The Road to a Doctoral Degree: A Journey of Grace

President Joshua Cho conferring the Th.D. degree to Tiger Chan

In retrospect, countless hilltops and mountains have I trekked.
Bumpy as the road has been, God’s grace is everywhere.
Grateful am I beyond measure, for your love and walk with me!

　　The journey of my studies for the doctoral degree is finally completed. Not until I looked back did I realize I had trekked so many hilltops and trodden so many winding paths. Throughout the journey, I was grateful to my classmates who walked with me and to the teachers who had helped me wholeheartedly.

A Rigorous Academic Journey

　　Before applying for the Th.D. program at the Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary (HKBTS), the first barrier I had to go through was taking the IELTS Exams. The requirement of the Th.D. program for applicants is quite stringent. Applicants had to submit an IELTS result slip. I had not taken public exams for more than twenty years and so it was really taxing on me to handle such demanding exams all of a sudden. It had taken me two-odd months to prepare for the exams. However, to my surprise, the greatest challenge did not come from the syllabus alone but the stamina required. On the morning of the exams, not only did I have to handle the exams, which lasted for three hours, but also I had to spend quite a long while waiting before, after and between the exams, which meant I had been tortured for almost 4.5 hours. Immediately after the exams, I felt drained and half-dead. I had asked myself why I had to be assessed on my English proficiency through a public exam when I was already a graduate with a master degree who had been trained in the seminary. Of course, this requirement shows that the seminary is fair to all applicants, who must be equipped with reasonable language abilities. Baptized by the IELTS exams, I realized that I had stepped on a rigorous academic journey and could only hold on to endure everything.

Witnessing God’s Grace on the Rugged Mountain Ridges

　　After admission, a Th.D. student had to go through the Examination of Candidacy (including three regular course exams and a Modern Language Test) before moving on to the writing of dissertation. On my part as a student who was Christian thought major, I was not talented in language. Nor had I learnt German before. It was therefore difficult indeed for me to pass the seminary’s assessment in the German exam. Thankfully, I came across two other Th.D. students who had asked a well-acquainted German teacher to start a German class with them. They let me join them and I was extremely grateful for this. Thank God I had these friends walking with me, which was a great encouragement for me to get over the hurdle posed by the German exam. Given my limited language learning abilities, I would not have been able to pass the exam without such encouragement.

　　After three years, I finally completed the four required exams. During the period, I had changed residence three times, which slowed down my pace of taking the exams. Then when I started to prepare for the writing of my dissertation, the real mountain towered ahead of me. The subject I had chosen to study was Kevin J. Vanhoozer, who is a contemporary American evangelical theologian. He is a lively and versatile scholar, who is knowledgeable in a number of domains. His theological theories entail philosophies and cultural theories in various fields. Therefore, not only did I have to investigate his own theological theories but also the theories of the philosophers, theologians, Christian thinkers and cultural theorists that he utilizes. For this purpose, I sought help from my supervisors and the postgraduate students at the seminary. I am grateful to all the classmates and teachers (especially postgraduate student Rev. Lau in the Master of Theology program) who were glad to share with me their study resources, including the important articles and publications of the relevant philosophers and theologians. This help allowed me to kick off my research journey at the right starting point, so that I would not waste time going on the wrong way.

　　Among the thinkers whom I had to study was a non-Christian cultural theorist in the time of Soviet Union. His literary and cultural theories were particularly difficult to understand; having rarely come across such kinds of ideas and thought patterns in my past research areas, I began to feel lost as to where I should start. This was a hilltop I had spent much time trekking. I had even sought help from my teacher, asking him for referral to any scholar that had knowledge about the theories of this thinker. Unfortunately, there were few local scholars, especially in the Christian domain, who were dedicated to the study of this literary theorist. Coincidentally (I believe it must be through the wonderful arrangement by God), when I was sharing my difficulties in handling the dissertation studies with an ex-colleague, who was studying culture and theology in a local university, she happened to have come across the theories of this Soviet thinker in the university lectures and assignments. Such information from her finally presented to me an approach to climb over the hilltop.

　　To be honest, there were many other hilltops that I had climbed over with struggles and difficulty on this journey. The journey of research was lonely. On many occasions, I had to face boldly my own inadequacies, limitations and weaknesses, which resulted in confusion, struggles and hesitations, which might even end up with night-long insomnia as well as physical and mental exhaustion. Thank God that I was finally able to carry through the whole thing step by step through His sufficient grace and wonderful arrangements.

Angels Walking by Me

　　I am grateful to my wife for her silent support over the years. She has never made any complaint to me. In addition, my two angelic daughters had virtually formed a trio of beautiful angels with my wife, surrounding me with joy and laughter as well as a great driving force so that I could pick myself up and start the journey again after each challenge.