This presentation by Dr. Chloe Sun, titled “Between Wrestling and Blessing: Jacob and his Messy Family,” was recorded on October 7, 2025. The lecture is part of the 2025 conference “Biblical Theology in Asian America: Family, Migration, and Divine Presence,” presented by the Center for Asian American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary and co-hosted with Fuller Theological Seminary’s Chinese Studies Center. You can learn more about this conference here: https://ptsem.edu/academics/centers/center-for-asian-american-christianity/btiaa2025/.

Description: This presentation examines Jacob’s family dynamics, including his experience as a migrant and its impact on his social location as an ethnic minority within a dominant culture, his ongoing struggles with his brother, his relationships with his elder sons, and his daughter Dinah. It also explores generational patterns such as parental favoritism, sibling rivalry, barrenness, and fatherly passivity. Additionally, it highlights how God’s election of Jacob and Jacob’s mediation of God’s blessings show that even amidst family chaos, grace and purpose can be found. The presentation aims to illustrate that despite the complexity of many Asian American families, there is hope for reconciliation and for God’s purposes to be fulfilled.

Chloe T. Sun is Professor of Old Testament and the Program Director of the Chinese Studies Center at Fuller Seminary. She previously taught at Logos Evangelical Seminary in Los Angeles. She publishes in both Chinese and English and conducts Bible seminars locally and internationally in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Europe. Her recent English publications include Attempt Great Things for God: Theological Education in Diaspora (Eerdmans, 2020), Conspicuous in His Absence: Studies in the Song of Songs and Esther (IVP Academic, 2021), and Exodus, A Pastoral and Contextual Commentary (Langham, 2024).

Time Stamps

00:37 Introducing Dr. Chloe Sun

01:44 Jacob’s Family in Genesis

03:10 Sibling Rivalry and Divine Favoritism

04:47 Migration and Identity

05:02 Jacob’s Identity

10:16 Jacob’s Migration Experiences

18:25 Jacob as a Father

28:04 Divine Blessing and Reconciliation

35:49 Conclusion: Family Dynamics and Divine Presence

Photo by Salah Regouane on Unsplash

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