In the spring of 2018, the Candler community gathered in Cannon Chapel for the school’s annual Honors Day Convocation. Applause burst forth for each student recipient, energy building until the final awards were given to staff and faculty.
Candler Coordinating Council president Natalie Faria-Campbell 18T presented the award for Faculty Person of the Year, voted on by students. “When this professor arrived on campus for orientation, the building was buzzing about how lucky we were to have a leading scholar in postcolonial and feminist theology visiting us for the year.”
A literal buzz filled the sanctuary. The brief description could only fit one person sitting among the rows of robed professors, experiencing her first Honors Day at Candler.
“But not just that,” Faria-Campbell continued. “People were also buzzing about how incredibly kind and genuine she was to everyone she met.”
When her name was called amid claps and cheers, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology Kwok Pui Lan stood up from her seat and beamed. She was not the only one beaming—or standing. When she reached the front, everyone in Cannon Chapel was on their feet.
As her award citation noted, Kwok—in the Chinese tradition, her family name comes first—was new to Candler but in no way new to theological education. (Let’s just say not all theology professors have their own Wikipedia page.)
An internationally renowned scholar, teacher, and innovator with research focused on Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology, Kwok taught for 25 years at Episcopal Divinity School, serving as the William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality. She’s also taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Auburn Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, and Yale Divinity School. She served as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2011 and cofounded the network Pacific, Asian, North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM). She has held leadership roles in the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, and written or edited 23 books in English and Chinese.
So, decades into a heralded scholarly career, how did Kwok find herself at Candler?
In 2017, she received an invitation from Professor of Church History Jonathan Strom—then associate dean of faculty and academic affairs—to join the faculty as a visiting professor. She spent two years in that role, and in 2020 was appointed by Dean Jan Love as Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology.
But how did Kwok end up here, receiving a standing ovation from students and colleagues after just eight months on campus? How did she win Faculty Person of the Year again in 2019? And how does she retire from Candler with such a rich legacy to her name after just seven years?
The answer is simple for anyone who knows her: Kwok is a revered scholar who puts relationships before ego, honors difference, celebrates connection, and sees community not as a noun but a verb.
Indeed, she says her greatest point of pride at Candler has been helping to strengthen bonds among the school’s Asian and Asian American community. One aspect of this work has been the creation of an annual Lunar New Year celebration; the recent gathering to welcome the Year of the Dragon filled Brooks Commons to the brim. Other events bearing Kwok’s fingerprints have ranged from the festive (an end-of-year bubble tea party) to the somber (a vigil mourning victims of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings hate crime).
“Students have told me how meaningful such events have been for cultivating a sense of belonging,” Kwok says, noting that an official Asian and Asian American student organization will be established at Candler for the first time in fall 2024.
“Her enduring commitment and affection for the Asian and Asian American groups at Candler have played a pivotal role in nurturing and supporting students,” says Dongho Han 19T 21T, Kwok’s former student and research/teaching assistant. “During the challenges of the pandemic, amidst the rise in Asian hate violence, she not only empowered us to stand in solidarity with one another, but also offered genuine care to each individual student.”
Associate Professor of American Religious History Helen Jin Kim likens Kwok to “the Queen Bee of Asian and Asian American theological education. She has connected us to a wealth of knowledge and a robust network beyond Candler, shining a light on the contributions of people of Asian descent in theological and religious studies. Every faculty member, staff member, and student of Asian descent has been touched by Pui Lan’s powerful advocacy.”
Kwok’s nourishing well of mentorship and advocacy runs deep. Second-year MDiv student Tabitha Jamal recalls their unique first encounter. “Dr. Kwok invited me to the PANAAWTM Annual Conference in San Diego—even though she had never met me before! For her, my presence as the only female Pakistani student at Candler was something to be celebrated. Kwok Pui Lan celebrates people with her whole heart and does her best to empower them. She celebrates their heritage, culture, and diversity.”
“Pui Lan has encouraged me consistently to bring the fullness of who I am as a Latino and as a musician to my scholarship and teaching,” says Aquinas Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture Antonio Alonso. “And she has always modeled what it means to be a supportive colleague who celebrates even the smallest victory of others, no matter their rank or status. She is the kind of person who makes everyone around her better.”
Kwok has strived to make Candler in its entirety better. In 2021, Love appointed her to serve as Special Advisor to the Dean for Strategic Changes. As part of the role, Kwok met with staff, faculty, and students to gather feedback about their Candler experiences.
“Pui Lan’s relentless commitment to diversity generated important conversations that led to advocacy efforts, creating a more inclusive environment for all, including people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and LGBTQ+ individuals,” says Associate Dean of La Mesa Academy for Theological Studies Joanne Solis-Walker. “By ensuring staff felt valued and appreciated, she strengthened bonds and boosted morale across the institution. Her fingerprints, handprints and footprints are woven into the very fabric of this community.”
