Christian Spiritual Direction for Korean Protestant Women: Focusing on God-images

This thesis explores how the practice of Christian spiritual direction of Korean Protestant women affects the way they experience, understand, and imagine God, and the implications of these God-images for other aspects of their life. It is a multiple case study involving five cases of Korean Protestant women who experienced Christian spiritual direction with me as spiritual director. The directees were encouraged to think about and articulate their images of God and to explore how those images were affecting their relationship with God and other facets of their life. Through the analysis of the research data, I was able to test and to validate my assumptions. In this process, the directees came to appreciate more deeply their real images of God as opposed to their professed images of God, which acted to deepen their experience of God. Through this process of discernment, their relationship with God evolved positively. Also, their confidence in God’s love for them increased and their self-relationships transformed positively, including enhanced self-acceptance, self-care, and self-esteem. This also positively affected their attitudes towards othersDoctor of Ministry (DMin