Table Of ContentRECOVERING OUR SOJOURNER IDENTITY:
AN EXHORTATION FOR OTHERWORLDLINESS FOR CHRISTIAN
POSTMODERN GENERATIONS
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF
GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
BY
DAEVID W. YOON
JANUARY 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Daevid W. Yoon. All Rights Reserved.
DEDICATION
To my loving wife, Erica, my support and companion for life.
Thank you.
Soli Deo Gloria.
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v1
ABSTRACT vil
INTRODUCTION
The Korean American Evangelical Experience as an Example
of Bicultural-ness
Christian Identity is Vital for Balancing Acculturation to a
Secular World
Sojourner Identity in a Postmodern World
Chapter
. IDENTITY FORMATION 12
Finding the Self in Postmodernity and Beyond 12
Forming and Building Identity 15
Forming a Sojourner Identity Biblically 26
Conclusion 36
IDENTITY CRISIS 37
A Three Factor Crisis 37
Crisis of Unfulfilled Identity 51
Conclusion 57
IDENTITY LIVED OUT 58
Biblical Examples 58
Creative Culturists 80
Dialoging Between Sojourners and Pagans 85
Conclusion 105
iv
CONCLUSION 106
Resident Aliens aka Sojourners 106
Another Scriptural Exhortation 109
Final Exhortation 112
Appendix 116
1. ACCULTURATION SURVEY 116
2. 4 BIBLE STUDIES ON OTHERWORLDLINESS 118
BIBLIOGRAPHY 125
VITA 131
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
Calvin Schrag’s Self in the Diachronics of Historical Constitution
Table
. Survey Question #3 Results 40
Survey Questions #4-5 Results 40
Survey Questions #7-9 Results 40
Survey Question #10 Results 41
vi
ABSTRACT
In light of postmodernism’s deconstruction of metanarratives, Christians of this
generation have lost sight of their story. Within that story lies their identity as God’s
people rather than a people of this world’s kingdom. This thesis-project aims to offer an
argument for Christian postmodern generations to return to their narrative of faith as a
people of God and as a people distinct from the kingdom of this world. By analyzing the
identity crisis of Christian postmodern generations as not knowing the otherworldliness
aspect of their faith, and seeking to see how identity is formed communally and
scripturally, we will see how a sojourner identity is lived out in the scriptures and
recommend that a sojourner identity is the best way to balance the bicultural reality of a
Christian living in this world but not being of this world.
vii
INTRODUCTION
The Korean American Evangelical Experience as an Example of Bicultural-ness
Whenever the Olympics come around, young Korean Americans are faced with
this dilemma, “‘what country do I root for?” Especially when it is the year of the Winter
Olympics, speed skating, a sport where both South Korea and the United States are well
accomplished in, can cause a lot of confusion as to where one’s allegiance ought to lie.
This is just a glimpse into the mental exercise and.emotional conflict that goes on in the
minds and hearts of bicultural Americans. The question of “where does my allegiance
lie?” is a question that every Korean American living in the United States must answer.
In God's New Whiz Kids?, Rebecca Kim discusses the college campus phenomenon of
second generation Korean American Evangelicals choosing to attend ethnic-specific
Christian campus ministries instead of assimilating to Caucasian campus ministries. This
example shows Korean Americans choosing an allegiance towards their ethnicity rather
than their immigrant environment. “This pattern conflicts with assimilation theories that
expect ethnic identification to decline, not increase, with socioeconomic mobility and
entrance into mainstream institutions and organizations.”' Let us take a brief look at her
study in order to further illustrate the tension of acculturation that exists within the minds
and hearts of bicultural Americans but also to see how it explains the role identity plays
in the bicultural American’s decision making process of which side to belong to.
Kim’s book contains scattered stories of young Korean American college students
and young professionals recollecting past memories of how they realized that they were
' Rebecca Kim, God’s New Whiz Kids? (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2006), 3.
different from their non-Korean friends. A young Korean American Evangelical
explains his reason for choosing a Korean American Christian ministry by saying he felt
that he did not fit in at a white church:
I grew up with white people, but I don’t know. I grew up in the Korean church and the
majority of my Korean friends are Christian, while all of my white friends are Jewish....1
just felt like I did not fit in at the white church....I had white friends before....Maybe it is
because church time is the time that I am used to being with Koreans, because that is
what I grew up with... It is what I am familiar with.”
But not only the feeling of not fitting in, but constantly being reminded that one was
different was a harsh reality check for some students. An adopted Korean American
woman shared, “There are times when [my adopted white family] would be sitting at a
restaurant or something, and people would just stare....One time this kid at a restaurant
stood up in the middle of dinner, pointed at me, and said something like ‘look Mom, a
Chinese girl.”....1 can think that I am like my [white] sisters all I want, but others will not
see me that way.” Or another Korean American woman shares, “Growing up I never
thought that I was that different. But I remember kids telling me, because they tend to be
very honest and direct...they would ask, ‘why is your face so flat? How can you see from
your eyes?” But physical differences were not the only markers of being different.
Marginalization also pointed to status differences for Korean Americans along with the
reality of a “glass ceiling” in the workplace.* So rather than being treated as an ethnic
minority without opportunities to advance in positions of authority or status, Korean
Americans find strength in their numbers. Kim explains,
? Kim, 82.
> Kim, 83.
* Kim, 83.
* Kim, 97.
SGKAs [second generation Korean Americans] who have strived and obtained
socioeconomic mobility want to be treated accordingly; they want to have the status,
power, and recognition in proportion to their achievement. Finding that these desires are
not met in white-dominant or multiracial settings, they go elsewhere. They form and join
campus ministries, organizations, where they can be the majority in power and not be
marginalized as an ethnic or racial minority.®
Kim’s argument is that their ethnic identity guides them towards the direction of choosing
one side over the other. Desire for community, desire for being together with people of
similar interests and experiences (homophily, as described by sociologists)’, and desire
for majority status, direct young Korean American Evangelicals towards determining
their allegiance to one group over the other, “These three interactive processes guide
SGKAs’ preference for ethnic-specific over pan-ethnic, multiracial, and predominately
white campus ministries. ** Ultimately this expresses itself as “...SGKAs will congregate
with those who share experiences of growing up in immigrant families and churches and
straddling two cultures. This tendency, along with the desire for majority group status
and power, interacts with continuing ethnic/racial categorizations and marginalization to
make separate ethnic associations more desirable.” Kim explains that this tri-factor
process is the new model of emergent ethnicity.!” Therefore, in Kim’s study, ethnic
identity plays a vital role in one’s choice of allegiance. We want to take a look at another
bicultural study which also concludes with the importance of identity, but this time in
how one determines his or her functional role within society.
® Kim, 87.
7 Kim, 78.
* Kim, 14,
° Kim, 88.
Kim, 13-14, 71-88.
