Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi | |
---|---|
Nationality | Puerto Rican |
Occupation(s) | Theologian, historian, academic and author |
Awards | 2014 Orlando E. Costas Preaching Award, Palmer Theological Seminary Book Award for Excellence in Missiology, American Society of Missiology Building Bridges Award, Islamic Speaker’s Bureau of Atlanta |
Academic background | |
Education | B.A., General Studies (University of Puerto Rico) M.Div. (Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico) Th.M., Mission, Ecumenics and History of Religions (Princeton Theological Seminary) Ph.D, Mission, Ecumenics, and History of Religions (Princeton Theological Seminary) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Columbia Theological Seminary,(1994-2010) Perkins School of Theology,Southern Methodist University,(2010-2018) Department of Religion,Baylor University,(2018 to present) |
Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi (born on April 21,1961) is a Puerto Rican theologian,historian,teacher,academic and author. He holds the Frederick E. Roach Chair in World Christianity at Baylor University. [1]
Cardoza-Orlandi’s research focuses on the socio-cultural interplay between Christians and people of other faiths,the historical and current interpretations of the movement of the Christian religion at both the institutional and popular levels,and the theoretical and theological constructions of the current interplay between cultures and religions in Africa,Asia and Latin America. He co-authored (with Justo Gonzalez) To All Nations from All Nations:A History of the Christian Missionary Movement,a for Excellence in Missiology by the American Society of Missiology in 2013. [2]
He served as the regional editor for Latin America of the Journal of the Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre and contributing editor for Journal of the Latino Theology.
Cardoza-Orlandi obtained his Bachelor’s degree in General Studies from the University of Puerto Rico in 1984. He then enrolled at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico and earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1987. He received a second Master’s degree in Mission,Ecumenics and History of Religions in 1990,and completed his Ph.D. in Mission,Ecumenics and History of Religions with concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1999 from Princeton Theological Seminary. In 2007,he was awarded with a certificate in Leadership by Cox Business School,Southern Methodist University. [1]
Cardoza-Orlandi held an appointment as Professor of World Christianity at Columbia Theological Seminary in 1994,before joining Perkins School of Theology,SMU in 2010 as Professor of World Christianities and Mission Studies. He left Perkins School of Theology in 2018 and became the Frederick E. Roach Professor of Religion,World Christianity at Baylor University. [1]
Cardoza-Orlandi is also active in Christian grass-roots communities. He has been an Ordained Minister of the Christian Church in Puerto Rico since 1988 and continues to work with Christian communities as a theological educator. [1]
Cardoza-Orlandi’s research is mainly focused on the socio-cultural interplay between Christians and people of other faiths,particularly those who practice Afro-Caribbean,Amerindian,Spiritist religions,and Islam,the historical and current interpretations of the movement of the Christian religion at both the institutional and popular levels,and the theoretical and theological constructions of the current interplay between cultures and religions in Africa,Asia and Latin America,including immigrants and transnational movements.
In his work,Cardoza-Orlandi has described Latino Christianity as consequent of violent encounters,syncretistic religious practices,and the crossings of different cultures,and should be regarded as a very important segment in the history of Christianity for the Western hemisphere. He has discussed the significance of Hispanic/Latino Christianity,and drawn attention to the misconceptions that frequently occur in understanding Hispanic Theology and Latin American Theology. [3]
Cardoza-Orlandi also explores the relationship between Afro-Caribbean,Amerindian,and Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity. Utilizing a comparative approach from African Christian studies,he investigates the dynamics between these primal religious expressions in Latin America and the Caribbean and identifies the synergy between these traditions. [4]
In his book published in 2013,Cardoza-Orlandi highlighted missionary practices,and focused mainly on the cross-cultural,cross-religious,and cross-confessional dynamics that were involved in Christian missionary activity. He also described the origin of missionary activities from national rather than international missionaries. He concluded his book with a discussion on postmodern and postcolonial world. [5]
Based on the work by Steven Bevans and Robert Schroeder on Prophetic Dialogue,Cardoza-Orlandi has focused on the role of Prophetic Dialogue as a way to witness and participate in God's mercy by freeing oneself from systems of oppression and evil. He defined prophetic dialogue in terms of a paradox that offers untraveled roads. [6] In his book entitled Una Introducción A La Mission, he explored the limitations of mission in the context of the United States and also discussed the beginning and spread of mission practices in broader community. [7]
In another book,Cardoza-Orlandi described the ambiguous nature of the term 'mission' in the context of North American Christians,and highlighted the works of Emil Brunner to support the idea that to be the church is to be in mission. [8] In his research work,he also defined Christian missional engagement as a theological matrix integrating memory,experience,and expectation as ways to approach Christian history rather than the modern categories of past,present,and future in context of Christian history. [9]
Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century.
