Vol. 27 No. 1, March 2008

In God's Image is an Asian Christian women's effort to provide a forum for expressing our reality, our struggles, our faith reflections and aspirations for change.

Guest Editorial

The Korean Confucian father-centered family system is very similar to the Jewish father-centered family system, which we can glean from Jesus’ genealogy written in the gospels according to Matthew and Luke. Korean people have been proudly living in a patriarchal family structure for more than 5000 years. Within this structure Korean women have suffered by taking the expected (and imposed) role of obedience to the father, husband and son. It is in this context that the women’s movement against patriarchy in Korea continues until now. 

However, Korean family and society are changing because many Korean women are now rejecting their expected and imposed role of obedience. Many Korean women are now opting for singlehood as a way of liberation from the patriarchal family structure and to create egalitarian family and society. As a result of the women’s struggle, the phrase “House Lord,” which clearly refers to male headship in the family, has been erased from the family law.

Korean family and society are also changing because people’s consciousness has changed as a result of industrialization and scientific development in Korea. Moreover, the demand for workers to serve Korean industries has brought migrant workers from other Asian countries. These migrant workers are the ones who are willing to do the 3-d (dirty, difficult and dangerous) work. Many Korean men in the rural areas are also finding it difficult to find Korean women who are willing to marry them and live with them on the farm. Thus, they turn to migrant women from other Asian countries. 

In such a situation the Korean family and society are challenged to be places free from gender and racial discrimination. As we now have more people of mixed blood, mixed cultures and mixed languages among us, Korean family and society are challenged to become multi-cultural.

But even though the Korean traditional family structure is already breaking down, the Korean churches are still trying to maintain the traditional family system through God-centered and Jesus-centered hierarchical structure. Korean churches need to find new ways of mission before the Korean Christians will face an identity crisis of some sort. This is the reason for our choice of family as the focus of this Korean edition of In God’s Image (IGI) in March 2008. 

I was asked to edit and coordinate this IGI edition on Korea – a responsibility I accepted as a Coordinating Team Member. It has been a great opportunity for us to put together this edition of IGI on its 25th Anniversary (in December 2007). At the meeting of the Coordinating Team Members in the beginning of 2007, I suggested to hold the IGI 25th anniversary event in Seoul, Korea. My request was accepted and came under my responsibility. 

It was not easy to organize the anniversary celebration and collect articles from Korean feminist theologians because almost all of those who worked with me in the past were either retired or too busy to take other responsibilities on top of what they already have. I am grateful that the Korean Association of Women Theologians (KAWT) agreed to host the IGI 25th Anniversary with a service in memory of five foresisters who dedicated themselves to Korean feminist theology. Although we had planned to hold this celebration in December 2007, we postponed it to January 18, 2008 because of many reasons. 

The anniversary brought more than 100 participants, including Ms. Anna Marsiana, representative from the AWRC Coordinating Team Members (CTM). We regret that Sr. Virginia Fabella, member of the IGI Editorial Advisory Committee, could not attend as planned because of a health condition, while other CTM had schedule clashes. However, Sr. Virginia’s speech was read at the service by Anna. 

As an AWRC Coordinating Team Member, I express my heartfelt appreciation to the Executive Committee members and Rev. Bae Young-Mi, Secretary General of KAWT, for supporting the event. The English version of the anniversary program and liturgy was made possible through the help of Mary Collins, who kindly accepted my urgent request just three hours before printing.

A number of new articles were written especially for this edition. Some articles already written for other purposes are offered here as they relate to the theme. I thank all the writers for their dedication and commitment. I express my sincere thanks to Rev. Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg for her great support and for helping me to collect some articles. I appreciate the AWRC publications secretary (Hope S. Antone) and publications assistant (Clare Law) for helping in the final editing and proofreading, respectively.

May God’s blessings for equality, justice and peace abundantly fill your family and society through 2008!


Guest Editor 

Acknowledgment

On behalf of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the Asian Women’s Resource Centre for Culture and Theology (AWRC), I thank our sisters in Korea, led by our very own AWRC Coordinating Team Member (CTM), Rev. Dr. Chung Sook Ja, for putting out this very important edition of In God’s Image. When Sook Ja shared her plan to host the IGI 25th anniversary, which also marks the AWRC 20th anniversary, at the CTM meeting in early 2007, the CTM and the IGI Editorial Advisory Committee members were very delighted. Although many of the Coordinating Team Members could not attend the event itself in Seoul, we are happy that we have this edition to help us imagine what it was like. 

This edition also brings out a very important focus on the struggle of the Korean women to restructure the family and society in Korea. I am sure that just as I learned a lot while editing the articles, our readers will also find them very informative, enlightening and inspiring. 

To our Korean sisters, kamsahamnida! Thank you! 

Publications Secretary

If articles listed in the table of contents interests you, and you would like to have a copy of this journal, please write to igi@awrc4ct.org.