Alumni
Alum Profile: Xiyi Yao, Th.D. 2000
Xiyi Yao is an associate professor of World Christianity and Asian Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has been an active scholar, publishing numerous works in both English and Chinese. He has a variety of research interests, including the history of Protestant missions and mission theology; the fundamentalist and evangelical movements in China and America; comparative studies of Christianities in China, Korea and Japan; history of Christian pacifism in China; Chinese traditional religions and culture, and their relation with Christianity; and Christian thoughts in contemporary China.
He received his Th.D. from the School of Theology at Boston University in 2000. His dissertation uncovered and clarified the roots of the fundamentalist movement among Protestant missionaries in China focusing on the fundamentalist missionaries’ views and engagement in various aspects of the mission enterprise in China. In this work, he paid particular attention to examining major historical events, issues, individuals, and organizations involved in the fundamentalist missionaries’ fundamentalist campaign in China.
Before coming to his current position at Gordon-Conwell, he worked in Hong Kong and mainland China and was involved in various scholarly works: From 2001 to 2003, he served as a Beijing-based consultant for the China Educational Exchange, a North American Mennonite program. Then, from 2003 to 2010, he worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Theological Studies in China Graduate School of Theology (CGST), in Hong Kong. He has been serving as an associate of the Mennonite Mission Network (U.S.A.) since 2003 as well.
His current research projects are: to trace the history and heritage of the Hunan Bible Institute (Biola in China, 1916-1949). In addition, he is also involved in researching the heritage and theology of Wang Wei-fan, a famous Chinese scholar, as a case study of Protestant theology in contemporary China.
Links:
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary http://www.gordonconwell.edu/
Mennonite Mission Network http://www.mennonitemission.net
by Hye Jin Lee
Alum Profile: Dr. Sung Deok Oak
Sung Deok Oak is an Associate Professor of Korean Christianity at UCLA and the Dongsoon Im & Mija Im Endowment Chair Scholar, which was established under the UCLA Center for Korean Studies. He is one of the core faculty members of the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures (ALC) which is dedicated to the study of the diverse civilizations of Asia, and he is running an online archive for the study of Korean Christianity. This online library provides very valuable tools for researching the history of Korean Christianity in English since it has collected numerous primary and secondary sources along with photos, articles, and books in English.
Dr. Oak earned his Th.D. degree from the School of Theology at Boston University in 2002. His dissertation, “The Indigenization of Christianity in Korea: North American Missionaries’ Attitudes towards Korean Religions, 1884-1910,” under the direction of Dr. Dana Robert examines the first encounter between Western Christianity and Korean religions from a fresh angle. In this in-depth work, Dr. Oak attempts to challenge the prevalent charges of cultural imperialism by the Western missionaries, arguing that Protestant missionaries not only moved beyond proselytism in their approach, but they became, in a sense, harbingers of Korean theology by respecting Korean culture and religions.
He is one of the leading Korean scholars introducing the history of Korean Christianity to the academic world through numerous books and articles. His academic interest ranges from the Korean Bible translation, the ancient Korean religions and their interactions with Christianity, to the Western missionaries who came to Korea and their medical and educational missions. His new book, The Making of Korean Christianity: Encounters of Protestantism with Korean Religions, 1876~1915, is to be published as the first volume of Baylor University Press Series on World Christianity in 2013.
Center for Korean Studies: http://www.international.ucla.edu/korea/
His online Archive: http://koreanchristianity.humnet.ucla.edu/sources
by Hye Jin Lee
Alumni Profile: Dr. Myung Soo Park
Myung Soo Park is a professor of Church History at Seoul Theological University, located in Bucheon, South Korea. He is currently the director of the Institute for the Study of Modern Christianity, a chief editor and publisher of Holiness Church and Theology, and the president of the Korean Church History Society. He received his S.T.M. from School of Theology and Ph.D. from the Department of Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University in 1992.
Both his S.T.M. thesis, “Roots of the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church with special reference to the doctrine of Holiness” and his Ph.D. dissertation “Concepts of Holiness in American Evangelicalism” under the direction of Dr. Dana Robert are considered ground-breaking research, shedding new light on the origins of Korean Evangelical Holiness Church (KEHC), the third largest denomination in Korea. In particular, his research has contributed to shift the historiography of the KEHC from a somewhat nationalistic “Self-born” theory into a “Trans-pacific” theory by relating the origins of the Korean Holiness Churches to the American Wesleyan Holiness movement. In 2007, celebrating its centennial, the KEHC published One Hundred Year History of the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, Dr. Park played an important role as the editorial supervisor.
His current research interests include the global Holiness movement, global Pentecostalism, and the relationship between Korean society and Christianity. He has written numerous articles and book reviews in Wesleyan Theological Journal, Journal of Pentecostal Studies, and Church History and he is an author of more than thirty books. He was the founding director of the KEHC Historical Research Center, which now has changed its name to the Institute for the Study of Modern Christianity. He also served as the associate editor of the Church history from 2004 to 2009, and was the academic dean of Seoul Theological Seminary from 2005-2010. He is also an ordained pastor of the KEHC.
By Hye Jin Lee
Short Term Missions
Dr. Olu Q. Menjay explores how people on mission trips can avoid exploiting those to whom they are sent in "On Mission Trips, Remember the Ethic of “Stranger"
Daewon Moon Reports on Edinburgh
The 2012 Yale-Edinburgh Group Meeting was held at New College at the
University of Edinburgh on June 28–30, with the theme “Religious
Movements of Renewal, Revival, and Revitalization in the History of
Missions and World Christianity.” Dr. Andrew Walls delivered a keynote
speech about the effects of revival and revitalization in the history
of missionary movements, with extensive examples of “dedicated”
Christians (in contrast to “ordinary” Christians) empowered through
revival and involved in various missions all over the world since the
first century. He noted there is a potential danger in revitalization
because it tends to have a very narrow definition of conversion and
“real” Christians.
Several alumni and current students of BU STH presented papers at the
meeting. Dr. Sung-Deuk Oak (Th.D., ’02, second from left), Associate
Professor of Korean Christianity at UCLA, presented his research on
the Korean Revival and its influence on traditional religions and
colonialism from 1903 to 1935. Jaekeun Lee (STM, ’08, second from
right), Ph.D. candidate at the University of Edinburgh, gave his
presentation on a notable revival meeting in Mokpo in 1906 as a case
study of the influence of the Southern Presbyterian Revivalist
tradition on the Korean Revival. Daewon Moon (right), doctoral student
at BU STH, presented a paper on the contribution of African leaders to
the East African Revival in the 1930s and 40s, and another BU STH
doctoral student, Daryl Island, gave a presentation on John Sung’s
evangelistic bands as a location for a new female identity in
Singapore in the 1930s.
Meet Up at ASM in Chicago
Dr. Robert met up with alums Dr. Ben Hartley, Associate Prof of Mission at Palmer Seminary, Philadelphia; and Dr. Angel Santiago-Vendrell, the E. Stanley Jones Assistant Professor of Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary, Orlando at the recent meeting of ASM in Chicago.
Alumnus Gary VanderPol Visits
Dr. Gary VanderPol, the new Assistant Professor of Mission and Justice at Denver Seminary, visited Dr. Inus Daneel recently. This is a new position and Gary is the first incumbent. Denver Seminary has 1100 students and is one of the largest freestanding seminaries in the U.S.