Max Lee

Education

PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary
MDiv, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
BA, The University of California, Berkeley

Profile

Dr. Max Lee is The Paul W. Brandel Chair of Biblical Studies. He came to North Park Theological Seminary with a passion to prepare students for a lifetime of pastoral ministry through theological education. As a New Testament professor, Lee enjoys helping students develop the skill sets they need to be better preachers and teachers of God’s word.

Lee hopes that every student in his class will walk away with a greater knowledge about the culture and social values of the first century world, a greater love for reading the New Testament in its ancient context, and a greater faith to live out this same gospel message more radically today. “My call is to equip students to think critically and theologically about our world, and to apply the Bible in the real-life challenges of the Christian church,” he says.

Ordained as a Baptist minister, Lee has served as a pastor, preacher, theologian-in-residence, college staff member, youth leader, and short-term missionary to Japan. His primary research area is the Apostle Paul in his Greco-Roman philosophical, cultural, and literary environment. Other research interests include Revelation, The Gospel of Mark, Diaspora Judaism, Cognitive Semantics and Hellenistic Greek Grammar, and Intercultural Readings of the Bible. He actively preaches and teaches for several local churches in the Chicagoland area.

Favorite Quote
“The goal of love is to see the beloved love unselfishly” paraphrased from Thomas Merton’s No Man Is An Island

Favorite Spot in Chicago
The view of Lake Michigan from the Field Museum is a frequent spot for me and the family to start our walks, get some sun, and take our annual New Year’s photo together

Interest and Hobbies
I like to explore the various biking trails throughout the city of Chicago. I enjoy a good cup of coffee, preferably an Americano, or some tea (Earl Grey, Bitter Melon, and Genmaicha), Recently I’ve taken up cooking high-protein, low-sugar meals and take every opportunity I can to travel internationally.

Fun Fact
I can’t dance to save my life but the seminary keeps including me in their choreographed videos. I don’t understand why.

Recent Publications

Max Lee. “Be Loud and Brace for Impact: Anti-Asian Violence, the Model Myth Minority, and the Martyrs of Revelation 7:9–14.” Covenant Quarterly 83:1 (2025), 33-56.

Max Lee. “Moral Transformation and Ethics.” In Behind the Scenes of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts, ed. by Bruce Longenecker, T.J. Lang, and Elizabeth E. Shively, 339–47. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023.

Max Lee, edited with B. J. Oropeza. Practicing Intertextuality: Ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman Exegetical Techniques in the New Testament. Eugene: Cascade, 2021.

Max Lee. Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and His Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II, 515. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2020.

Max Lee. “Study Notes on Revelation.” Christian Standard Bible (CSB) Baker Illustrated Study Bible, ed. by Gary Burge, J. Scott Duvall, et al. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2018.

Max Lee, edited with Soon Bong Choi and Jin Ki Hwang. Fire in My Soul: Essays on Pauline Soteriology and the Gospels in Honor of Seyoon Kim. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2014.

Max Lee. “Revelation.” The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, ed. Gary Burge and Andrew Hill. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012.

Current Research

Max Lee. Reading Colossians: Hymns of Resistance, Pastoral Ministry, and the Theology of the Cross. Cascade Companions. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. Under Contract

Max Lee. Preaching Philippians. Proclamation: Preaching the New Testament. Cascade imprint. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. Under Contract

Max Lee. Reading the Word Interculturally: An Invitation to African American, Latino/a American, and Asian American Readings of Scripture. Co-authored with Dennis R. Edwards and Sophia A. Magallanes-Tsang. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. Under Contract

Max Lee. Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Epicureanism and Diaspora Judaism: Mapping a Common Ancient Ethical Tradition. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Under Contract

Honors & Awards

The Henry Resident Fellowship 2020-21, The Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. A Year-long, Fully-Funded Residential Fellowship sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. Project Title: “Natural Desire as a Moral Index of What Is Good: What Paul and the Epicureans Have to Say about the Orders of Pleasure.”

The 2018-19 Wabash Grant and Workshop for Theological School Faculty Teaching Online, The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Lafayette, Indiana. Project Title: “A Pedagogy for Beginning Greek as an Online Interactive Approximation of Embodied Experiential Learning.”

The 2015-16 Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers. Project Title: “Food, Sex, and Entertainment: Paul and the Epicureans on the Ethics of Pleasure.”

The 2010-11 Lilly Theological Scholars Grant from the Association of Theological Schools. Project Title: “Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind and Paul: Mapping the Apostle’s Moral Landscape”

Professional Organizations & Associations

Co-Chair

2020–24 The “Asian American Biblical Interpretation: Evangelical Voices” Research Group, The Institute for Biblical Research
2014–20 The Intertextuality and New Testament Interpretation Section, The Society of Biblical Literature
2011–12 The Korean Biblical Colloquium, Affiliated Group of the Society of Biblical Literature

Steering Committees

2008–20 The Intertextuality and New Testament Interpretation Section, The Society of Biblical Literature
2006–12 The Korean Biblical Colloquium, Affiliated Group of the Society of Biblical Literature

Editorial Board

2015–18 New Testament editor for the Bulletin for Biblical Research

Membership

2023–present  Studiorium Novi Testamenti Societas
1994–present  Society of Biblical Literature
2002–present  Institute for Biblical Research
2007–present  Chicago Society of Biblical Research