Abstract
This chapter reflects on a queer Asian American feminist Christian woman’s journey for belongingness. The author depicts her theological journey for home as joining a relay of multiple journeys of the forerunners: feminist theo-ethicists who trailblazed the path for decades. The author portrays herself as running the relay filled with embodied wisdom of the forerunners. She shares the embodied knowledge that has guided five critical moments of her life’s journey searching for home, and describes her current research in articulating a moral vision of home in the Korean Asian Christian community. The five forerunners include Rita Nakashima Brock, Letty M. Russell, Traci C. West, Kwok Pui-lan, and Wonhee Anne Joh.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Kwok Pui-lan, Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 101–2, emphasis mine.
- 2.
Rita Nakashima Brock, Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1988).
- 3.
Brock, Journeys by Heart, xiv.
- 4.
Brock, Journeys by Heart, xv.
- 5.
Brock, Journeys by Heart, xvi–xvii.
- 6.
Brock, Journeys by Heart, xv.
- 7.
Letty M. Russell, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 5, n7.
- 8.
Letty M. Russell, Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective—A Theology (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1974).
- 9.
Russell, Human Liberation, 28.
- 10.
Russell, Human Liberation, 30.
- 11.
Russell, Human Liberation, 38–39.
- 12.
It was at Letty Russell’s home in the fall of 1984 that 13 Asian and Asian North American women who were in graduate theological institutions or working in ministries began their journey to find their own voice in theology and ministry with the support and guidance from Russell. Beginning their first conference in 1985 with the name Asian Women Theologians, the group is now called Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM). See “Introduction,” in Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology, ed. Rita Nakashima Brock et al. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), xiii–xv.
- 13.
For more about PANAAWTM, see Kwok Pui-lan and A. R. Bundang Rachel, “PANAAWTM Lives!” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 22, no. 2 (2005): 147–58.
- 14.
The State of New Jersey legally recognized same-sex civil unions from 2007 until same-sex marriage was recognized legally across the U.S. in 2015. As of 2019, there is still no legal protection for same-sex couples in South Korea.
- 15.
Traci C. West, Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), xvii.
- 16.
West, Disruptive Christian Ethics, 38–42.
- 17.
In ethnographic research, reflexivity, which is “self-critical awareness and accountability” is crucial. See Christian Scharen and Aana Marie Vigen, Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics (London: Continuum, 2011), 19–20.
- 18.
West, Disruptive Christian Ethics, 42.
- 19.
West, Disruptive Christian Ethics, 42.
- 20.
West, Disruptive Christian Ethics, 42.
- 21.
Kwok, Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology, 47.
- 22.
Kwok, Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology, 47.
- 23.
Jung Ha Kim, Bridge-Makers and Cross-Bearers: Korean-American Women and the Church (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1997), 72–76.
- 24.
Psychologists agree on the detrimental consequences of model minority stereotypes on the development of youth and families. See Lisa Kiang et al., “Moving Beyond the Model Minority,” Asian American Journal of Psychology 8, no. 1 (2017): 1–6.
- 25.
Wonhee Anne Joh, Heart of the Cross: A Postcolonial Christology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006).
- 26.
Joh, Heart of the Cross, xxi.
- 27.
Wonhee Anne Joh, “Violence and Asian American Experience: From Abjection to Jeong,” in Off the Menu, ed. Brock et al., 148–50.
- 28.
Joh, “Violence and Asian American Experience,” 155.
Bibliography
Brock, Rita Nakashima. Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power. New York, NY: Crossroad, 1988.
Brock, Rita Nakashima, Jung Ha Kim, Kwok Pui-lan, and Seung Ai Yang, eds. Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.
Joh, Wonhee Anne. Heart of the Cross: A Postcolonial Christology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.
Kiang, Lisa, Virginia W. Huynh, Charissa S. L. Cheah, Yijie Wang, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa. “Moving Beyond the Model Minority.” Asian American Journal of Psychology 8, no. 1 (2017): 1–6.
Kim, Jung Ha. Bridge-Makers and Cross-Bearers: Korean-American Women and the Church. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1997.
Kumashiro, K. K. Troubling Intersections of Race and Sexuality: Queer Students of Color and Anti-oppressive Education. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.
Kwok, Pui-lan. Introducing Asian Feminist Theology. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2000.
———. Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
Kwok, Pui-lan, and A. R. Bundang Rachel. “PANAAWTM Lives!” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 22, no. 2 (2005): 147–58.
Russell, Letty M. Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective—A Theology. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1974.
———. Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.
Scharen, Christian, and Aana Marie Vigen. Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics. London: Continuum, 2011.
West, Traci C. Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yoon, J.H. (2020). Finding Home from the In-between Space for a Queer Asian American Christian Woman. In: Kwok, Pl. (eds) Asian and Asian American Women in Theology and Religion. Asian Christianity in the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36818-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36818-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36817-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36818-0
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)