Director of the Styberg Library and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care
Education
- B.A. & M.A., Ewha Womans University (South Korea)
- S.T.M., Boston University
- M.L.I.S., Dominican University
- Ph.D., Emory University
Where Both Teachers and Learners Engage
My vocation as a teacher, pastoral theologian and librarian is deeply rooted in the commitment to serve and lead others as we together try to understand the complexities of the world and engage in the caring and community building activities of the Divine.
As a librarian-teacher, I believe that my primary role is to guide others to a variety of resources with which they struggle to find answers to their truth-seeking endeavors and develop new perspectives of the world perceived.
As a pastoral theologian-teacher, I am committed to walking with others as they bring their stories and experiences to the classroom, participate in the communal acts of meaning-making, and empower one another to become agents of healing and transformation. Pastoral theology is a constructive activity which involves not only critical reflection on caring activities of God and faith communities but also reinterpretation of cultural traditions and spiritual resources. Pastoral care and theology begin with stories (of an individual, family, or community), move to understanding a variety of values and dynamics--psychological, socioeconomic, cultural, religious--operating in stories, and retell stories in light of the Divine who invites us to the healing and reconciling work.
In this regard, I envision the classroom as the communal laboratory where both teachers and learners engage in stories of others to understand the complexities of life and continue to shape themselves as critical, creative pastoral theologians.