Kin Louie & Jonathan Edwards
Background: My name is Kin. I'm not good enough to be a king, but I do hope to be your kinsman in the Lord. I grew up in Hong Kong, a city as prosperous as Singapore (where Edwin came from) but a lot dirtier. It's an international city constantly bursting with activities. Our city motto is 'The Dynamic Capital.'
I have studied in Canada and US. I was a (neverly finished) Ph.D. candidate in economics at Princeton, where Ben Bernanke (the upcoming Federal Reserve Chairperson) taught me macroeconomics. I abandoned economics for the heavenly calling of theology. I got my M.Div. from Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. WTS gave me excellent training in biblical studies. Their theology is solid but too narrow for me personally. Coming to New College for Ph.D. is another step in the long road of a broadening theological education.
My wife Janet and I met in our church New York. I was ordained by a Baptist church, though I now belong to the denomination United Brethen in Christ. We have 3 lovely girls ranging from 9 to 5. Sometimes I got more affection than I can handle from the 4 ladies at home.
I'm in my 3rd year of my doctoral program. I pray, hope, sweat and tremble, that I can finish my work here in another six or seven months.
Research: My research is on the theological aesthetics of Edwards. For Edwards, beauty and sensibility is the link between God and human beings. We participate in divine life when we sense the beauty of God and participates in God's self-appreciation of divine beauty. We are reduced to dust in the face of divine sublimity, and this self-abasement is precisely our human beauty. That is my thesis in a nutshell.
Edwards facinates me because he is both an austere philosopher and a revival preacher. Like Aquinas (another of my hero), metaphysical speculations and spiritual contemplation are two sides of the same coin. Edwards is also fascination because his thinking embodies a rare integration of Calvinistic orthodoxy and Enlightenment mentality. I like to pretend to be a philosopher, yet a philosopher at the service of Scriptures and church tradition. Hopefully my thesis is just a first towards my exploration of the relationship between the Christian faith and modernity and postmodernity.
I have studied in Canada and US. I was a (neverly finished) Ph.D. candidate in economics at Princeton, where Ben Bernanke (the upcoming Federal Reserve Chairperson) taught me macroeconomics. I abandoned economics for the heavenly calling of theology. I got my M.Div. from Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. WTS gave me excellent training in biblical studies. Their theology is solid but too narrow for me personally. Coming to New College for Ph.D. is another step in the long road of a broadening theological education.
My wife Janet and I met in our church New York. I was ordained by a Baptist church, though I now belong to the denomination United Brethen in Christ. We have 3 lovely girls ranging from 9 to 5. Sometimes I got more affection than I can handle from the 4 ladies at home.
I'm in my 3rd year of my doctoral program. I pray, hope, sweat and tremble, that I can finish my work here in another six or seven months.
Research: My research is on the theological aesthetics of Edwards. For Edwards, beauty and sensibility is the link between God and human beings. We participate in divine life when we sense the beauty of God and participates in God's self-appreciation of divine beauty. We are reduced to dust in the face of divine sublimity, and this self-abasement is precisely our human beauty. That is my thesis in a nutshell.
Edwards facinates me because he is both an austere philosopher and a revival preacher. Like Aquinas (another of my hero), metaphysical speculations and spiritual contemplation are two sides of the same coin. Edwards is also fascination because his thinking embodies a rare integration of Calvinistic orthodoxy and Enlightenment mentality. I like to pretend to be a philosopher, yet a philosopher at the service of Scriptures and church tradition. Hopefully my thesis is just a first towards my exploration of the relationship between the Christian faith and modernity and postmodernity.
posted by Chris Ross | 8:40 AM
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