CTNS Current Students
Rev. Dr. Hyung-Joo Lee is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Theology and Ethics/Theology and Science at the Graduate Theological Union/the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (GTU/CTNS). He is a cosmologist holding a Ph.D. in physics from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He is writing a dissertation dealing with the creative mutual interaction between inflationary Big Bang cosmology and Christian doctrines of creation, redemption, and eschatology, with a particular interest in emergence in physics. He earned his M.Div. from Seoul Theological University, where he taught undergraduate courses, such as “Dialogue between Science and Religion,” “Understanding the Universe,” and “Creativity in Scientific Development,” as a lecturer. During his Ph.D. program at the GTU, he taught “Christian Theology and Contemporary Science” with Prof. Russell as a Newhall Fellowship awardee. He was also awarded the Borsch Rast Dissertation Proposal Award and the Charles Townes Graduate Student Fellowship.
Lwan May Oo is from Myanmar. Her academic interest is Eschatology, Theodicy and Pannenberg's theology. She got the BTh with the highest GPA from Chin Christian Institute of Theology in 2006. After serving as yough pastor for a couple of years, she completed Master of Divinity at Myanmar Institute of Theology and got Valedictorian Award in 2011, and MA from Protestant Theological Union, Groningen University, in the Netherlands in 2014. She taught Systematic Theology at Chin Christian Institute of Theology until 2018. She got PhD admission at GTU with the William Randolph Hearst Award for most promising doctoral student. May will defend her dissertation proposal in February. The dissertation topic is "The Failure of Evolutionary Natural Theodicy and the Need for a Robust Eschatology of New Creation in Light of Scientific Cosmology."
Rev. Charissa Jaeger-Sanders is a United Methodist Clergyperson, yogini, and a PhD Candidate in the Department of Theology and Ethics at the Graduate Theological Union. She is part of both the Center for Dharma Studies and the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences. As an eco-feminist, interreligious comparative theologian rooted in a Wesleyan theology and in deep dialogue with Hindu Śākta theology with a secondary concentration in theology and science and underpinned by philosophy of science, Charissa has a special interest in the Divine relationship with materiality and how one’s theology impacts their understanding of evil and suffering in the world.
Chang In Sohn (Chang In or Chan) is a Newhall fellow at the Graduate Theological Union, a student staff of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), and a visiting doctoral student at UC Berkeley. Since his undergraduate program, double majoring in religious studies (honors) and psychology (honors), his research focuses on the multidisciplinary studies between theology, philosophy, and neuroscience. While trained as a scholar in humanities, he has also been actively involved in neuroscientific research, from basic skin conductance and eye movement tracking experiments to an animal research lab at UC Berkeley focusing on visual representation and consciousness. In addition, he has many years of college-level course teaching and tutoring experience, and he has presented his research at conferences, including the American Academy of Religion and the Virtuous AI project sponsored by the Templeton Foundation. He is currently working on the interdisciplinary approach to metacognition, incorporating theological anthropology, western moral philosophy, and the neural representation of metacognition and self-awareness in neuroscience.
Oluwatobi Ife-Adediran (Tobi) started his doctoral study at the CTNS in August 2022. Before enrolling in this program, he served as a bivocational minister of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. He also worked as an associate professor and adjunct lecturer of physics in different institutions of higher learning, including the Federal University of Akure, where he earned a PhD in nuclear radiation and health physics. Tobi’s interest in the intersection of theology and science stems not only from his preoccupation in both fields but also from his conviction that sustainable ecological flourishing, human advancement, and existential fulfillment depend largely on the critical dialogue and mutual cooperation between these highly influential disciplines. While he seeks to develop a constructive theology that is relevant for nuclear weapons and waste conventions in his current study, Tobi continues to advance his interests in nuclear peace advocacy, technological ethics, social justice, and radiation protection.
CTNS Alumni
| Former Doctoral Students | Area | Year Graduated |
| Dr. Nancey Murphy | ST | 1987 |
| Andrew Porter | PT | 1991 |
| Duane Howard Larson | ST | 1993 |
| Wesley John Wildman | ST | 1993 |
| Judith Nelson Scoville | Ethics | 1995 |
| Gregory Scott Cootsona | ST | 1996 |
| Kim Alaine Rathman | Ethics | 1996 |
| Carol Ruth Jacobson | ST | 1997 |
| Lou Ann Gertrude Trost | ST | 1998 |
| Noreen Herzfeld | Chr. Spirit. | 2000 |
| Fred Russell Sanders | ST | 2001 |
| Richard Oliphant Randolph | Ethics | 2003 |
| Kirk Wegter-McNelly | ST | 2003 |
| Nate Hallenger | ST | 2006 |
| Jamie Haag | ST | 2006 |
| Chris Doran | ST | 2006 |
| Nancy Wiens | Chr. Spirit. | 2007 |
| Joshua Moritz | ST | 2010 |
| Junghyung Kim | ST | 2011 |
| Dr. John King | ST | 2015 |
| Dr. Oliver Putz | ST | 2016 |
| Daekyung Jung | ST | 2016 |
| Sungho Lee | ST | 2016 |
| Mariusz Tabaczek, O.P. | ST | 2016 |
| Alan Weissenbacher | ST | 2016 |
| Hun Cho Yu | ST | 2016 |
| Chris Hansen | ST | 2018 |
| Effindi Sunur | DTE | 2018 |
| KyungRae Kim | DTE | 2018 |
| Ki Wook Min | DTE | 2021 |
| Myoung-Ho Sin | DTE | 2021 |
| Bright David | DTE | 2022 |
| Donghwi Kim | DTE | 2023 |
ST = Systematic Theology
PT = Philosophical Theology
Chr. Spirit. = Christian Spirituality
DTE = Department of Theology and Ethics