Probing the perspectives of New Testament writers

History is not written in a vacuum. That’s an adage Rev. Eugene Eung-Chun Park, David and Dana Dornsife Professor of New Testament in the Graduate School of Theology, knows all too well. And for Park, the joy of scholarship comes in delving into the existential realities that influenced the perspectives of New Testament writers.

Park is particularly interested in reading and interpreting texts against Greco-Roman philosophy, with a particular concentration on the Greek philosopher Plato.

Park shared his scholarship in a 2019 article, “Dialectic of alētheia and eleutheria in Galatians,” in the book Matthew, Paul, and Others: Asian Perspectives on New Testament Themes (Innsbruck, 2019).

“There’s no definitive evidence that Paul read Plato, but Plato was so well known that one can safely assume that Paul was aware of the basic themes in the philosopher’s dialogues,” Park asserts. Thus, it seems entirely possible that Platonic concepts influenced Paul’s contemplations of truth and freedom.

As a member of the Graduate School of Theology, created by the 2019 merger between the San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) and the University of Redlands, Park looks forward to working with colleagues in the Redlands campus. “For some time now, I’ve longed to be part of a larger institution,” he observes. “New Testament studies are inherently interdisciplinary, so the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in other departments across the University is exciting.”