Asian American Apostate
Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Asian American Apostate is a stunning contribution to the topic of deconstruction and leaving high-demand religion that for too long has been almost exclusively occupied by White voices."
-Bradley Onishi, host of Straight White American Jesus and author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism-and What Comes Next
R. Scott Okamoto had no idea that his job as an English teacher at an evangelical Christian college meant facing bigotry as an Asian American and faux intellectualism as a teacher-and what it would mean for his own journey.
Asian American Apostate is a wry and ironic story of leaving religion while teaching at an evangelical university. The often-chilling accounts Okamoto tells reveal that such schools, where prayer and trite theological debate erupt in any lecture, demonstrate anything but higher education. From a classroom declaration against interracial marriage because it causes painful pregnancies, to grading a paper entitled, "Why Obama Is a Nazi," and to the times Okamoto was disciplined by school officials for keeping standards for writing, you'll get the inside story of how America's evangelical schools encourage not a life of the mind but White cultural power. More than that, you'll see how Okamoto found clarity about who he was not, and who he was coming to be.
Read along as Okamoto recounts his difficult, unlikely, and ultimately encouraging journey, one that will immerse you in the search for a deeper and more expansive life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this dark, unsparing debut, musician Okamoto recounts leaving behind his Christian faith while teaching at an evangelical university. Okamoto grew up firmly "indoctrinated into conservative fundamentalism" and consumed by the "euphoria" of worship songs at Christian retreats, but his faith began to wane in college, and when he landed a job teaching writing at an unnamed "flagship evangelical university," he vowed to challenge students' conservative worldviews. But many didn't come to such places to have their views interrogated, he learned—only to be more "in love with Jesus"—and the on-campus culture was rife with homophobia, obsession with the prosperity gospel, and blatant racism, including a surreal moment in which a student's mother argued against interracial marriage in the Japanese American author's classroom. Okamoto stayed because he hoped to help those trying to "reconcile the irreconcilable values of evangelical Christianity," but the 2000 presidential election spurred the collapse of his faith and his gradual transformation into an agnostic. Though his caustic tone sometimes becomes grating ("I walked around campus muttering under my breath, ‘Fuck you. You there, praying by the coffee shop.... Fuck you' "), Okamoto's perspective on being Asian American in a white, insular Evangelical environment is fascinating and candidly expressed. Readers who can get past the off-putting narration will unearth some sharp insights.
