The Uses of Reading Ethnic Minority Literature: The Case for Christian Multiculturalism
John J. Han, Ph.D. [1]
Associate Professor of English
Missouri Baptist University
As an intellectual and cultural phenomenon, American multiculturalism arose in the 1960s, gained momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, and has established itself as a dominant social force since the 1990s. Although the term multiculturalism defies a neat definition, scholars and critics generally agree that it strives to "legitimize the cultural pluralism of the rapidly diversifying American population" (Brinkley 1046). It reflects a growing popular sentiment that American culture, which has been dominated primarily by white males of European descent, needs to recognize other voices in society-those of white females and of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans.
With the rise of multiculturalism, the traditional curriculum in public schools has also experienced change. Since 1978, for example, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has required that teacher education include multicultural contents (Gollnick 63). Ethnic minority literature, commonly called multicultural literature or minority literature, has become an integral part of the English curriculum in the United States.[2] The National Center for Association of Teacher Education (NCATE), a national accrediting agency, requires that the general education curriculum for future teachers include literature, alongside mathematics, the arts, science, social science, and physical education, and that the general education curriculum "promote the multicultural and global perspectives." In other words, multicultural education has become mandatory-at least for those institutions seeking national accreditation for teacher education. Meanwhile, the National Council of Teachers of English's (NCTE) position statement on the teaching of English, which is currently available online, identifies the lack of attention to minority history and literature as follows:
Minority groups in the United States, especially the non-white minorities-Native Americans, Asian Americans, Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, et al[-].continue to face a school curriculum that, for them, is culturally impoverished. Ironically, it is also a curriculum which, in different fashion, cripples white students and teachers by denying them the opportunity to learn abut the history and literature of other Americans who are non-whites. ("Non-White")
The increasing significance of ethnic minority writers is also reflected in the amount of attention they receive from anthology editors and literary critics. A perusal of the shorter editions of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, one of the most highly regarded anthologies, demonstrates how the textbook canon of American literature has changed in recent decades. In the second edition, published in 1986, a total of 104 authors are represented. Of those, 90 authors (87%) are European Americans, and 14 (13%) are African Americans, but no authors of Hispanic, Asian, or Native American descent are included. The fifth edition of the same anthology, published in 1999, shows a marked departure from the traditional, predominately white-dominated canon. It includes a total of 152 authors, of whom 102 (67%) are European Americans, 25 (16%) are African Americans, 19 (13%) are Native American authors or Native American texts originating in oral tradition, 3 (2%) are Hispanic Americans, and another 3 (2%) are Asian Americans.[3]
While writers of color have certainly enriched the American literary landscape, their rising popularity poses a serious question for the Christian teacher of minority literature: Is the multicultural worldview, which pervades ethnic minority literature, compatible with the Christian faith? Missouri Baptist University's upper-level English course "Minority Literature" exemplifies this seeming contradiction. According to the University catalog, the course "examines Postmodern genres from World War II to the present" and emphasizes "multiculturalism" (Missouri 181). Meanwhile, part of the University's mission statement reads: "Missouri Baptist University is an evangelical Christian, liberal arts institution of higher learning and has as its purpose the offering of programs of study leading to professional certificates, undergraduate degrees, and graduate degrees in an environment where academic excellence is emphasized and a Biblically-based Christian perspective is maintained" (Missouri 1). Is it possible to reconcile "multiculturalism" in the course description with "a Biblically-based Christian perspective" in the institutional mission statement?
In order to answer this question, we need to consider what multiculturalism really means, for there seems to be a sweeping generalization of this highly complex and slippery term. Indeed, some well-meaning evangelicals today tend to view multiculturalism fundamentally as a postmodern movement that is hostile to the Christian faith. In his 2000 book Time for Truth, Os Guinness, a prominent Christian cultural critic, discusses how writing in the United States has deteriorated, through the influence of postmodernism, since the 1970s. He uses the testimony of creative writing professor Kay Haugaard in southern California, who found the changes in the published stories and students' writings in the 1970s:
Slowly the writing and the responses changed. The shift started with the increased violence of the stories of Vietnam veterans that talked of killing, maiming, brutal deaths, and bizarre sexual encounters with Vietnamese prostitutes. Then, successively, it was the turn of homosexual narratives, lesbian testimonies, and varied writings on civil rights, sexual liberation, and multiculturalism. Gradually the explicitness of the anger, victimhood, and lewdness led to a noticeable coarsening of the writing and a jadeness of the responses. (22-23)
In complete agreement with Haugaard, Guinness places multiculturalism alongside writings on homosexuality, civil rights, and feminism.
