D. PREMAN NILES - CURRICULUM VITAE
(將於2004年9月擔任本院訪問學者)
Name: Daniel Preman Niles
Nationality: Sri Lanka/British
Confession: United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 5 April 1937
Wife's name: Sherina P. Niles (née Cooke)
Children: Damayanthi (14 Sept.1965), Radhika (21 Feb. 1968),
Dharmaputhiran (22 July 1969)
1963 M.A., (B.A.Hons, 1960), University of Madras in English
Literature and Language.
1966 M.A., (B.A.Hons, 1963), University of Oxford in Theology.
1975 Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary in Biblical Studies specialising in Old Testament
Studies. Dissertation: The Function of the Name of God in Israel's Worship: The
Theological Importance of the Name Yahweh
1998 D.D. (Honoris Causa), University of Serampore, India.
WORK EXPERIENCE
July 1991 General Secretary, Council for World Mission (CWM),
to April 2002 London.
Main task: As the Chief Executive officer, to oversee all
aspects of the work of the Council for World Mission, to
provide theological leadership through lectures and publications,
and to be CWM's principal representative in relating to other
ecumenical bodies.
Duties:
1. To represent CWM in the wider work of the church. On behalf of the Council to participate in the contemporary work of theological exploration and discovery, and be involved at the international level in the exchange of ideas and expertise between the Council and other bodies.
2. To share the vision, policies and priorities of the Council for World Mission with its member churches and represent the concerns and needs of the churches to the Council and its Executive Committee. Done through writings and visits to the churches in over 30 countries.
3. To ensure the proper operation of CWM's activities through the Secretariat and the central office. To provide leadership of a sustaining kind. To co-ordinate all areas of CWM's work and provide the needed over-sight.
4. To service and support the Council's members and Honorary Officers at meetings with advice and guidance on policy and procedural matters. To keep the Moderator and other Honorary Officers informed of developments in the day to day running of the work.
Sept.1997-Nov.1997 Louise Iliff Visiting Professor, Iliff School of Theology,
Sept.1990-Nov.1990 Denver, Colorado, United States of America.
Teaching courses on: World Mission; Asian Theology; Justice,
Peace and the Integrity of Creation; and Ecumenical Social
Thought.
|
Sept.1986-June 1991
|
Director for Programme on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC), World Council of Churches, Geneva. |
|
|
Main task: To specify and implement the programmatic components and implications of the Vancouver Assembly's call to the WCC "to engage member churches in a conciliar process of mutual commitment (covenant) to justice, peace and the integrity of creation". |
Duties:
1. To encourage and support JPIC emphases within the various sub-units of the WCC.
2. Through visits, interpretations, publications, and sometimes with financial help, to encourage and support national and regional conciliar processes on JPIC.
3. To plan and organise theological consultations on the various aspects of JPIC.
4. To publish materials on JPIC. To write theological interpretations of JPIC - brochures, articles and a book.
5. Along with other JPIC staff work with the JPIC Preparatory Group and the in-house JPIC Staff Task Force to plan, organise and execute the World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation held in March 1990 in Seoul, Korea.
Aug.85-Aug.86 Ecumenical Associate together with my wife in the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) for the Division of Overseas
Ministries and the Division of Homeland Ministries.
Main task: To interpret the global mission of the church and
the ecumenical movement at both national and congregational
levels in Disciples churches as well as other churches. To give
theological lectures at seminaries and at church gatherings.
April 83-July 85 Associate General Secretary for Finance and
Administration, Christian Conference of Asia.
Main Task: To secure the necessary financial support for the
administration and programmes of the CCA and to be
responsible for the financial management of the CCA. Also to be
responsible for the general administration of the office and staff.
Duties:
1. To construct the administrative and programme budgets of the CCA
for approval by the CCA Finance Committee and General Committee.
To oversee the preparation and presentation of the year-end statement
of accounts by the CCA accountant.
2. To raise the funds necessary for the operating budget of the CCA from
its member churches and from European and USA donor churches and
agencies.
3. To be responsible for staff welfare especially with regard to salaries and
stipends taking into account the cost of living index; and to be responsible
for general office administration.
Jan.78-April 83 Executive Secretary for the Commission on Theological
Concerns, Christian Conference of Asia.
Main task: To facilitate the emergence of contextual theologies
in Asia and to work towards a "co-ordinated theological stance in
Asia" that would take into account the realities of Asian poverty
and religious plurality. In brief, to state in theological terms the
missionary task for the church in Asia. This work was done with
a commission made up of church leaders, theologians, and
directors of the following associations of theological schools:
Board of Theological Education in India, Association of
Theological Schools in South East Asia and the South East Asia
Graduate School of which I was also adjunct professor, and the
Association of North East Asian Theological Schools.
Duties:
1. To organise theological dialogues in various national contexts, from which the following theologies emerged: Homeland Theology (Taiwan), Minjung Theology (Korea), A Bi-cultural Theology (Aotearoa-New Zealand); Church-State-People, later Theology of Struggle (Philippines); the Lotus and the Sun - a theological response to the reality of India with its religious plurality and economic poverty; a Theology of the Crown of Thorns - towards a theology of servanthood over against theTenno (Emperor) ideology (Japan).