In the classroom Kwok enriches the scholarly community of her students, inviting guest theologians to teach and, says Dongho Han, “consistently encourag[ing] us to expand our theological imagination creatively, posing thought-provoking questions and challenging us not to confine our theological exploration to the classroom or church.”
Ryan Bonfiglio, associate professor in the practice of Old Testament and executive director of The Candler Foundry, calls Kwok a force of nature. “Her energy, creativity, and willingness to imagine new approaches to scholarship and teaching are astonishing, and in many ways, a model for what is needed for the future of theological education.”
Bonfiglio highlights Kwok’s championing of The Candler Foundry, Candler’s public theological education arm. She has organized or taught five of its Courses in the Community, held predominantly online and open to the public. “Her courses have reached over 600 people, many of whom live outside North America,” Bonfiglio says. “Through her initiative, The Foundry has taken significant steps in making theological education accessible to new and diverse audiences. She has been an inspiration to me and so many others.”
“A former student told me, ‘Learning takes place in a matrix of relationships,’” Kwok says. “It is important to cultivate a learning environment that challenges and supports teachers and students. I have invited my colleagues to lecture and sing in my classes, and I have visited their classes too.”
She has also found ways to incorporate the next generation of public theologians into her research. Kwok has edited two volumes and written two monographs while serving at Candler, most recently The Anglican Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective (Church Publishing Incorporated, 2023).
Third-year MDiv student Emily Badgett took Kwok’s course “Critical Issues in the Anglican Communion,” where Kwok asked the class to review portions of the book before its publication.
“She empowered each of us to utilize our own unique voice in scholarship,” Badgett says. “She actually included and edited her work based on our projects, and dedicated the book to us. For the first time in my life, my name was published in the notes of a book—and not just any book, but Dr. Kwok’s revolutionary scholarship.”
Kwok takes particular pride in the honors she’s earned from the broader Anglican Communion while at Candler: the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship given by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in 2021, and the Anglican Indigenous Leadership Initiative Award in recognition of her contribution to the global church in 2023.
And while she’s dedicated to her Anglican tradition, she deeply values Candler’s ecumenism. “As my former school was a denominational school, I appreciate the diversity of worshiping and preaching styles at Cannon Chapel. Worship and spiritual formation are integral parts of theological training.”
Kwok herself has contributed to Candler’s worship life, organizing a faculty and staff choir that has performed several times in chapel services. “When guests visit Candler, many notice that the faculty and staff not only get along but enjoy each other’s company,” she says. “We had so much fun singing during worship and at the annual concert this year.”
Perhaps that’s what is most noteworthy about Kwok: she clearly takes joy in her community. She is truly having fun. She has a powerful presence, Emily Badgett says, but “she is also a hilarious comedian. Not the classic academic ‘crack a prescribed joke,’ but subtle comments that would leave you in fits of laughter.”
Tabitha Jamal says, “Her humility and loving approach lie in stark contrast to her achievements that can leave anyone deeply intimidated. She can invite you to a boba party but also destroy patterns of oppression in society with her words in a matter of minutes.”
As Kwok begins her next chapter, it’s clear that her impact on the Candler community will endure, holding steadfast in her faculty colleagues who remain and moving out into the world with those she’s taught.
“We are better because Dr. Kwok molded and shook us into being,” Badgett says. “Hopefully those enlightened by her presence can carry on her legacy of love, creativity, passion, and willingness to boldly proclaim something that is different from the norm, but truer to the beloved community that God ordained to be.”
“She loves people on the margins, whether that’s faculty, staff, or students,” says Helen Jin Kim. “We’re forever changed because of her love, hope, and solidarity.”
In her retirement, Kwok says, “I will continue doing what I like: writing, mentoring, and teaching occasionally. I also plan to support PhD students and junior faculty in their writing process.” And unsurprisingly, she has two books in the works.
Much has happened since Kwok Pui Lan won her first faculty award at Candler. The school and the world are not the same as they were that spring morning in 2018. A pandemic has raged and quieted. Grief, pain, and violence rear their heads across oceans and close to home.
But through it all Kwok has served as a stalwart figure at Candler, her proactive presence a constant reminder of the power of Christian community—to celebrate, to mourn, to call for change, to make room at the table.
“I am very grateful that I have found a home at Candler and feel supported and loved,” she says. “I hope Candler will continue to promote curiosity in learning, collegiality in the workplace, and perseverance in working for justice.”
Photos courtesy of Candler Communications, Kwok Pui Lan, Tony Alonso, and Cindy Brown 09T.