Fuller Names New Testament Scholar to Endowed Chair With Deep Pasadena Roots

The name on the chair dates to the 1950s. The scholar now holding it arrived in 2020 — but the thread connecting them runs through the same stretch of Oakland Avenue.

Fuller Theological Seminary has appointed Dr. Janette H. Ok to the George Eldon Ladd Chair of New Testament, an endowed position honoring the theologian whose work on the kingdom of God reshaped biblical scholarship from his post at the Pasadena seminary. Ok, an associate professor of New Testament who joined Fuller six years ago, is the first Asian American woman to occupy an endowed chair at the institution, according to Fuller.

The chair carries the name of George Eldon Ladd, who taught at Fuller from 1950 until his death in 1982 and whose book “A Theology of the New Testament” became a standard text across seminary classrooms after its publication in 1974. The position recognizes excellence in research, teaching, and service in New Testament studies, according to a statement released by the seminary on June 16.

Ok’s path to the chair was not a straight line. She studied religion and English literature at UCLA, then taught English at Compton High School before earning her MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. She spent five years on the faculty at Azusa Pacific University before coming to Fuller in 2020.

Her research focuses on the Catholic Epistles and the formation of early Christian identity, with particular attention to Asian American, intersectional, and interdisciplinary approaches to biblical interpretation. Through her scholarship and teaching, she connects New Testament studies with the formation and life of the church, reflecting the legacy of the Ladd Chair, according to the seminary. Her book “Constructing Ethnic Identity in 1 Peter: Who You Are No Longer,” published by T&T Clark in 2021, examines how the epistle frames Christian identity as an ethnic identity. She also coedited “The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Commentary on the New Testament,” published by IVP Academic, which received the 2025 Christianity Today Book Award for Biblical Studies.

Ok is also a Senior Fellow of Fuller’s Asian American Center, which is based at the Pasadena campus and works to equip leaders for the Asian American church. She is an ordained minister with more than 25 years of ministry experience and serves as a pastor at Ekko Church in Anaheim.

“We are grateful for the work of Dr. Ok and Dr. Cornell as they step into the legacy of these essential scholarly chairs,” said Dr. Jeffrey F. Keuss, dean of the School of Mission and Theology, in the seminary’s announcement. “They have been recognized by their peers both within Fuller and by the academic guilds as top scholars. Most importantly, they have been recognized as faithful disciples of Jesus who will continue to bring top scholarship and teaching to the global church for the next generation of scholar servants.”

The announcement also named Dr. Collin Cornell, associate professor of Bible and Mission, to the Arthur F. Glasser Chair of Bible and Mission. The chair is named for Arthur F. Glasser, a missionary, missiologist, and former dean of Fuller’s School of World Mission, and is the only endowed chair in the world dedicated to the subject of biblical theology of mission, according to the seminary. Cornell, who joined Fuller’s faculty in 2023 and teaches at the Fuller Texas campus, is the author of “God Draws Near: Rethinking the Biblical Theology of Mission.”

The appointments recognize Ok’s and Cornell’s ongoing contributions to their fields and to the life of the seminary, Fuller said. As holders of the endowed chairs, they extend the scholarly legacies of Ladd and Glasser while advancing Fuller’s mission of theological education for the church and the world, according to the announcement.

Fuller Seminary, founded in 1947, is based at 135 North Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, where its campus has operated since the construction of its first building, Payton Hall, in 1953. The seminary also has campuses in Houston and Phoenix.

Ok is among the few Asian American women to hold an endowed chair in New Testament studies in the United States, according to Fuller. The appointment places her within a scholarly lineage that began when Ladd arrived in Pasadena more than 70 years ago — and extends it.