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John J. R. Lee

Professor of New Testament
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Dr. John Lee is passionate about helping students see the grace of God in Christ from the Greek New Testament and the Bible’s ongoing relevance and central importance for the local church today. Dr. Lee has taught at MBTS since the fall of 2010 and currently serves as Professor of New Testament, teaching various biblical studies and Greek courses and supervising a number of Ph.D. dissertations. He was the recipient of the seminary’s 2014 Professor of the Year award.

Professor Lee’s research interests include: the Gospels, Ephesians, New Testament Christology and Christian origins, early Jewish and Christian monotheism, messianic language and theology, discipleship, and Biblical Greek. Lee has authored and coauthored over ten books including:

Lee is currently co-editing a volume on the biblical theme of “justice” (Kregel Academic) and is also preparing a monograph on the Christology of the New Testament (IVP Academic), along with several other writing projects. Since 2008, Lee has presented numerous conference papers at ETS and SBL, among other academic meetings.

Lee has graduated from Seoul National University, South Korea (B.M.); The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY (M. Div.); and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Ph.D. in New Testament), where his mentors were Paul Foster and the late Larry Hurtado. His doctoral study at Edinburgh was combined with teaching at the King’s Evangelical Divinity School/the University of Chester, United Kingdom, and research at Das Institut für antikes Judentum und hellenistische Religionsgeschichte, Tübingen University, Germany, under the guidance of Hermann Lichtenberger.

Dr. Lee has pastored in various English and Korean speaking settings since 2001 and is serving as associate pastor at Kansas City Korean Baptist Church. He is also frequently invited to speak at local churches in the States and in South Korea. He adores his wife, Sunny, and is incredibly proud of their son, Josh.

Professor Lee welcomes inquiries on Ph.D. supervision.


Local Church:

Kansas City Korean Baptist Church (SBC)


Publications: