By the time you read this, Dr Kuo will have had over a year under his belt as a professor of Old Testament at China Lutheran Seminary in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. With his PhD focus on Old Testament, and particularly the minor prophets, this is no surprise.
During his MDiv years in Taiwan, he began to have a vision that people needed to learn more about the Old Testament. The Church did not devote as much time to teaching and preaching from the Old Testament as it did the New. This was especially true in Taiwan. “When the Old Testament is taught more fully, we give people a wholistic view of the truth.,” he says. “And the truth is this: In the Old Testament, God is portrayed as a holy God and a God who takes care of the needy and the orphans. There are a lot of things that are missed if we don’t teach and preach the Old Testament. God is a righteous God and a compassionate God.”
Wycliffe’s rigorously academic yet evangelical approach to Scripture helped Kuo to “connect the dots” between the Old and New Testaments and between the texts themselves and his spiritual life. “I got the training to be academically engaging with the text,” he says.
Equally important was the diversity that flourished at Wycliffe. “I could hold fast to the evangelical faith, and at the same time encounter different traditions and theologies within the Toronto School of Theology,” he remembers. “This gave me a chance to be open and welcoming of other voices – even those with whom I disagreed. I could have conversations with them.” Kuo recognizes that this is an important facet of his ministry as a seminary professor. “I will hear different voices and encounter different types of students, so being able to hold fast while remaining open will be helpful.”
