Shimmyo, Theodore
President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Theology
Dr. Theodore Shimmyo served as HJI President from 1994-2000 (now President Emeritus). He started to teach Christian and Unification theology at HJI from 1985, and still continues to teach as Professor Emeritus of Theology. He was the Senior Research Fellow at the international HQ of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), Tarrytown, NY from 2000-2009. Dr. Shimmyo obtained a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in Christian theology (1984, 1981) from Drew University, Madison, NJ; a Religious Education Diploma (1977) from HJI; and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering (1971) from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He published books such as Explorations in Unificationism (1997), When the Living God Works (2023), and An Exploration of Unification Theology and the Christian Tradition (2025). He came to America from Japan as a missionary in 1973.
Research Statement
Developing Unification theology in the context of Christian theology, addressing theological issues in Christianity.
Research Interests
I want to explore the question of whether the historicity of Adam and Eve as the first human ancestors is consistent with evidence-based science, by carefully studying paleoanthropology and so-called “evolutionary creationism.”
- Paleoanthropology and evolutionary creationism
- Monogenism vs. polygenism
- The relationship of science, theology, and monogenism
- Carefully reviewing a study by Kenneth W. Kemp
Keywords: paleoanthropology – evolutionary creationism – monogenism – science and theology – historicity of Adam and Eve – Kenneth W. Kemp