Paul S. Chung, Director and distinguished full professor of International Public Theology at the Forum-Center in Berkeley
August 15, 2024
Dear Mrs. Young Maccarone:
It is my pleasure to write a recommendation on behalf of Dr. Paul S. Chung to serve as the director and distinguished affiliate faculty for the International Public Theology in Forum-Center.
At the request of Paul Chung, I am serving the Forum-Center as Senior Advisor in collaboration with other several distinguished colleagues on the committee. I am convinced that Paul Chung is a qualified scholar and administrator to implement the objectives for the Forum-Center in terms of building a strong communication network among scholars and establishing a partnership with several highly regarded institutions. He is skillful in organizing an international program and conference in collaboration with Germany and East Asia (China and S. Korea).
Given today’s crises—beset by war, cultural strife, and ecological sustainability—I find it critical to develop the Forum-Center for churchwide peace, common good governance, interreligious engagement, and human rights. Therefore, the Forum-Center can contribute to enhancing international relations with East Asia, Germany, and other Pacific Rim areas.
One of Chung’s strengths lies in his effective leadership to introduce articles by American or European faculty and to invite Asian scholars to offer a peer reviewed response. This will foster substantial dialogue and exchange of scholarly communication. His regular communiqué is a good example, helping the colleagues on the committee grasp all necessary contextual information.
Chung worked as one of my colleagues at Wartburg Theological Seminary when I was academic dean. I know well his rich experience of culture and religion in China and S. Korea, as well as engaging theology and culture in Germany. Chung is trustworthy with Christian integrity and a reliable scholar qualified in the field of public theology, the science-religion dialogue, and comparative study of world religions.
We are now in the process of launching the 2026 Seoul Conference on the theme of “Religion, Science, and Sociobiology: Public Theology Perspectives” in collaboration with the University of Bochum and Hanshin Theological Seminary. I encourage you to support the International Public Theology in Forum-Center, reinvigorating Dr. Chung’s work as the director and distinguished affiliate faculty towards international civil society, vibrant democracy, and the integrity of life-world. He would serve as a great asset to your board of trustees/governing body, as well as an agent to strengthen God’s mission and reconciliation in a global context. I appreciate your collaboration on this significant project of Forum-Center at the international level.
Shalom,
Prof. Craig L. Nessan
William D. Streng Professor for the Education and Renewal of the Church
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa
Senior Advisor, International Public Theology in Forum-Center, Berkeley
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October 4, 2024
Dear Mrs. Young Maccarone and the Board of Trustees,
I am writing to you as a theology scholar, as the founder of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Research Center for Public Theology and a former Dean of a faculty of Human sciences at the university of Bamberg/Germany and now also as the moderator of the World Council of Churches.
I got in contact with Prof. Chung through academic networks. He has impressed me by his very fast and efficient work in conceptualizing a special conference of public theology in Seoul and his deep academic assessment of new work in public theology including my own.
My recommendation of Rev. Dr. Paul S. Chung, the Director and Full Professor of International Public Theology at Forum-Center, Berkeley, however, also rests on his impressive academic credentials and teaching experience.
Following the completion of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Basel, he pursued postdoctoral studies in Public Theology and Sociology of Religion at UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union.
Dr. Chung’s postdoctoral book Martin Luther and Buddhism: Aesthetics of Suffering was recognized as the Habilitationsschrift by Wartburg Theological Seminary which has offered a tenure track position in the field of Lutheran Witness and World Christianity (Assistant Professor 2005-2009). He was an Associate Professor of Theology and World Religion at Luther Seminary (2009-2024), and he was then nominated to be a distinguished affiliated faculty at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Given Dr. Chung’s academic credentials and his directorship, I recommend him to serve as the director and full professor position at the Center. Due to my appreciation for his important work in Public theology I have agreed to act as a Senior Advisor in conjunction with Prof. Craig L. Nessan.
Dr. Chung, with my advice, is preparing for the 2026 Seoul Conference, and he should be devoted to the conference organization as the full-time director and faculty member. I appreciate your service to support the Forum-Center through generous donations over years.
All the best,
Bishop em. Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm
Moderator of the World Council of Churches
Extr. Prof. University of Stellenbosch
Hon. Prof. University of Bamberg
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