In another part of the book, Guinness deplores how Rigobeta Menchú, a Quiché Indian in Guatemala, distorted truth in her autobiography I, Rigobeta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala (1983). In this book, Menchú details the Guatemalan suppression of the Native people which is excruciatingly painful to read. She founded the Committee for the Peasants' Unity, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, and has worked as an internationally renowned political activist. The problem with Rigobeta's book, according to Guinness, lay in the fact that she fabricated some parts of her story to promote revolutionary violence in her country; she was "a poster girl who simultaneously fulfilled the dreams of the left-wing solidarity movements, the human-rights community, and the movement of ethnic and women's studies in Western universities known as multiculturalism" (36).
Some Christian scholars have even been critical of the inclusion of multicultural works in literary anthologies and academic curricula. In his book Reading between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, Professor Gene Edward Veith, Jr. at Concordia University-Wisconsin protests that minority literature in the United States has received an overemphasis despite its lack of quality:
Debates over what should constitute "the canon" of great literature are now raging among literary scholars. What is emerging is an affirmative action plan for anthologies and educational curricula no less than for the workplace. Works are chosen out of fairness to ethnic groups rather than upon intrinsic merit, a concept thoroughly discredited by Postmodern criticism. Christian critics have often been maligned for valuing authors on the basis of their theological position, rather than their literary significance, and for reducing works of aesthetic complexity to a theological formula. Today, some of the most progressive critics are valuing authors on the basis of their gender or race and reducing work of aesthetic complexity to a political formula. (208-09)
Veith's observation is strikingly similar to that of Professor Harold Bloom at Yale University, one of the preeminent literary critics today. In his highly controversial book The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages (1994), Bloom contends that the mark of a canonical literary work is "strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange" (3). This originality, which he finds in the works of such writers as Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, and James Joyce, cannot be found in multicultural literature. According to Bloom, "Pragmatically, the 'expansion of the Canon' has meant the destruction of the Canon, since what is being taught includes by no means the best writers who happen to be women, African, Hispanic, or Asian, but rather the writers who offer little but the resentment they have developed as part of their sense of identity. There is no strangeness and no originality in such resentment." (7). An advocate of pure aestheticism, Bloom further argues that "the literary is not dependent on the philosophical, and that the aesthetic is irreducible to ideology or to metaphysics" (10).
Admittedly, some multicultural writers deal with socio-political issues, including slavery, racism, identity crisis, and cultural conflicts, in their works. Numerous ethnic autobiographers-Frederick Douglass, Richard Wright, Carlos Bulosan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Maya Angelou, N. Scott Momaday, and Pat Mora, to name a few-indeed write about socio-political issues that are relevant to them and to their respective ethnicity. It is also true that some ethnic writers undercut or challenge the institutions developed in the West, including the Christian church. In his work The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), written with the assistance of Alex Haley, the author reminisces about the Europeanized Christianity forced upon the black race: The Negro "was taught to worship an alien God having the same blond hair, pale skin, and blue eyes as the slave-master" (163). It is no wonder that some literary critics classify American multiculturalism as part of postmodern, cultural studies, which also includes British cultural materialism and the New Historicism (Guerin, et al. 239-301).
