연세대학교 GIT

Frans Best Soma Marpaung / Ph.D. 2019 / From Indonesia

I am Frans Best Soma Marpaung. I am an Indonesian and live in North Sumatra Province, on the west coast of the island of Indonesia. I come from the Toba Batak tribe. I am an ordained reverend at Huria Batak Kristen Protestan (HKBP, or Batak Christian Protestant Church). The HKBP is a Lutheran denomination. Now, I am a lecturer at the HKBP Theological Seminary (Sekolah Tinggi Theologi HKBP) in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra. I graduated with my doctoral degree in Systematic Theology and Theology of Culture.

For my magister degree, I studied at Duta Wacana Christian University (Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana) in Yogyakarta. In this campus, I developed my focus in contextual and constructive theology and inter-faith theology. In order to elevate my comprehension and interest in contextual and constructive theology, I considered the Global Institute of Theology (GIT) to be the best place. To begin with, I chose GIT for my doctoral study because this program provided a full scholarship for the students. It was really helpful. In addition, GIT is a mutual space where many students come from diverse cultural, theological, and socio-political contexts. Each context is a source of knowledge for everyone. Furthermore, GIT is a dialogical and constructive space where each student can learn from multiple contexts and develop theology from distinct and unique perspectives. This shifting paradigm was also strongly nurtured by many and diverse professors. In conclusion, South Korea is a "new phenomenon" in the economy and technology development, popular culture, and the rapid and massive growth of Christianity that influence many places in the world now. The multiplicity, mutuality, and critical thinking become the strength and source of pride of GIT. As a result, in GIT, each person is both the host and the guest, who share hospitality with one another.

As an alumnus, I hope that there will be an annual meeting or conference with the new students to build and develop connection, communication, and communion. This annual meeting between the alumni and the new students could produce common research and publications. GIT is a home for our academic and spiritual sustainability, for both alumni and new students. GIT is a web of life!