Abstract
The two key psychological contours, han and relationality, in interpreting and understanding biblical texts among Korean/Asian North American women are discussed. The Old Testament biblical narrative of Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11) is employed in order to demonstrate how the concepts and the interconnectedness of han and relationality are being played out in the minds of Korean/Asian North American women. Some practical suggestions are offered for preachers, Bible teachers, pastoral counselors, and caregivers in assisting Korean/Asian North American women with their hermeneutical processes.
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Notes
Please note that every culture may possess both cultural ideologies to some degree and thus it is not right to neatly dichotomize. However, my point is to emphasize the different degrees of the two cultural components that exist in these two different cultures.
Some Old Testament Biblical scholars construe that the sacrifice was not the actual killing of Jephthah’s daughter; rather, it involved restraining her from getting married and thus bearing children as she remained a virgin for the rest of her life for she “bewailed her virginity” (Judges 11:37). However, the majority of scholars seem to agree that Jephthah’s daughter was indeed sacrificed as a burnt offering to God.
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Kim, S.S. Psychological Contours of Multicultural Feminist Hermeneutics: Han and Relationality. Pastoral Psychol 55, 723–730 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-007-0089-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-007-0089-7