| The issues of Korean-American (K-A) clergy wives demand multilateral approaches in order to untangle the subject. While the socio-historical background of the subject brings the broad understanding of the issues, the subject still needs to be examined in both psychological and theological aspects in depth.;The root of the ethos of Koreans is often found in Confucianism, which has always been present in Korean culture, as well as in many Asian countries. Although patriarchal system is not the main teaching of Confucianism, in the process of being adopted in Korean political ideology, Confucianism became the symbol of a patriarchal system in Korean traditional culture. Korean Confucianism, which has strongly been influencing the psychology of Korean people, joined with modern Christianity, which also was demanded to cooperate with existing cultural values. As this change occurred, Korean Christian women have been forced to be subservient under the patriarchal environment, which now becomes more emphasized by both ideologies: Confucianism and Christianity.;As Korean-Americans try to observe the Korean traditional values, the K-A clergy wives often find themselves in the position of "tradition-keepers." Being more faithful to the expectation of the Korean immigrant Christian community, K-A clergy wives are also affected by serious low self-esteem. Serious low self-esteem is often seen in K-A women, which has lately caught in the attention of contemporary scholars. The accumulated study of these scholars is brought to be proven in the real cases, which require analysis and caring response. Five K-A clergy wives with different backgrounds have been interviewed in the method of Naturalistic Inquiry and the cases were introduced in a narrative way.;With the help of Jung's psychology and the Object Relations theorists, Klein and Winnicott, the complex psychological issues of K-A clergy wives seek a diagnosis on their present difficulties in terms of personal and relational matters in church. Also, by the insight of Korean-American immigrant theologians such as Sang Hyun Lee and Jung Young Lee, the position of K-A clergy wives can be defined properly, which empowers K-A clergy wives to envision their faith journey with higher self-regard. Along with the theologically positive self-definition, again, Jung and the Object Relations theorists also provide a source of pastoral psychology to the struggling K-A clergy wives. |
