Professor James Korthals, WLS professor of church history, is spending the semester as a visiting professor at Asia Lutheran Seminary (ALS), Hong Kong. ALS is part of the Wisconsin Synod’s worldwide seminary program. Its purpose is to train workers for mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The WELS Board for World Missions this year began funding a world seminary professorship at WLS in Mequon. Professor Kenneth Cherney, the world seminary professor, spends part of his time teaching overseas, and he also teaches at WLS in order to allow other professors to serve at our sister seminaries. Professor Korthals is the first WLS faculty member to spend a full semester overseas as a part of this program.
Since arriving in Hong Kong on January 23, Professor Korthals has been teaching three courses at ALS: the Reformation Era, Modern Christianity, and Eschatology. He is also teaching two of these courses to men in Taiwan. A portion of each of the Taiwan courses is taught fact-to-face in an intensive week of study in Taipei, while the remaining periods are taught via Skype over the Internet.
Teaching at ALS involves the use of an interpreter, Cantonese for Hong Kong and Mandarin for Taiwan. “When you are used to lecturing, it takes some adjustment to talk in short sentences and to allow the interpreter time to provide the translation,” Korthals stated. “After a few hours, however, it becomes second nature.”
Professor Korthals has found the work of teaching overseas to be stimulating. “Teaching in another culture expands your horizons and forces you to reevaluate the way you think and the way in which you present your material.” Korthals will conclude his Hong Kong teaching and return to Mequon on May 31.
