Uriah Kim

2004 North American Doctoral Fellow

		Dr. Uriah Kim Professor of Hebrew Bible Hartford Seminary

I decided to pursue a Ph.D. because I felt there weren’t enough scholars articulating issues and concerns that my Asian-American community held. I saw the need, and I thought I could help address it.

Celebrations of diversity often last only so long as a nation stays peaceful and prosperous. During periods of stress and conflict, acceptance of racial and ethnic minorities can evaporate, so those communities don’t always do so well during times of trouble.

Those who teach or study the Bible need to be prepared to ask real-world questions about justice and the stranger. I can’t put up a wall and separate my scholarly knowledge from my lived experience.

If you understand the importance of teaching the Bible or theology and raising and articulating issues and concerns of your lived community to the larger public, then the life of scholarship and teaching is worth it. It really does take a village to finish graduate study, but the impact you can have on building understanding between people from different backgrounds can make a lasting difference in the world.”