AMBS board appoints Lee as Assistant Professor of New Testament
Published: June 12, 2025
By Annette Brill Bergstresser
ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) — The Board of Directors of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Indiana, has appointed Gilha Lee, PhD candidate, of Atlanta, Georgia, as Assistant Professor of New Testament, beginning July 1, 2025.
An ordained Presbyterian minister, scholar and educator, Lee will complete his PhD in New Testament in June at the Graduate Division of Religion of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His dissertation topic is “The Ongoing Reconciliation: Paul’s Divine–Human Reconciliation through the Lens of Reciprocal Exchange.”
AMBS Vice President and Academic Dean Beverly Lapp, EdD, who chaired the search committee for the position, noted that Lee received strong affirmation both from his references and from participants in his candidacy visit at the seminary.
“Among the qualities that stood out to us were Gilha’s pastoral identity and ability to contribute leadership for ministerial training, his scholarly talent and the relevance of his research for both the church and the academy, and his ability to integrate biblical studies with peace witness,” she said. “We’re looking forward to having him be part of carrying forward AMBS’s robust tradition of biblical formation in our learning community.”
She added that the committee also heard affirmation for Lee’s readiness to contribute in new and resonant ways to the seminary’s curriculum, his facility with administration and governance, his ecumenical perspectives and connections, and his intercultural experiences.
Lee brings both academic breadth and depth to his new role, having completed three master’s degrees: a Master of Theology from Candler School of Theology at Emory University (2018), and a Master of Theology (2016) and Master of Divinity (2011) from Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary (PUTS) in Seoul, South Korea. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and English Linguistics (2008) from Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
His ThM thesis at PUTS — “The Origin of Adam-Christology: Formation of Paul’s Adam-Christology Based on the Christological Reinterpretation of Jewish Traditions” — received recognition for “Outstanding Biblical Studies Dissertation of the Year” in 2016. He also received the 2024–25 Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship and the 2021–23 Louisville Institute Doctoral Fellowship.
At Emory, Lee served first as a teaching assistant, assisting in courses on the New Testament, and then as an adjunct professor, teaching Biblical Greek courses. He has written and presented in both academic and congregational settings, including at annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature. His academic and research interests include 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Pauline writings and theology, Second Temple literature, Roman slavery, and postcolonial interpretation of the New Testament.
Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, PhD, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and a search committee member, said she’s overjoyed to welcome Lee to the AMBS Bible Department, which she chairs.
“Gilha’s insightful research about reconciliation in the Pauline epistles is profoundly relevant to many of our students’ global contexts as well as our context in the U.S. and Canada,” she said. “As a scholar and teacher, he’s skilled at reading biblical texts in conversation with peace theology and contemporary concerns about justice. I anticipate that his presence at AMBS will also enrich and enliven the seminary’s ongoing ecumenical and cross-cultural commitments.”
Lee also comes to AMBS with 17 years of pastoral experience, having been actively involved in congregational ministry in both South Korea and the U.S. while pursuing his postgraduate studies. He was ordained by the Presbyterian Church of Korea in 2013 after having served as Youth Pastor in three congregations (2008–12): Dongan Presbyterian Church in Seoul; Eu-sun Presbyterian Church in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea; and Eunsung Presbyterian Church in Seoul. He returned to Dongan Presbyterian Church to serve in pastoral roles from 2012 to 2017. After coming to the U.S. in 2017, he joined Korean Community Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Georgia, serving as Children’s Pastor (2018–19), Youth Pastor (2020–23) and Education Department Directing Pastor (2023–present).
Lee said he is “truly delighted” to be joining the AMBS community.
“Having grown up in the Reformed tradition in South Korea, I have long wrestled with how God’s peace and reconciliation can be embodied in our world — not only theologically but in everyday life,” he reflected. “I was drawn to AMBS because of its deep, longstanding commitment to practicing peace and reconciliation both intellectually and communally. I look forward to exploring the New Testament together and discerning how we might become agents of peace and reconciliation wherever we are called.”
Lee will relocate to the Elkhart area this summer with his spouse, Ae Young Jung, and their two children.
In addition to Lapp and Wyse-Rhodes, the search committee consisted of David Boshart, PhD, President (ex officio); Melika Kauffman Hershberger, a graduate student from Normal, Illinois; Jamie Pitts, PhD, Professor of Anabaptist Studies; and Allan Rudy-Froese, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation. The board appointment took place April 3, 2025.
Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs — all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world. ambs.edu
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