We are delighted to welcome Rev Dr Samuel Goh to Brisbane School of Theology as Lecturer in Old Testament for both our English and Chinese program.
Sam comes to us with many years teaching experience from Singapore Bible College, School of Theology and speaks English, Mandarin, Indonesian and Cantonese. He completed his PhD, Old Testament Studies at Queens’s University of Belfast in 2008. He has also authored six books (two English and four Chinese), along with many journals. In the foreword to Sam’s book, The Basics of Hebrew Poetry (2017), Tremper Longman III describes him as “a leading scholar in Old Testament studies.”
We caught up with Sam a few days after he arrived to find out a little more about him.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your family.
I was born in Indonesia and moved to Singapore at the age of 27 and am now Singaporean. I am married to Joyce and we have two grown children.
What is your Christian background and experience?
I became a Christian when I was in high school in Indonesia. I studied my Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity at Singapore Bible College and became a pastor at a Bible Presbyterian Church in Singapore for 10 years before commencing teaching at Singapore Bible College in 2003. My wife Joyce has also been on pastoral staff in our home church for the last 12 years.
Why move from Singapore to come to BST?
I felt it was God’s leading. Knowing there are 49 Chinese churches here in Brisbane and only one Bible College teaching in Chinese, I felt I could make a difference here and that’s what I’m hoping to do.
As a scholar in Old Testament studies, do you have a favourite subject to teach?
I have been teaching The Pentateuch for the last 15 years but my favourite subject to teach and my new love is wisdom literature – the books of Ecclesiastes, Proverbs & Job. I developed for a hobby a, “How to preach the difficult books” workshop and have taught this seminar in both Singapore and Italy.
What are your hobbies/recreational interests? What experiences would you like to have here in Australia?
I enjoy travel, fishing, classic movies and jazz music such as the big band/crooning classics. I would like to see the native wildlife, kangaroos and koalas, here in Australia. After arriving here, I heard a bird early in the morning, I think it was a kookaburra, which was an unusual sound as I’m not used of hearing birds in Singapore!
What can we be praying for as you settle into your new role and a new country?
Please pray that I can be useful here and become familiar with the culture, expectations and language. Pray for me for the next six months without my wife until she moves here. Pray for myself and my family as this is the first time away from my children.
You’ll be leading the Israel study tour next year. What can people expect to experience on such a tour?
This will be my seventh tour to Israel. After visiting Israel, the Bible comes alive! When people visit the places they’ve read about in the Bible and see things for themselves, they get a renewed love and appreciation for the Bible. I’m very much looking forward to this study tour.
If you would like Sam to speak at your church or event, please contact BST at info@bst.qld.edu.au