My dissertation title is: ¡°From Objects to Individuals: An Essay in Analytic Ontology.¡± For those of you who don¡¯t know what Ontology is, it¡¯s officially the science or study of being, that is, of the fundamental categories and principles of reality or what exists. It is one of the most abstract of all disciplines, and the most general of all of them. In my thesis, I presented an ontological framework that could help progress to be made in some sticky metaphysical debates.

God helped me through the last four years of PhD study in wonderful ways. God provided all I needed to support my new family (Jennifer and I married in August of 2004, and had two children during the course of my studies) through various scholarships and bursaries. Around the end of my Master¡¯s study, and just before marriage, God helped me to realign my priorities to be fixed on the kingdom of God rather than on earthly success as a scholar when my supervisor rejected a draft of my thesis, and my application to a more prestigious university was rejected. Through this experience, God helped me to decide by faith to remain in Waterloo for my PhD study. Then I found out that I won one of the highest government scholarships available to students in my discipline. By God¡¯s grace I lived a dedicated life to serving Christ and the ministry of God¡¯s word to students, which was sometimes like a full-time job, while studying for my PhD. God made the words of Jesus from Mt 6:33 very real to me: ¡°But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.¡± Later I was thinking of using my scholarship to get into a better school, but God encouraged me through Daniel¡¯s decision of faith not to eat the royal food but only vegetables. God gave me faith that I could be just as well or even better prepared through studying at Waterloo than anywhere else, in spite of various practical challenges. And God indeed provided a very helpful supervisor and enabled me to succeed in my program.

I want to acknowledge that God carried me through the whole time on the wings of the prayers of His servants. M. Joshua Yoon constantly supported me with God¡¯s words and also encouraged me to be faithful to my studies, going to my office on campus from 9am-5pm every weekday so that I could complete my program in excellent time. Jennifer, who is an amazing helper to me, made this possible by taking on the cross of caring for our two young energetic children and of managing things at home while I was away. The senior women¡¯s prayer meeting, led by M. Hannah Yoon, was a major power source for my work – I sincerely felt that I made a lot more progress when they were praying for me than when they weren¡¯t. Their prayer was like Moses holding up his arms so that Joshua could fight the battle victoriously. (So I very often asked them to pray.) The prayer and encouragement of other senior members of Waterloo UBF (Paul and Monica Bae and Sarah Seo), along with many of the student leaders and members was a constant source of strength to me. Many thanks to all of you outside of Waterloo who also prayed for and encouraged me!

Looking ahead to the future, I am faced with the practical difficulty of trying to find a job as a professor that is a commutable distance from Waterloo, in such a competitive job market with very few jobs available. But God encouraged me through the Daniel study in Alberta led by M. Mark Yang and later through our study of Ruth, who decided to leave everything to commit herself to the God of Israel and to His people, and so became a part of God¡¯s world salvation history in a big way. I want God to make my life have everlasting impact, as God did for Daniel and Ruth when they sought to live as people belonging to God first and foremost. So I decided that, whether I can find work as a professor or not, I will not go after a job far away, but will stay where God saved and called me in Waterloo to serve God and participate in the student ministry here until God clearly leads me somewhere else. God has given me a vision to be an influential Christian voice in the intellectual culture of our time, but my first and foremost identity is as one of God¡¯s people, chosen and beloved by Him. May His name alone be glorified through my life and through His body, the church, and may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.