Director
Prof.
Fr. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel is the present Director of the Ecumenical
Christian Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore. Formerly, he was a Professor of Philosophy
of Science at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and Christ University, Bangalore. Prof.
Chandrankunnel received a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy, Universtiy
of Leuven, Belgium. For his thesis, he researched at Niels Bohr Institute,
Copenhagen, Max Planck Institute, Munich and interacted with Nobel Prize
winners like Aage Bohr, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Prof. Ilya Prigogene. Prof. Chandrankunnel did
his post doctoral research at Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Boston, under the well known astronomer Prof. Owen
Gingerich. Some of his published works are- Philosophy
of Physics, Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, The Condemnation and Rehabilitation
of Galileo Galilei, In Service of the Truth, the Physics, Philosophy and
Religion of Galileo. He was a visiting Professor at the University of
Leuven, Faculty of Philosophy in the year 2010, April-May, and lectured on the
Physics, Philosophy and Religion of Galileo. He received the CTNS Templeton
award. He used to organize several Local, National and International
conferences on Science and Religion (like “Merging Boundaries: Mysticism,
Science and Religion” which was inaugurated by Sri Sri Ravi Sankar). He is the Founder
Chairman of the Bangalore Forum for Science and Religion and Bangalore Chapter
of Sigma-Xi Foundation. Prof. Chandrankunnel is also a trained journalist; he
worked as the science editor of Deepika Daily News paper, its Chennai and
Bangalore correspondent, and published more than 500 articles in refereed
journals, news papers and magazines.
He belongs to the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation (CMI), Province
of Kottayam. He is the first
Catholic priest to serve as the director of Ecumenical Christian Centre.
Rev. Sudhakar Joshua
SECULAR:
·
Graduate of Science
from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore
·
Post Graduate Diploma in
Management & Information Systems
from St. Joseph’s College of Business Administration, Bangalore
THEOLOGICAL
·
Bachelor of Divinity
from UTC, B’lore
PASTORAL BACKGROUND
·
Served as Priest in
Karnataka Central Diocese, CSI from 2008 to April 2014
·
Currently, Associate
Presbyter in CSI Memorial Church,
Whitefield, Bangalore
WORK EXPERIENCE
·
Worked In Visveswaraiah
Industrial & Technological Museum
·
Worked as Research
Analyst for a private Market Research Company
·
Worked in Mphasis India
as a Junior Executive
·
Associated with All
India Radio, Bangalore for 2 Years (2011-2013)
Rev. Dr. John Samuel
Dean,
Indian School of Ecumenical Theology (ISET)
Rev. Dr. John Samuel completed
his M.A and B.D in the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Arasaradi, Madurai. He
served as a Pastor in the Diocese of North Kerala in the Church of South India.
He competed his M.Th in Old Testament in the United Theological College,
Bangalore. Then he joined the faculty of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary,
Madurai. He completed his Ph.D in Madurai Kamaraj university in the department
of Philosophy. Subsequently he completed his Ph.D in the department of Old
Testament in the Lancaster University in United Kingdom. He taught Hebrew Bible
for three years in the Northern College
in Manchester, U.K. He has taught in the Pacific Theological College, Fiji. He
has been a visiting scholar in AMI
Institute, Jerusalem, Queens College, Birmingham, Heidelberg university,
Germany, Union Theological Seminary, New York. He has served as President of
the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SBSI). He has been invited to
present papers in NCCI, CCA, WCC and CWM meetings. Now he has joined as Dean,
Indian School of Ecumenical theology in Ecumenical Christian Centre,
Whitefield. He is also serving as a visiting Professor in the United
Theological College.
Mr. Thangminlun Vaiphei
Programme Executive
Mr. Thangminlun Vaiphei completed his
Bachelor of Theology from Trulock Theological Seminary, Imphal and along with
it he did his Bachelor of Arts in Indira Gandhi National Open University,
Imphal Study Centre. After that he joined, Bachelor of Divinity at Academy of
Integrated Christian Studies, Aizawl. On completing his studies, he joined
Ecumenical Christian Centre as an intern. After the completion of his one year
internship at the Ecumenical Christian Centre, he joined Federated Faculty for
Research in Religion and Culture for his Masters studies. After completing his
Master of Theology in the branch of New Testament, he joined Ecumenical
Christian Centre as Programme Executive.