Waking Up Ghosts

A lyrical memoir of Korean ancestry, faith, and the sacred work of healing what we inherit.

Since childhood, Presbyterian minister Dr. Christine J. Hong has experienced ancestral hauntings: voices, presences, and memories that carry both sorrow and care. But after the birth of her daughter and the death of her last maternal grandparent, the spirits came with a question: "Do you want to know where this pain goes--the pain you and I are holding?"

What followed was a journey into Korean indigenous beliefs and practices that her family, like many diasporic Koreans, abandoned in favor of Christianity. Through encounters with family stories, Hong began to unravel the grief that has shaped generations. She names the spiritual dissonance of reclaiming practices her ancestors discarded, while remaining tethered to Christian communities and the stories of faith they left as an inheritance.

This book is a reckoning for those who feel haunted by what religion can't explain, and for those who long to heal what their families can't name. Waking Up Ghosts invites us to reimagine ancestral practice, confront the ruptures of displacement and conversion, and shift into a spirituality that makes room for grief and liberation. With crisp, powerful prose and theological depth, Hong offers a fresh vision of faith to anyone seeking justice and repair, qualities of true community.