Dean Pak Featured in The Christian Century
The following article was originally published by The Christian Century on February 8, 2021. Click here to read the original article.
G. Sujin Pak named dean of Boston University’s School of Theology
G. Sujin Pak has been named dean of Boston University’s School of Theology. She succeeds Mary Elizabeth Moore—the first woman to lead the theology school—who announced in 2019 her intention to step down from the position she had held since 2009.
Before coming to Boston, Pak was an associate professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School, as well as vice dean of academic affairs. During her time at Duke, the Association of Theological Schools recognized her as an emerging woman in leadership. She also received an exemplary teaching award from the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
As a historian, Pak specializes in the history of biblical interpretation and in the roles of marginalized communities in the Protestant Reformation. Pak said her concern for marginalized and oppressed people groups makes the current divide in the United Methodist Church over LGBTQ inclusion particularly painful.
“There is need today for prophetic witness to support all persons of faith in their calling to ministry and/or religious leadership,” she said in an interview with Boston University’s BU Today. “I am proud of this legacy of the United Methodist Church and can only hope that it will be on the right side of history in support of LGBTQIA+ persons.”
Pak, a lay UMC preacher, is a member of the American Historical Association and previously served on the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation. She is a board member of the Calvin Studies Society.
She has published two books: The Judaizing Calvin: Sixteenth-Century Debates over the Messianic Psalms and The Reformation of Prophecy: Early Modern Interpretations of the Prophet and Old Testament Prophecy.