Staff profile

I am a PhD candidate in Theology, working on a theology of repentance and apology under the supervision of Prof Robert Song and Dr Samuel Tranter. The AHRC funds my research through the Northern Bridge Consortium.I am also a research fellow at Tokyo Christian University (共立研究所).

Current Research

Interest in the philosophy of forgiveness has increased since the Second World War. In recent years, theologians such as Gregory Jones, Miroslav Volf, and Anthony Bash have contributed to articulating a distinctively Christian account of forgiveness. Nevertheless, theologies of forgiveness have often been abused and utilized by offenders in a way that victimizes the victim for their sins of being unable to forgive. One of the causes for Christian forgiveness falling into "cheap forgiveness" is the conspicuous absence of a theological treatment of apology and repentance. In the literature on Christian forgiveness, the concept of apology is often taken for granted, where its complexity and theological foundations are not given adequate consideration. Hence, this research aims to fill this conceptual lacuna in Christian ethics by articulating and evaluating interpersonal and collective apology theologically. 

Chapter in book

• Okaya, K. (2023). Toward a Theological Account of Christian Forgiveness in Intergenerational Communal Contexts. In Ambassadors of Reconciliation: God's Mission through Missions for All. William Carey Publishing
• Okaya, K. (2020). 罪の赦し. In 使徒信条 (信仰生活ガイド). United Church of Japan Press

Conference Paper

• Okaya, K. (2022, April). Shame as consciousness: the emotion of shame in Herman Bavinck's organic account of sin. Paper presented at Annual Kuyper Conference, Calvin University
• Okaya, K. (2025, April). Unconditioned Forgiveness: Forgiveness, conditionality, and the gift. Paper presented at Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference, Warwick University
• Okaya, K. (2023, May). Kintsugi, Memory, and Forgiveness. Paper presented at Annual Kuyper Conference, Redeemer College

Journal Article

• Okaya, K. (in press). キリスト教倫理における赦しの条件性を巡って（Conditionality of Forgiveness in Christian Ethics). Theological Studies in Japan, 64,
• Okaya, K. (2025). 律法違反と諸力：罪論の包括的理解を目指して　(Sin as Transgression or Power? Towards a Holistic Hamartiology). 福音主義神学（Evangelical Theology), 54,
• Okaya, K. (2024). Bavinck, a Patron Saint of Biblical Counselors? A Case Study of Bavinck’s Theological Description of Shame. Unio cum Christo, 9(1), 51. https://doi.org/10.35285/ucc9.1.2023.art3

Presentation

• Okaya, K. (2024, April). In Defense of Collective Confession for Historical Sins. Paper presented at Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference, Warwick University