Published in 1998, this survivor of the controversial Unification Church cult, was married underage and immigrated illegally to the United States. She was married to the oldest son and then heir apparent of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who established his church as well as an international business empire, with the help of devotees called "Moonie," die to their smiling but sometimes vacant look. I picked up this book because I wanted to understand how Nansook Hong escaped. She depicts a life full of violence, personally and within the church. Because Moon declared himself and his wife and their 13 children the True Family on earth, despite the fact that adultery was considered the worst sin one could commit, and that thousands of church members who'se marriages were also arranged were expected to be celibate before marriage and faithful after, it turns out the True Family wasn't held to the same standards. Her husband was out of control, a drug and sex addict who beat her. The Church was involved in cash businesses. Finally and systematically Hong one day left, sure that she would be killed by her husband. In this book there is a lot to learn and think about when it comes to Korean culture and the ideas about loyalty in family and community.
Page 36 - That church members left their children to be raised by other members so that they could prioritize traveling to preach/ witness and conduct business. Couples were abandoning their babies to the care of others. This was no model for a perfect family.
Page 53-54 - The Church appealed to "alienated youth" who were out of step with both their parents and their peers."
Page 65 - "To become engaged in the Unification Church, one must have been a member for three years, one must have recruited three new members, and one must have made the required financial contribution to the Indemnity Fund. This payment symbolizes Unification teaching that all of humanity shares in the debt owed for the betrayal of Jesus and that we must all pay for this collective sin." (The marriages were arranged.) Also three years are supposed to lapse between the Initial Matching Ceremony and actual consummation of the marriage. (But in her case all this was skipped. She was 15. And it was assumed that she and her husband would one day rule the church.)
Pages 14- 15 - that Buddhism and other native believes such as Shamanism and Confucianism are incorporated as well as Christianity. "In addition to ancient beliefs in ancestor worship and the spirit world, there is a strong messianic strain in my culture. The notion that the Messiah or herald of the Righteous Way would appear in Korea predates the introduction of Christianity into Korea a hundred years ago. It has its roots in the Buddhists notion of Maitreya and the Confucian idea of Jin-In, or the True Man, and in Korean books of prophecy, such as the Chung Gam Nok."
Page 17 - "Even in the aristocracy in the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla was classified according to what was known as the bone-rank system... The elite were divided into three classes.. the holy bone class, from which the sacred kings sprang, the true-bone class or the upper aristocracy, and the head classes, which included all other members of the aristocracy. This would influence Sun Myung Moon's organization of his own religion.
Page 31 - He married in 1960 at a time when many had left the church as they did not believe Sun Myung Moon was the Messiah or like that he personally selected marital partners for members. (His wife, Hak Ja Han is considered to be the True Mother, and he the True Father, and they are not to be disobeyed. She gave birth to 13 children called True Children. However there is rumored children outside of this marriage for Moon.)
Page 139 - Marriage is not considered a romantic liaison. Her marriage "was a "Providential Union, ordained by God, but one that the secular world would not understand."
Page 140 - after one of the True Children died..."Reverend Moon frequently joined the living with the dead in matrimony." This is because no one was supposed to be able to enter into the heaven who was not married.
*** I found this book shocking and bizarre and yet I do know that it's not just Korean culture or this particular cult/church that is rife with sexism and the devaluation of women to be the bearers of children and who must accept sex any time it is demanded, and so on.
The author was uncommonly brave to tell her story.
