Interests

Personal

Teaching Philosophy

I have had the privilege of studying several adult education theorists such as Stephen Brookfield, John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Jack Mezirow, and Peter Senge. Of these theorists, I have found the works of Jack Mezirow and Peter Senge to be more influential in my own teaching philosophy.

In the teaching endeavor, there are several factors that come into play: Classroom, outside the classroom, school ethos, and student's context. Within the classroom, I try to implement Mezirow's principles of transformative learning as well as his desire to enable adult learners to become self-directed lifelong learners. Furthermore, a professor's influence on a student can be significantly enhanced through interaction outside the classroom. This is where a seminary community can play a crucial role in the educational process. My teaching philosophy is a holistic one which requires me to see the big picture besides the classroom environment.

Peter Senge's systems thinking and learning approach has broadened my understanding of the teaching enterprise. Unless the school system or ethos promotes an environment conducive for adult learners, the adult learner will experience undue pressures and stresses. For instance, critical reflection is an integral part of the adult learner’s development which requires professors to give them time to critically reflect on what they are learning. However, if other faculty employ the "mental model" which states, "the more work you give, the more the student will learn" (Senge, 1990:175), then the adult learner will be forced to make difficult decisions regarding time management and most likely give up the time needed for critical reflection. Furthermore, a student's context must be taken into account since his/her educational and family backgrounds, marital status, and financial situation can all play significant roles in the educational process. Unless I am sensitive to these factors, I could potentially diminish or sabotage my own educational objectives for the students.

I believe that there is a place for different educational methods such as lecture, discussion, presentation, debate, etc. The choice of method is dependent on the goal for the course or exercise. For instance, it is unavoidable to have some significant lectures and rote memory exercises in a skills development course such as beginning Hebrew. However, the current methods employed for teaching languages have not produced the desired results—many seminary gradtuates surveyed say they do not use their Hebrew in ministry. There is a disconnect between the intended results and the methods employed. I have always tried to synchronize my own intended objectives with appropriate methods, which requires me to be flexible in my teaching style even during a single course or class time. My goal in any class will be to enable the adult learner to progress toward the more advanced states of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the course material.

Most importantly, I believe that the seminary is a unique adult educational environment, and one which the theorists mentioned earlier cannot fully explain because of their humanist assumptions. The goal of training leaders and pastors for the local church is in every way a spiritual endeavor. This requires the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in both the professor and the student in all aspects of the educational process without which the best teaching methods will be used in vain.

Area of Research

My dissertation investigated Isaiah 19 from historical, rhetorical, and theological perspectives. The desire to understand Isaiah 19 from an historical perspective arises from the lack of such consideration in many of the commentaries on Isaiah 19. In particular, many of the critical commentaries do not compare Isaiah 19 with the tumultuous events of the 25th dynasty of Egypt. Furthermore, even the more conservative commentaries hardly investigate any historical connections with Isaiah 19.

The desire to investigate Isaiah 19 from a rhetorical perspective is because of the juxtaposition of the poetic and prose text in this chapter. The rhetorical dimension of passages like Judges 4 and 5 have been examined with great detail. However, these are essentially narrative texts with poetry inserted into them, while in Isaiah, we have a predominantly a poetic text with prose inserted into it. This investigation attempts to determine the rhetorical effect of the use of these two genres.

Lastly, the theological dimension is considered such that if an historical investigation is made along with a rhetorical investigation, would the theological message be different than it is currently understood? The dissertation attempts to investigate the relationship, if any, of such an historical and rhetorical study to the theological message of the passage today.

As is apparent from my dissertation topic, my interests lie in intersecting disciplines. I have an interest in pursuing Egyptian history as it intersects with Jewish history. Furthermore, I have a desire to study the biblical texts using the traditional grammatico-historical exegetical method while being sensitive to the newer literary critical approaches, in particular, the rhetorical dimension. In the future, I would be interested in combining my background in computers and in the Bible by perhaps joining the ongoing research of teaching a computer how to read the OT which is currently spearheaded by the Free University in Amsterdam.

Background

I was born into a pastor’s family in Kwangju, South Korea, as the youngest of two brothers. My father’s name is Jung Woong Kim, and my mother’s name is Soon Kyo Lee. When I was five, my parents became full-time missionaries to Thailand, so in 1976, our whole family left for Thailand. We stayed there for five years, and at the end of the first term, my father took a sabbatical leave and went to Chicago, where he studied for his Doctor of Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He graduated in 1985 and went back to Thailand, while my mother stayed with my brother and me until I went to college in 1988—at which time, she rejoined my father and they have been there ever since. My wife, Tammy, and I were married in 1997 and we have three children: Joseph, Noelle, and Jonathan.

Spiritual Background

I was born into a strong Christian family and therefore heard the gospel many times. However, it was not until my first year in college that I actually made the commitment to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. Soon after, I felt God lead me to the ministry and have followed that path ever since. I became a Christian after being confronted by God’s Word in the book of Mark, and it was the first time that I recognized that Jesus was perfect and was God himself. It was a dramatic turn around for my life. For the first time, I experienced peace like never before and incredible amounts of joy. There have been ups and downs, but I can honestly say that there has never been a dull moment following Jesus.