• The Critical Review of Religion and Culture
• /
• no.31
• /
• pp.255-287
• /
• 2017

This paper analyzes the religious circuit of suicidal concept based on verbal expression and ritual acts, which are found in the suicide discourse of Korean Catholic Church and Protestant Church. In the relationship of suicide and religion, it is easily overlooked the religious circuit and its construction that forms the concept of suicide among the religious laymen. It is assumed that the belief system of traditional religions prohibits suicide and the laymen accordingly construct a perception or concept of suicide along with this belief system. Various studies on this subject have proved it. However, in order to understand the religious way of constructing the concept of suicide on a personal level, it is necessary to pay attention to the religious environment in which the concepts and emotions of suicide circulate. The laymen do not passively and perfectly accept the finely established suicide concept provided by the doctrine or the theology. Rather, the laymen tend to collect the pieces of concept over the suicide that are drifting in the religious environment of his/her daily routine life and to make an concept of suicide in an incomplete form. We can find the unstable and imperfect traits of such a suicide concept through the experience of suicide survivors who have a religious background. For the suicide survivors with religious beliefs, they resist the formal doctrinal and theological provisions to suicide, or try to understand the notion of suicide in their own contexts. In terms of linguistic expressions and ritual acts relating to suicide, the attentions are differently directed in the public and the private domain among the religious groups. Considering on the high rates of suicide in Korean society, the Korean Catholic Churches are increasingly tolerant over the suicide and accept it in the public sphere. It is unlikely when comparing to the negative attitudes of the suicide in the past. However, such tolerance does not go beyond the doctrinal and ethical judgment that defines suicide as a serious sin. The once-committed lay believer's speech and gestures usually contain the various emotions, such as sadness, grief, anxiety, regretfulness, eagerness, and pain in the private spheres. The language and gestures with these emotions have been activated in the religious circuits of suicide, being extended to the religious apparatus for the person who died of suicide. In case of Protestantism, the institutional organizations, such as the particular denominations and the individual-churchism of the Korean Protestant Churches, and their own interpretations of the Bible have in the private sphere strongly effected on the linguistic expressions and the rituals related to the suicide. The religious-ethical judgment of the suicide is varied how the suicide is interpreted by the theologians and the pastors. And the ritual acts for healing the complex feelings and the psychological wounds of the suicide survivors are not actively explored and adopted yet. It makes harder to approach and heal the protestant followers since they emphasize the innermost belief and the salvation assurance faith.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.193-220
• /
• 2018

This study aims to analyze qualitatively the people's dysfunctional religiosity for well-being. The participants of this study were 6 the clergy and 6 believers (devotes). The clergy included three pastors of Protestant churches, two Buddhist monks (male and females), and one Won-Buddihst monk. Six devotes included two Protestants, two Catholics, and two Buddhist. There were one female in the clergy and three females in devotes. Data gathered from narrative interviews were analyzed with techniques based on Giorgi's phenomenological strategies and procedures. Twenty two topics derived from their assertions and statements, nine main meanings were classified based on those topics. Main meaning were reward-seeking religiosity, authority oriented religiosity, selfish religiosity, blind or unconditional religiosity, asocial religiosity, inactive religiosity, inexperienced religiosity, emotionally problematic religiosity, and cognitively problematic religiosity. Based on derived topics and main meaning, suggestions for further studies, for example the scale development, and information of strategies for promoting well-being of religious persons were discussed.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
• /
• v.63
• /
• pp.317-345
• /
• 2020

The dissolution and reconstruction of the male-centered social structure is being requested, but the Korean church still call on women and understand women's roles by limiting them based on traditional 'normal family ideology' and matherhood discourse. However, considering women's various aspects of life, life cycle, and individuality, confining women to existing biological maternal discourse is not suitable to help women grow as subjective leaders and contribute to society. The Korean church needs to find a new curriculum that encourages women to form subjective beliefs. In the life of Christian women of the period of port-opening, we can examine the process of the Korean Christian women establishing the subjectivity of the challenges of Protestant theology, which included stereotypes, gender division of labor, and matherhood discourse. Korean Christian women shared the oppressive experiences of traditional patriarchy after passing silent and receptive perceptions, forming a subjective perception of their injustice and seeking liberation. And it was able to act as a subject of faith by forming a procedural and constructive awareness within a sympathetic and relational community. The Korean church should reconstruct the Christian women's curriculum by reflecting on the curriculum that women formed themselves over 100 years ago.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2002

