A Study on Changes in Meaning that Occur in the Process of Interpretation and Reinterpretation of a Story

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper is a study on the changes in meaning that occur in the process of interpretation and reinterpretation of a story. The pastoral counselor's hermeneutical perspective on the patient's story has a significant impact on the patient's self-understanding and healing. I examined how the meaning of a text actually changes according to the pastoral counselor's hermeneutical perspective. For this purpose, I attempted to interpret and reinterpret the story of Se-Ji Kim's conversion experience. I noted that the Western concept of sin and the Eastern concept of filial piety were fused together in the texts. I also noted that even though the expression ‘sin’ is same, the ‘experience of sin’ is different due to the differences in social, cultural, historical, and personal contexts of the two persons. Furthermore, as a Korean female theologian living in 21st century, I viewed the expression ‘sin’ as a kind of a symbol and explored the multi-layered meanings of this symbol. I proposed to approach Se-Ji’s ‘sin’ with the Eastern concept of ‘filial piety’ and han. I concluded that it is appropriate to understand the ‘sin’ confessed by Se-Ji not as a sin in the Western Christian concept, but as an emotional outpouring of her broken life and an expression of filial piety toward her mother. Se-Ji’s han which had accumulated over a long period of time could not be relieved by simply confessing one's sins and receiving forgiveness. I suggested that the image of Jesus who left his beloved mother behind at the age of 33 and silently accepted the shameful cross can bring true comfort, peace, healing, and liberation to Se-Ji who is struggling with feelings of unfilial piety. From an Eastern perspective, this is the image of Jesus as the worst unfilial son. But the image of Jesus who experienced the most humiliating shame and became the most unfilial son could be a powerful metaphor that made Se-Ji’s bitter heart melt like water.