Grace Yia-Hei Kao

From the Archives: Does the Term “Women of Color” Bother You? By Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost in the archives. We are beginning this column so that we can all revisit some of these gems. Today’s blogpost was originally posted August 11, 2015. You can visit it here to see the original comments.

I recently came back from a weeklong camping retreat for Christian faculty and their families in beautiful Catalina (an island an hour’s boat ride away from the Southern Californian mainland). This year’s conference theme was “Power Revealed: Gifts, Dangers, and Possibilities.” Not surprisingly, the topics of race, race relations, and institutional racism came-up repeatedly in sessions and informal conversations.

Did You Know…? Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

We are now more than a week into Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Since it’s not always clear to me what is generally known (or not known) about Asian Americans, let me test out a few things here.

Did you know…

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Announcing PANAAWTM 2018 by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

As a faculty advisor and member of the local and steering committees, I’m excited to announce that the 33rd annual conference of PANAAWTM (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry) is fast approaching–April 12-14, 2018, to be exact.

This year’s theme, “Embodied Selves: Inter-religious Engagements,” showcases PANAAWTM’s desire to broaden beyond our traditional (Christian) focus and audience. Not coincidentally, we will be meeting primarily in the Fish Interfaith Center at Chapman University.

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Introducing the 2018 Progressive Asian American Christian (PAAC) Lent Devotional by Grace Yia Hei Kao

I’ve been part of an exciting online community for the past 1.5 years called Progressive Asian American Christians (PAAC) that was founded by two women: Lydia Shiu, a pastor (at City Church San Francisco) who originally created the PAAC Facebook group, and Liz Lin, a writer whose viral blog, “The Loneliness of the Progressive Asian American Christian,” is largely responsible for populating it.

PAAC describes itself thusly:

PAAC is a community for socially, politically, and theologically progressive Asian American Christians (of East, Southeast, South, and West Asian descent, as well as Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians) to support each other and talk about faith, identity, and current events. Continue reading “Introducing the 2018 Progressive Asian American Christian (PAAC) Lent Devotional by Grace Yia Hei Kao”

It’s (the American Academy of Religion) Conference Time by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

I received an e-mail today thanking me for supporting the American Academy of Religion for the past 20 years and accordingly inviting me to pick up an “appreciation gift” at the upcoming meeting in Boston (Nov 18-21).

Last week, my colleague Monica A. Coleman and I also led our (Claremont School of Theology’s) monthly PhD Colloquium wherein we spoke to doctoral students about academic conferences in general and the AAR in particular.

Both of those events has gotten me thinking about this year’s AAR.

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Announcing the 2017 Rosemary Radford Ruether Conference by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

On October 7, 2017, five distinguished panelists will speak at a one-day event: the Rosemary Radford Ruether Conference for Justice and Peace. Co-sponsored by the Friends of Sabeel—North America (FOSNA), Claremont Area FOSNA, Claremont School of Theology, and the Women’s Studies in Religion program at Claremont Graduate University, the conference will be held at Pilgrim Place (Decker Hall)–the retirement community for folks serving in religious or charitable organizations where Dr. Ruether currently resides.

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#NotYourWedge: Asian Americans and Affirmative Action by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Asian Americans are making headline news as the nation once again grapples with affirmative action.

There are two precipitating incidents this time around:

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Let’s Talk About White Supremacy by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Sometimes I come across a resource that’s so fantastic that all I want to do is promote it.

This incredible graphic from the blog site Radical Discipleship recently made the rounds on my Facebook news feed.

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A Time of Reckoning: The SCE and John Howard Yoder By Grace Yia-Hei Kao

How does a professional society—a Christian one, no less—come to terms with the sexual abuse perpetrated over decades by one of its most vaunted members?

At the recently concluded annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, this question was at the forefront of many conference participants’ minds.

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Tipping Points in Academe By Grace Yia-Hei Kao

I’ve been thinking a lot about tipping points of late.

According to Malcolm Gladwell’s debut book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000), a tipping point is “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” when an “idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

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