Lee, Jae Won
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Jae Won Lee came to McCormick in 2002, and teaches courses on the Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the study of historical Jesus, Greek, and biblical hermeneutics. Her major studies focus on the critical, contextual, and emancipatory rereading of Pauline text and its social, political, and cultural texture. Her interpretative strategies deal with diverse liberation-oriented biblical hermeneutics and the relationships between the Bible and the Third World.
Dr. Jae Won Lee was born in Pusan, a southern port city in Korea, and received her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. She worked as a full-time research staff at The Korea Theological Study Institute and translated biblical commentaries and theological books written in English into Korean. She received her S.T.M. degree and earned her Ph.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York. Her dissertation, Paul and the Politics of Difference: A contextual study of the Jewish-Gentile difference in Galatians and Romans (advisor: Dr. Brigitte Kahl) is an attempt to challenge the traditional understanding of Paul's universalism and difference.
Jae Won was involved in the Minjung theology movement in Korea. She has been actively engaged in the activities for the transformation of Korean-American church and society in the New York area, including the movement for the reunification of Korea. She served as a "lay pastor" for 11 years in Bedford Park Presbyterian Church in New York, a Korean-American congregation.
Jae Won is excited about McCormick's affirmative stance toward the presence and future of an Asian-American feminist biblical scholarship. All of her siblings, three older sisters and two younger brothers, live in Korea.
For a summary of Jae Won's 2006-2007 academic year with information on recent publications, lectures and other public appearances, click here.
Education
B.A., Ewha Womans University
M.A., Ewha Womans University
S.T.M., Union Theological Seminary
Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary
Courses
B 300: Intro to Biblical Studies
B 324: Intro to Greek Exegesis I
B 325: Intro to Greek Exegesis II
B 407: The Gospels
B 460: The Epistles of Paul
B 463: Paul and the Politics of Difference
B 480: The Modern Quest for Jesus
Publications
The Weak and the Strong in Romans: Paul and Solidarity
"Spirit and Practice: A Radical Understanding" Reply to Chung Hyun Kyung' Address, WCC 7th Assembly, Canberra, 1991, Christianity and Crisis 51: 226-27, 1991.
Translated Paul D. Hanson, The Diversity of Scripture: A Theological Interpretation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982) into Korean. It was published by the Korea Theological Study Institute Press, Seoul, Korea, 1986.
Translated Krister Stendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976) into Korean.
