Skip to main content
Center for Asian American Christianity

The Fiery Ordeal among You

How the Impact of Anti-Asian Hate Speech and Hate Incidents Shed New Light on the Nature of Persecution in 1 Peter

Sang Hyun Lee Lecture by Rev. Dr. Janette Ok of Fuller Theological Seminary

Thursday, March 28, 2023 • 7:00PM EST • Hybrid Event

Theron Assembly Room, Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library

Register to Join VirtuallyRegister to Join in Person

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.

We are honored to welcome Dr. Ok to our campus. She is Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological 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's lecture is titled “The Fiery Ordeal among You (1 Pet 4:12): How the Impact of Anti-Asian Hate Speech and Hate Incidents Shed New Light on the Nature of Persecution in 1 Peter." This lecture shows how the real-world consequences of incendiary rhetoric and violence directed toward Asian Americans complexifies and illuminates the “official” vs. “unofficial” persecution debate in 1 Peter scholarship. Ok will also consider how 1 Peter speaks to the mental health effect of COVID-19 related racism on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

The lecture will be live streamed on the Seminary’s YouTube channel, as well as through Airmeet. Following the lecture, light refreshments will be served in Library Hall.

About the Sang Hyun Lee Lecture

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.

Speaker

Associate Professor of New Testament

Rev. Dr. Janette Ok

Fuller Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Janette Ok 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.

Rev. Dr. Janette Ok 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).

Host

Director

Dr. David C. Chao

Center for Asian American Christianity

Dr. David C. Chao is director of the Center for Asian American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He teaches courses on Asian American theology, organizes academic programming in Asian American theology and ministry, and mentors Asian and Asian American students. His research and writing focus on Asian American theology, the uses of Christian doctrine for liberation, the convergence and divergence of Protestant and Catholic dogmatics, and the theology of Karl Barth. His first book, titled Concursus and Concept Use in Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Providence, is under contract with Routledge. He is grant co-author and project editor for the $300,000 translation grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to the Karl Barth Translator’s Seminar. He is also developing a multi-volume project on Asian American theology. Chao is a graduate of Yale University (BA), Regent College (MDiv), and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThM, PhD). He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Association for Asian American Studies. Chao has a wide range of pastoral experience with Chinese American, Korean American, and Pan-Asian churches and ministries and is an active member of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Dr. David C. Chao is director of the Center for Asian American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He teaches courses on Asian American theology, organizes academic programming in Asian American theology and ministry, and mentors Asian and Asian American students. His research and writing focus on Asian American theology, the uses of Christian doctrine for liberation, the convergence and divergence of Protestant and Catholic dogmatics, and the theology of Karl Barth. Chao is a graduate of Yale University (BA), Regent College (MDiv), and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThM, PhD).

Join Us Virtually on Airmeet

Register to Join Virtually

Join Us in Person at Princeton Theological Seminary

Location: Theron Assembly Room, Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library, 25 Library Pl, Princeton, NJ 08540. Parking is free. Click here for more details.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Time

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Time (ET)

Session

Location

7:00–8:00PM ET

Lecture by Dr. Janette Ok

Theron Room, Airmeet, or YouTube live stream

8:00–8:30PM ET

Q&A

8:30PM ET

Lounge Table Discussions

Airmeet Virtual Social Lounge

Center for Asian American Christianity

The newly expanded Center for Asian American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary comes at a critical time in the life of Asian America. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial-ethnic demographic in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the persistence of anti-Asian racism. Moreover, minority and immigrant churches are poised to transform the face of Christianity in the United States in the next few decades. The Center for Asian American Christianity seeks to equip and empower the next generation of Asian American leaders for service in church, society, and academy.

Princeton Theological Seminary has been a leading voice in Asian American theology and ministry through the work of Professor Emeritus Sang Hyun Lee, the Center for Asian American Christianity, and the establishment of the Kyung-Chik Han Chair of Asian American Theology.