Summary: The prolific expansion of the Korean ethnic church in Australia and elsewhere results in part from material pursuit by the clergy and its members in the homeland since the 1970s and has been a place of comfort, religion, fellowship, conflict and other benefits. For these reasons, the Korean ethnic church has been the most significant organisation for Korean immigrants overseas. “Foolish Jesus” is a novel written by Mrs Ihm, Ae-Rin, spouse of the head minister of a Korean migrant church in Canberra, depicting the tensions between different groups of people seeking their interests. The novel is centred on the journey of a woman and her son into the sojourning life in Australia, having lost her elder son and husband, who was a school principal. The focus of the novel is her observation of a small and less than well established Korean church in Sydney. The woman identifies the newly arrived minister with her dead son in terms of their characteristics. To her observation, these two men are both caring and committed to honesty and justice. The female protagonist learns that the arrival of the minister is soon followed by a range of conspiracies pursued by a powerful member, Deacon Yi. He is the centre of the influential cancerous group and attempts to control every entitlement and movement of the minister, including a threat to lower his wage. Deacon Yi and his aids have one important reason behind their actions: recovering their downgraded status since becoming immigrants. Another dark side of the novel is a doomed love story between Angela (daughter of Deacon Yi) & Young-joon (son of the female protagonist) since Angela wants Young- joon’s heart and he needs to achieve his migrant dream in the ‘heavenly land’.
