Professor, comedian, podcaster and now author, R. Scott Okamoto returns to the podcast to discuss his new book: Asian American Apostate - Losing my Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University (Ev.U.). After reading the volume cover to cover, Ken shares his written review which will appear on the Amazon site featuring Scott's book. Throughout Scott's college and graduate school life, he identified as a committed evangelical Christian, working closely with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Earning his B.A. at the University of California at San Diego and then his M.A. at the University of San Francisco, Scott began teaching as an adjunct at a high-profile evangelical university (Ev.U.) in Southern California. Within a few years, he became popular a full professor in the English department. But as he taught, privately, his Christian faith began to unravel. The conservative political culture, the exclusivist fundamentalism, the racial insensitivities, and the gender debates all contributed to what he now calls a complete deconstruction of his faith. After leaving Ev.U., Scott created a safe space for others to discover freedom, identity, and community outside the structures and strictures of high-demand religion and conservative politics. He tells his story and theirs in this episode of the podcast, his new book, and his many interviews as host of his own popular podcast - Chapel Probation. SHOW NOTES.
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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 an ironic story of leaving religion while teaching at an evangelical university. Okamoto’s often chilling accounts reveal that these schools, where prayer and trite theological debate erupts in any lecture, are anything but higher education. Stories range 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, a popular teacher, was disciplined by school officials for keeping standards for writing. Okamoto’s personal reporting gives you the inside story of how America’s evangelical schools encourage not a life of the mind but White cultural power. But more than that, you’ll see how Okamoto, despite personal and professional challenges, found clarity about who he was not, and who he was coming to be.
Read along as Scott recounts his difficult, unlikely, and ultimately encouraging spiritual journey that will immerse you the search for a deeper and more expansive life.
A companion to Scott’s forthcoming book about losing faith while teaching at an evangelical university, this podcast will feature former students and faculty of Azusa Pacific University. They will tell stories of racism, sexism, hatred towards the LGBTQ community, and early alt-right shenanigans. Other guests outside of the APU world will also be invited to share their experiences. Join the growing Chapel Probation community on Instagram, Discord, and Facebook. And if you want to support the Chapel Probation mission, consider joining the Patreon for bonus content. rscottokamoto.com
Chapel Probation is a Dauntless Media Collective podcast. Visit dauntless.fm for more.
Ken's guest is professor, author, musician and now podcaster, Japanese American R. Scott Okamoto. While teaching at a well-known, established Christian university, Scott finds himself deep in the private process of deconstruction. His fervent evangelical faith began to crumble. He grew up in a high profile evangelical church in Pasadena where he followed in the footsteps of his parent's strong faith. His family's tragic experience of Japanese internment during WWII in Southern California contributed to his resistance to the Christian nationalism he encountered in the church and beyond. As a leader in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on his University of California at San Diego campus, he became a worship leader, reading and studying apologetics on his own. He meets Josh McDowell. But the answers he needed eluded him. With a Master of Arts from the University of San Francisco in English and writing, he became a professor of English at that Christian university. When he befriended the leadership of the LGBTQ community there, which by necessity remained "underground," the resistance he and the students faced pushed him further in the direction of deconstruct, which by now is complete. He's publishing a book which addresses the challenge of working for a Christian institution when one's faith can no longer be sustained. Early next year, he will launch his new podcast he calls, "Chapel Probation." SHOW NOTES
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R. Scott Okamoto is a 4th Generation Japanese American (Yonsei) born at Fort Dix, NJ. Raised in Pasadena and Arcadia, California, attended U.C. San Diego for a B.A. in Literature/Writing and the University of San Francisco for a M.A. in writing. At some point in his early childhood, his parents attended a Bible Study Fellowship with some friends, launching the family into “born again” Christian faith. The family started attending Lake Avenue Congregation Church where most of the neuroses and hangups Scott would encounter in youth and early adulthood would be developed and nurtured. While at U.C. San Diego, Scott would become worship leader and a bible study leader in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. While in IVCF, Scott’s beliefs shifted in more progressive ways. The more he read the bible, the less clear the faith became. After getting married and moving to San Francisco, Scott and his wife, Geri, stopped attending church, adopting friends from all backgrounds and beliefs. After a last-ditch effort to find anything of worth to them in church by going back to Lake Ave, where it all began, they gave up and deconstructed fully into agnostics. It was during this last hurrah that Scott took a job teaching Freshman Writing at Azusa Pacific University, figuring he would do a couple of semesters there for experience and move on to other schools. Although he also taught at a few local community colleges, he became a popular professor at APU, eventually being promoted to lecturer and assistant professor. By the time he became a full-time assistant professor, he had fully deconstructed from any Christian faith.
He currently lives in Pasadena, California with his wife and three kids.
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