Dr. Wonhee Anne Joh and Team of Scholars Receives Grant from Louisville Institute for “Antiracist Work in Asian American Churches” Project
January 12, 2021
Dr. Wonhee Anne Joh, professor of theology and culture at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, is a member of a team of scholars who recently received a Project Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute. Joh, along with Dr. Nami Kim of Spelman College, Rev. Dr. Boyoung Lee of Iliff School of Theology, and Dr. Keun-Joo Christine Pae of Denison University, will be working together on a project titled, “Antiracist Work in Asian American Christian Churches.”
Their project seeks to contribute to antiracist resources informed by Asian American feminist theologies and serve as a resource for churches and the theological academy, as they interrogate and resist anti-Asian racism, co-constitutive with anti-black racism, anti-Muslim hostility, and settler colonialism in North America.
“I’m grateful to the Louisville Institute for this grant that allows us an opportunity to work in ways that directly impact Asian American Christians and how we understand the entangled histories of white racism both in the U.S. and in the global context,” said Joh. “It also provides an opportunity to link this analysis of racism into constructing Asian American theologies that take account of resistance to white supremacy as well as solidarity among our communities.”
The project will include a three-day consultation that gathers Asian American feminist theologians and biblical scholars to discuss the role of critical Christian theology in building intersectional cross-racial solidarity. As a part of the consultation, participants will present essay drafts for mutual feedback to deepen each other’s work as feminist theological praxis. It will conclude with publishing an anthology as educational material in undergraduate classrooms, graduate schools, seminaries, churches, and community organizations.
The Louisville Institute’s Project Grant for Researchers supports research, reflection, and writing by academics and pastors concerning Christian faith and life, the practice of ministry, and/or religious institutions. Grants of up to $30,000 support a diverse range of projects that may involve independent study, consultations, or collaboration between pastors and academics.
Louisville Institute is funded by the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment Inc. and based at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary (Louisville, Kentucky). The Institute’s fundamental mission is to enrich the religious life of North American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them, so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the other.
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, a graduate school of theology related to The United Methodist Church, was founded in 1853. Located on the campus of Northwestern University, the seminary serves more than 450 students from various denominations and cultural backgrounds, fostering an atmosphere of ecumenical interaction. Garrett-Evangelical creates bold leaders through master of divinity, master of arts, master of theological studies, doctor of philosophy, and doctor of ministry degrees. Its 4,500 living alumni serve church and society around the world.