G. Sujin Pak was appointed dean of Boston University’s School of Theology at the beginning of January.
Pak brings with her a track record of inclusivity and social justice work. She joined BU from the Duke University Divinity School, where she received her Master’s of Theological Studies and served as an assistant professor and later as academic dean.
As a historian specializing in the history of Christianity, Pak’s academic pursuits have often involved interdisciplinary work, especially with regards to marginalized communities and peoples.
“When I was younger and first starting all of this, I was just looking at the history of Christianity and seeing the kind of oppressive practices it had to several communities,” Pak said, “and particularly the starting point being its relationship to Jews and Judaism.”
Pak expanded upon this interest in her first book, “The Judaizing Calvin: Sixteenth-Century Debates over the Messianic Psalms,” published by Oxford University Press in 2009.
Robert Hill, the dean of Marsh Chapel and a biblical scholar of the 16th century, said he is especially excited for Pak to join STH.
“She brings some interests that are very dear to me,” Hill said.
Hill also noted the importance of her role as a historian and her ability to “help us understand” the present through the lens of a long history of religious tradition.
“She has a great deal of interest and engagement in the present era,” Hill said, “and has all manner of experience in leadership in our very time right now, including inclusivity issues and others.”
Shelly Rambo, an associate professor of theology and a member of the Search Advisory Committee — which held the year-long search for a new dean — said the search process was “unique” and “unusual.”
“It’s pretty standard in this level of interviews that you fly in people for airport interviews,” Rambo said. “But what happened was when COVID hit, we had to do the interviews by Zoom.”
Members of the Committee were tasked with developing a pool of candidates, she added, before presenting them to the Provost, who made the final decision.
Reverend Cristian De La Rosa, a clinical assistant professor of theology and a member of the Search Advisory Committee, said Pak met the criteria and priorities established by Committee members and Morrison, particularly an understanding of issues such as racism and equity, as well as an understanding of the STH ethos and community.
“Because she embodies multiculturalism and diversity as an individual, but also in her professional life and experience,” De La Rosa said, “that in itself will be a great resource for any social issue that we work with, and for the many diverse communities that we have at STH.”
Her identity as a biracial Methodist Korean American woman is an important part of her identity, Pak said, and was informed by the “deep Methodist heritage” of her parents.
“My father is a native Korean and my mom is a white woman from upstate New York,” Pak said. “They were married back in the ‘60s and it was an international and biracial marriage, and that’s been a big part of my own identity.”
Pak said her parents met in South Korea where her mother was serving as a missionary. They returned to the United States, where they had children and Pak’s father became a professor of worship before moving back to South Korea when Pak was nine, staying until she was 18.
Pak said her father’s work as a professor of worship was “really formative” for her in thinking about indigenous worship.
“My father really did some visionary work in thinking about what does it mean to be Korean and also Christian,” Pak said, “and to not give up the Korean culture.”
STH graduate student Xiaodi Wu said she views Pak as a role model and was “very proud” upon reading a newsletter from STH about Pak’s appointment to the deanship.
“The first thing I noticed in her letter, she said she’s from two different countries, East and West,” Wu said. “That speaks to me dearly because of my particular background.”
Wu added she is from China and lived in South Korea for seven years before moving to the states.
“I feel like she’ll be understanding of my experience in particular,” Wu said, “so I’m actually very curious to see what she might bring to the School of Theology.”
Pak said she was attracted to the deanship by the school’s track record and potential for growth in the years to come.
“I just see a lot of ways in which this school is postured to be a leader in theological education,” Pak said, “and be a very important voice for questions of race, questions of the environment, questions of equity.”
She added the United Methodist Church should be more adaptable as well as open to differing perspectives going forward.
“The Church needs to be more nimble, to have a more broader sense of what the work of the Church is and what a religious leader looks like,” Pak said. “This school is really positioned to think about and embody and raise up leaders that have that kind of nimbleness.”
Pak’s vision for a more “nimble” Church comes amidst a tumltuous battle within the United Methodist Church over same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. In January 2020, the United Methodist Church proposed a split into traditionalist and progressive denominations.
“I’m sad at the split,” she said. “I’m not surprised, but I’m very deeply grieved at the split.”
Pak cited the school’s history of accepting and welcoming the LGBTQ community as something she fully agreed with.
“I’m proud of BU STH’s legacy of being affirming and being very vocal in its support of LGBTQIA+ persons,” she said, “and I’m 100 percent behind that.”
Alyssa Burleson, a Methodist and Masters of Divinity student, said she believes Pak will represent the school very well and be a “wonderful face” for the community.
“Dr. Pak is going to be able to adequately represent the beliefs of the School of Theology and many of our students,” Burleson said, “and the importance of inclusivity and being diverse.”
In terms of her next steps as dean, Pak said she doesn’t plan on making any drastic changes just yet, and instead, will spend her first two months conducting one-on-one conversations with all of the STH faculty, administrators and staff.
“It’s important for me to hear from them, hear what they’re thinking, where their hearts are, where their passions are, where their energy is, where they’re frustrated,” Pak said, “I don’t want to automatically come in and say this is what we’re doing. I want to listen.”