Rufus Anderson was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.
In Christianity,inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics,whereas Protestants,especially associated with the World Council of Churches,prefer to use the term "contextual theology".
Paul Francis Knitter is an American theologian. He is currently an emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary,where he has served as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology,World Religions and Culture since 2007. He is also Emeritus Professor of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati,where he taught for 28 years before moving to Union. Knitter is known for his work on religious pluralism and multiple religious belonging,particularly regarding Buddhism and Christianity.
Justo Luis González is a Cuban-American historical theologian and Methodist elder. He is a prolific author and an influential contributor to the development of Latin American theology. His wife,Catherine Gunsalus González,is a professor emerita at Columbia Theological Seminary,and the two have co-authored several books.
Edwin David Aponte is a Puerto Rican-American cultural historian,religious studies scholar,and contributor to the development of Christianity among Hispanic and Latino/a Americans. His research focuses on the interplay between religion and culture,especially Hispanic/Latino(a) religions,African-American religions,North American religious history,and congregational studies. He is one of a small number of U.S. Hispanic historians of Christianity.
Marathi Christians are an Ethno-religious community of the Indian state of Maharashtra who accepted Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries during the East India Company,and later,the British Raj. Conversions to Protestantism were a result of Christian missions such as the American Marathi Mission,Church Mission Society and the Church of England's United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Christianity in the 20th century was characterized by an accelerating secularization of Western society,which had begun in the 19th century,and by the spread of Christianity to non-Western regions of the world.
Amos Yong is a Malaysian-American Pentecostal theologian and Professor of Theology and Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been Dean of School of Theology and School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary,since July 1,2019.
Luis Nicolás Rivera-Pagán is the Henry Winters Luce Professor Emeritus of Ecumenics at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Allan Anderson is a British theologian and the Professor of Mission and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is frequently cited as one of the foremost scholars on Global Pentecostalism.
The International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS) is an international,inter-confessional,and interdisciplinary professional society for the scholarly study of the Christian mission and its impact in the world and the related field of intercultural theology. It is based in England and South Korea.
Francisco Olazábal (1886–1937) was a Pentecostal evangelist,who conducted an evangelistic healing ministry and founded the Interdenominational Mexican Council of Christian Churches in 1923,later renamed as Latin American Council of Christian Churches or Concilio Latino Americano de Iglesias Cristianas (CLADIC). Francisco Olazábal committed 30 years to his evangelistic healing ministry. Olazábal held healing campaigns across the United States,Puerto Rico,and Mexico.
Roger E. Hedlund is an American pastor who has spent more than three decades in India as a theological teacher and researcher with major contributions to missiology with special reference to Indian ethos.
World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories,practices,and discourses of Christianity as a world religion and its various forms as they are found on the six continents. However,the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises instances of Christian faith in 'the global South',in Asia,Africa,and Latin America." It also includes Indigenous or diasporic forms of Christianity in the Caribbean,South America,Western Europe,and North America.
Dana Lee Robert is an historian of Christianity and a missiologist. She is a professor at Boston University,where she has worked since 1984. She was the co-founder of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission in 2001,one of the first university-based Centers on World Christianity in North America. For years,Robert held the School of Theology's Truman Collins Professorship in World Christianity and History of Mission,but in 2022 she was installed in the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professorship,the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members who remain actively involved in research,scholarship,teaching,and the University’s civic life.
Stephen Bennett Bevans,SVD is an American Roman Catholic,priest,theologian,and the Louis J. Luzbetak,SVD Professor of Mission and Culture,Emeritus at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago,Illinois,United States. He is known for his work Models of Contextual Theology.
The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (CCCW) is a study,teaching and research centre in Cambridge,England and a member of the Cambridge Theological Federation which is affiliated with the University of Cambridge.
David B. Barrett was a British visiting professor at Columbia University,an Anglican priest,and research secretary for the Anglican Consultative Council.
Orlando Enrique Costas was a Hispanic Evangelical theologian and missiologist.