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Center for Advanced Theological Studies

Center for Advanced Theological Studies

CATS seeks to prepare women and men for contributing to the global church in a variety of leadership roles, especially as educators, researchers, and other teachers and agents of the church and its mission. CATS programs promote graduate work at advanced levels of scholarship, research, and reflection. This takes place in a diverse community of scholars committed to such study within the context of an ecclesially informed evangelical faith aimed at serving the varied and worldwide body of Christ.

The Theological Studies PhD Program and Faculty

Theology and Technology

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Theological Studies

Students have the opportunity to participate in integrative, interdisciplinary coursework while specializing in a particular area of theological study. Theological Studies encompasses a range of theological disciplines, including Christian ethics, historical theology/church history, liturgical theology, practical theology, political theology, public theology, systematic theology, and theology and culture. The program prepares graduates with a comprehensive knowledge of theological studies, broadly defined, adequate to teach across the theological curriculum at the undergraduate level; and research skills appropriate to an area of theological exploration, sufficient to engage in original research and writing that advances theological understanding in the service of the global church.

The following are courses are required for students in Theological Studies:

  • Methods
  • Global Histories and Christian Doctrines
  • Global Contexts and Public Spheres
  • Glocalization and Religiocultural Pluralism
  • Theological Hermeneutics

Students with a focus on practical theology are also required to take

  • Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

Language requirements depend on the area of research focus. Students interested in Christian ethics, practical theology, or theological and culture are required to complete one of the biblical languages as a prerequisite. All other theological studies students should have completed both biblical languages prior to admission. Additionally, Christian ethics students will demonstrate competence in two modern research languages; church history/historical theology students in three additional research languages—one ancient (typically Latin), the other modern (typically German and French); practical theology students in two additional research languages, one of which is qualitative and quantitative research methods; systematic theology students in Latin and two modern languages (German, French, or Spanish); and theology and culture students in one additional, modern language.

Primary Faculty

Steven Argue

Vince Bantu

Kutter Callaway

Grayson Carter

Research Interests

Faculty are interested in supervising PhD-level research in the following areas:

Peter Altmann

  • Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law
  • Pentateuch
  • Economics and Justice in the Biblical World
  • Animals and Food in the Biblical World

Steve Argue

  • Adolescence
  • Emerging Adulthood
  • Parachurch Ministry
  • Young People and the Church
  • Faith Formation of Young People (Faith, Doubt, Spiritual Struggle)
  • Congregational Approaches to Advocating for Youth
  • Families, Parenting
  • Teaching and Learning (Pedagogy, Andragogy, Transformative Learning)

Vince Bantu

  • Early Christianity
  • Near Eastern Christian Studies
  • Ancient & Medieval African Church History
  • Literature in Coptic, Old Nubian, and Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez)
  • Urban Apologetics

Chris Blumhofer

  • Gospel of John
  • Theological Interpretation of Scripture
  • Old Testament in the New Testament

Kutter Callaway

  • Theology and Popular Culture
  • Theology and Technology
  • Theology in Post-Secular Societies
  • Psychologically Informed Approaches to Theology

Grayson Carter

  • Modern Church History
  • History of Evangelicalism
  • Anglicanism
  • C. S. Lewis

Scott Cormode

  • Christian Leadership
  • Organizational Change
  • Practical Theology
  • Faith and Finances
  • Spiritual Formation of Leaders
  • Faith, Work, and Economics
  • Christian Practices

Collin Cornell

  • Psalms
  • Tabernacle
  • Ancient Israelite Religion
  • Old Testament missiology
  • Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Oscar García-Johnson

  • Systematic Theology
  • Ethnic Studies
  • Decolonialism
  • Latin American Studies
  • US Latino/a Theologies

G. Tommy Givens

  • New Testament
  • Theological Ethics
  • Christian Nonviolence
  • Political Theory
  • Scriptural Reasoning for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations

Christopher Hayes

  • Old Testament
  • Prophets
  • Ancient Near Eastern Context and Languages

Matthew Kaemingk

  • Public Theology
  • Political Theology
  • Immigration Ethics
  • Economic Ethics
  • Marketplace Theology
  • Faith and Work
  • Reformed Ethics

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

  • Systematic (Doctrinal) Theology and Constructive Theology
  • Comparative Theology
  • Science-Theology Dialogue

Sebastian Chang Hwan Kim

  • Public theology
  • Korean Christianity
  • Indian Christianity (Theology)
  • World Christianity
  • Asian Theologies
  • Theology and Peacebuilding
  • Theology, Politics, and Society

Kyong-Jin Lee

  • Political, Social and Ecological Readings of the Old Testament
  • Inner-Biblical Exegesis
  • Biblical Literature in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods
  • Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Ethics

Hak Joon Lee

  • Christian Theological Ethics
  • Globalization
  • Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Asian American Ethics
  • Community Organizing

Janette H. Ok

  • 1 Peter
  • Letters of John
  • Asian American Hermeneutics
  • Feminist Interpretation of New Testament
  • Social-Scientific Approaches in New Testament Studies

Kara E. Powell

  • Youth Ministry
  • Family Ministry
  • Young Adult Ministry

David Taylor

  • Liturgical Theology
  • Theological Aesthetics
  • Liturgical/Worship Arts
  • Theological Anthropology

Amos Yong

  • Intercultural Theology
  • Buddhist-Christian Dialogue
  • Theology and Disability
  • Pentecostalism and Pentecostal Theology
  • Theology of Religions
  • Theological Education

Current PhD Students

Justin Adour

Matthew Aughtry

Joyanna Eisenberg

Jacob Chengwei Feng

Olufemi Gonsalves

Clara King

Barnabas Lin

Shijie Lu

Karen Lucas

Dylan Parker

Mike Smith

Viktor Tóth

Katie Newton

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