Nevertheless, all attempts to devalue multicultural literature as a whole are doomed to fail because multicultural literature is more serious and complex than its detractors portray it to be. Although Guinness rightly points out that Menchú fabricated part of her autobiography for political purposes, he is mistaken in his indiscriminate use of the term multiculturalism and in his failure to discuss perhaps the more important issue that Menchú raises: horrendous injustices against the native population. Although Guinness briefly mentions, "Menchú's brother (and parents) had certainly been killed by the army" (37), he fails to provide any moral judgment on the army's brutal actions on native civilians. Veith's aforementioned book offers an excellent critique of postmodernism, from an evangelical Christian perspective. As he aptly implies, not all of multicultural writings will withstand the test of time. There is so much demand for minority literature in the market that some writers hastily publish works that are of dubious quality. Such works tend to be melodramatic and sentimental in subject matter, plot, and characterization. However, Veith's wholesale criticism of the nature and quality of ethnic minority literature is unjustified. He claims that anthologized works are selected based on the philosophy of affirmative action. In actuality, however, selecting works for inclusion in a literary anthology is typically conducted in consultation with the instructors who are actually going to use it in the classroom. This is evidenced by the Preface to the Shorter Fifth Edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, in which general editor Nina Baym writes: "As every teacher of American literature knows, over the last two decades the American literary canon has become still more extensive and diverse than it was in the mid-seventies. In each successive edition, we have adjusted our selections in response to detailed suggestions from many teachers. For this Shorter Fifth Edition, we have drawn on the careful commentary of sixty reviewers" (Baym xxix). Although teachers of literature cannot claim an inalienable right to dictate a literary canon, one may reasonably trust their discernment and judgment because they are professionals in literary studies; alongside literary critics and writers, these teachers are presumably the most knowledgeable about the evolving canon of literature.
The claim that multicultural literature lacks what Veith calls "intrinsic merit" and "aesthetic complexity" is refuted by the critical and popular acclaims that many minority writers have received. Also, what constitutes "intrinsic merit" and "aesthetic complexity" is an issue upon which literary critics do not always agree. Although anti-multiculturalists contend that minority literature promotes an "agenda," there is virtually no serious literary work that does not deal with an agenda of some kind. Literature reflects life and thus covers all aspects of life, including political, economic, and social issues. Dante wrote The Divine Comedy out of highly personal and political motives as well as his desire to portray the Catholic afterlife. As Archibald T. MacAllister rightly notes, the work is "intensely personal and political, for it was written out of the anguish of a man who saw his life blighted by the injustice and corruption of his times" (xiv). Also, numerous authors of the West have written literary utopias to promote their ideologies: examples include Greek philosopher Plato's The Republic, Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516), Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (1888), William Morris's News from Nowhere (1890), Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), and George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Anti-multiculturalists also claim that minority literature is one-dimensional and thus shallow. However, artistic complexity is a Western concept and thus is not always useful or relevant in critiquing minority literature. The Bible-non-Western in origin-is regarded as a world masterpiece despite its overall simplicity, straightforwardness, and conciseness in content and style; except for the difficulties involved in apocalyptic literature, the logic of Hebrew, and parables, the Bible is generally intelligible for the reader who has a basic understanding of ancient Middle Eastern history and culture.
Does multicultural literature promote moral (or ethical) relativism and undermine the Christian worldview, as Guinness and Veith seem to suggest?[4] The Christian multiculturalist's answer would be, "Not necessarily so." By their nature, writers tend to be independent-minded, and multicultural writers are not different from so-called canonical writers in their maverick tendencies. Many European American authors known for their hostility to orthodox Christianity-such as Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck-are included in literary anthologies. In contrast, a number of writers of color have embraced and even promoted the Christian faith. Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America (1990), Korean American Mary Paik Lee's autobiography, chronicles the author's life which spans the entire twentieth century. Born in 1900 in North Korea, she came to the United States at the age of five. Despite the countless cases of racial prejudice she suffered, she, like so many other Korean immigrants in this country, never lost her faith in Christ or in the land of opportunity. At the end of the book, she writes, "Now I am free of cares and worry and am just trying to relax and enjoy what little time is left. I attend a church regularly where most of the members are black, because it is there I feel most comfortable" (130). Another Korean-American woman, Induk Pahk, published three autobiographies deeply imbued with Christian spirituality: September Monkey (1954), The Hour of the Tiger (1965), and The Cock Still Crows (1977). The author had dual purposes in writing September Monkey: "to witness what can happen in a life when the power of God grips a heart, mind and soul" and "to express my gratitude to my friends [in the United States] who have contributed so much that is endearing and broadening and inspirational to my life on two continents" (Pahk, September 9). The Hour of the Tiger records the episodes related to her establishment of a Christian vocational high school in Korea which she calls "Berea in Korea" (Pahk, Hour 7). The Cock Still Crows, dedicated to her "friends in North America with gratitude and love," testifies how God supplied all the needs in founding a Christian junior college in Korea.
