Orlando Enrique Costas (15 June 1942 – 5 November 1987) was a Hispanic

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and missiologist.

Biography

Costas was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

to Methodist parents, Ventura Enrique Costas and Rosaline Rivera. He moved with his father to the United States, living first in the Bronx and then

Bridgeport, CT Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

. He finished his high school years at Bob Jones Academy and studied at the Missionary College of Nyack. Costas returned to Puerto Rico, where he was ordained in the American Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico, pastored a local church, and studied at the

Interamerican University The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has ...

. He returned to the United States in 1966, where he pastored and studied at

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It� ...

, Wheaton College, completed a master's degree at Winona Lake School of Theology, and, in 1969, completed an

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

at the

Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary (G-ETS) is a private seminary and graduate school of theology related to the United Methodist Church. It is located in Evanston, Illinois, on the campus of Northwestern University. The seminary offers ...

. In 1976, he completed his Th.D. at the Free University of Amsterdam, writing on "Theology of the Crossroads in Contemporary Latin America: Missiology in Mainline Protestantism, 1969-1974" under Johannes Verkuyl. He later taught at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Theological School. Costas became a major figure in the

Latin American Theological Fellowship The Latin American Theological Fellowship ( es, Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana or FTL) is an interdenominational Latin American organization which has emphasized the collaborative theological work of Latin American evangelicals. Early hist ...

and the Lausanne movement, advocating for a holistic mission which brought together evangelism with social activism. Costas married Rosa Lydia Feliciano in December 1962, and they had two daughters, Annette (born 1963) and Dannette (born 1967). He died of stomach cancer in his home in Newton Centre, MA.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costas, Orlando 1942 births 1987 deaths Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Christian socialist theologians World Christianity scholars