Interreligous I-Thou Encounter

Abstract

The lack of communication with the wider social context and the persistent problem of one-sided communication are the challenges facing the church today. To borrow Pual Knitter’s words, this problem may lie on the fact that Korean Christianity is built on the total replacement model. Within this frame of mind, Christians listen to religious others only to replace them with Christianity. However, when we take globalization into our consideration, Korean churches need to be equipped for the new landscape in which their potential congregants live. More religious as well as cultural diversity exists today in South Korea than a generation ago. The possibility of encountering religious others as clients is wide open. When I take globalization into consideration, it becomes a more mind-boggling question as to how I can initiate I-Thou relationships with religious others. In this study, I will look into some ways to bring about transformation within the context of interreligious care and counseling based on my personal experience. What I want to accomplish through this study is to explore ways for spiritual care and counseling to be transformative, particularly in an interreligious care and counseling setting. I attempt to investigate the usefulness of the RCT model for interreligious spiritual care and counseling settings in light of the wisdom of scholars’ endeavors in interreligious dialogue. I am drawn to the RCT model as opposed to traditional Freudian theory, especially for the interreligious care and counseling setting. Here, I would like to expound how the RCT model puts an emphasis on mutuality between counselors and counselees by reconceptualizing the meaning of countertransference. Mutuality within the RCT model will be discussed with Martin Buber’s I-Thou framwork and John Gottman’s relationship theory. In addition, I will look into the necessity of interreligious counselors and those they counsel developing a differentiated self. I wish we Christian counselors and ministers could value and further celebrate the otherness of religious others in our care settings. Then, spiritual care and counseling could be life-giving and transformative.