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book: Getting Saved in America
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Getting Saved in America

Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience
  • and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2009

About this book

What does becoming American have to do with becoming religious? Many immigrants become more religious after coming to the United States. Taiwanese are no different. Like many Asian immigrants to the United States, Taiwanese frequently convert to Christianity after immigrating. But Americanization is more than simply a process of Christianization. Most Taiwanese American Buddhists also say they converted only after arriving in the United States even though Buddhism is a part of Taiwan's dominant religion. By examining the experiences of Christian and Buddhist Taiwanese Americans, Getting Saved in America tells "a story of how people become religious by becoming American, and how people become American by becoming religious."


Carolyn Chen argues that many Taiwanese immigrants deal with the challenges of becoming American by becoming religious. Based on in-depth interviews with Taiwanese American Christians and Buddhists, and extensive ethnographic fieldwork at a Taiwanese Buddhist temple and a Taiwanese Christian church in Southern California, Getting Saved in America is the first book to compare how two religions influence the experiences of one immigrant group. By showing how religion transforms many immigrants into Americans, it sheds new light on the question of how immigrants become American.

Author / Editor information

Carolyn Chen is associate professor of sociology and Asian American studies at Northwestern University.

Reviews

"Chen has . . . provided a valuable new resource for both researchers and teachers, one which well compliments other studies on immigrant religion by focusing on its transformative, not just preservative, aspects. Scholars of both religious studies and sociology will learn much from this work."---Jeff Wilson, Church History --- "Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience will be an invaluable addition to the fields of sociology and religion, religion and immigration, Asian American studies and Ethnic Studies and illuminative for both students and scholars."---Sharon A. Suh, Journal of Politics and Religion --- "[R]eaders will certainly agree that Getting Saved in America is an engaging , insightful, and well-written book about immigrants and their religious conversion. . . . Getting Saved will be a standard text for contemporary studies of immigrants and religious conversion. It is a must-read and will no doubt be in the running for the best book lists of the year in the fields of immigration and religion."---Rebbeca Y. Kim, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion --- "This book thus offers interesting points of view on the construction of identity and constitutes a good reference for understanding the family and religious traditions of the Taiwanese people: meaningful anecdotes, examples, and quotations, and a psychological approach."---Hayet Sellami, China Perspectives

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    CONTENTS

    vii
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    A Note on Translations

    ix
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    Acknowledgments

    xi
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    Introduction: Becoming Religious by Becoming American

    1
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    1. From Beautiful Island (Ilha Formosa) to Beautiful Country (America: Bi-kuo/Mei-guo)

    16
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    2. Becoming Christian

    38
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    3. Becoming Buddhist

    77
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    4. Becoming American Men and Women

    111
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    5. Cultivating American Saints

    146
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    Conclusion: Becoming Americans

    186
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    Appendix: Interview Schedule

    203
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    References

    207
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    Index

    227
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 16, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9781400824175
Edition:
Course Book
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400824175
eBook ISBN: 9781400824175
Keywords for this book
Buddhism; Religion; Christian mythology; Evangelicalism in the United States; Conversion narrative; Society of the United States; Qualified person (European Union); Time in the United States; Marketing; Christianity; Christianity in the United States; 99 Ranch Market; American Majority; Human capital; Pastor; Missionary; Deacon; Religious conversion; Christian and Missionary Alliance; Mrs.; Community development; University of North Carolina; Insurance; Judeo-Christian; Buddhism in Taiwan; Citizenship of the United States; Omnipotence; Religious experience; Industry; Mainline Protestant; Spirit guide; Era; Printing; Preservationist; Cambodian Americans; American middle class; Icon; Religious symbol; Western world; European diaspora; Christian tradition; D. H. Lawrence; Official language; Buddha-nature; Romans 16; Real estate license; Immigration policy; Self-governance; Hsi Lai Temple; Permanent residency; Religious pluralism; Christianity in China; Hinduism in the United States; Colonialism; Interior life (Catholic theology); Catholic Church in Mexico; Hall church; Israelites; Accounting; Residential area; Conversion to Christianity; Disciple (Christianity); Positive liberty; Shahada; Patriotism; Progenitor; Sake; Rotary International; Social equality; Incarnation (Christianity)
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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