Elizabeth (Lisa) Sung, Ph.D., is a systematic theologian and a spiritual director.
She teaches theology courses for Regent College (Vancouver, British Columbia) and partner academic institutions in China, and is a Visiting Researcher at the University of St. Mary of the Lake (Mundelein, Illinois). In both academic and ministry contexts, she teaches theology aiming to foster the lived reality of personal integrity and flourishing in Christ, within a framework that reconnects systematic theology to spiritual formation, moral transformation, and missional living. Previously, she was Scholar-in-Residence at Regent College (Vancouver); the first Protestant scholar to hold the Chester & Mary Paluch Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary, commemorating the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation at the largest Catholic seminary in the United States; and Associate Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where she taught for nine years, received the “Faculty of the Year” award, and pioneered student covenant groups singularly focused on spiritual formation. Her dissertation (2011) is titled “‘Race’ and Ethnicity Discourse and the Christian Doctrine of Humanity: A Systematic Sociological and Theological Appraisal.”
Before academia, she was a vocational minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, serving as a Theological Consultant for IV staff teams in the Midwest, and as a campus minister with graduate students at The University of Chicago, and with college students at Michigan State University and Hillsdale College. A classically trained pianist, she also served as the first Director of Contemporary Worship at First Presbyterian Church of River Forest (River Forest, Illinois).
Currently, she is completing a book on race, ethnicity, and Christian moral identity. She is also writing a textbook on theological anthropology for the 11-volume “Foundations of Evangelical Theology” series. She frequently speaks and gives presentations at conferences; leads Professional Development workshops for educators and others; and teaches Adult Education classes and series for churches and other ministries on issues pertaining to her specialization, the doctrine of humanity (e.g., human personhood and dignity; the relation of culture, race, and ethnicity to Christian identity and ministry; recognizing and responding Christianly to ethnocentrism, racism, and racialization; culture and character; spiritual formation and moral transformation; Christian “love” in theological perspective; theological and practical perspectives on women in ministry; Catholic-evangelical Protestant engagement; and the like).
She also teaches about the theory and practice of spiritual formation in Christlikeness in relation to the doctrine of sanctification and the personal journey of discipleship to Christ. Additionally, as a spiritual director, she guides both groups and individuals in practicing the classical disciplines leading to engagement with Christ that effects personal transformation into Christlikeness, in conferences, retreats, and other settings.