Reading multicultural literature not only provides us with Christian testimonies but also heightens our understanding of diverse people groups, cultures, and histories. Living in an increasingly pluralistic society necessitates reading, writing about, reflecting on, and discussing texts that are unfamiliar or "strange." Richard E. Kim's autobiographical novel Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood (1970), for example, records how the Japanese colonizers robbed the Koreans of their sacred names during the first part of the twentieth century; it shows us that changing one's surname is one of the biggest disgraces in Korean culture. Reading Korean American literary works helps the reader understand that Korean American experience is quite different from that of Japanese or Chinese Americans. American society tends to put Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans in the same category partly because it has not learned the many differences that exist among the three groups. Indeed, each Asian American ethnic group jealously and fiercely guards its unique cultural heritage.
Two other Asian American writers enrich our understanding of the history of Asian American immigration: Yoshiko Uchida, a Japanese American, and Maxine Hong Kingston, a Chinese American. Shortly before graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, Uchida and other Americans of Japanese descent on the West Coast were uprooted from their homes and incarcerated in inland concentration camps during World War II. She recounts her harrowing experiences in such autobiographical works as The Journey to Topaz (1971), Journey Home (1978), Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family (1982), and The Invisible Thread (1991). Uchida's Picture Bride: A Novel (1987) illuminates the strength and struggle of Japanese Americans in the early twentieth century. Its protagonist is Hana Omiya, a twenty-one-year-old Japanese woman who comes to San Francisco in 1917 to marry a Japanese man; she is modeled after one of the hundreds of Japanese "picture brides" who came to Hawaii and the United States through arrangements. Kingston has published novels, essays, and autobiographies which deliver accurate pictures of Chinese American life. Her nonfiction book China Men (1981) chronicles the life stories of her father, brothers, and male ancestors and relatives who emigrated from a poverty-stricken China to America, the "Golden Mountain." Although these Chinese men came to the United States searching for better lives, they were troubled by discriminatory immigration laws, by racial and sexual prejudices, and by concerns about the family members left behind in their native land. Kingston illustrates how much Chinese men contributed to America by working as laundrymen, railroad workers, sugar plantation laborers, farmers, miners, cooks, and members of the U.S. armed forces.
The literary examples above demonstrate that the multicultural worldview and the Christian worldview can coexist, or even enrich, each other-as long as we pursue a right form of multiculturalism. In his 1992 article "Multiculturalism and Epistemology," Professor Steven Yates at Auburn University offers a clue to how one can construct the idea of multiculturalism within the Christian framework. According to Yates, there are two kinds of multiculturalism: strong and weak. Strong multiculturalism is founded on classical Marxism, feminism, civil rights activism, and other postmodernist ideologies. It is characterized by what Yates calls Strong RGC (race, gender, and class) Relativity, a concept embraced by the postmodernist multiculturalists: "Race, gender, class, and similar factors, do not function merely as biases influencing cognition but rather serve as determinants of cognition, consciousness and experience, and integral parts of one's personal identity; they are no more capable of being transcended than it is possible to step outside of one's own skin" (441). Strong multiculturalism claims that no single culture, thinker, or group has discovered the objective truth about anything; it denies that "human beings ever perceive neutral facts or events or can know neutral truths" (444). In contrast, weak multiculturalism is characterized by Weak RGC Relativity:
Race, gender, class, and similar factors, all have the potential to influence cognition, consciousness, and experience, and thereby to function as unconscious biases in the sciences, in philosophy, and in other disciplines, but can be transcended by one's becoming conscious of one's own tendencies towards unwarranted assumptions and unjust prejudicial attitudes and taking actions of various sorts ranging from personal to institutional education to correct these biases. (440)
Weak multiculturalism maintains that "peoples are different in some respects but alike in others, and can therefore learn by communicating openly with one another" and rejects "the naïve view that all cultures are epistemological and moral equals" (449, 451). It cherishes the ideals of social justice and cross-cultural understanding. It strives to recognize, understand, and appreciate the historically ignored and oppressed, and is willing to learn various cultures and subcultures. Yates's conclusion is that weak multiculturalism is "logically coherent" and "factually adequate" and is thus superior to strong multiculturalism, which commands little rational consent (452).
