PANA Institute for Leadership Development

Concurrent Session B2 / Saturday.2008.Aug.9 / 8:30 AM / Mudd 100

Lalruatkima, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA:  lalruatkima@hotmail.com
Helen Kim, Boston, MA:  helenjinkim@gmail.com
Quynhhoa Nguyen, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA:  quynhnguyen08@yahoo.com
Brett Esaki, University of California, Santa Barbara:  scroopiv@hotmail.com

This session comes out of an ongoing ethnological project that looks at scriptural readings among five communities of color (African American, Arab American, Asian American, Latino/a, and Native American).  On the basis of personal interviews that we have conducted with over forty Asian Americans on the west coast, these four papers attempt to look at how Asian Americans who espouse or believe in scriptural inerrancy/authority deal with issues of cultural heritage, doubt, charity, and homosexuality, and what those dealings or negotiations imply about the connections between their religion and race.

Papers:

• Lalruatkima
  “Places of Tension: Interpretive Strategies, Asian Americans, and the Bible”
• Helen Kim
  “When Doubt Arises: On Reading the Bible Faithfully”
• Quynhhoa Nguyen
  "Living out Christian Love through Charity: The Bible, Immigrants, and Homeboundness among Vietnamese Americans in Los Angeles"
• Brett Esaki
  “The Nature of Leaders and Natural Homosexuality for Conservative Asian American Christians”.