Sang Hyun Lee Lecture: Rev. Dr. Janette Ok

The Sang Hyun Lee Lecture on Asian American Theology and Ministry will be given by the Rev. Dr. Janette Ok on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 7:00 pm in the Theron Room of the Wright Library. The title of Dr. Ok’s lecture is "The Fiery Ordeal among You (1 Pet 4:12): How the Impact of Anti-Asian Hate Speech and Hate Incidents Sheds Light on the Nature of Suffering in 1 Peter." This lecture shows how scholarly discussions on official vs. unofficial persecution in 1 Peter can benefit from understanding the real-world impacts of incendiary rhetoric and violence directed at Asian Americans. It also considers how 1 Peter speaks to the mental health effect of COVID-19-related racism on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

We are honored to welcome Dr. Ok to our campus. She is Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. Previously she served on the faculty at Azusa Pacific Seminary. Dr. Ok received her BA from UCLA and her MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. Her research interests include 1 Peter, 1-3 John, the Catholic Epistles and the formation of early Christian identity, with an emphasis on Asian American, intersectional, feminist, and sociological approaches to biblical interpretation.

Dr. Ok is the author of Constructing Ethnic Identity in 1 Peter: Who You Are No Longer (T&T Clark, 2021) and is co-editing the forthcoming The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Biblical Commentary (IVP Academic). Currently she is writing a commentary on 1–3 John (Eerdmans). She has also written articles and contributed to edited volumes, such as Minoritized Women Reading Race and Ethnicity: Intersectional Approaches to Constructed Identity and Early Christian Texts (2020), T&T Clark Handbook of Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics (2019); and Intersecting Realities: Race, Identity, and Culture in the Spiritual-Moral Life of Young Asian Americans (2018). As a church leader and preacher, Dr. Ok brings more than 20 years of ministry experience to the classroom. She is an ordained minister who pastors at Ekko Church in Orange County, California. Her interdisciplinary interests and ecclesial commitments have shaped her preaching, teaching, and scholarship, giving her a practical focus on church ministry and Christian leadership.

This lectureship was established to honor Dr. Sang Hyun Lee, the Kyung-Chik Han Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Asian American Program, Emeritus. The purpose of the lecture is to create and preserve space for the Asian American voices of the present, to empower the Asian American ministers and theological scholars of the future, and to remember and to pass on the legacy of the first Asian American faculty member at Princeton Seminary, Dr. Sang Hyun Lee.

The lecture will be live streamed on the Seminary’s YouTube channel. You must register HERE with Eventbrite in order to receive a link to the lecture. Registration for in-person attendance is optional.

Following the lecture, light refreshments will be served in Library Hall.

All guests are expected to adhere to the Seminary’s current health and wellness guidelines, including being fully vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. Our health and wellness protocols regarding COVID-19 change based on the guidance of our local health departments officials and numbers of cases in our region. As a result, protocols are fluid and requirements regarding the use of face coverings, distance, and testing may change. For the latest guidelines, click here.

Register to attend in person at Wright Library or online via the YouTube livestream.