Canadian Mennonite University

CMU welcomes political theology specialist Rev. Dr. John Boopalan to the BTS faculty

CMU welcomes political theology specialist Rev. Dr. John Boopalan to the BTS faculty

Toting a powerful academic record, global life-experience and perspective, along with a rich and multifaceted theological background, CMU looks forward to the teaching and mentorship Rev. Dr. John Boopalan will bring to our learning community.

CMU is proud to announce a new appointment in the faculty of Biblical and Theological Studies. Sunder John Boopalan (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is an interdisciplinary writer and researcher specializing in the areas of political theologies and ethics, with personal emphases in the areas of Dalit Christianity and redress of structural or systemic wrongdoing. He is also an ordained minister in the Progressive Baptist tradition.

"CMU holds together a creative tension between the intellectual rigour mandated by a university setting, and the practical spiritual formation central to Christian identity—head work and heart work, so to speak. I am excited about joining a community that lifts up the value in both of these pursuits, and look forward to being part of the formation of students who increasingly find themselves engaging with a diverse and changing world—one that requires a commitment to bringing together that head and heart work," says Boopalan.

Jon Dueck, VP Academic says "Dr. Boopalan is an outstanding and engaging teacher of theology, warm, imaginative, and broad. He brings internationally recognized scholarship, linking theology with a lively sense of the biblical story and a deep sense of social justice. We are very much looking forward to having him."

Following his doctoral work in Religion and Society at Princeton, Boopalan completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, which resulted in his first monograph, Memory, Grief, and Agency: A Political Theological Account of Wrongs and Rites (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). The homophony there (rites/rights) is telling. Boopalan's forthcoming (coauthored) book Dalit Theology: A Global Introduction (Fortress Press), is a further manifestation of those interests in theological and liturgical responses to systemic injustice.

Boopalan has also authored numerous essays for the online compendium PoliticalTheology.com, which offer a useful introduction to his work and thought. Those writings are freely accessible here. Boopalan is husband to Ester with whom he is the proud father of one daughter, Junia. Together, in addition to English, he and his wife speak six Indian languages. Boopalan's favourite scripture verse is John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (NRSV)

 

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU's Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry, Business Administration, Peacebuilding and Collaborative Development. CMU has 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at its Shaftesbury Campus and Menno Simons College Campus. CMU is a member of Universities Canada.

For information about CMU, visit cmu.ca.

Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

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