Dialogical Blessing: Language, Power, and Community in Korean Diaspora Churches

This paper examines how Korean immigrant lay believers in diaspora Presbyterian churches destabilize and reinterpret core Christian concepts through dialogical Bible study. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a congregational Bible study group in the United States, it analyzes how participants negotiate the meanings of theological language in relation to their everyday contexts and practical needs. Concepts such as God, blessing, the gospel, faith, sin, and obedience are collectively reworked through dialogue. I describe this process as “dialogical blessing,” in which religious meanings emerge through communal interaction. The study highlights how linguistic practices reshape authority, identity, and belonging in contemporary diaspora Christian communities.