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Professor Sebastian Kim

Professor Sebastian KimChair in Theology and Public Life

T:01904 876439

E: s.kim@yorksj.ac.uk

 

Information

Professor Kim holds the Chair in Theology and Public Life in the Faculty of Education & Theology. Before coming to York St John University, he taught World Christianity and was Director of the Christianity in Asia Project at the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Cambridge. Previous to that, he taught at the Cambridge Theological Federation, Cambridge, the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, Seoul, and the Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India. He received his PhD from the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. His research interests include: public theology; world Christianity; theology of mission; community and identity; contextual theologies; religion and post-modern society.

 

Professor Kim’s current projects include:

Research project on community identity

This is a research project which aims at: first, deeper understanding of communal or corporate identity as, for example, the source of identity, the basic components of a sense of belonging, the way a community operates and interacts with other communities; second, a broader view on the topic of community identity from the perspectives of theology and religious studies in addition to sociological and anthropological perspectives; third, critical assessment of the dynamics of interaction between religious communities and wider society, and of the causes of tensions and resolutions. This project is being conducted by staff of the Theology & Religious Studies Section in cooperation with other universities and institutions in Yorkshire. The outcome of initial research has been published by T & T Clark in 2007.

 

Ebor Lectures

This is a major series of lectures organised by York St John University, York Minster, York Institute for Community Theology, the Order of Carmelites, and the Churches Regional Commission. The lectures are on issues relating to religions and public affairs, inviting the most prominent scholars, church leaders and religious leaders in the field. The 2006-07 series took the theme of ‘Liberating Sacred Texts?’ to examine the ways sacred texts can be instrumental in bringing about meaningful dialogue between communities on the subjects of revelation, identity and public life. The theme for the second series was ‘Globalisation and Identity’, which dealt with issues such as global financial systems and their impact on micro and macro economic patterns world-wide; the impact of globalisation on culture; global politics in the context of diverse national and regional interests; and the causes and effects of the rise of religious fundamentalism. The theme for the third series was ‘The Challenge of Climate Change’, which considered the roots and causes of the reality of climate change and looked at the implications of the crisis for future sustainable living on the planet. The fourth and current series discusses the ‘Global Economic Crisis and the Future of Capitalism’ to examine the root causes of the economic crisis, analyse its global implications, and evaluate the theory and practice of the capitalist market. Each lecture series is being published in the year following.

» For further information on Ebor Lectures

 

International Journal of Public Theology

This is a new academic journal on public theology launched in the early 2007 by Brill Academic Publishers. Public theology is an interdisciplinary subject resulting from the growing need for theology to interact with public issues of contemporary society, and it seeks to engage in dialogue with different academic disciplines such as politics, economics, cultural studies, religion and spirituality, society in general, and globalization. The Journal aims at becoming a platform for original interdisciplinary research in the field of public theology. It is affiliated with the newly founded Global Network for Public Theology. The editorial office is in York St John University and the Journal is edited by Professor Kim.

» For further information on the Journal of Public Theology

 

International conferences on Peace and Reconciliation

The TRS conducted an international conference, ‘In Search of a Common Identity: The Korean Peninsula and Other Contexts’ in August 2006. This was the first of a series of conferences to facilitate thinking on the topic of peace and reconciliation by encouraging the sharing of research and further exploration towards practical implementation. The nature of the conference was interdisciplinary but perspectives from theology and religious studies were particularly to the fore. The second conference was held at the University of California, Los Angeles in July 2009 on the theme of ‘Embracing the Displaced: Shaping Theories and Practices for a Sustainable Peace’. The third conference will be in Seoul in November 2010 on the theme of ‘Building Communities of Reconciliation’, where, among 350 participants, 140 theologians and church leaders from 70 countries are specially invited to attend and discuss the theme. The plenary papers of the conference are being published for wider interaction among the scholars, peace activists, policy makers and religious communities.

» For further information on the Peace and Reconciliation conference

 

Selected Publications

Books

 

Current book projects

  • Sebastian C.H. Kim & Kirsteen Kim, A History of Korean Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2012)
  • Pauline Kollontai, Sebastian Kim and Greg Hoyland (eds), Embracing the Displaced: Shaping Theories and Practices for a Sustainable Peace (forthcoming in 2011)

