Deliverance and Submission : Evangelical Women and the Negotiation of Patriarchy in South Korea

by Chong, Kelly H.

• ISBN13: 9780674031074
• ISBN10: 0674031075
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-15
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

South Korea is home to one of the most vibrant evangelical Protestant communities in the world. This book investigates the meanings of-and the reasons behind-an intriguing aspect of contemporary South Korean evangelicalism: the intense involvement of middle-class women. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Seoul that explores the relevance of gender and womenrs"s experiences to Korean evangelicalism, Kelly H. Chong not only helps provide a clearer picture of the evangelical movementrs"s success in South Korea, but interrogates the global question of contemporary womenrs"s attraction to religious traditionalisms.In highlighting the growing disjunction between the forces of social transformation that are rapidly liberalizing modern Korean society, and a social system that continues to uphold key patriarchal structures on both societal and familial levels, Chong relates womenrs"s religious involvement to the contradictions of South Korears"s recent socio-cultural changes and complex engagement with modernity. By focusing on the ways in which womenrs"s religious participation constitutes-both spiritually and institutionally-an important part of their effort to negotiate the problems and dilemmas of contemporary family and gender relations, this book explores the contradictory significance of evangelical beliefs and practices for women, which simultaneously opens up possibilities for gender negotiation/resistance, and for womenrs"s redomestication.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. xiii
Note to the Reader	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Entering the Field: Protestant Evangelicalism in Korea	p. 14
A Brief History	p. 15
The Contemporary Picture: Beliefs, Practices, and Culture	p. 24
Setting and Method	p. 32
A Note on Ethnography	p. 39
Women's Conversion and the Contradictions of Contemporary Gender and Family Relations	p. 48
The Economic "Miracle" and the Quandaries of Compressed Development	p. 53
The Ideology and Structure of Neo-Confucian Patriarchy	p. 58
Changes and Contradictions in Family and Gender after World War II	p. 63
Women's Domestic Dilemmas	p. 74
Conclusion	p. 80
Search for Release, Search for Healing: Deliverance through Spiritual Practice	p. 82
Pathways to Conversion	p. 84
"Opening-Up" the Self	p. 95
The Power of Surrender	p. 99
Love, Forgiveness, and Empowerment	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 109
Negotiating Women's Space: Community, Autonomy, and Empowerment	p. 110
From "Helpmate" to "Kitchen Herd"	p. 112
Women's Space, Women's Community	p. 117
In Quest of Recognition: God's Work and Status Rewards	p. 121
Confidence and Fearlessness: Toward Internal Transformation	p. 126
Self-Cultivation and Learning	p. 131
Conclusion	p. 133
Bargaining with Patriarchy: The Politics of Submission and Gender	p. 135
Domesticating Willful Women: The Evangelical Ideology of Family and Gender	p. 136
The Paradox of Submission	p. 148
Conclusion	p. 170
Women's Redomestication and the Question of Consent	p. 171
The Two Sides of Religious Power	p. 171
Explaining Consent	p. 176
Conclusion	p. 188
Women and Evangelicalism in South Korea: Blessing or Burden?	p. 189
The Politics of Resistance and Consent	p. 194
Of Women, Gender, Modernity, and the Future of Korean Evangelicalism	p. 196
Reference Matter
Notes	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 239
Index	p. 257
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