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7h¥3-*l|*| ^|oj- MJZ £AH TOWARD A TRANSFORMING MINISTRY: ANALYSIS OF SERMON FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF GENDER EQUALITY A Professional Project presented to the Faculty of Claremont School of Theology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Hyun Kyu Choi May 2013 ©2013 Hyun Kyu Choi ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This professional project completed by Hyun Kyu Choi has been presented to and accepted by the faculty of Claremont School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the D octor of M inistry Faculty Committee Namsoon Kang, Chairperson K. Samuel Lee Dean of the Faculty Philip Clayton May 2013 ABSTRACT Toward a Transforming Ministry: Analysis of Sermons from the Perspective of Gender Equality by Hyun Kyu Choi The theoretical background of this dissertation is founded in humanism and feminism, the purpose being to reform the patriarchal structure of ministry. To discuss the patriarchal nature of the Korean church, the author has defined terms such as patriarchy, androcentrism, gender equality, oppression, and liberation. In carrying out this study, the author researched a patriarchal situation of the Korean church where patriarchal language was used, critiqued the situation from the feminist theological viewpoint, and analyzed the situation according to seven homiletic standards, which title selection, form interpretation, parable use, use of patriarchal language, method of sermon delivery, feminist theological application, and feminist theological criticism. The study addressed three manuscripts of sermons the author had preached in an actual ministry environment. Also, as a means of applying reform to the patriarchal ministry structure, the author presented a gender-equality-promoting sermon, and proposed the need for a gender equal annual sermon planning and for establishing a women’s Sunday. SUMMARY Toward a Transforming Ministry : Analysis of Sermon from the Perspective of Gender Equality The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the androcentric value structure and situation that is prevalent in the Korean Church, particularly the situation involving the usage of androcentric (patriarchic) language in the church, and to grasp the reality of such androcentric language use in the Sunday sermons of my own ministry field at Mokdong Church. Also, through a feminist-theological self-examination, the author seeks to reject such patriarchic sermons and proposes a gender-equal sermon. The author’s research will involve applying a qualitative research method of three sermons that contain patriarchic overtones, which were written prior to the sermon writer receiving feminist theological education, in order to critically reflect on the patriarchic elements in the author’s own ministry structure. After completion of the critique, the author will present a new sermon from the perspective of feminist theology as a mean, to invigorate change and healing over the sexist conflict situation in the ministry field through the practice of preaching in gender equal language. To do so, the author looked over preceding research, firstly analyzing research materials that involve studies of researchers and theologians on the patriarchic nature of the Korean church. Also, the author examined research materials that inspected and criticized the current usage of patriarchic language in the sermons that are being preached within the church. Based on these findings the author compared any differences with the author’s own research. Having looked over preceding research, and in light of the numbers of graduation dissertations of seminaries and the fact that gender equality is a demand of the times, the author was able to discern that the amount of research concerning patriarchic sermons was rather limited. Domestically, there was not even one doctoral dissertation written on the patriarchic nature of sermons in the Korean Church. In particular, research carried out using the qualitative research method based on self-examination and change was rare. Therefore, the author’s paper could be deemed as unique based solely on the fact that it attempts to apply self-examination and change in the ministry field, and because it is also an attempt towards gender equality ministry by a male. Feminist theology provides the ideological background of this paper. First, the author introduced several terms used in the dissertation to discuss the patriarchal themes of the Korean church, such as patriarchy, androcentrism, gender equality, sexism, oppression, liberation, etc. Next, the author researched and criticized such terms which promote patriarchy, as well as patriarchal Christian terms from the feminist theologian’s perspective. The goal of this paper is to create change based on the self-examination of the patriarchal elements present in the sermons