Hojung Lee (born in Seoul, South Korea) is the editorial assistant for Sojourners magazine. She graduated with a B.A in studio arts and public policy and leadership at the University of Virginia.
Hojung believes that art naturally creates a space to reflect on society, with vast potential to bring attention to systemic injustice and inspire a call to action. She uses vulnerability as her greatest tool to bring about change.
Everything she creates is filtered through the lens of her Asian American identity. Themes of race and culture hold strong undercurrents throughout all her work. This is most evident in her debut essay collection: Tigerrabbit (New Degree Press, 2022). She shares many stories — dropping out of high school to become a K-pop star, dating someone from the royal family of a small European country, analyzing neo-Confucianism to figure out why she struggled to get along with her immigrant parents — that all tie together to advocate for minority rights.
Nostalgic for the wetlands and the wading birds of her hometown, Orlando, Fla., she seeks out bodies of water whenever she moves somewhere new. In her role at Sojourners this year, she hopes to keep growing as a writer.
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Meet ‘The Girl Who Baptized Herself’
The Girl Who Baptized Herself, by Meggan Watterson
BEING A YOUNG girl can be confusing. Perhaps you’ll be adored but not respected. Admired, but only if you suppress your inner longings and become the perfect vessel for your parents’ expectations. Silenced girls can grow to be silent women, stripped of agency, never taught that true power comes from deep within.
“The first time I read the New Testament as a little girl, I broke out in hives,” writes feminist theologian Meggan Watterson in her latest book, The Girl Who Baptized Herself. “With little girl clarity, I was finely attuned to detect inequity.” Into adulthood Watterson couldn’t shake the feeling that her received understanding of God was incomplete. Her understanding of God as a “love that liberates” simply didn’t align with the patriarchal and oppressive power structures she witnessed in the church. Then she discovered the story of Saint Thecla, a young woman who, after hearing the Apostle Paul preach, converted to Christianity and joined him in ministry.
The Girl Who Baptized Herself is a blend of memoir, historical analysis of early Christianity, and fictionalized inner narratives for Thecla. The story begins in Thecla’s bedroom, when she hears Paul’s preaching through her window. Thecla, born into wealth and status in Iconium (in modern-day Turkey), has lived a privileged life. When we meet her, she is soon to marry a powerful nobleman. But as she listens to Paul share the gospel, she sits motionless for three days and three nights. There is an inner shift; Thecla realizes that no matter how beautiful her life may be, a gilded cage is still a cage.
Forgive Me, Nosferatu, For I Have Sinned
Confessional in a church. Credit: Arnaud Chochon / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.
Lent is typically a time when Christians engage in fasting or self-denial and reflect on the ways in which we need to repent. In the most unexpected place, a Nosferatu-themed party hosted by a friend of a friend, I encountered an opportunity to engage in the Lenten practice of repentance.
Within the Christian faith, at least within a formal church setting, there is a liturgical element that I’ve never experienced: the sacrament of reconciliation — a practice more commonly known as confession. Rather than sitting in a traditional confessional booth alongside an ordained priest, I made a confession while sitting in a random bedroom. A flimsy blue curtain divided me and the person playing the role of the priest. It was arguably irreligious, a party trick meant to satirize the Catholic Church.
12 Christian Women Shaping the Church in 2025
Top Row: (From left to right) Jeanné Lewis, Amanda Tyler, Rev. Mia McClain, Sarah Bessey, Rev. Rhina Ramos Middle Row: Rev. Angela Tyler-Williams, Rev. Iya Latishia James, Dani M. Jiménez, Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail, Rev. Jenn Hosler Bottom Row: SueAnn Shiah, Young Lee Hertig. Graphic by Ryan McQuade/Sojourners.
For the ninth year in a row, Sojourners honors Women’s History Month with an article highlighting revolutionary women shaping the church. This year’s list includes theologians, filmmakers, illustrators, musicians, pastors, and academics. Our nominees engage in diverse work, but these women are united through a fearless pursuit of justice. They lead through empathy. They build community. They fight against rising tides of hopelessness in our world with messages of radical and inclusive love.
What Advocates Want Churches to Know About Defending Migrants
The badge of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen during an operation with migrants being transferred to a plane to be expelled under U.S. Title 42 from the United States to their country by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Border Patrol agents, at the airport in El Paso, Texas, May 10, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
Within hours of coming into office, President Donald Trump rescinded a 14-year policy prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting migrants near “sensitive locations,” including schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Here’s how church leaders responded