Edinburgh 2010

"Ivory Towers muddy grounds" -

the mission realities of theological education

an international consultation in preparation for

Edinburgh 2010 (www.edinburgh2010.org)

 

Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies

The Queen's Foundation for Theological Education, Somerset Road, Birmingham, England B15 2QH

 

Friday 27th to Sunday 29th March 2009

This consultation invited keynote presenters and encouraged new and emerging thinker-practitioners to offer their contributions to the Edinburgh 2010 study theme on Theological Education and Formation

Keynote Speakers

Dr Jenny Plane Te Paa is Ahorangi or Principal of TE Rau Kahikatea, a constituent of the College of St. John the Evangelist in Auckland, New Zealand. She was appointed to this position in 1995. Dr Te Paa is highly regarded nationally in her own land and internationally, for her pioneering work in bicultural theological education. She has written widely on identity politics, particularly those to do with race and ethnicity and their various manifestations, within theological education. She is globally unique in her professional role as Dean of an Anglican Theological College. Nowhere else in the world does a lay indigenous woman hold such a position. Jenny also holds a number of significant international positions including Convenor of Anglican Peace and Justice Network, recently retired Moderator of the World Council of Churches Working Group on Ecumenical Theological Education and is a member of both IATDC or the Inter-Anglican Theological Doctrinal Commission and TEAC the Commission on Theological Education for the Anglican Communion established in 2003 by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr Glory Dharmaraj is Director of Spiritual Formation and Mission Theology for the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. She is also the Administrator of the Seminar Program on National and International Affairs at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York.  She gives oversight to the development of the annual Spiritual Growth Mission Study for the United Methodist Women’s Division, including translations of the study in Korean and Spanish.

Glory spent her childhood on a tea estate in Sri Lanka. Completing her undergraduate and master’s studies in India, she taught at Sarah Tucker College in Tamil Nadu and Queen Mary’s in Mumbai (Bombay), India. She received her Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago, and did special studies at Harvard University.

The seminar program she oversees at the Church Center for the United Nations, New York offers seminars on social justice issues, including media and globalization, the role of U.S. media and the Middle East conflict, media monitoring for race, gender, and class during natural disasters, and the role of alternative media in media literacy.

An author and co-author of many books, including Concepts of Mission, Christianity and Islam: A Missiological Encounter, Christianity, Judaism and Islam: A Missiological Encounter, and Many Faces and One Church: A Manual for Cross-Racial and Cross-Cultural Ministry, she, also, wrote the denominational geographical mission on India and Pakistan. She is also the writer of the study guide for the current 2008 Spiritual Growth Study, “I believe in Jesus” which highlights ecumenical involvement in holistic mission, including extending radical hospitality to immigrants.

She was the coordinator for the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) Media Monitoring for Gender in the United States in 1995, 2000, and 2005. She has served on the executive committee of WACC North America as Vice President, and on the Board of Directors of WACC Global. Currently, she is working with NARA-WACC in coordinating Peace Monitoring in September 2008 to assess the impact of International Day of Peace on print media. 

She has coordinated training programs for trainers in Human Rights & Literacy, HIV/AIDS and literacy, Peace & Literacy, Health & literacy in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Angola, Africa. She is currently serving on the Justice for Women committee on the National Council of Churches and the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Theological Education in South East Asia.