Joshua Tan is an interdisciplinary theological researcher trained in systematic and historical theology, with particular interests in the doctrine of atonement, soteriology, theological anthropology, and the constructive use of biblical, patristic, and early Jewish sources.
He holds a Master of Letters in Systematic and Historical Theology from the University of St Andrews, UK, where he studied as a recipient of the Brash Scholarship, Singapore. He also holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Christian Studies from Seminari Theoloji Malaysia. His theological training is grounded in close textual interpretation, historical-theological analysis, and constructive doctrinal synthesis.
Joshua’s principal research centres on the doctrine of atonement, examined through the typological structure of Leviticus 16 and its reception in the New Testament, patristic theology, and rabbinic literature. His MLitt dissertation, Yom Kippur Reimagined: Jesus as the Two Goats and Prepared Men in Salvation History, developed a fourfold Yom Kippur framework in which Christ fulfils and reconfigures the roles of sacrificial victim, scapegoat, High Priest, and the “prepared man” who leads the scapegoat into the wilderness.
Joshua also brings substantial professional experience in information systems, database design, web-based platforms, editorial work, and academic administration. Although distinct from his theological research methodology, this experience has developed his capacity for sustained project management, structured analysis, interdisciplinary communication, and the organisation of complex bodies of information.
He has formal training in Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek and continues to develop competence in Ecclesiastical Latin and selected modern European languages in support of his engagement with biblical, patristic, and theological sources. He works primarily in English and also has competence in several Asian languages.
Joshua’s doctoral aim is to develop a coherent constructive account of atonement in which Christ’s descent, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly priesthood are understood as an integrated movement toward the transformation and redemption of the fullness of humanity in resurrected life.