Conversations: Asian American Evangelical Theologies In Formation

By DJ Chuang and Timothy Tseng

This book brings together the conversations that are starting to form Asian American evangelical theologies. Various perspectives are shared along the themes of identity and community. This compilation consists of works from Peter Cha, Timothy Tseng, Paul Lim, David Yoo, Lori Pierce, Paul Spickard, James Zo, and Jeffrey Jue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257183036

Book preview

cultures.

Section I: Identity

1

Identity Formation in the Second-Generation Korean American Church

Peter T. Cha

Since 1903, when the first group of Korean laborers came ashore in Hawaii, the Korean American church has played a central role in shaping the lives of these immigrants and their ethnic community. Today, there are more than 3,500 Korean immigrant churches in the U. S., or one church per 300 Korean immigrants (K. Kim and S. Kim 1995, 6). Equally impressive is the level of these immigrants′ participation in and commitment to their congregations; studies done in Chicago (Hurh and Kim 1990) and Los Angeles (Yu 1990, 26-29) indicate that up to 75% of Korean Americans regularly attend Korean immigrant churches. In many ways, the Korean American church′s continuing growth and its prominence in the community bear testimony to its enduring and effective ability to meet a wide range of needs of its immigrant members (I. Kim 1981; Min 1992; K. Kim and S. Kim, 2001).

Nevertheless, in spite of its past and current success, the future of the Korean immigrant church, particularly its ability to reach out to the emerging generation of American-born young people, is uncertain at best. During the past decade, a number of studies observed that second-generation young adults have left or are leaving their parents′ churches in large numbers (Oh 1995; H. Lee 1996; Song 1999). In response, concerned leaders of the church have sought to develop a new ministry paradigm for the emerging generation. For the most part, however, these attempts have remained at a pragmatic level of how to′s, trying out various programs and ministry models popularized by predominantly white, mainstream evangelical institutions.

One of the urgent tasks facing today′s second-generation Korean-American church is to engage in serious theological reflection that would, in turn, shape its emerging ecclesiastical identity and ministry. In order to begin this process, however, the church must first carefully exegete the particular context in which it is located, identifying and wrestling with the unique needs and challenges its members are facing. For any theology that aims to serve its church effectively, it must not only be shaped by the Scriptures but must also be informed by the lived experience of the people of that community of faith (Schreiter 1985). The main aim of this chapter is to exegete a particular aspect of the second-generation Korean American experience, namely those issues that surround the project of the identity formation of its members, and explore some of the theological implications that emerge from these experiences.

THE EXPERIENCE OF SECOND-GENERATION KOREAN AMERICAN IDENTITY FORMATION

Since the advent of modernity, identity formation has emerged as one of the central life projects in which individuals invest and engage (Baumeister 1986; Giddens 1991). As many social psychologists (Erikson 1950; Marcia 1966) and educators (Gilligan 1982; Parks 1986) have observed, the project of identity formation is especially significant to those who are in adolescence and young adulthood as they face the challenge of discovering who they are and how they fit into their world. The project, however, is even more critical to second-generation Korean American young people because they work on their identities in surroundings that are often challenging, if not hostile. The following two sections will examine the social and cultural factors that make this project particularly formidable and risky for second-generation Korean American young people, and thus identify some of the challenges that second-generation Korean American churches must address theologically and pastorally.

IDENTITY NEGOTIATION AS RACIAL MINORITY INDIVIDUALS IN THE U. S.

The identity of first-generation Korean immigrants, who came to the United States as adults, is strongly anchored in traditional Korean culture, having been reinforced by their experiences of growing up in Korea. For most American-born second-generation young people, however, their understanding of who I am is not a given. In a pluralistic setting like the United States, one′s identity formation involves the dialectical process of self-ascription and the ascription of others, an on-going labeling and negotiating process engaged in by oneself and others (Barth 1969; Nagel 1994). To put it differently, one′s identity formation involves a continual negotiation between outsiders′ designation—"what they think your identity is —and one′s own self-assertion—what you think your identity is".

