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The thesis explores the intersection between medicine and religion in the context of colonisation in Korea in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I will focus on the work of medical missionaries from Europe and North America that pursued perfect cleanliness in body, mind and society, including total abstinence and spiritual cleanliness, by spreading biomedical concept of hygiene. One of the points that I will articulate is the ways in which medicine as a colonising force in its own right worked in the mission field to produce 'the docile bodies of people' in the Foucauldian sense. I will argue that what mission medicine in Korea utilised and relied on for its work was a new concept of cleanliness based on biomedical knowledge, the germ theory, rather than the power of colonisation. It was because mission medicine in Korea often worked without collaborating with direct colonial powers. In this sense, Protestant Christianity and biomedicine shared a common foundation in 'cleanliness.' Consequently, I will try to emphasise the multi-dimensional and multi-directional role of the use of cleanliness as an efficacious tool for control of the body. In relation to the historiography of medicine in Korea, I will argue that Confucianism served the social and cultural control of bodies as a medicalised form and that Christianity tried to replace it by providing new knowledge concerning body, disease, health, and cleanliness. In the same respect, I will explore the historical relationship between the germ theory and missionary medicine in Korea. The germ theories of disease were not simply a new etiology but also an effective cultural implement to change people's lives. Thus, the theories did not simply remain in the realm of medicine but were introduced, disseminated, and applied to all matters relating to the body, including its mental and spiritual aspects, through the concept of cleanliness.

I studied perspectives on counselling and the counsellor in Korean culture. For this research I made use of a Narrative pastoral counselling approach that was situated in a Postmodern paradigm. As this research method concentrates on the life stories told by the life-story-tellers or co- researchers, I chose a few focus groups consisting of Koreans of different ages and both genders to help me to correct and understand my findings. I also used a questionnaire because language and communication is and was a big problem in Korea (I cannot speak Korean, and most Korean people cannot speak English). The findings were used as discussion topics in the focus groups and also in the interviews I had with several Korean individuals. In this study I dealt with many of the interesting and new things I learnt in Korea and from the Korean people (my story). Secondly, I shared the results from the questionnaires and also the feedback from the focus groups and interviews concerning these results (the Action story). Thirdly, I also tried to share a very in-depth picture of the Korean people’s history, customs, language, psychology, present-day Korea and Korean religions (their story or background story). In the background story, I used their stories, thus, I have made use of different story tellers’ stories and have used these voices as is. In listening to all of these life stories from Korean people, I have come to a better understanding of how Korean people deal with their problems. Coming from a paradigm where I tell my story with a Western culture’s tune, I have also came to see that even though I have come to a better understanding of how Korean people deal with their problems, it was still impossible for me to come to a true understanding of their approach. My biggest discovery was that one has to realize that each culture, even each individual, has a unique story. To come to a better understanding of this story, I have to have empathy and also to allow myself to be pulled over the threshold into the other person’s life. Even so, I also have to realize that my listening will still be obscured by the “noise” of my own self. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / Unrestricted

Abstract not available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1997.

Most current studies of suffering are based upon an existential approach which focuses on suffering itself. Theodicy has mainly been concerned with people's attitudes and communication within themselves and with others about religious symbols and ideas. Particularly, this study examines the Korean attitude to suffering using its cultural dimension in a contextual hermeneutics. The researcher was interested in two notions: personal identity in its cultural dimension and the hermeneutics of suffering. The research questions addressed were as follows. a) How to define Korean personhood? b) What is cultural identity? c) How do people create personal identity? d) How does a person cope with suffering? The chief findings were as follows. a) A study of Korean self-understanding can be accomplished by exploring their lifeworld to describe and understand this people's language for daily communication, popular cuJtural myths, and spirituality. b) Cultural identity in this thesis means indigenous Korean self-understanding using the socio-cultural framework in its own terms and ideas. This self-knowledge mediates history, culture, and language. c) Personal identity is constructed by a narrative identity. d) Suffering can be coped with by communication with and through oneself, others, and God. / Practical Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Most current studies of suffering are based upon an existential approach which focuses on suffering itself. Theodicy has mainly been concerned with people's attitudes and communication within themselves and with others about religious symbols and ideas. Particularly, this study examines the Korean attitude to suffering using its cultural dimension in a contextual hermeneutics. The researcher was interested in two notions: personal identity in its cultural dimension and the hermeneutics of suffering. The research questions addressed were as follows. a) How to define Korean personhood? b) What is cultural identity? c) How do people create personal identity? d) How does a person cope with suffering? The chief findings were as follows. a) A study of Korean self-understanding can be accomplished by exploring their lifeworld to describe and understand this people's language for daily communication, popular cultural myths, and spirituality. b) Cultural identity in this thesis means indigenous Korean self-understanding using the socio-cultural framework in its own terms and ideas. This self-knowledge mediates history, culture, and language. c) Personal identity is constructed by a narrative identity. d) Suffering can be coped with by communication with and through oneself, others, and God. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / Th.D. (Practical Theology)

Most current studies of suffering are based upon an existential approach which focuses on suffering itself. Theodicy has mainly been concerned with people's attitudes and communication within themselves and with others about religious symbols and ideas. Particularly, this study examines the Korean attitude to suffering using its cultural dimension in a contextual hermeneutics. The researcher was interested in two notions: personal identity in its cultural dimension and the hermeneutics of suffering. The research questions addressed were as follows. a) How to define Korean personhood? b) What is cultural identity? c) How do people create personal identity? d) How does a person cope with suffering? The chief findings were as follows. a) A study of Korean self-understanding can be accomplished by exploring their lifeworld to describe and understand this people's language for daily communication, popular cuJtural myths, and spirituality. b) Cultural identity in this thesis means indigenous Korean self-understanding using the socio-cultural framework in its own terms and ideas. This self-knowledge mediates history, culture, and language. c) Personal identity is constructed by a narrative identity. d) Suffering can be coped with by communication with and through oneself, others, and God. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Most current studies of suffering are based upon an existential approach which focuses on suffering itself. Theodicy has mainly been concerned with people's attitudes and communication within themselves and with others about religious symbols and ideas. Particularly, this study examines the Korean attitude to suffering using its cultural dimension in a contextual hermeneutics. The researcher was interested in two notions: personal identity in its cultural dimension and the hermeneutics of suffering. The research questions addressed were as follows. a) How to define Korean personhood? b) What is cultural identity? c) How do people create personal identity? d) How does a person cope with suffering? The chief findings were as follows. a) A study of Korean self-understanding can be accomplished by exploring their lifeworld to describe and understand this people's language for daily communication, popular cultural myths, and spirituality. b) Cultural identity in this thesis means indigenous Korean self-understanding using the socio-cultural framework in its own terms and ideas. This self-knowledge mediates history, culture, and language. c) Personal identity is constructed by a narrative identity. d) Suffering can be coped with by communication with and through oneself, others, and God. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th.D. (Practical Theology)