Synopses & Reviews
Since 1965 the Korean American population has grown to over one million people. These Korean Americans, including immigrants and their offspring, have founded thousands of Christian congregations and scores of Buddhist temples in the United States. In fact, their religious presence is perhaps the most distinctive contribution of Korean Americans to multicultural diversity in the United States.
Korean Americans and Their Religions takes the first sustained look at this new component of the American religious mosaic.
The fifteen chapters focus on cultural, racial, gender, and generational factors and are noteworthy for the attention they give to both Christian and Buddhist traditions and to both first– and second-generation experiences. The editors and contributors represent the fields of sociology, psychology, theology, and religious ministry and themselves embody the diversities underlying the Korean American religious experience: they are Korean immigrants who are leaders in their fields and second-generation Korean Americans beginning their careers as well as leaders of both Christian and Buddhist communities. Among them are sympathetically analytical outside observers.
Korean Americans and Their Religions is a welcome addition to the emerging literature in the sociology of "new immigrant" religious communities, and it provides the fullest portrait yet of the Korean religious experience in America.
Review
“This is a timely as well as significant book.”
—Timothy S. Lee, Journal of Religion
Review
“This is one of the most significant books to examine the role of religious congregations in the lives of post-1965 immigrants in American society. To my knowledge, no book has provided such a comprehensive treatment of the religious experiences of one immigrant/ethnic group.”
—Pyong Gap Min, Queens College, CUNY
Review
“This is the most significant book to examine Korean immigrants’ religious practices and one of the most important books to examine the role of religious congregations in the lives of post-1965 immigrants in American society.”
—Pyong Gap Min, Contemporary Sociology
Review
“This volume is a valuable resource for anyone interested in American immigrant religions in general and Korean-American immigrant religion in particular. In terms of the Korean-American community, the collection is particularly useful because it deals not only with Protestantism but with Buddhism as well. . . . The research presented in this volume makes important contributions to the study of immigrant religions and offers a valuable source of knowledge for anyone interested in the field of American religion.”
—Kelly H. Chong, American Journal of Sociology
Synopsis
Since 1965 the Korean American population has grown to over one million people. These Korean Americans, including immigrants and their offspring, have founded thousands of Christian congregations and scores of Buddhist temples in the United States. In fact, their religious presence is perhaps the most distinctive contribution of Korean Americans to multicultural diversity in the United States.
Korean Americans and Their Religions takes the first sustained look at this new component of the American religious mosaic.
The fifteen chapters focus on cultural, racial, gender, and generational factors and are noteworthy for the attention they give to both Christian and Buddhist traditions and to both first– and second-generation experiences. The editors and contributors represent the fields of sociology, psychology, theology, and religious ministry and themselves embody the diversities underlying the Korean American religious experience: they are Korean immigrants who are leaders in their fields and second-generation Korean Americans beginning their careers as well as leaders of both Christian and Buddhist communities. Among them are sympathetically analytical outside observers.
Korean Americans and Their Religions is a welcome addition to the emerging literature in the sociology of "new immigrant" religious communities, and it provides the fullest portrait yet of the Korean religious experience in America.
About the Author
Ho-Youn Kwon is Executive Director for the Center for Korean Studies and Associate Professor of Sociology at North Park University.Kwang Chung Kim is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Western Illinois University.R. Stephen Warner is Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Table of Contents
Korean American religion in international perspective / Kwang Chung Kim, R. Stephen Warner, and Ho-Youn Kwon -- The Korean immigrant church as case and model / R. Stephen Warner -- Pilgrimage and home in the wilderness of marginality: symbols and context in Asian American theology / Sang Hyun Lee -- Ethnic roles of Korean immigrant churches in the United States / Kwang Chung Kim and Shin Kim -- Religion as a variable in mental health: a case for Korean Americans / Tong-He Koh -- A theological reflection on the cultural tensions between first-century Hebraic and Hellenistic Jewish Christians and between twentieth-century first- and second-generation Korean Americans / Robert D. Goette and Mae Pyen Hong -- The transformation of a first-generation church into a bilingual second-generation church / Robert D. Goette -- Ethnic identity formation and participation in immigrant churches: second-generation Korean American experiences / Peter T. Cha -- Beyond "strictness" to distinctiveness: generational transition in Korean Protestant churches / Karen J. Chai -- Being Korean, being Christian: particularism and universalism in a second-generation congregation / Antony W. Alumkal -- The intersection of religion, race, gender and ethnicity in the identity formation of Korean American Evangelical women / Soyoung Park -- The growth of Korean Buddhism in the United States with special reference to Southern California / Eui-Young Yu -- Turning the wheel of Dharma in the West: Korean Sæon Buddhism in North America / Samu Sunim (Kim, Sam-Woo) -- Won Buddhism in the United States / Bok In Kim -- Intra-ethnic religious diversity: Korean Buddhists and Protestants in greater Boston / Karen J. Chai.