The Pain and Joy of Giving Birth

　　Publication resembles giving birth; on hearing the good news of pregnancy, we always feel happy and excited. I began serving in HKBTS in early 2001 when several issues of Hill Road Journal, which was founded 20 years ago, had been published. Soon afterwards, I was fortunate to be invited to be the Issue Editor of Issue Eleven in 2003 when I could try my hand at the manuscript invitation, review and proofreading processes. From that issue onward, HRJ included the miscellaneous article section. The task was challenging but joyful. Afterwards I continued to have the opportunity to be the Issue Editor for three more issues, and to write more than 10 articles. My involvement has increased since then. In 2010, upon the invitation of President Joshua Cho to join the Editorial Committee, I happily accepted the offer because I have always felt a duty to pursue work related to academic research.

　　Publication resembles giving birth; it is inevitable to bear a heavy burden as in the pregnancy stage. For many seminary students, reading anything serious such as an academic article is a chore. Being an Editorial Committee member, besides carefully reading articles and book reviews, I need to give each contribution comments. When there are deficiencies in the manuscript, I must propose appropriate amendments and communicate with the author of the article so that the ultimately published article can be perfected through our dedication and hard work. With the journal being gradually recognized by more Chinese scholars, recently many scholars from a great variety of backgrounds have voluntarily submitted articles or book reviews to HRJ. Yet, some of these works are inadequate and not appropriate for publication. The number of manuscripts having been reviewed and then rejected by the Editorial Committee is, in contrast, more than those published.

　　Publication resembles giving birth; the agony child-birth is unavoidable. The service of the Editorial Committee members is an extra responsibility beyond the usual academic duty as required by the Seminary. The daily teaching load, research, writing and regular duties of the seminary faculty will not be reduced because of HRJ’s editorial work. As HRJ can only be accomplished through the communal efforts of a good number of individuals, to avoid delaying the publication progress, even when I am sick, on vacation, or traveling overseas, I still need to provide a timely response. I still remember early last year when I was on sabbatical leave, I still needed to be responsible for work as a manuscript reviewer. At that time, I was struggling with recurrent bladder cancer and waiting for my operation at the hospital. From my mobile phone I received inquiry on matters about the journal’s publication. As I thought that recovery after the operation would take some time, I reluctantly took the limited amount of time available to review the document quickly and give a proper reply.

　　Publication resembles giving birth; upon seeing the baby being born, all the pain and agony will quickly be forgotten. Undoubtedly, a HRJ Editorial Committee member has many duties to attend to, but seeing that a journal of academic quality is successfully published one issue after another, my heart is full of gratitude. I always have the opportunity to share messages in churches in many different areas and by chance I would often hear pastors, alumni and seminary students who share with me what they have gained from reading HRJ. In this way, I have come to realize the contribution of the journal to the Chinese churches as far as the study of Christianity is concerned and take pride in having played a part in this ministry. Today, as Chinese theological educators generally assume numerous duties and are exceptionally busy, it is not an easy task for the seminary to maintain HRJ being published on time; I hope that all our friends can give us more support through prayers and their actions so that more high-quality scholarly journals will be published one after another in the years ahead.