Encountering Modernity

Encountering Modernity

Christianity in East Asia and Asian America

In: Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies, 41

Edited by: Albert L. Park, David K. Yoo and Russell Leong

University of Hawaii Press | 2014

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824840174

Overview
Contents

About this book

The story of Catholicism and Protestantism in China, Japan, and Korea has been told in great detail. The existing literature is especially rich in documenting church and missionary activities as well as how varied regions and cultures have translated Christian ideas and practices. Less evident, however, are studies that contextualize Christianity within the larger economic, political, social, and cultural developments in each of the three countries and its diasporas. The contributors to Encountering Modernity address such concerns and collectively provide insights into Christianity’s role in the development of East Asia and as it took shape among East Asians in the United States.

The work brings together studies of Christianity in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan and its diasporas to expand the field through new angles of vision and interpretation. Its mode of analysis not only results in a deeper understanding of Christianity, but also produces more informed and nuanced histories of East Asian countries that take seriously the structures and sensibilities of religion—broadly understood and within a national and transnational context. It critically investigates how Protestant Christianity was negotiated and interpreted by individuals in Korea, China (with a brief look at Taiwan), and Japan starting in the nineteenth century as all three countries became incorporated into the global economy and the international nation-state system anchored by the West. People in East Asia from various walks of life studied and, in some cases, embraced principles of Christianity as a way to frame and make meaningful the economic, political, and social changes they experienced because of modernity.

Encountering Modernity makes a significant contribution by moving beyond issues of missiology and church history to ask how Christianity represented an encounter with modernity that set into motion tremendous changes throughout East Asia and in transnational diasporic communities in the United States.

Author information

ParkAlbert L.:

Albert L. Park is associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna College.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Acknowledgments Free access PDF PDF	vii
Introduction: Modernity and the Materiality of Religion Albert L. Park and David K. Yoo Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
Part I. Economy and Religion
1. A Sacred Economy of Value and Production Capitalism and Protestantism in Early Modern Korea (1885–1919) Albert L. Park Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	19
2. Taking Jesus Public The Neoliberal Transformation of Korean Megachurches Eun Young Lee Easley Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	47
Part II. Religion and Social Relations
3. Guanxi and Gospel Mapping Christian Networks in South China Joseph Tse-Hei Lee Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	71
4. Accidental Pilgrims Modernity, Migration, and Christian Conversion among Contemporary Taiwanese Americans Carolyn Chen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	95
Part III. The Sacred and Social Activism
5. Christianity and Civil Society in Colonial Korea The Civil Society Movement of Cho Man-sik and the P’yŏngyang YMCA against Japanese Colonialism Kyusik Chang Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	119
6. Between Mission and Medicine The Early History of Severance Hospital Yunjae Park Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	140
7. Kagawa Toyohiko (1888–1960) and the Japanese Christian Impact on American Society Mark R. Mullins Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	162
Part IV. Religion and National Identity
8. Preaching Modern Japan National Imaginaries and Protestant Sermons in Meiji and Taishō Tokyo Garrett L. Washington Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	197
9. “Smelling of Pickled Radish, Not Butter” The Wartime Search for a Christianity Viable in Japan Gregory Vanderbilt Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	224
10. Diasporic Korean Christianity in the United States, 1922–1941 David K. Yoo Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	254
11. Protestant Christianity in Reform-Era China Realities and Representations David Ownby Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	278
Selected Bibliography Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	309
Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	329
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	331

Encountering Modernity

Christianity in East Asia and Asian America

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