HyeRan Kim-Cragg Awarded CCS Kaufman Scholarship

HyeRan Kim-Cragg Awarded CCS Kaufman Scholarship

The Central Council of the Centre for Christian Studies announces that HyeRan Kim-Cragg, the Lydia Gruchy Professor of Pastoral Theology at St. Andrew’s College, in Saskatoon, has been named as the recipient of the $10,000 Kaufman Scholarship.  The funds will assist her in a project to explore a theology of resistance.

HyeRan Kim-Cragg, recipient of the Kaufman Scholarship

Kim-Cragg’s project will continue her engagement in the ecumenical (United Church of Canada, Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines) study on “Empire, Peace and Economic Justice.” Her project will develop a theology of resistance in the context of global capitalism where the life of indigenous people and their land are violated due to the mining. This study engagement will involve meeting with local activists and Christian leaders in Guatemala, Korea and the Philippines. She has also been asked to teach courses while she is travelling. She is committed to doing justice action and education following her return to Canada.

Kim-Cragg earned her Doctorate in Theology in 2006 from the Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. She studied for her Master of Divinity degree at Hanshin Graduate School of Theology in Seoul, Korea. Kim-Cragg is establishing an excellent publication record and she recently released Story and Song: A Postcolonial Interplay between Christian Education and Worship.

The Kaufman Scholarship was established in 1945 by Emma R. Kaufman as an expression of her very deep concern that women have the opportunity of experiencing a different culture and come to know what it meant to be a world citizen. Kaufman spent much of her career in Japan, and was a founder of the Japanese Y.W.C.A. For many years she was an active Executive of the World’s Y.W.C.A. These global experiences cemented in her mind the importance for Canadians, and especially for Canadian women, to have international experience. Kaufman also indicated her preference that the award be given to a Christian and to someone with a commitment to a theology of social justice. HyeRan Kim-Cragg’s background and vision for her project fits well within the dream that Kaufman had for this scholarship. Kaufman died March 1, 1979 at the age of 97.