Christian multiculturalism, which we attempt to define and elaborate on, is somewhat in line with what Yates labels weak multiculturalism. It is also akin to what cultural anthropologists call cultural relativism, the idea that a people group's values and customs must be understood in light of the culture of which it is a part. Cultural relativists do not make a firm judgment about other cultures until they know more about the logic and dynamics inherent in those cultures. Cultural relativism is distinct from moral relativism, a relativistic notion which states that no universal standard of behavior exists and that therefore one should not judge between good and evil (Nanda and Warms 10).
Christian multiculturalism recognizes and embraces the reality of cultural pluralism in the United States. It is founded on the belief in Jesus Christ, who is the Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and Transformer of all people groups on the earth. Jesus proclaims that he is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and the apostle Peter declares in Acts 4:12 that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. In their book The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, E. D. Hirsch, et al., define multiculturalism as "the view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest" (423). This definition does not conflict with the Christian faith, which actively seeks to engage culture through the proclamation of the Gospel. Professor Stephen T. Davis at Claremont McKenna College rightly comments on diversity from a Christian perspective: "[In] Christ, diverse people can become one community. Old enemies are reconciled; a new partnership is created. Christianity brings together people whose commitment to Jesus Christ outweighs their commitment to the other groups of which are members" (405). Davis finds the common denominator between Christianity and multiculturalism in their commitment to producing change in society: "Christianity, like multiculturalism, is committed to producing change in society; Christians are mandated to work for a more just world. This is the main point of agreement between Christianity and multiculturalism" (404).
Although the Bible does not use the word "multicultural," it demonstrates how God sometimes used people of multicultural perspectives-people who are well versed in the knowledge of "the Other"-to further His kingdom. According to Acts 7:22, for example, Moses was instructed in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (NIV). Daniel was deported to the court of Babylon, learned "the language and literature of the Babylonians" at the king's school for three years, and graduated from it with honors. According to Daniel 1:17, God gave Daniel and his three Israelite friends "knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning" (NIV). The apostle Paul, thoroughly trained under Gamaliel, a Pharisee, was knowledgeable about Judaism as well as pagan culture. In the famous Mars Hill debate with a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, Paul did not preach the gospel outright. Rather, he proved the identity of the true God on the opponents' terms, referring to a Greek poet who unknowingly declared the existence of God with his remark "We are his offspring" (Acts 17:28, NIV). Paul then concluded, "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by man's design and skill" (Acts 17:29, NIV). Examining the lives and ministries of Moses, Daniel, and Paul demonstrates that our knowledge of other cultures confirms the uniqueness and superiority of the Christian faith. Getting to know "the other" does not mean giving up our own values, and the Christian faith has proven itself to be able to withstand non-Christian values.
Indeed, Christianity is perhaps the most multicultural, and the most adaptable, religion in the world. This is evidenced by the fact that the largest number of people on the globe confesses Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The fundamental message of the Gospel remains unchanged to all believers. At the same time, as Christianity spreads throughout the world, it adapts to different cultural environments. Generally speaking, churches in the United States, including Roman Catholicism, tend to be individualistic, democratic, and populist; this is exemplified by the popularity of Baptist denominations (16.3% out of the total U.S. population as of 2002) which reject clerical hierarchies and advocate full autonomy of local churches. In contrast, churches in more traditional societies such as Korea tend to be hierarchical regardless of their denominational ties. Diversity within Christendom should not be suppressed but be acknowledged and accommodated as long as it does not contradict fundamentals of Christian doctrine. Indeed, Scripture promotes unity in Christ, not uniformity in Christ.
