Seevaratham Wesley Ariarajah is a

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 ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and former director of inter-religions relations at the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

(WCC).

Career

Ariarajah studied Theology at King's College London. A Methodist minister from Sri Lanka, he served both in the pastoral ministry of the church and as lecturer in the history of religions and New Testament in Sri Lanka. In 1981 he was invited to join the staff of the World Council of Churches, where he led the Councils Interfaith Dialogue for over ten years. From 1992 he served as the Deputy General Secretary of the WCC. He has given lectures, conducted seminars, led conferences in many parts of the world and today is Professor at

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three sch ...

, Madison, USA.

Publications

He is the author of the following books, amongst others: *The Bible and People of Other Faiths, Geneva: WCC Publications, 1985. *Hindus and Christians : A Century of Protestant Thought, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991 *Gospel and Culture, An Ongoing Discussion in the Ecumenical Movement, Geneva: WCC, 1994 *Did I Betray the Gospel? The Letters of Paul and the Place of Women, Geneva: WCC, 1996. *Not Without My Neighbor- Issues in Inter-religious Relations, Geneva: WCC, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariarajah, Wesley Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of King's College London Methodist ministers Methodist theologians Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Sri Lankan Tamil academics Sri Lankan non-fiction writers