Education: BSc, Zhejiang University, 2001; MSc, University of Calgary, 2003; MDiv, Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary, 2008; PhD, McMaster Divinity College, 2021. At SPU since 2020.
Dr. Esther Cen was a church-planting missionary and pastor among immigrants and international students for ten years before going to doctoral studies. Besides serving in Canada, she made several trips to East Asia to help with theological training initiatives and taught courses on biblical interpretation, Old Testament survey, and the Pauline epistles.
Dr. Cen’s research interests include biblical hermeneutics and sociolinguistics in general and, in particular, the topic of language and power concerning the biblical texts and their interpretation history. Her dissertation is titled “Domination or Empowerment: A Power Discourse Analysis of 1 and 2 Corinthians.”
Having been educated in both the East and the West and trained in biomedical science and theological studies, Dr. Cen’s passion is to promote interdisciplinary dialogues and engage with different cultures. Particularly, she desires to empower underrepresented groups to use their talents and gifts to serve the church, the academy, and society.