Selected articles

  • ‘The Kingdom of God versus the Church: The Debate around the Conference of the International Missionary Council at Tambaram, Madras in 1938’ in Ogbu U. Kalu (ed), Interpreting Contemporary Christianity: Global Processes and Local Identities (William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapid, MI, 2008).
  • ‘Reconciliation Possible? The Churches’ Efforts Toward the Peace and Reunification of North and South Korea’ in Sebastian C.H. Km, Pauline Kollontai & Greg Hoyland (eds), Peace and Reconciliation: In Search of Shared Identity (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2008), 161-78.
  • ‘The Word and the Spirit: Overcoming Poverty, Injustice and Division in Korea’ in Sebastian C.H. Kim (ed), Christian Theology in Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 129-53.
  • ‘The Future Shape of Christianity from an Asian Perspective’ in Frans Wijsen and Robert Schreiter (eds), Global Christianity: Contested Claims (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007).
  • 'Freedom or Respect? Public Theology and the Debate over the Danish Cartoons’, International Journal of Public Theology 1/2 (2007).
  • Differing Concepts of Community Identity: Debates over the “Racial and Religious Hatred Bill”’ in Sebastian C. H. Kim and Pauline Kollontai (eds), Community Identity: Dynamics of Religion in Context (London: T & T Clark, 2007).
  • ‘The Problem of Poverty in Post-War Korean Christianity: Kibock Sinang or Minjung Theology?’, Transformation 24/1 (January 2007).
  • “Hindutva, World Evangelization and the Question of Conversion in India” in Max L. Stackhouse and Lalsangkima Pachuau (eds), News of Boundless Riches: Interrogating, Comparing, and Reconstructing Mission in a Global Era vol I (New Delhi: ISPCK, 2007).
  • “Mission and the Integrity of the Church: Reflections on the Christian Response to the Problem of Poverty in Post-War Korea” in Max L. Stackhouse and Lalsangkima Pachuau (eds), News of Boundless Riches: Interrogating, Comparing, and Reconstructing Mission in a Global Era vol II (New Delhi: ISPCK, 2007).
  • ‘Revival Movements in the Khassia Hills and Mukti Mission in the Early Twentieth-Century India’ in Won-Mo Suh (ed), Protestant Revivals in the 20th Century and Pyeungyang Great Awakening Movement (Seoul: PCTS Press, 2006).
  • ‘Henry Martyn, the Bible and Christianity in Asia’, UBS Journal 3/2 (September 2005).
  • ‘The Problem of Conversion in India: Freedom of Religion or Religious Tolerance?’, Connections 9/1 (2005).
  • ‘Evangelical Understandings of Conversion and their Implications for Christian Mission’, Dharma Deepika 9/2 (July-Dec 2005).
  • ‘Reconciliation Possible? The Churches’ Efforts Toward the Peace and Reunification of North and South Korea’, Rethinking Mission 3/3 (Autumn 2005).
  • ‘The Debate on Conversion Initiated by the Sangh Parivar,, 1998-1999’, Transformation 22/4 (October 2005).
  • ‘Understanding Religious Conversion’ in Roger E. Hedlund & Paul Joshua Bhakiaraj, Missiology for the 21st Century (Delhi: ISPCK, 2004).
  • ‘Christianity in South Asia’ in Keith Brown (ed), Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2nd Ed. (Oxford: Elsevier, 2006), 398-400.
  • ‘Hindutva, Secular India and the Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, 1954-57’ in Mark T.B. Laing (ed), Nationalism and Hindutva: A Christian Response (Delhi: ISPCK, 2004).
  • ‘Indian Christian Mission Theology: Models for Engagement with Hinduism’ in Mark Laing (ed), The Indian Church in Her Context: The Emergence, Growth and Mission of the Church in a Pluralistic Context (Delhi: ISPCK, 2003).
  • ‘Minjung Theology: Whose Voice for Whom?’ in Israel Selvanayagam (ed), Moving Forms of Theology: Faith Talk’s Changing Contexts (Delhi: ISPCK, 2003).
  • ‘The Kingdom of God versus the Church: The Debate around the Conference of the International Missionary Council at Tambaram, Madras in 1938’, Korea Journal of Theology Vol.3 (2003).
  • ‘‘Freedom of Religion’ Legislation in India’, Mission and Theology, No. 9 (2002).
  • “Indian Christian Mission Ecclesiology: Models for Engagement with Hinduism – with Special Reference to Conversion” in Mark T.B. Laing (ed), The Indian Church in Context: Her Emergence, Growth and Mission (New Delhi: ISPCK, 2002).

 

Supervision of PhD candidates

  • Hooshmand Badii, ‘Bahá’í teachings on economics and their implications on contemporary economic problems’.
  • Franklin Lee, ‘The debates on homosexuality in the Church of England between the 1998 and 2008 Lambeth Conferences’.
  • Brian Gant, ‘Towards a theology of social justice for today, as particularly expressed in the Jubilee Concept of the Hebrew Scriptures, with special reference to the Jubilee 2000 and Make Poverty History campaigns’.
  • Lauri Bower, ‘A critical evaluation of the key concepts of Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh as implemented at Plum Village’.
  • Malcolm Grundy, ‘The exercise of leadership and oversight by senior members of the Anglican Church in Yorkshire’.
  • Agustinus Sutiono, ‘Wong Pinter, the omniscient men: reifying the significance of the Javanese specialists in spiritualism’.