Theological Study and Hill Road Journal

Promoting “Church Theology”

HKBTS is a seminary which emphasizes both academic research and putting the Christian faith into real life practice. From 2009 onward, we have focused our attention on promoting “church theology.” In this light, it is clear that the series of books (such as the “Church Ethics Series”) published, the articles delivered and the content and characteristics of the talks and lectures conducted, all contribute to this goal.

Since 2009, we have walked humbly with God. Together we have walked the path of grace and reached some important milestones. In these eight years, we have seen some assuring signs from God. For example, the student intake numbers have increased tremendously. This is not only a quantitative increase; we have also seen our new students’ great capacity for learning and passion for spiritual and intellectual growth. Another example is that God has also given us an excellent faculty team. Our teachers are not only learned scholars with great intellectual depth but also Christians who live a humble and godly life. They are bonded together in love through good times and bad times. United in the love of Christ, they patiently love their students and diligently serve the churches. Furthermore, God has also granted us a convenient means and channel of publication as well as an excellent team of editing staff. This allows us to consistently publish our faculty publication series and Hill Road Journal, the academic journal of the seminary. HRJ is published twice a year. In these eight years, 16 issues have been published. These signs are marks of God’s grace and also indications of HKBTS’s teaching and research, as well as the footprints of teachers and students who put into practice in their own lives what they have taught and learned in the seminary. HRJ is a testimony to the effort HKBTS has made to bring together academic excellence and putting faith into practice.

The Turning Point of HRJ

In 1998, the seminary published the first issue of HRJ with the purpose of “building bridges between the academic circle and the churches,” and “fostering an integration of academic research and church ministry.” HRJ has now been published for twenty years, and it has been going smoothly and has produced plenty of fruit. Ever since I was appointed to be the Chief Editor in 2001 until today, I can bear witness to its growth and have delightfully enjoyed the whole process. I still remember the hard times we came across in the early years. At that time, we invited designated writers to contribute articles to HRJ and in return they were paid for the manuscript submitted. However, not just a few “eminent writers” did not live up to their promise to submit articles.

The year 2000 was a turning point for HRJ. To make HRJ a meaningful journal and avoid wasting paper, we decided to reform our policies. To do this, we extended the scope of writers invited, taking into consideration their academic quality and research ability on the one hand, and abolishing the practice of paying writers a manuscript fee. The first issue after such a reform was published in June 2001 with the theme “Pneumatology.” We printed one thousand copies. To our amazement, they were sold out in half a year. This was a “miracle” in the eyes of the publishing world which barely knew of the existence of HRJ at that time.

Indeed, at that time, we put a lot of time and effort into HRJ. For example, we strengthened the manuscript review process by spending more time on communicating with the contributors and editing in order to protect the article’s original meaning while making it easier for readers to understand. We still take meticulous care to edit the article and we take pains not only to preserve the style and intention of the contributor but also to abide by the principle of academic freedom. Although such an editing process increases the cost of publication for HRJ, we keep up this attitude and practice because the journal encourages academic research, and allows scholars and our teachers to communicate with pastors and the lay public in order to stimulate their reflection on faith and broaden their vision. In addition, with the needs of the Chinese churches in mind, all English manuscripts are translated into Chinese for the convenience of the general reader.

The Team of Synergoi

Furthermore, those teachers and I on the Editorial Committee have a lot of mutual understanding and joyful cooperation. As each issue of HRJ has a designated theme, we first decide on the theme and then seek appropriate contributors to write 5 to 6 articles to explore this theme from different perspectives. Every time members of the Editorial Committee come together to decide on the theme for an issue, it is not hard to come to a consensus. Sometimes, we can choose the themes for the next 2 to 3 issues in just half an hour. What is more incredible is that, one time, it only took us five minutes to discuss and choose the theme and perspectives to approach the theme. In addition, I am also pleased to see that our teachers are willing to write for HRJ with neither difficulty nor reluctance. Our teachers and scholars (regardless of whether they are from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mainland China, USA, Canada, UK, Poland or Finland) feel excited about the invitation and accept it with great delight.

Beginning in 2009, I set a theme for every school year. My teacher colleagues will always interact with the theme in some way or it seems that some tacit understanding exists. We have all become synergoi. Over the years, such themes have included hospitality, mission, preaching, pastoral care and Christian education. The purpose of the theme is to inspire our teachers to think, discuss and interact together on a particular topic. The theme is not imposed on them by any administrative means. Our teachers, however, voluntarily inspire students to think according to a set theme and actively make a concordant response to it. In such an atmosphere, several themes in HRJ are actually a direct response to the seminary’s learning themes.

Over these past years, I have found our teachers happily doing inter-disciplinary integration as they crossover from their own professional field into different fields of study, such as missiology, homiletics, pastoral studies, Christian education and ethics. Generally speaking, in the academic world most scholars dedicate their full attention to academic research in their own professional fields. If they do inter-disciplinary integration, they need to spend extra time and energy. Whether they are willing to extend their field of research and whether they have sufficient research competence in doing academic crossover work is another problem. After all, staying in one’s own professional field is much easier, more safe and comfortable. As for HKBTS’s teachers, maybe they know full well that their ministry is dedicated to serving the churches, they are willing to do inter-disciplinary research as they seek to propose the way the church should develop by making use of their theological wisdom. Based on the reasons mentioned above, since 2001 up until today, we have never had to cease publication because of insufficient manuscripts; on the contrary, we even have sufficient contributions for the publication of two to three issues.

Meeting the Needs of Our Churches

HRJ is not a purely academic journal; it does not just talk the talk, nor does it focus only on practice while disregarding effectiveness. HRJ is a journal beyond academic research. It is concerned with the body of Christ, that is the church. What concerns us most when deciding the theme must always be the needs of the church. Therefore, many of the themes in HRJ are related to pastoral ministry. For example, the themes of several recent issues are “mission,” “peacemaking,” “spiritual care,” “hospitality” and “Christian education.” They all talk about pastoral ministry in order to lead pastors, theological educators, seminary students and our lay readers to engage in theological reflection. The articles target pastoral ministry in churches and they are written with a solid biblical and theological foundation. In exploring each theme in HRJ, most of the articles take the Bible as the basis and the starting point of their study.

Outside Echoes

As far as HRJ is concerned, we have received praise and affirmation from a good number of theological educators and pastors. Not a few famous universities and theological colleges are HRJ‘s regular subscribers. They include Yale University Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Regent College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. HRJ has also become specified reading material for local and overseas pastors who are eager to do in-depth theological reflection.

Apart from the enthusiastic participation of our teachers, the reason for HRJ to be widely welcomed must also be attributed to several staff workers who carefully edit the manuscripts to increase its readability. They are Mr. Ernest Ho, Mrs. Winnie Kung and Mr. Joseph Yiu. One of them disciplines herself when editing the academic writing with a prayerful heart. She earnestly prays that every issue of HRJ will be a quest for excellence.

Being HRJ‘s Chief Editor, I am pleased to share with the our readers the joy of supporting the growth of HKBTS in the past twenty years. Here, I sincerely thank each of the teachers and friends in the academic world who have contributed theme articles, miscellaneous articles or book reviews to HRJ.

Jul 2017