About Me

Yung Suk Kim 
Professor of New Testament & Early Christianity
Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology 
Virginia Union University
Email: ykim@vuu.edu

       

As a scholar and professor, 
I am not merely interested in knowledge of the past but in today's world. 
I must tackle issues in the present and help people today. 
That is why I study and teach history, religion, and culture.

[Personal Version]
I am a Full Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Virginia Union University, a scholar of humanities who takes seriously all humanities matters, and a humanist who loves God and nature. I speak Korean (native), English, and Spanish. I love new ideas and writing books about the Bible, culture, theology, and wisdom. Recently, I have been interested in the intersection of the mind, mental health, and biblical studies. In my first career, I worked for LG for about ten years in Seoul, Panama, and Miami. Then, I quit my job and started a second-career academic journey, obtaining a master of divinity from McCormick and a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Vanderbilt University. I enjoy teaching, meditation, and exercise. So far, I have written almost twenty books and edited a few volumes.  

[Academic Version]
Yung Suk Kim is a tenured, Full Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Virginia Union University. Kim received a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Vanderbilt University and an M.Div from McCormick Theological Seminary. He has written almost twenty books, including Monotheism, Biblical Traditions, and Race Relations (Cambridge 2022), How to Read Paul (Fortress 2021), Christ’s Body in Corinth (Fortress 2008), and Toward Decentering the New Testament (Cascade 2018, co-authored with Mitzi J. Smith). His forthcoming book is How to Read the Gospels (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). He also edited a few volumes: Paul's Gospel, Empire, Race, and Ethnicity (Pickwick, 2023), 1-2 Corinthians: Texts @ Contexts (Fortress 2013), and Reading Minjung Theology in the Twenty-First Century (Pickwick 2013, co-edited with Jin-ho Kim). He is editing a new collective volume that deals with hermeneutics and homiletics: At the Intersection of Hermeneutics and Homiletics: Transgressive Readings for Transformational Preaching (Pickwick, 2025). Dr. Kim serves as a member of the Bible Translation and Utilization Committee (BTU) to assist in the Bible publishing activities of the National Council of Churches. Kim's research interests include Pauline studies, the Gospels, biblical hermeneutics, the Bible and mental health, and the Bible and ecology.


Teaching Philosophy
I foster and teach to engage in the knowledge of who we are in this world where we see our diversity and differences. In my teaching, diversity is not a given but a source for critical engagement with each other. I value a critical and self-critical stance toward any claim of knowledge, truth, and reality. I nourish diversity and transformative identity for students' transformation. I emphasize the following as pedagogical goals: learning from others, challenging one another, affirming who we are, and working for common humanity in differences. 

Adjective
My adjective is "conscientious." I listen to my inner voice as often as possible. I am meticulous in my work. Often I am impatient and imperfect. However, I am always resilient and come back to do better and more.

What am I?
People get their impressions of me based on what they see from me. While my colleagues tell me I am a prolific writer, students think I am thoroughly prepared. But I see myself differently. I'm always conscientious and feel like walking a tightrope. Like a vapor, I am evanescent. Like a reed, I am wavering. Like dust, I am small. But I'm not vanity.

I am not a mere academician who is digging into the past only. I am a historian, theologian, humanist, realist, lover of wisdom, and advocate for justice and love.  

View of Teacher, Student, and Author
  • A good teacher satisfies students, a wonderful teacher teaches what they need, and an ideal teacher teaches them with love, helping them to teach themselves.  
  • A good student follows the teacher's instruction, a remarkable student asks critical and self-critical questions and a formidable student knows that learning is limitless. 
  • A good author satisfies readers, an admirable author stimulates their interest, and an exceptional author creates new needs for readers. 



Awards

2024 President's Lifetime Achievement Award

  

(VUU 2019)


 
and Unselfish Commitment 
(VUU 2013)



Old Memories
Sales Award Medal from LG (2004)


 
LG Seoul (1987)