of the author’s very own ministry field. Therefore, for data collection the author chose three out of four sermons involving female figures of holy scripture. The author utilized subjective analysis of the three sermon texts. Subjective analysis, similar to hermeneutic phenomenological research, comes into play rather deeply in the researcher's life where the phenomenon of interest occurs, and applies when one’s self becomes the focus of the research, just as it applies in the auto-ethnography or feminist, or other descriptive post-structuralism approaches. The author selected three Sunday sermons preached at Mokdong Church in 2010 and analyzed/coded the text and title, utilized allegories, application, i.e. terms used in the sermon based on their masculinity, femininity or gender equality, as well as observing areas that needed self-reflection or change. While the text having been written by the author could have led to a rather subjective opinion, the author focused on analyzing the data as closely as possible according to the feminist approach and language theory. Summarizing the results of the author’s analyzed data was handled as follows: first, when analyzing the sermon text, utilizing the feminist theological perspective was shown to be limiting. While male chauvinistic and patriarchal terms were not remarkably apparent in the author’s sermons, analysis revealed that the author had utilized traditional interpretations of the scripture rather than the feminist theological understanding in all three of the sermons. Since using a such traditional interpretation that accepts the patriarchal terms in which the bible was written permits only androcentric interpretations, the result is that the ministry structure continues to uphold the patriarchy. Therefore, this reveals the need for biblical interpretation that is based on other perspectives including the feminist theological viewpoint. Second, to change the structures of patriarchal ministry, which is the goal of this dissertation, the author examined any changes in the sermons after attending feminist theological lectures. Concerning the content of the sermons, it was clear that there was a change in mentality towards gender equality, and yet, after analyzing the text and titles of sermons of 2011, there was no change in the number of times a passage promoting gender equality was selected before and after attending the feminist theology class. This result shows that without consciously or institutionally, specifying in the lectionary calendar to put into practice preaching sermons of feminist theology, it will be very difficult to cause change in the ministry structure through messages that promote gender equality. Therefore, for the renewal of patriarchal ministry structures, the author expressed the importance of ministerial goals, particularly promoting sermons based on gender equality once a month. Third, gender-equal sermons eventually require a change in the speaker’s thinking, as well as communication with the listening audience. Just because patriarchal sermon terminology isn’t used does not mean the sermon automatically becomes one promoting gender equality. Rather, a culture valuing the equality of genders needs to be present in the lives of the speakers and in their relationships with the congregation. The women of the author’s church, who comprise 70% of the entire congregation, also supported usage of feminine language, and proposed that such critical self-examination of androcentric language, patriarchic management style and policies of the church was much needed. As mentioned above, the author’s research focused on achieving a change towards a more gender equal mentality based on analysis of the author’s personal sermon terminology, and in the patriarchal ministry structure of the author’s own ministry field. The author hopes that this research will contribute much to the Korean church, especially for women who have long been the target of a passive ministry within a sexist culture supported by patriarchal church policies and sermon terminology, that they will become free to confidently be active as the main agents of the gospel and create joy-filled ministry environments. ¥ bb °\ e r m i ^chi Ehe^sjoH 7i-*i?sfii- tffrs m m a i ai-seiji ?jfe y-^s^js|(7h ¥ ^ |54)e« eioui-gsi êh# g^lsFoi «4fi| ^sitjsrei ^ § m | L^y- y^ *£|*iej QHO-lAhS 4'Effl- ^ 0|CK ZIBlJI O^fcjSfSl 7$7\&&m *«H ?l¥® 7im AJ 1 « xigfsm # £ « * * ! *i|A |^y 5jo|cK L|-o| ojipy 0 ^ A|*hg S ¥ ^ 7| £j°l 7h¥S-^|AH g*fg L|-E|-tH aJul Ail &m 3*1 mn u s] 7h¥S-Aii^* u ia-s|o s. o ^ a i* ^ #s<hiah AllSg team AilAl^KH O jo ^ Â Jtfe ^JH A l^g = 5 | SS-OflAioj Âl-^ÔI im ^S-S eSFS. tr^SI-SfjlXl- &CK o|* flsH EJSW X fSI ÎtlMgfeEll, ER M |o| 7h¥^|^CH| OISH W S E JW S 4 oj¥A|-#o| o j¥ Al-S* e * i^ c ;K SEi!- m i LHOHIAH d i£ |H ^JZ ejOH § 7h¥#*l s ii ejoH oj A|.= AI E|| 2^ HI^XH Ojiji xl-s* 3 ^M&ch ZLBln o|* a si W SR I x|0|S i tfniMSm. vi