Religion and Spirituality in Korean America

David K. Yoo is a professor of Asian American studies and history at UCLA. His books include Contentious Spirits: Religion in Korean American History, 1903-1945 and Growing Up Nisei.Ruth H. Chung is a professor of clinical education, educational psychology, and marriage and family therapy at the University of Southern California.

• Foreword                                             ixRoger DanielsAcknowledgements                                             xiIntroduction                                             1David K. Yoo and Ruth H. ChungSection 1. Traditions1 Korean American Catholic Communities: A Pastoral Reflection                                             21Anselm Kyongsuk Min2. Asserting Buddhist Selves in a Christian Land: The Maintenance of Religious Identity among Korean Buddhists in America                               40Okyun Kwon3. The Religiosity and Socioeconomic Adjustment of Buddhist and Protestant Korean Americans                                              60Okyun KwonSection II. Passages4. Waiting for God: Religion and Korean American Adoption                                              83Jae Ran Kim5. Liminality and Worship in the Korean American Context                                             100Sang Hyun Lee6. The Restoried Lives: The Everyday Theology of Korean American Never-Married Women                                             116Jung Ha Kim7. Korean American Religiosity As a Predictor of Marital Commitment and Satisfaction                                             137Ruth H. Chung and Sung Hyun UmSection III. From Generation to Generation8. Replanting Sacred Spaces: The Emergence of Second-Generation Korean American Churches                                             151Sharon Kim9. Second-Generation Korean American Evangelicals on the College Campus: Constricting Ethnic Boundaries                                             172Rebecca Kim10. A Usable Past? Reflections on Generational Change in Korean American Protestantism                                             193David K. YooSelected Bibliography                                             217Contributors                                             233Index                                             235

"Of considerable interest and utlity to students and scholars of the important, multifaceted role of religion in the lives of contemporary immigrants in the US. Recommended."--Choice“This book offers a probing and refreshingly critical lens into [Korean Americans’] religious world . . . . An excellent contribution to the growing literature on religion, race, and ethnicity among new Americans.”--Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion “Readily accessible to the general reader, this book provides an excellent study of post-1965 Korean American religions.”--Religious Studies Review"A treat for those exploring the landscape of Korean American spiritual experience. The book offers religious angles on such social issues as gender and patriarchy, marriage and singlehood, family practices, and generational change, as well as such more usual concerns as theology, worship, and church practice. Yoo and Chung also highlight dialogue between Protestant, Buddhist, and Catholic religious perspectives. I particularly like the fact that they include a reflection by a Korean American transnational adoptee, a segment of the Korean American community scholars too frequently overlook. There is much here that will provide food for thought and that will stimulate both scholars and students of Asian American religion."--Paul Spickard, author of Is Lighter Better?: Skin-Tone Discrimination among Asian Americans