Background: The purpose of this study is to find out to how much influence religion had on the quality of life in patients admitted to the hospice facility at Saemmul's House. Terminal cancer patients were assessed one to two weeks after admittance to Saemmul's House. Metohd: The subjects of this study were numbered at 75 patients and were admitted to the hospice facility at Sammul's house between January 2002 and July 2002. The data regarding quality of life was collected using a questionnaire prepared by the sammul Hospice and were analyzed by means of ANOVA and T-test. Result: As a result of this study, there was no noticeable difference in quality of physical, psychosocial life between the patients with conviction of salvation and the other patients. However, it shows that the former enjoyed a higher spiritual quality of life than the latter. In case of baptized patients and unbaptized patients, there were no differences in terms of physical and psychosocial quality of life, but the baptized patients demonstrated a higher spiritual quality of life. After admittance, patients were grouped by duration of conviction of salvation I.e., those that believed more than 5 years and those that believed less than 5 years. In terms of physical, psychosocial quality of life, there was little difference between the two groups. However, those who believed more than 5 years demonstrated a higher spiritual quality of life. However, there was no difference in quality of life among patients, regardless of their belief in God, after receiving spiritual care at the hospice. Conclusion: We got a few conclusions in accordance with result gained by this study. First, spiritual support is very important to improving quality of patients' lives in hospices. Second, hospice programs are needed keenly and spiritual support for patients from trained experts is needed 24 hours a day. Third, because trained experts(ministry) are urgently needed to lend spiritual support, hospice courses must be taught at all colleges of theology. Fourth, a hospice program must provide a proper atmosphere that can give spiritual support and therefore all hospices must build such as environment. Fifth, a tool for spiritual support of hospice must be developed.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.57-67
• /
• 2001

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify attitudes of hospice volunteers toward care of for terminally ill patients. Method : This was a descriptive study with a sample of 84 adults who were registered for a hospice volunteer education program at Severence Hospice Center. The Frommelt (FATCOD) scale on attitudes toward the care of the dying (Cronbach alpha=.778) and an open ended questions on "what if you only have 6 months to live" were used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using SPSS/W and content analysis. Results : 1) The hospice volunteers were mostly female, with an average age of 45 years, half of them were college graduates and their religious preference was Protestant. 2) The participants of this study demonstrated positive attitudes to care for the dying which is in coherence with hospice philosophy and principles. However they indicated difficulties in maintaining close relationships with people who are dying, and in communicating and sharing, and encouraging those who are dying to express their feelings. In the open ended questions, they identified that their most important issues would be guilt feelings toward their children, family concerns, and the burden of unfinished business in their lives. They also identified the fear of pain in the dying process and fear of the afterlife. The care they would like to receive was to have peace of mind, have a good listener, spiritual counselling, and pain relief and to be respected as a human being. The source of strength would be faith in God and they would like to overcome their of dying. The FATCOD scale has limitation in describing and identifying the need and attitude toward the care of the dying revisions were made. Conclusion : We all are the potential clients for the hospice rare. In a hospice volunteer education program, communication and interpersonal skill are essential. The fear of dying, afterlife, concerns about family with children, and human dignity are major concerns in hospice and palliative care.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.265-288
• /
• 2009

The study has found that the main reasons affecting to the mature conjugal relations of middle-aged persons are closely related with sede factors brought about after marriage. Comparatively the factors before marriage have more or less weak power on the conjugal relations. They are mature relations wp between husbands and wives, stable and enough incede, and religious activities, which have deep relations with the satisfactory conjugal relations. C. G. Jung divided the whole life span as self-assuredness period in the first half and self-convergence period in the second half. The first is the period when one does his or her best to get external and physical self. On the contrary, the second is the middle-aged period one finds his or her meaning of life in the religious, philosophical, intuitional, and spiritual world, which lead life into harmony and integration. Therefore if one overcomes some psychological crisis related with middle-aged development he or she can enjoy happy senescence(old age). The study has suggested through literature investigation the definition of middle age and the developmental traits of middle age, and the relations between religions and conjugal relations of middle-aged husbands and wives. Futhermore, it has analyzed the theories which religions have close relations with the life satisfaction of middle-aged conjugal relations. In order to give an analysis the influence of the variable of religious activities and religious maturity, with the degree of conjugal satisfaction, 400 middle age are selected as the object of the study whose ages are ranging from 35 years to 60 years, and who reside in Seoul or near Seoul. They were asked to fill out the questionnaires asking about religious activities, religious maturity, and the conjugal satisfaction from March 25th to April 30th, 2009. The results of the survey have been statistically processed and analyzed. First, the higher religious maturity gives positive influence on the general religious activities including public service, human relations, and spiritual stability. That is, this result indicates that the individual, spiritual, and formal religious activities give to a degree influence on the religious maturity. Second, the maturity of religious life resulting from religious activities has a causation with the satisfaction of conjugal life. In more details, religious activities has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=31.36, p<.001) In more details, religious activities has a positive influence on the religious maturity(T=31.36, p<.001), and religious activities has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=33.81, p<.001), and the religious maturity has a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life(T=28.64, p<.001) Third, as we analyze the main effects which religious activities and the religious maturity could give influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life, it is found that both religious activities(F=15.95, p<.001) and the religious maturity(F=23.94, p<.001) give a positive influence on the satisfaction of conjugal life. In conclusion, it is sure that religious activities and the religious maturity have a close relations with the satisfaction of conjugal life. Therefore it can be said that religious activities at the protestant religion, buddhism, and catholic religion can give an important influence on the satisfaction of middle-aged conjugal life.