Daniel Sihombing is the newly appointed Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Pilgrim Theological College, starting in January 2025.

Daniel was born and raised in Indonesia, where he gained his undergraduate degree in theology from South East Asia Bible Seminary and taught as sessional and guest lecturer at Amanat Agung Theological Seminary, South East Asia Bible Seminary, Duta Wacana Christian University, and Jakarta Theological Seminary.

Daniel’s master and doctoral degrees are from the Protestant Theological University, Netherlands. His PhD was titled Barth and the Shadow of Nothingness: A Post-Soeharto Contextual Reading, in which he critically engages the theologico-political stances of three Indonesian theologians towards Soeharto’s regime in light of his political reading of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics.

Daniel’s interest in the intersections of Christian theology and Marxism has led him to contribute chapters on the dynamic tension between religion and Marxism in Hubungan Agama dan Marxisme: Sebuah Cerita Lengkap (2019) and on the revolutionary theology of Thomas Müntzer in Friedrich Engels: Pemikiran dan Kritik (2020), an appraisal of Friedrich Engels’ work by Indonesian scholars to mark the bicentenary of his birth; a conference paper presented at the Critical Research on Religion Conference (2024) on the problem of utopian messianism in Barth’s Römerbrief 1919; and a journal article on Karl Barth’s engagement with Karl Marx (2017). For a few years, Daniel was an editor of IndoProgress, a leading Marxist publication in Indonesia, where he also published a series of articles on the possible confluence of Christianity and Marxism. He also wrote articles on similar topic for Islam Bergerak and Tirto.

Daniel is an early career researcher. His current project includes the publication of his dissertation as a monograph and journal articles on prayer and revolutionary patience in the theology of Karl Barth, a critical appraisal of José Míguez Bonino’s Doing Theology in the Revolutionary Situation, and on the problem of utopian messianism in Barth’s Römerbrief 1919.

In 2025, Daniel teaches Jesus, Discipleship and Justice and Christianity’s Big Ideas, co-teaches Uniting Church History and Theology, and will contribute a session in Thinking Otherwise: Feminist Theologies and The Cracking of Christendom: Theological Issues of the Reformation.

Daniel is an ordained minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia and Junior Fellow at The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy. He is also a member of the Lutheran-Uniting Church Dialogue. Prior to his appointment as lecturer at Pilgrim, he was providing supply ministry in Monash Uniting Church, Korean Church of Melbourne and Caulfield Indonesian Uniting Church.

University Appointments

Lecturer in Systematic Theology (Pilgrim Theological College)