기독교인의 혼외관계에 대한 목회상담학적 성찰 = Pastoral Theological Reflections on the Extra-Marital Relations in Christian Families

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The experiences of extra-marital relations have increased in Christian families even though they are clearly defined as deadly sin by the Christianity. This study purports to offer practical wisdom to pastoral counselors dealing with this problem on the basis of pastoral theological reflections.
As for the research design and methods, the phenomenological approach and the revised critical correlational approach were employed for the analysis of real experiences and for the theological reflections, respectively. To implement the qualitative research, 14 participants were selected for a series of in-depth interviews, and their authentic experiences were analysed as the basic resources for theological reflections. Not only the critical dialogues among the interdisciplinary multi-perspectives on extra-marital relations but also the relevant social analysis of family crisis in the post-modem society were included in the reflection procedure.
Through the theological reflections, this study reaches the conclusion that the roles of Christian churches and pastoral counselors in resolving the problem of extra-marital relations should be clearly differentiated. The author argues that while the role of Church is to proclaim the sin of extra-marital relations and to educate people on their vulnerability to the temptations, the role of pastoral counselors is to accept those who fall into the extra-marital relations without any criticism and lead them to self confession and ultimately to salvation.
The theoretical as well as practical implications of this study is that the pastoral counseling of extra-marital relations should be ultimately a spiritual process and the pastoral counselors should examine themselves whether they are prepared for this process; they should be equipped not only with healthy Christian ethical value system but also with well-balanced perspectives and the practical knowledges on the issue.