Furthermore, for visible minorities living in a racialized setting like American society, this dialectical process can be wearing, if not detrimental, since the outsiders′ identity designation often contests and even negates one′s self-ascription (Waters 1996). During the past two centuries, Asian Americans have encountered various forms of racism, experiences that have directly shaped their identities as well as their understanding of their own social location (Takaki 1989, Chan 1991). As Asian Americans continually hear voices from mainstream society categorize and label them in a range from yellow peril to model minority, their personhood is assaulted repeatedly (R. Lee 1999).

From the early years of childhood, many Asian Americans have internalized various messages of racism and have become convinced of their inferior identity status in American society. A thirdgeneration Japanese American Christian leader writes:

On that 1-10 scale many of us live by, white folk were always a 10. I was convinced, as an Asian American, that the highest I could ever hit was a 7. I grew up in a predominantly white suburb in the San Francisco Bay area. It was clear to me, even as a child, that whites set the standards and I had to fit into their society if I was going to prosper, or even just survive.... I was embarrassed by my Japanese heritage. I wanted to be as white as I could. White was right. Japanese was not (Tokunaga 1998, 9-10).

His painful experience of racial self-hatred and denial, regretfully, is not an isolated phenomenon. According to Asian American psychologists, the negative self-image of many Asian American youth is one of the most critical counseling issues in Asian American communities (Uba 1994, 113-14; Rue 1994; Young and Takeuchi 1998).

Asian Americans do not cease to wrestle with these challenges simply because they move into young adulthood and adulthood; many continue to struggle with them, albeit in different ways and forms. In a highly racially stratified society like the U. S., an individual′s sense of racial identity changes in many complex ways, depending on the situation and audiences encountered (Padilla 1985; Nagel 1994; Waters 1996). Always carrying a portfolio of ethnic identities, these individuals learn to put on a socially and culturally-defined appropriate identity for a given setting. In other words, who they are is often determined by whom they are with at the moment.

Recent studies (Kim, Song and Moon 1998; Cha 2002) demonstrate that Korean American young people are no exceptions: they also engage in this practice of shuffling multiple identities. They present themselves as Americans in certain settings while identifying themselves as Asian Americans or Korean Americans in others.

The reality of multiple identities and the way different identities are employed, nonetheless, are not benign social phenomenon and practice; they can be a source of deep personal conflict and tension for second-generation individuals. One young Korean American engineer, reflecting upon how and why he presents himself as an American at his workplace, said:

I can schmooze with the best of them [people at the work place]... I can be one of them. I am not really proud of that though because it makes me feel fake at times. But when I have to, I can. But it doesn′t come naturally to me. ... The sickening thing, so to speak, is that the easiest way for me to get along [with Caucasians] is to make fun of my ethnic background. It′s not a matter of me degrading myself, it′s just a matter of breaking through. I knew there had to be compromise somewhere.

Identity negotiation, in short, is a part of everyday life for many second-generation Korean Americans. It is a strategy often employed by these individuals to feel accepted by others and to avoid marginalization. Such a practice, however, comes with a price—a price that includes compromising one′s authentic sense of self, leading one to feel fake and even sickening at times.

Another important finding of identity formation among racial minorities is that their identities continually shift and change as they go through different life stages (Atkinson, Morten, and Sue 1989; Phinney 1989). Recent studies of ethnic identity formation among second-generation Korean Americans indicate that they relate differently to their Americanness and their Koreanness as they go from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to young adulthood (Koh, 1993; Cha, 2001, 2002). Many second-generation Korean Americans′ childhood experience is often characterized by deep yearning to be like their Caucasian friends, thus distancing themselves from their ethnic culture and identity. During their adolescent years, the pendulum swings in the other direction as many of them begin to embrace their Korean American friends and their shared ethnic culture, while withdrawing from mainstream culture. As they enter young adulthood, many reevaluate their narrow preoccupation with their ethnic identity and culture and look for balance, seeking to develop a bicultural identity. However, even as they aim for this balance, many feel that this goal is driven not just by their desire to combine the best of the both worlds, but also by the sad realization that they feel at home neither in mainstream society nor in their own ethnic setting (Cha