The Rev. John Yueh-Han Yieh, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament
Virginia Theological Seminary
3737 Seminary Road
Alexandria, VA 22304, U.S.A.
(Email: jyieh@vts.edu)
The Rev. John Yieh, Ph.D. is Professor of New Testament. Before joining Virginia Theological
Seminary in 1995, he taught at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine and Andover Newton
Theological School in Boston for six years.
Academic Degrees: Prof. Yieh earned a B.A. degree in Foreign Languages and Literature from
Tunghai University, a M.A. in English Literature from Fu-Jen Catholic University, and a M.Div.
from Taiwan Theological Seminary. He also earned a M.A., a M.Phil., and a Ph.D. in Religious
Studies specializing in New Testament from Yale University.
Research and Honors: Prof. Yieh’s research focuses on the Gospel of Matthew and the
Johannine Literature with sociological and history-of-effects approaches. He has also written
extensively on the history and hermeneutics of Chinese biblical interpretation. In 1989-1990, he
received the prestigious George A. Barton Fellowship to investigate the Dead Sea Scrolls at the
W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and participate in the
excavation of Sepphoris near Nazareth in Galilee. In 2007-2008, he won a Lily Theological
Scholars Grant for his book project “Lives of the Bible in Modern China.” In 2009 he was
awarded the Suzanne Thomas Faculty Research Award. He has served as Visiting Fellow at
Cambridge University (2004) and Princeton Theological Seminary (2012), Visiting Professor at
Chung Chi College Divinity School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2008, 2012) and
Exchange Professor at the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies in Hong Kong (2012).
Select Publications: Prof. Yieh compiled A Concise Greek-Chinese Dictionary of the New
Testament (Singapore: UBS, 1989) and was a member of the International Q Project that
produced the Critical Edition of Q (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000). He translated two textbooks
for NT studies into Chinese: Interpreting the New Testament Today by R. C. Briggs (1982) and
The Central Message of the New Testament by Joachim Jeremias (1982), and has authored five
books in English: One Teacher: Jesus’ Teaching Role in Matthew’s Gospel Report (Berlin,
Germany: Walter de Gruyter, 2004), Making Sense of the Sermon on the Mount (Cambridge, UK:
Grove, 2007), 1-2-3 John (Johannine Epistles) in Bible Briefs (E-book by VTS and Forward
Movement, 2010), Revelation (Immersion Bible Studies) (with Henry Brainton; Nashville:
Abingdon, 2011), and Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew (New York:
Morehouse, 2012). He has also contributed more than a dozen articles to New Interpreter’s
Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon), Feasting on the Gospels (Westminster John Knox),
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (de Gruyter), Handbook of Christianity in China
(Brill), and Oxford Bibliographies Online for Biblical Studies (Oxford), and published several
essays on Chinese biblical interpretation in edited books and scholarly journals. While
continuing to write his Lives of the Bible in Modern China, he is contracted to write a
Commentary on the Johannine Epistles for the Illuminations Bible Commentary series to be
published by Eerdmans and a Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew [in Chinese] for the
Twenty-First Century Application Bible Commentary series to be published by Chinese
Christian Literature Council in Hong Kong.
Services in Academy and Church: Prof. Yieh is an active member of AAR (American Academy
of Religion), SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), ECBC (Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium),
AABS (Anglican Association of Biblical Studies), and SABS (Society of Asian Biblical Studies).
He has served as President of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Society of Biblical Literature
(2002-03) and President of the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium (2009-13). He is Consultant
and Associate Editor of the Chinese Union Study Bible series (a joint project of the Bible Society
in Taiwan and American Bible Society). He enjoys his teaching ministry at VTS and has
lectured at universities and seminaries in the US, UK, Israel, Tanzania, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Malaysia and China. An ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the
Presbyterian Church (USA), he serves on the Committee for the Preparation for Ministry of the
National Capital Presbytery and is Moderator of the Chesterbrook Taiwanese Presbyterian
Church in Falls Church, VA. Fluent in English, Taiwanese and Chinese, he is a frequent
preacher and speaker for church services, adult forums, Bible retreats, clergy training and church
conferences nationwide and in Asia.