DESCRIPTION:

This course looks at the unique development of the Korean immigrant church in the United States, as the largest Asian American church, in the past one hundred years from a social-spiritual perspective. Key questions will be examined: How did the church first start on the mainland and Hawaii? Why did it move from the plantations and farms to the cities? What factors have guided its understanding and practice of church organization in the past and present? What issues need to be addressed to better organize itself as the people of God in the world? Students will be required to do their own secondary and primary research, mainly by way of qualitative interviewing, of one's own (or of another) local immigrant church and/or denomination in the United States. The lectures, in particular, will discuss the church's central role among Koreans in the United States since its beginning in 1902 to the present, and they, in general, will also discuss the importance of the church for other immigrant groups in the United States.

Satisfactory completion of this course will enable students to appreciate the unique importance of an immigrant church, to assess its movement with apparent and not so apparent weaknesses and strengths, and to consider how it should be organized having varying contextual needs from mainline churches.

Class meets daily for two weeks for four-hour sessions of lectures, discussion and student presentations.

Chang, Chul Tim. "Toward a Model of Renewal: An Analysis of Korean Baptist Churches in the United States." Ph.D. dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary, 2003.

Hurh, Won M. The New Americans: The Korean Americans. Greenwood Press, 1998.

Kim, Warren. Koreans in America. P. Chai Chai Press. 1979.

Lee, S. H., ed. Korean American Ministry. General Assembly Council-Presbyterian Church Press, 1993.

Chan, Sucheng. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History. Twayne Publishers, 1991.

Guillermo, A. R., ed. Church Aflame: Asian American and United Methodism. Abingdon, 1991.

Kim, Ho-Youn; K. W. Chung; & R. S. Warner, eds. Korean Americans and Their Religions: Pilgrims & Missionaries from a Different Shore. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.

Matsuoka, Fumitaka. Out of Silence: Emerging Themes in Asian American Churches. United Church Press, 1995.

Patterson, Wayne. The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawaii, 1903-1973. University of Hawaii Press, 2000.

Romo, I. Oscar. American Mosaic: Church Planting in Ethnic America. Broadman Press, 1995.

(1) 1,400 pages of assigned reading with one-page reflections of each article/book; first 400 pp. of reading & reflection due July 9; second 400 pp. due July 16; remainder due August 16. (2) Hold three qualitative interviews of 45 minutes with one-page written summaries; first interview & summary due July 13; remaining two due August 16. (3) Research and write a 4,200-word paper; one-page summary due July 9; finished paper due August 31. (4) Required attendance at all class sessions.