Dr. David Kyuman Kim is a philosopher, political theorist and public intellectual whose work explores the intersection of love, justice, race, democracy and moral responsibility.
For nearly twenty years, he was Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Connecticut College, where he founded the institution's Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. He has held appointments and affiliations at Stanford University, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Union Theological Seminary, UC Berkeley, the Graduate Theological Union and the Social Science Research Council.
Kim is the author of Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics, published by Oxford University Press, and co-editor of works including The Post-Secular in Question and Race, Religion, and Late Democracy. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books and other publications.
Today, he is Founder and Host of Being Human, a public education platform created around fundamental questions of moral life: What do we owe each other? Why forgive? How do we love in the face of hate? What does justice require of us? Its first season, launching in 2026, focuses on forgiveness and repair. He also serves as Senior Advisor to the Global Philanthropy Forum.
Through his keynotes and conversations, Kim challenges audiences to reconsider leadership not simply as performance or authority, but as a moral practice grounded in responsibility, belonging, empathy and our obligations to one another.
