Abstract:

One common experience shared among Korean Americans is a relationship with the Korean immigrant church. The strengths and weaknesses of the church have affected many second-generation Koreans. Having personally grown up in the Korean Church, I have come across countless Korean Americans with varying opinions on the church. This paper attempts to hone in on one particular group of second-generation Koreans: Korean-Americans attending seminary. In particular, I attempt to observe how, if at all, the Korean church has affected these students’ decisions and aspirations in regard to seminary and further career prospects. To explore this, I conducted six interviews through Zoom. All of my participants are male students who attend Westminster Theological Seminary. My questions remained broad, allowing my interviewees to comment on what they believed was most relevant. Questions ranged from asking about the value of a seminary education, to the events that led to their decision to attend seminary, to their background and thoughts on the Korean church. With such a small sample size, it was difficult to discern any solid patterns, but it was clear that the Korean Church had played a major role in shaping some part of my interviewees’ thoughts on seminary and on their plans after seminary. Overall, this project aims to provide a starting ground for this sparsely populated research topic. Though there is research and writings on Korean Americans and the Korean immigrant church, this paper explores a more specific area in this field, and the findings point to further areas of research.