South Korea is home to one of the most vibrant evangelical Protestant communities in the world. This book investigates the meanings of—and the reasons behind—an intriguing aspect of contemporary South Korean evangelicalism: the intense involvement of middle-class women. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Seoul that explores the relevance of gender and women’s experiences to Korean evangelicalism, Kelly H. Chong not only helps provide a clearer picture of the evangelical movement’s success in South Korea, but interrogates the global question of contemporary women’s attraction to religious traditionalisms.

In highlighting the growing disjunction between the forces of social transformation that are rapidly liberalizing modern Korean society, and a social system that continues to uphold key patriarchal structures on both societal and familial levels, Chong relates women’s religious involvement to the contradictions of South Korea’s recent socio-cultural changes and complex engagement with modernity. By focusing on the ways in which women’s religious participation constitutes—both spiritually and institutionally—an important part of their effort to negotiate the problems and dilemmas of contemporary family and gender relations, this book explores the contradictory significance of evangelical beliefs and practices for women, which simultaneously opens up possibilities for gender negotiation/resistance, and for women’s redomestication.

Contents
		List of Tables	xiii
		Note to the Reader	xiv
		Introduction	1
1		Entering the Field: Protestant Evangelicalism in Korea	14
			A Brief History 15
			The Contemporary Picture: Beliefs, Practices, and Culture 24
			Setting and Method 32
			A Note on Ethnography 39
2		Women's Conversion and the Contradictions of 
		Contemporary Gender and Family Relations	48
			The Economic "Miracle" and the Quandaries 
				of Compressed Development 53
			The Ideology and Structure of Neo-Confucian Patriarchy 58
			Changes and Contradictions in Family 
				and Gender Relations after World War II 63
			Women's Domestic Dilemmas 74
			Conclusion 80
3		Search for Release, Search for Healing: 
		Deliverance through Spiritual Practice	82
			In Search of Healing: Pathways to Conversion 84
			"Opening-Up" the Self 95
			The Power of Surrender 99
			Love, Forgiveness, and Empowerment 104
			Conclusion 109
4		Negotiating Women's Space: 
		Community, Autonomy, and Empowerment	110
			Women in the Church: From "Helpmate" to "Kitchen Herd" 112
			Women's Space, Women's Community 117
			In Quest of Recognition: God's Work and Status Rewards 121
			Confidence and Fearlessness: Toward Internal Transformation 126
			Self-Cultivation and Learning 131
			Conclusion 133
5		Bargaining with Patriarchy: 
		The Politics of Submission and Gender within the Church	135
			Domesticating Willful Women: 
				The Evangelical Ideology of Family and Gender 136
			The Paradox of Submission 148
			Conclusion 170
6		Women's Redomestication and the Question of Consent	171
			The Other Side of Religious Power 171
			Explaining Consent 176
			Ambivalent Subjectivities and Consciousness 185
		Conclusion	188
			Women and Evangelicalism in South Korea: 
				Blessing or Burden? 189
			Implications for the Study of Women 
				and Religious Traditionalism 192
			The Politics of Resistance and Consent 194
			Of Women, Gender, Modernity, and the Future 
				of Korean Evangelicalism 196
Reference Matter
		Notes	203
		Bibliography	239
		Index	257