MDC is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Sung Min Park and Dr. Ji Hoe Kim as Research Fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year. Dr. Park and Kim began their fellowships in September and will dedicate the year to advancing their research in their respective fields.
Dr. Sung Min Park holds an MDiv from Chongshin Seminary, a ThM from Calvin Theological Seminary, and a PhD in New Testament Studies from McMaster Divinity College. His research focuses on the application of historical sociolinguistics to the inquiry of early Christian communities as depicted in the New Testament. During his time at MDC, he will continue on two collaborative projects, a guide book and an edited volume, with Dr. Stanley E. Porter, which intend to further historical sociolinguistic approaches for biblical studies. He will also have two interrelated projects, the first being the historical sociolinguistic approaches to the inquiry of the construction of Christian social identity within the New Testament, which will offer a nuanced understanding of the interplay between text, context, and Christian identity presented in the books of the New Testament. The second project will pertain to sociolinguistic approaches to the inquiry of the construction of Christian social identity within Korean churches in North America.
Dr. Ji Hoe Kim earned his BA from Yonsei University, his MDiv from the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, a ThM in Biblical Studies from Ezra Bible Institute for Graduate Studies, and both his MA and PhD in New Testament from McMaster Divinity College. He is a scholar deeply committed to exploring the realms of linguistics, the Greek language, wisdom literature, genre analysis, classroom pedagogy, moral formation, Pauline letters and the letter of James. During his fellowship, Dr. Kim aims to revise his dissertation, “Moral Formation in the Letter of James: A Way Forward for the Structural Analysis in Light of Systemic Functional Genre Theory,” for publication. Additionally, he plans to write articles on the nature of suffering in the letter of James and the influence of instructional genre on how James develops his perspective on the relationship between faith and works.
Dr. Emad Botros, Dr. Cynthia Tam, and Dr. David Yoon will also continue their ongoing research at MDC.
MDC is honoured to welcome these distinguished scholars and looks forward to the significant contributions their research will make to the broader Christian community. For more information about our Research Fellowship and to apply, please visit the link below.