Thread by @janehongphd

1/ How it started // How it's going

I got a book contract w/@OUPAcademic!

2/ Perhaps fitting since #AARSBL2020 is happening now, I have many #amrel & #APARRI folks to thank for making this book seem possible.

Because hot tip: It’s not easy to do a 2nd book so different from your 1st. In at least one different subfield. About a different time period.

3/ Model Christians, Model Minorities (title tbd) asks how post-1965 Asian immigrants have changed U.S. evangelical institutions & politics.

It began as an attempt to understand why so many AA Christians (incl. members of my family) voted for Trump in 2016 (& some, in 2020).

4/ But, like any trained historian, I knew the story was a LOT bigger than Trump or a couple elections.

For ex, how did we get here? intervarsity.org/news/tom-lin-n…

And here: tinyurl.com/y6gadzh8

And then: nae.net/nae-appoints-w…

5/ And it's not just the (East) Asian American men.

@ntoyamaszeto is the exec. director of CSA (formerly ESA), founded by Ron Sider in 1974.

Most recently, the group dropped "Evangelicals" & became "Christians for Social Action" tinyurl.com/y54u3v78

christiansforsocialaction.org/about-us/our-t…

6/ In March @CTmagazine did a podcast about the AA leader "trend" w/one of my favorite church historians (& past @ASChurchHistory president), Paul Lim (Vanderbilt).

Also, see tinyurl.com/y4sfvyoh

And yes, it is significant that almost all are men.

tinyurl.com/y67w8mdx

7/ Others can judge their leadership. As a historian, I’m interested in how they got there & what it says about how historically white evangelical orgs have negotiated growing racial diversity. I study these institutions to chart changes in US evangelicalism over the past 50+ yrs

8/ I’m equally interested in how Asians & AA have negotiated hist. white orgs not created with them in mind. AND in orgs created by AA for AA. @jems_org. AACF. Agape Fellowship, a 1970s AsianAm COMMUNE inspired by the AA Movement & Jesus Movement. & more churches than I can name.

9/ I already knew from living in NY-NJ/Boston/LA how Asian intern. students & AA flocked to Fuller, Westminster (PA & CA), Talbot, & Gordon-Conwell every yr. I knew Asian and AA graduates of evangelical schools all along the spectrum from Wheaton & Biola to Bob Jones & Liberty.

10/ Like any other constructed racial grouping, AA evangelicals are politically, ethnically, geographically, SES (etc.) diverse. They’re not all conservative. They're not all East Asian. They don't all live in California. I plan to write about that, too. tinyurl.com/y3mlax6q

fin/ I didn’t train in religion. But #amrel folks have supported & welcomed me into the fold. Folks like @LivedTheology @mjcressler @davidrswartz @helenjinkim @MelissaMayBorja @suejeannekoh & many more off Twitter. #APARRI

#amrel is #AcademicTwitter at its best. & I am grateful.

Important note: Not all Asian American Christians identify as evangelical (gasp!). I plan to write about that, too. This piece is case in point. I mention it b/c it resonated so strongly with many AAC who do or at some point did call themselves evangelical. #DefineYourTerms 🧐

* post-1965 Asian imm. & their CHILDREN *

Also, AA evangelical Xtians who voted for Trump are not the majority. Acc to @ProfJanelleWong "less than 40%of registered evangelical Asian-Americans and less than 30% registered Latino evangelicals reported voting for Trump in 2016."

On this topic, if anyone has updated numbers on % of Asian American Christians who identify as "evangelical," I would love to know. I'm still working w/the 58% stat from 2012 @PewReligion report on AA religions but might have changed since #exvangelical & #postevangelical? #amrel