Haruko Nawata Ward is a religious historian currently teaching church history at Columbia Theological Seminary.
[4] Ward received a BFA from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music (1976), a MA from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of New York University (1980), a MDiv from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1983), a ThM (1993) and a PhD (2001) from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Ward, "a self-proclaimed feminist historian,"[5] is most widely known for her research on women throughout the history of the Christian church who have been largely ignored, especially in Asia.
She states the "social historians have surveyed the activities of lay Kirishitan male leaders, but not paid attention to their female counterparts.
Additionally, her work also seeks to reveal how the "Christian mission had a significant cultural and social impact on Japan"[7] throughout its history.