Multiculturalism is a trend that needs to be accommodated and even celebrated by Christians. In his book Where the Nations Meet: The Church in a Multicultural World (1999), Stephen A. Rhodes-who pastors a congregation which consists of thirty-two nationalities-stresses that Christians today should embrace multiculturalism. According to Rhodes, God's creation was always designed to be multicultural, the church is called to encompass, evangelize, and serve all ethnicities, thereby brining healing to this fragmented world. Along the same lines, Paul-Gordon Chandler, author of God's Global Mosaic: What We Can Learn from Christians around the World (2000), notes: "God's people around the world form a mosaic. Each piece of the picture is different but contributes to a beautiful portrait of who God is and what he is doing. As we learn from these many cultural experiences of Christianity, our own faith can be made more complete." Meanwhile, Professor Curtis K. McClain, Jr., at Missouri Baptist University, finds the epitome of Christian multiculturalism in the convergence of all humanity in Christ to worship the glory of the true God:
Every noble, worthy and lasting benefit that comes from multiculturalism reaches its pinnacle in the joyful and eternal worship of the Glory of God in Jesus Christ. Biblical Christianity not only encourages the bringing together of some from every "tribe, tongue, nation and people" but promises it. When the focus of multicultural thought is humanity, it becomes a Balkanizing influence; but when the focus is Jesus Christ, all are equalized before Him on their knees with contrite and joyous praise. (E-mail)
Unfortunately, Steven Yates, in the aforementioned article, classifies the multicultural literary movement as part of "strong multiculturalism," arguing that the movement is indeed a literary "affirmative action" (447). The movement has been received negatively by a group of Christian scholars and critics in particular. Multicultural literature, however, has become a required component in the school curriculum primarily because the majority of readers discover literary and historical values in it. Mainstream literary reference books also have started including entries on minority authors, especially those who have accomplished commercial success with their works. For instance, the most recent edition of The Oxford Companion to American Literature (1995) carries entries on such ethnic authors as Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Louise Erdrich, William Least Heat-Moon, and N. Scott Momaday.
Ethnic minority literature certainly has a place in Christian libraries and classrooms. It represents the lives and ideas of various people groups which inform us and inspire us. It chronicles the joys, pleasures, sorrows, challenges, and aspirations commonly experienced by all humanity. It provides vicarious life experiences through which we can better understand ourselves and fellow humans. Further, it allows us to shed racial and ethnic stereotypes, to recognize cultural differences and, if necessary, to adjust our own way of thinking. Ethnic minority literature performs-in the same way mainstream literature does-the dual functions which Roman poet and critic Horace mentions in his classical work Epistle to the Pisones: "delighting the reader while [giving] advice" (92).
Endnotes
1 An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the National Faculty Leadership Conference in Chicago, Illinois, June 27-30, 2002.
2 In this paper, the terms ethnic minority literature, minority literature, and multicultural literature are used interchangeably. Ethnic minority literature refers to the writings by African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, and Asian Americans. In his book They and We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States (1974), Peter I. Rose defines the term "ethnic groups" as "groups whose members share a unique social and cultural heritage passed on from one generation to the next" (13). The members of ethnic groups, according to Rose, are especially characterized by their "[feeling] a consciousness of kind and 'interdependence of fate' with those who share the customs of the ethnic tradition" (13). Technically, multicultural literature goes beyond ethnic boundaries; some scholars classify women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals, and the working class as multicultural groups as well. My focus in this paper, however, is limited to the writings by ethnic minorities in the United States.
3 Academics generally exclude Jewish American writes such as Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth, from American multicultural literature although Jewish-American literary anthologies have been periodically published. Two examples are The Literature of American Jews (1973), edited by Theodore L. Gross, and Jewish-American Literature: An Anthology (1974), edited by Abraham Chapman.
4 As a philosophical term, moral relativism refers to "the view that when it comes to moral issues there are no universally objective right or wrong answers, no inappropriate or appropriate judgments, and no reasonable or rational ways by which to make moral distinctions that apply in every time, in every place, and to every person" (Beckwith and Koukl 12-13). In other words, moral relativism is "the notion that because no universal standard of behavior exists, people should not judge between good and evil" (Nanda and Warms 10).
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---. The Hour of the Tiger. New York: Harper, 1965.
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JOHN J. HAN, Associate Professor of English at Missouri Baptist University, serves as Chair of the University's Faith & Learning Committee and as Editor of Intégrité: A Faith and Learning Journal. He holds a B.A. (Kookmin University), an M.Ed. (Yonsei University), an M.A. (Kansas State University), and a Ph.D. (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and has studied religion at Missouri Baptist University. Han has publications in Literature and Belief, New Immigrant Literatures in the United States, Feminist Writers, Asian American Novelists, Asian American Autobiographers, Catholic Women Writers, and Asian American Playwrights. Additional essays are forthcoming in Writers of the American Renaissance (2003) and A Companion to Catholic Literature (2004). He has many English-Korean translations, including Healing Prayer (2001), by Reginald Cherry.
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