Identity Formation in Chinese Christian Churches in the United States

Yi-Hsuan Chelsea Kuo

Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/sm.2014.44034                

Abstract

This study looks at some of the Chinese Christian churches of the Boston area by first giving an historical overview and then reporting the findings of the author’s fieldwork in a Chinese church in suburban Boston, which is able to shed some light on the many roles Christianity has during the various phases of Chinese immigration and to suggest that it is an ideology which many Chinese immigrants both identify with and reconceptualize in Confucian terms. This Confucian-Christianity has become a common ideology shared by many Chinese Americans: not only the first-generation immigrants who must strive to assimilate but also those second-, third-, and fourth-generation Chinese Americans who join the church largely to partake of the unique communion that it provides and indeed creates.

Keywords

Identity Formation, Immigration, Asian Americans, Sociology of Religion

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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