STORIES OF YOUNG ADULT CHRISTIANS – Project topics materials

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MY STORY

Becoming a Christian

I started going to church when I was eight years old. Strangely my mother allowed me to do so even though my parents were Buddhists although not enthusiastic followers. Sometimes, my mother went to the Buddhist temple with her children for peace of mind and the sake of the family. One day, my mother heard about the ‘Sunday school’ which was held at the church closest to our house and decided to send her children there to spend Sundays. Sunday school was just a great idea to keep her children busy on boring Sundays with fun programmes and she trusted that the Sunday school teacher would teach good social ethics to the children. Because of this simple reason, my sister, brother and I could attend ‘Sunday school’ where I spent joyful times learning about so many interesting things, such as, God made the whole world and me; Jesus loves me; Jesus is always with me and protects me. This was attractive news for me and I enjoyed going to church. Unfortunately, my younger sister and brother were not interested in the church and soon stopped attending. When I was about ten years old, I became a close friend of Jesus. In the meanwhile, our family sometimes went to the Buddhist temple and carried out sacrifices in front of the huge Buddhist statue. Moreover, once or twice a year we attended the ancestral rites which were conducted at the house of the eldest brother of my father. During the ancestral rites, we were required to bow down to several huge tables which were set with various foods for the ancestors of our family. During those times, I felt some guilt with respect to Jesus, but I could not refuse those formalities. I was too young and therefore had no power to refuse …

‘I want to go to the church!’

Korean people are very passionate about education. From grade 7, students prepare for matriculation and university and they work hard from early morning until late evening. My parents were also highly passionate about education. They even moved to another house for the sake of a better education, so that I could enter a famous, highly reputable high school that offered a good education. My parents held high expectations for me while I attended high school, so that they controlled much of my life with regards to my study. During this period, I really enjoyed a good relationship with God and loved Jesus very much. I wanted to know far more about Jesus and I wanted to worship him as often as possible. But my parents thought that a waste of time and they prohibited me from going to church. Until then, I had been really obedient and a good daughter in my family. I had followed all my parents’ directions without any difficulties. They were always proud of me. Unfortunately, I was really enthusiastic about Christianity, which was not just a religion that could make me feel comfortable and good, but rather, encompassed my entire life. I could not reject my faith merely because of the demands of my parents and my studies. Thus, I began to resist the demands of my parents and tried to explain my faith. My parents were shocked by my unexpected behaviour and they seemed to think that the church had spoiled the daughter of which they were proud. Around that time, the company which my father owned experienced major difficulties. I could not understand the entire situation but some bad things happened in his business and in my family. In particular, my mother believed that those negative events that occurred in our family were the result of the existence of different religions in one family. She often said that to practise different religions in one family was harmful; therefore, I should stop attending church. In fact, she was not Buddhist at the time but nevertheless seemed to think that Christianity was a different religion and not suitable for our family. She attributed all the difficulties in our family to Christianity.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS :

ABSTRACT
KEY TERMS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH ORIENTATION
1. CHOSEN FIELD OF RESEARCH
2. MY CURIOSITY IN TERMS OF THIS CONTEXT
3. MY STORY
  1. Becoming a Christian

‘I want to go to the church!’
‘You cannot understand me’
The purpose of sharing my story
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONTEXT AND ME
RESEARCH GAP WITHIN EXISTENT RESEARCH
UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT
Multireligious Society
Folk religions of Korea
Korean Shamanism (Musok)
Confucianism
Buddhism
1. Christianity in Korea
Unique characteristics of the Korean family
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 2 : RESEARCH POSITIONING AND PRACTICAL EXECUTION
1. RESEARCH POSITIONING WITHIN EPISTEMOLOGY
  1. Narrative perspective
  2. My theology
  3. An adequate interaction between science and theology
  4. Postfoundationalism
  5. Postfoundationalist practical theology
  6. Postfoundationalist practical theology and narrative approach
2. RESEARCH POSITIONING WITHIN METHODOLOGY
  1. Narrative research
    1. The relationship between researcher and co-researcher
  2. The role of researcher
  3. Seven movements
  4. Research outline
  5. The aims of the research
3. PRACTICAL EXECUTION OF THE RESEARCH
  1. Why did I choose young adult Christians?
  2. Selecting of co-researchers
  3. Research methods
    1. Interviews
    2. Web-activity
    3. Literature study
    4. Recording
    5. Transcribing
    6. Interdisciplinary work
    7. Theological reflection
Ethical considerations for the present research
1. Recruiting
2. Obtaining Consent
3. Interviewing
4. Analyzing the data
5. Writing the Report
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 3: STORIES OF YOUNG ADULT CHRISTIANS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. LET’S START TELLING THE STORY!
  1. Story teller (Happy)
    1. The story of Happy (H)
    2. Happy’s story of the past
    3. Reflection on the journey with Happy
  2. Story teller (Agape)
    1. The story of Agape (A)
    2. Agape’s story of the past
    3. Reflection on the journey with Agape
  3. Story teller (Green Temptation)
    1. The story of Green Temptation (G)
    2. Green Temptation’s story of the past
    3. Reflection on the journey with Green Temptation
  4. Story teller (Blue Bell)
3. The story of Blue Bell (B)
4. Blue Bell’s story of the past
5. Reflection on the journey with Blue Bell
6. GIVING VOICE AND EMERGING TRADITIONS OF INTERPRETATION
7. ‘The church does not understand me!’
8. “Salvation of the family is my mission!”
9. “We live in two worlds!”
10. To have a non-Christian family means to have many disadvantages
11. for my faith life
12. SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4: RETELLING THE STORY OF THE YOUNG ADULTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE INFLUENCES OF TRADITIONS OF INTERPRETATION UPON THE
  1. CO-RESEARCHERS
  2. ‘The church does not understand me!’
  3. ‘Salvation of the family is my mission!’
  4. ‘We live in two worlds!’
  5. To have a non-Christian family means to have many disadvantages for my faith life
3. RETELLING THE STORY OF YOUNG ADULT CHRISTIANS WITH
  1. NON-CHRISTIAN FAMILY
  2. Deconstructing of the co-researchers’ stories
  3. Christianity within Korean society
  4. Dual attitude of Korean society towards religion
  5. Confucian family
  6. Korean Familism
  7. An alternative story of ‘keeping the faith’
  8. RETELLING THE STORY OF ‘SUFFERINGS’
  9. Deconstructing the story of ‘suffering’
  10. Emerging adulthood and the family relationship
  11. To be an adult!
  12. Family conflict
  13. ‘Sufferings’
  14. Alternative story of ‘Hatch out!’
4. Alternative story of ‘We are not powerless!’
5. SUMMARY
6. CHAPTER 5: EMPOWERING AND DREAMING THE FUTURE
7. INTRODUCTION
8. REFLECTIONS OF THE CO-RESEARCHERS ON THE ALTERNATIVE
  1. Keeping the faith
  2. Hatch out!
  3. We are not powerless!
9. EMPOWERING
10. DREAMING THE FUTURE
  1. Dreaming the future of the co-researchers with new stories
  2. Dreaming the future of the researcher with new stories
11. SUMMARY
12. CHAPTER 6: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE RESEARCH
  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON SELECTING THE CO-RESEARCHERS
  3. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON THE WEB-ACTIVITY
  4. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON ‘THE DIFFERENT VOICE GIVERS’
  5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
  6. BIBLIOGRAPHY