The Rev. Dr. Christopher Duraisingh

CDuraisingh@eds.edu
617-682-1552
Education: 
DD, Queen’s University, Canada
ThD, Harvard University
MTh, Senate of Serampore, India
BD, Episcopal Theological School
University of Madras

"My commitment is to discern ever anew the liberative and ‘multicolored’ Wisdom of God in all her rich diversity through imaginative dialogue with diverse cultural expressions of Christian and other religious traditions. I believe that at EDS, by bringing the richly textured plurality of voices and commitments – heterogeneous, unmerged, and, at times, contentious – into interaction, we can provide the milieu needed for such theological discernment, and action for fuller life in justice and peace."

The Rev. Dr. Christopher Duraisingh, Otis Charles Visiting Professor in Applied Theology and faculty emeritus, is an eminent South Indian theologian. A graduate of the University of Madras, he has a BD from the Episcopal Theological School, a MTh from the Senate of Serampore, India, a ThD from Harvard University, and a DD from Queen’s University, Canada. He has been a professor of theology at the United Theological College, Bangalore, and served as the General Secretary of Council for World Mission, London, and both as the Director of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism and the Executive Secretary for Gospel and Cultures of the World Council of Churches.

He has been a member of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. A presbyter of the Church of South India, Duraisingh has made significant contributions to Third World theologies and is a major advocate for rethinking Christian faith and witness in dialogue with peoples of other faiths and cultures and in commitment to the ‘excluded.’ Duraisingh’s teaching at EDS focuses on church and social movements, inter-contextual hermeneutics, relationships among peoples of major world religions for the promotion of justice and peace, a transformative reconstruction of the symbols of Christian faith and the nature of a mission-shaped church.

He was an editor of the International Review of Mission for eight years. His publications include Called to One Hope: Gospel in Diverse Cultures; “Contextual and Catholic: Conditions for Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics” in the Anglican Theological Review; “Encountering Difference in a Plural World” in Waging Reconciliation (Church Publishing); more recently “From Church-shaped mission to Mission-shaped Church” in the Anglican Theological Review, and through EDSConnect, a study guide on mission for congregational use, For the Life of the World.