Yanan Rahim N. Melo

Yanan Rahim N. Melo (he/him) is a liberation theologian, beatmaker/producer, and church administrator from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, working at the intersections of modern Christology, political theology, Asian American theology, womanist theology, and liberation theology.

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Yanan's theological formation began in the Philippines, shaped by the Reformed and Pentecostal traditions there, as well as by the long Filipino struggle against political corruption and state violence. He brought these concerns with him to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL, where his senior thesis—Christ, Providence, and the Eucharist—examined a doctrine of providence in conversation with James Cone, Karl Barth, and John Calvin. This work earned him recognition as a finalist for the MBI-Zondervan Theology Award.

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Building on this foundation, Yanan pursued graduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he wrote his master's thesis, To Begin Again: Christology at the End of the World. Drawing from Neferti X. M. Tadiar, Sang Hyun Lee, and Hanna Reichel, his thesis develops a constructive theology of divine grace in response to the contemporary migrant crisis. For his work and research at PTS, he received both the Archibald Alexander Hodge Award in Systematic Theology and the Edward A. Dowey Jr. Award for Excellence in Reformation Theology.

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Yanan currently serves as a parish administrator for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (Freehold, NJ), where he coordinates operations and cultivates connections between congregational life and the wider community. He is also Managing Editor at the Center for Barth Studies and a This Common Life Fellow at the Scholarship for Religion and Society. In these roles, he advances public-facing theological research and convenes emerging Christian leaders across North America, Europe, and the Philippines, fostering liberative and practical approaches to doing theology in a fragmented world. Across these vocations, Yanan remains committed to work that bridges institutional, pastoral, and grassroots contexts—deeply grounded in a theology of liberation and prophetic imagination.

 

Yanan's creativity extends beyond the academy and the written word. In March 2025, he released his debut album under the moniker Yanan & Siegfried, titled Palimpsests—a post-classical musical meditation on the persistence of faith. Crafting genre-defying compositions, he draws from a rich tapestry of influences, spanning contemporary classical, hip-hop, techno, and house music.

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He and his wife, Christine, currently live in New Jersey with their dog, Winnie.