Dissertation Abstract Lamp on My Feet Li

Abstract
Lamp to My Feet, Light to My Path:
Understanding Biblical Engagement for Transformation
by
Hee-Kyu Heidi Park

This dissertation is practical theological reflection on a phenomenological study of the
relationship between the Bible and its lay readers. Despite the pivotal role that the relationship
between the Bible and its Christian readers can play in their well-being and receptivity to
pastoral care and counseling, this relationship has received little attention in pastoral theology,
hindering the possibility that pastoral caregivers can foster well-being of careseekers through
engagement with the Bible. Through phenomenological study of in-depth interviews with
Korean American Presbyterian lay adults, the psycho-spiritual dynamic of the movement of the
heart is identified as an element of spiritual epistemology and transformation.
For this practical theological reflection, the author designed a pastoral theological
phenomenological qualitative research method by revising the phenomenological reduction
process through a postcolonial lens. The detailed revision process as well as the research design
is covered in the second chapter, after the introduction. With such an empirical component, the
actual practical theological reflection starts from the descriptive task of conveying the result of
the in-depth interviews, which is covered in chapter 3. In chapter 4, we move into the
interpretive task through interdisciplinary dialogues with self-psychology, relational cultural

theory, positive psychology and Christian and Confucian spirituality. Through these dialogues
several layers of the experience of the movement of the heart are identified and explored. In the
dialogue with psychological perspectives, the tension between the self and relationship, which

 

was prominently revealed in the analysis of the data, is explored in depth. This tension also
describes the inner dynamic of the movement of the heart, which is found to be an important
element of Confucian spirituality. The dialogue with Confucian spirituality reveals subaltern
spiritual consciousness that creates spectrality that influences the postcolonial situation of the
contemporary Korean American Christians. This finding is put in conversation with postcolonial
theories, theologies, and biblical hermeneutics in chapter 5, where the normative task of
constructing postcolonial pastoral theology of biblical engagement happens. Reflection on
ambivalence, mimicry, spectrality, and postcolonial anxiety as part of the postcolonial
experience is engaged in dialogue with the findings of this study, which leads to a deeper
understanding of the reason why principles like inerrancy, orthodoxy, and spiritual hygiene are
conspicuous in the Korean and Korean American Christian life. In chapter 6, the author suggest
practical wisdom gleaned through the study that can be applied to pastoral care and counseling
practices. It includes a non-linear Bible reading process which is like a journey through which
meanings crystalize in their own time; insights into the power dynamics in Bible reading which

often turns out to be power-for and power-with dynamics than power-over, especially when
positive changes happen, and reflections of pastoral liminality, pastoral authority, and empathy.
These reflections lead to constructing a pastoral vision that includes postcolonial imagination and
concrete future memory that enables growth toward complex spiritual maturity. This is followed
by a short conclusion with my final reflections, discussion of the contribution of the dissertation,
its limitations, and future research directions.