam-
Dong’s concept of the confluence of two traditions in minjung theology
will be applied to extract the liberation discourse and its dialogue
with theology. 12
7
Nam-Dong Suh, ‘Theology as Story-Telling: A Counter-Theology’, CTC Bulletin Vol. 5
No.3 – Vol.6 No.1 (Dec. 1984 – April 1985), 4–11, 7.
8
Beth Berila, Literature and Activism, in: Encyclopedia of activism and social justice: Volume
II: E-M, Gary L. Anderson and Kathryn G. Herr (eds), USA 2007, 862–866.
9
Op. cit., 862.
10
Op. cit., 864.
11
Op. cit., 865.
12
See below.

86 Chapter 4
Selecting Literature for Theological Discourse
In terms of the relation between literature and reality, Suh claims that
“when the consciousness of minjung painters and artists is awakened,
they depict life and reality as it is”. 13 Minjung arts are not only the
artistic sublimation of the repressed han of the minjung, but also that
of criticism of the morality, power, and the pretensions of the ruling
class. They show us the awakening of the consciousness of the
minjung and their struggles to change and improve the evil situation.
Minjung arts carry the reality including the potential liberation, and
Suh names this potential liberation a corporate spirit. 14
It was not only the task of minjung theologians to visit the literature
to understand the reality of the world they are living in. In America,
black Christian women also read the literature of black female
writers in order to collect the experiences of black women. A womanist
theologian, Delores S. Williams, wanted to advance a thesis about
black women’s oppression in her article, “Women’s Oppression and
Lifeline Politics in Black Women’s Religious Narratives”. It was a
decisive struggle for Afro-American women to escape their dependence
only on the data about Anglo-American middle-class women,
and to define their own experience of oppression. 15 In her article, Williams
collected the data from literature, which is classified as novels. 16
Williams called these texts religious narratives because she believed
that “religious language, practices and issues” in those texts affected
“the resolution of the plots”. 17 Some of the most representative works
are as follows: Zora Neale Hurston’s Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Their
Eyes Were Watching God, Margaret Walker’s Jubilee and Alice
Walker’s The Color Purple. These works were also called black novels
because Williams understood it as “a narrative metaphor mirroring
the faith, hopes, values, tragedies, failures and celebrations of an oppressed
(black) community”. 18
Both Suh and Williams have paid special attention to literature,
whether it is called minjung literature or black narratives. Both literatures
have reflected on their own oppressed communities. On the one
hand, they have been crying out their han, tragedies and failures, but
13
Suh, Historical References, 172.
14
Op. cit., 172–174.
15
Delores Williams S., Women’s Oppression and Lifeline Politics in Black Women’s Religious
Narratives, in: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 1, 1985, 59–71, 59.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.

Literature, Contrapuntality and Confluence 87
on the other, they have been singing their liberation, corporate spirit,
faith, hopes, values and celebration. Of course, there is a subtle difference
between them. Minjung theologians take a profound interest in
the reality and the corporate spirit of minjung, which minjung literature
carries, and the scope of this minjung literature goes beyond the
religious boundary into a secular world. Womanist theologians for
their part give an eye to the religious expressions which black literature
carries, and they tend to limit their boundary to a religious world.
However, Williams acknowledged that these religious expressions are
not all Christian. Nevertheless, she emphasized that they all support
black women’s efforts to defeat many parts of oppression. 19
Which literature could be considered as minjung literature or
black novels? Suh placed more weight on the authors, and he viewed
the awakening of their consciousness as essential in minjung literature,
whereas Williams paid more attention to the religious expressions
which played an important role in the plot of black novels.
However, minjung literature began to decline since 1990 and it is hard
to discover minjung artists and their literature today, comparable to
such works as Changma by Yun Hyongkil, Shingung by Chon
Seungse, Slave Diary by Yang Song-wu and Chang Il-dam by Kim
Chi-ha. 20 Then, does it mean that it is time for us to forget those theological
approaches? Against this passive attitude, Peter C. Phan encourages
us that a theologian is “not bound by a deadening conformity
to past interpretations but rather enjoys a creative freedom to risk novel
interpretations.” 21 As a matter of fact, we do not have the actual
literature to meet the standards which Suh and Williams adopted in
their doing theology, but on second thought, we still have some literature
mirroring the experience of the oppressed communities in our
society. While the literary works, Sacred Place, Famous Mountain,
and Malttuk, and Chang Il-dam are written by the Korean lay Catholic
writer Kim Chi-ha and inspired by his Catholic faith, the above mentioned
other minjung literary works, Changma, Shingung, and Slave
Diary of contemporary writers and poets, Yun Hyongkil, Chon
Seungse and Yang Son-wu are not connected with religion or rooted
in other faiths. 22 However, all of those works are with the theme of
han, regardless of faith in Suh’s times.
19
Op. cit., 69.
20
Suh, Theology of Han, 59–68; Suh, Historical References, 177–180.
21
Phan, The Experience of Migration, 193.
22
Suh, Theology of Han, 63, 59.

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