Dean of Missions & Associate Dean of Biblical Studies & Theology (Biblical Graduate School of Theology, Singapore)
QUALIFICATIONS
BD (Union Biblical Seminary, Pune/Senate of Serampore College, Calcutta)
MTh (United Theological College, Bangalore/Senate of Serampore College, Calcutta)
PhD (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford/The Open University, United Kingdom) Old Testament, Biblical Hebrew & Hermeneutics.
Education
1973 B.Sc., Osmania University
1978 B.D. Bachelor of Divinity, Union Biblical Seminary, Yavatmal. Senate of Serampore College, Calcutta (Deemed University).
1991 M.Th. Master of Theology (Two Year Porgram in OT-Hebrew Bible), United Theological College, Bangalore, Senate of Serampore College (Deemed University), Calcutta.
1996 PhD. (OT), Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, The Open University,.U.K. Dissertation: ‘Patriarchal Religion as Portrayed in Genesis 12-50: A Comparison with the Ancient Near Eastern and Later Israelite Religions’.
Work & Ministry
1978-88 Staff Worker/State Secretary of U.E.S.I-AP. (Union of Evangelical Students of India), a member movement of I.F.E.S. (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students); 1988-89 Lecturer at South India Biblical Seminary, Bangarapet, Karnataka, affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (Deemed University), Calcutta; 1995- Member of IOSOT, International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament; 1995-2003 Academic Dean, and Head of the Department, Biblical Studies, SAIACS (South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies), Bangalore, recognised by the University of Mysore for PhD studies.
1998-2001 Pioneered (along with two colleagues at SAIACS) and pastored CSI Church Kothanur, Bangalore; 1998- Member of the Society for Biblical Studies (SBS) in India; 1998 ‘Visiting Teacher’ at the Tyndale College and Seminary, Toronto, Canada. Taught a 3 credit course in their summer program.
1999-2003 Honorary Secretary for EFI-TC (Evangelical Fellowship of India-Theological Commission); 2003 –04 Visiting Scholar at St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge; 2005- Member of SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), USA; 2005- Lecturer in Hebrew, OT, & Hermeneutics, Biblical Graduate School of Theology, Singapore.
Publications: 1998 The Religion of the Patriarchs. JSOT Supplement Series 277. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Pp. 290; 1999 “Mercer Commentary on the Bible: Torah/Pentateuch”. Review in Themelios 25/1: 74-75; 2002 “Abraham, Israel and the Nations: The Patriarchal Promise and its Covenant Development in Genesis”. Review in Themelios 27/3: 69-70; 2003 ‘Bible Speaks Today: Ecumenicals Search for Biblical Roots?’, Bangalore Theological Forum 35/1: 177-197; 2004 “Patriarchs and Religious Pluralism: An Old Testament Perspective”. In Roger Hedlund and Paul Joshua (Eds), Missiology for the 21k’ Century; 2005 ‘Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities’, Review in Anvil 22 (2005) 239-40; 2006 ‘Contextual Hermeneutics: A Study in Method’, in Journal of Asian Evangelical Theology 14 (2006) 48-70. ‘Stewardship of Gifts and Talents’, in E. Sargunam and S. Jayakumar (eds), Mission Mandate II; 2007 - ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Ancestors’, in Dictionary of Mission Theology, Ed. by John Corrie, Inter-Varsity Press, UK.
Papers read at learned fora: 1995 ‘Abraham and Melchizedek’ at the Tyndale Fellowship Old Testment Study Group, Swanick, England; 1999 ‘Spiritual Gifts and Every-member Ministry.’ 2002 ‘Status of Anglicans in India’ at ‘Anglicans 2002’ consultation in Oxford, July 2002; 2004 ‘Nature of Religious Texts in Buddhism’, Seminar paper presented to the semiar of the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, ‘is on the HMC/CAP Website: www.martimnission.cam.ac.Uk
2007 ‘Reading the Bible in an Asian Context’, at IOSOT, Ljubljana, Slovenia.