Abstract

This is an anthropological study of the Women’s Church in Korea. The paper examines the organization’s symbols and rituals, taking a semiotic approach to ritual studies. By adapting Webb Keane’s “bundling of meanings” theory and Susan Gal’s fractal model of private/public distinction, four dimensions of rituals that are associated with the Women’s Church are identified and examined. By “jumping over” the distinction between the private and the public, new meanings are created, and this creation of meaning is related to the Women’s Church’s goal: the achievement of equality and liberation for the marginalized.