Heathen for Heaven: Religion, Race, and Chinese American Relational Redemption in the Chinese Exclusion Era, 1873-1920 Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

This project examines Chinese American religious figures' responses to Chinese Exclusion by focusing on four Chinese Americans: Jee Gam, Ng Poon Chew, Wong Chin Foo, and Yan Phou Lee. Drawing upon their published articles, sermons, and personal writings, this project uses Judith Weisenfeld's religio-racial lens to argue that these Chinese Americans subverted Chinese Exclusion by exposing white Protestant hypocrisy and articulating their own theological visions that intertwined their religious and racial identities. Moreover, using the liyi framework set forth in Family Sacrifices, this study builds upon Kathryn Gin Lum's work in Heathen by arguing that not only did Chinese American religious figures impose critiques upon Chinese Exclusion, they also offered a distinct Chinese American way of doing religion that challenged Western paradigms. By identifying their key relationships, ethical values and moral practices, this project reveals how these Chinese American religious figures practiced Chinese American relational redemption---the prioritization of Chinese spiritual and material salvation through the practice of prophetic witness. This study demonstrates how these Chinese American religious figures' orientation to religion was fundamentally about right relations and compassion, which provided a religio-racial alternative to the "heathen" paradigm. This study contributes to the field of Asian American religions by illuminating the history of Chinese American religious figures' activism against Chinese Exclusion, their religio-racial innovations, and their distinct way of practicing religion.

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................ 1

Chapter 1: "Contrary to the Teaching of Christ":

Chinese American Theological Critiques of Racism .................... 25

Chapter 2: "We Heathen Are a God-fearing Race":

Deconstructing the Heathen .................................................... 50

Chapter 3: For Souls and Bodies: Chinese

American Relational Redemption ............................................ 76

Conclusion ........................................................................... 105

Bibliography ......................................................................... 114

 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Religion
Subfield / Discipline	American Religious Cultures
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, History of History, United States Asian American Studies
Keyword	immigration Orientalism category of religion Asian American religious history race
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Helen Jin Kim, Emory University
Committee Members	Devaka Premawardhana, Emory University Roger Nam, Emory University

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