Don (Dongshin) Chang, PhD

Biography

Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
Northwest Baptist Seminary
don.chang@twu.ca

ABOUT DON

Don Chang has been a pastor, a scholar, a teacher, but has also worked as a general labourer. Committing his life to the ministry of the Word of God, he left a secure position and has been through a dynamic life. His variety of life experiences as well as his academic and pastoral practices will be merged into balanced and sympathetic teaching here at ACTS Seminaries. 

How does the Bible inform your life and teaching?
Bible shows me various facets of the relationship with God and the lives of God's people. It informs the goals and direction, and it tells me a variety of examples of good and bad of God's people, both individual and collective. The Bible is a repository of Godly knowledge that I enjoy flipping and dusting to take it out and share with my Christian fellows.

Why do you value a theological education?
Theological education is for equipping sophisticated and humble Christian leaders with sound evangelical theology and profound biblical knowledge to perform various roles according to their life settings, such as local and para-church, marketplace as well as their homes. Good theological education is critical to discerning God's will toward our world.

What are some of the diverse voices you incorporate into your teaching?
The seminary context is a good playground for me and my teaching. As an evangelical Christian believer and (used to be) pastor who has been trained with biblical studies at a secular university, a variety of voices are incorporated into my teaching. I use various resources from conservative to liberal scholars, from reflectional to critical commentaries, in the preparation of my course. Multiple disciplines are incorporated as well, Ancient Near Eastern studies, Second Temple Judaism and Greco-Roman world, Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint, Historical-critical approach, Canonical criticism, Narrative and Discourse analysis are integrated within my teaching. I sometimes invite a text-critical specialist, socio-linguistic specialist, pastor, or theologian to my class.

What do you hope your students get out of your classes?
I hope that my students, as well as myself, become open-minded evangelical thinkers and bible-readers. Years of my teaching experiences taught me that those who claim to know something are relatively more closed in their minds in many cases. Humility toward the word of God and conception of our ignorance will make our understanding more profound.

Why are you at ACTS Seminaries?
This is a very long story. However, I would simply put that I wanted to follow Abrahamic submission to God, which I had seen through my father's life and ministry, and ACTS Seminaries, so far, is the promised land to me if it is not the wilderness on the way.

Education

BA - Chung–Ang University 

MDiv in Theology (Summa Cum Laude) - Sungkyul Christian University and Canadian Theological Seminary 

MA in Biblical Studies (with Distinction) - Trinity Western University 

PhD in Religions and Theology (Biblical Studies) - University of Manchester 

Research

Biblical Theology 
High Priest and Priesthood in the Second Temple period 
Second Temple Judaism 
Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint 
History of Interpretation 

Courses Taught: 
Introduction to the Biblical Studies 
Hermeneutics 
Research Strategies 
Pentateuch 
Exposition of Isaiah 
Introductory Greek 
New Testament Survey 
Introduction to Evangelical Theology 
Biblical Theology of Change, Boundary-crossing, and Missio Dei (co-teaching) 
Biblical Theology of Kingdom Leadership Serving the Missio Dei (co-teaching)