2. For details see the various publications on these subjects in book form and in articles. For a brief account and description of these theologies, see "A Continuing Ecumenical Journey", CTC Bulletin, vol.4 no.1, April 1983.
3. To encourage the search for a political vision in Asia (see CTC-CCA publication Towards the Sovereignty of the People, 1983) - the issue of Christian political ethics in Asia; and to encourage the search for a relevant ecclesiology in Asia (see CTC-CCA Tradition and Innovation: Towards a relevant Ecclesiology in Asia, 1982) - the issues for Faith and Order in Asia.
4. To articulate and interpret Asian theologies and the methodologies underlying them. (See articles in various issues of the CTC Bulletin.)
5. Editing and publishing theological materials put out by the CCA, and to be a theological adviser to all the CCA programme departments.
6. To work with other ecumenical theological institutions and organisations such as the International Association of Mission Studies (served on its executive committee) and the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) to bring Asian theology into a creative inter-play with other theologies. In 1979 organised Wennapuwa (Sri Lanka) meeting of EATWOT in which Asian theologians, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, debated with other Third World theologians; and in 1980 co-ordinated the challenge of other Third World theologies to Latin American liberation theology.
Oct.66-Sept.69 Lecturer
Oct.74-Dec.77 Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies (Academic
Dean) at the Theological College of Lanka, Pilimatalawa, Sri
Lanka.
Duties:
1. To teach Old Testament and English and for a short time Pastoralia in both Sinhala and Tamil streams.
2. To be responsible for curriculum construction.
3. To help build community within and between staff and students especially at a time of ethnic conflict.
4. To be responsible for planning and executing "the farm project" to generate more income for the school and as a base for rural theological training of students.
April 67-Aug.69 Secretary for Christian Education and Lay Training, East Asia
Christian Conference (later CCA). Part-time.
Main task: To plan and build the programme on Christian
Education and Lay Training for the ecumenical movement in Asia.
June 63-Sept.66 Secretary for Christian Youth Work in Jaffna.
Main task: To have pastoral oversight and to work with
Christian youth in the various schools and technical institutions
in Jaffna (my hometown).
PUBLICATIONS
Selected articles
1. "Towards a strategy for the ministry of the laity in Asia", International Review of Missions, vol.59, 1970.
2. "Mission and Evangelism in Asia - Issues and Programme", South East Asia Journal of Theology, 1975.
3. "Towards a framework for doing theology in Asia", The Human and the Holy, ed. Emerito Nacpil and Douglas Elwood, Orbis, New York, 1978.
4. "Examples of contextualisation in the Old Testament", South East Asia Journal of Theology, vol.21 no.2, 1981.
5. "Ecumenism in Asia - vision and movement", Ecumenical Communication in Asia, ed.T.K. Thomas, CCA, Singapore, 1981.
6. "Christian mission and the peoples of Asia", Keynote address at the congress of the International Association of Mission Studies, Bangalore, 1982. CTC Bulletin, vol.3 no.1, 1982.
7. "A suffering people called to be the Suffering Servant - The Political Vision of Second Isaiah", Towards the Sovereignty of the People, CTC-CCA, Singapore, 1983.
8. "Story and theology - A proposal", CTC Bulletin, vol.5 no.3 - vol.6 no.1,
1984-85.
9. "The Word of God and the People of Asia", Understanding the Word, Essays in honour of Professor Bernhard W. Anderson, ed. Butler, Conrad and Ollenburger, JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1985.
10. "The nations shall come to the Holy City" (The theological significance of people as ethné), CTC Bulletin, vol.7 no.1-2, 1987.
11. "Covenanting for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation - An Ecumenical Quest", Ecumenical Review, vol.39 no.4, 1987.
12. "Mission of God in the context of the suffering and struggling people of Asia", CTC Bulletin, vol.9 no.1, 1990.
13. "How ecumenical must the ecumenical movement be?" Ecumenical Review, vol.43 no.4, 1991.
14. "Caring for the earth, healing the broken communities", CTC Bulletin, vol.11 no.1, 1992.
15. "Good News to the Whole Creation", The Bishop Hollis Memorial Lecture, Synod of the Church of South India, Palayamkottai, 11-16 January 1992, published in CSI Journal Churchman, 1992
16. "Crossing Frontiers: Partners in God's Mission - A Challenge for Inter-Faith Co-operation", Lecture to the Faculty of the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado, October 1997.
17. "Called to be a Blessing to the Nations", Address to the 1998 Convocation of the University of Serampore on the occasion of receiving the degree of Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa).
18."Now we are in a Covenant: The Dynamism of an Ecumenical Process", (An historical interpretation of the ecumenical process of covenanting for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.) Essays in Honour of Professor Kim Yong Bock. Asian Pacific Journal of Theological Studies (1998).
19. "God's Spirit - An Accompanying Presence" (Numbers 11:1-17, 24-30), The Ramsden Lecture, University of Cambridge, 16 May 1999.
20. 14. "Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation", Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, (Revised Edition), WCC Publications, Geneva and Wm Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002.
21. “Toward the Fullness of Life: Inter-contextual relationships in Mission”, Keynote address at the Missiology meeting at London, U.K. 14-19 April 2002.
Books (editor/author)
The Lotus and the Sun: An Over-view of Asian Theology. Book in preparation for publication.
