President and Assistant Professor of New Testament
Rev. Kim has taught New Testament at Westminster Seminary California since 2005 and in 2017 was appointed as the fourth president of WSC. He previously taught at Calvin Theological Seminary and International Theological Seminary in Los Angeles, as well as in Taiwan and Indonesia. Rev. Kim is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and has served as a pastor in several churches in Michigan and Southern California since his graduation from WSC in 1997. As the son of a Christian Reformed Church minister, he was catechized in the Three Forms of Unity from childhood. When he was nine years of age, he and his family moved from South Korea to Southern California, where he would learn English and retain fluency in Korean. He has served the global church through agencies such as the Southeast Asia Partnership, and, among other notable leadership positions, he chairs the Candidates and Credentials Committee of the Korean Southwest Presbytery of the PCA. Among other publications, he co-edited Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey (Westminster Seminary California, 2012). Rev. Kim’s doctoral studies in historical theology were with the noted scholar Professor Richard A. Muller at Calvin Theological Seminary.
Rev. Kim and his wife, Sharon, have a daughter and a son; the family resides in Escondido and attends New Life Presbyterian Church.
Education BA University of California, Los Angeles; MDiv Westminster Seminary California; ThM, Calvin Theological Seminary
Other Affiliations Society of Biblical Literature Evangelical Theological Society
What I Want to Instill in My Students “I consider it my joy and privilege to prepare future ministers to preach the Word of God with care, confidence, and conviction.”
Areas of Interest and Research History of exegesis; Christian origins; the Book of Romans
An Interview with Joel E. Kim
https://wscal.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/OH_02.01.10_KimJoel.mp3
