Mathew Chandrankunnel

Last updated

Mathew Chandrankunnel
Dr Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI.jpg
Born (1958-04-26) 26 April 1958 (age 62)
NationalityIndian
OccupationProfessor of philosophy of science
Known forPhilosophy of Quantum mechanics

Prof. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI (born 26 April 1958) [1] is a professor of philosophy of science at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and Christ University, both in Bangalore, India. He is the author of several books including "Philosophy of Quantum mechanics" and "Ascent to Truth: The Physics, philosophy and Religion of Galileo Galilei". [2] He is a scientist, philosopher and theologian. [3]

Contents

Birth and Education

Prof. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI was born on 26 April 1958. He was ordained a priest in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on 5 May 1987, and is in the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation, Province of Kottayam. [1] He went to Telangana in Andhra Pradesh in the early 1990s, living with the Naxalites and trying to understand their movement. [4]

Chandrankunnel studied physics and philosophy in several Indian universities. [5] In 1998 he earned a PhD in Philosophy of Science from the University of Leuven in Belgium. [6] He worked under Aage Bohr, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Ilya Prigogine in developing his thesis, which compared the interpretations of Niels Bohr and of David Bohm. [4] He did post-doctoral research at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and lectured at the State University of New York. [7] In July 2000 he won the Science and Religion Course Award from the Centre for Theology and Natural Sciences in Berkeley, California for his contribution: "Search for Unity and Interconnectedness: Meeting Point between Science and Religion". [4]

Later career

Chandrankunnel is a founder of the Bangalore Forum for Science and Religion. [7] He was a founding member in 2001 of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue, which attempts to defuse tensions between religious communities such as Hindus, Christians and Muslims. He was the Indian co-ordinator for the Science-Religion Summit in Bangalore in 2003. [4] He organised the conference "Merging Boundaries: Mysticism, Science and Religion", inaugurated by Sri Ravi Shankar. He has worked as science editor of Deepika daily newspaper and as its Chennai and Bangalore correspondent. [5]

A group of Indian Christians issued a letter on 1 January 2007 to various world leaders entitled A Campaign Declaration: Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD). Chandrankunnel was one of the signatories. The group asserted that the 1977 ruling by India's Supreme Court that a citizen had the right to "profess, practice and propagate" ones religion does not include the right to convert another. [8] The group called for a change to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prohibit conversion through material incentives, coercion, threats or intimidation. However, the BIRD members affirmed the Great Commission that "unequivocally calls us to witness to Christ in a pluralistic setting". [9]

Chandrankunnel was visiting professor at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Philosophy in April–May 2010. He lectured on the Physics, Philosophy and Religion of Galileo. [5] In June 2011 he addressed a seminar on "Nation building and minority welfare", saying every citizen had a duty to bring the marginalised towards mainstream society. [10] As of 2012 Chandrankunnel was an associate director of Geothirbhavan – Georgian CMI Centre for Counselling, Training and Transformation. [11] He was also Director-Coordination of the Chaavara Cancer Research Institute. [7] He was a member of the Association of Christian Philosophers of India. [12]

As of 2016 Chandrankunnel was leading annual programs for visiting students from Europe and North America on "Religions in Contemporary India". In these one-month programs the students meet representative of different religions and visit Hindu, Buddhist. Sikh, Jain, Muslim and Christian centres. [6]

On 16 December 2016, Prof. Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI took charge as the Director of Ecumenical Christian Centre and now taking new initiatives to transform and make ECC a centre of excellence, compassion and human unity by connecting it with international centres, bringing international figures to ECC and organizing international conferences along with local, national and Asian level initiatives. He is the first Catholic priest to act as the head of the centre. [6] [13]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Ranganathananda

Ranganathananda, born Shankaran Kutty, was a Hindu swami of the Ramakrishna Math order. He served as the 13th president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.

Mehdi Golshani is a contemporary Iranian theoretical physicist, academic, scholar, philosopher and distinguished professor at Sharif University of Technology. He is also member of Iranian Science and Culture Hall of Fame, Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, senior fellow of Academy of Sciences of Iran and founding fellow of Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics.

Henry Margenau

Henry Margenau was a German-American physicist, and philosopher of science.

Max Jammer Israeli physicist and philosopher of physics

Max Jammer, was an Israeli physicist and philosopher of physics. He was born in Berlin, Germany. He was Rector and Acting President at Bar-Ilan University from 1967 to 1977.

Christ University Private deemed university in India

CHRIST , is a deemed to be university in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Founded in 1969 as an autonomous college, on 22 July 2008 it was declared as an institution deemed to be university under section 3 of UGC Act 1956 by the Ministry of Education (India). The University is under the management of the priests of the Catholic religious order, Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), part of Syro Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church. In 2016, the University was accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council with A Grade.

Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) was founded in 1963 by M. A. Thomas. ECC is located in Whitefield in Bengaluru on a 29-acre (120,000 m2) campus.

Kuncheria Pathil is an Indian theologian belonging to the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI).

Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram is an ecclesiastical institution of higher learning established by the Syrian Catholic congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) for Catholic education, as an independent institute empowered to grant degrees, including Doctorates in Philosophy and Theology. Located in Bengaluru, India, it is a pontifical athenaeum with degree-granting authority validated by the Vatican.

Kumble R. Subbaswamy

Kumble R. Subbaswamy is the 11th and current chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He formerly served as the provost of University of Kentucky.

The Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is an organisation based in Bangalore, India that promotes dialog between people of different faiths, attempting to defuse tensions between religious communities such as Hindus, Christians and Muslims.

A. Mathias Mundadan, C.M.I. of Alangad was a priest of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate in the Syro-Malabar Church. He was born on 12 November 1923 and died on 31 August 2012. He was appointed Rector of Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram on 22 April 1975 and continued till 1981. He was also a historian of the Church and has authored a number of books.

Jetti Alfred Oliver is the present chancellor of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (SHUATS), Allahabad , which is a Govt. Aided Private (Minority) University under section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. He is an agriculturalist, with his past experience in the development sector, continues to be in the forefront of the leadership of like-minded initiatives and is an elected member of the 10-member international governing council of the Society for International Development (SID).

Fred Goodwill

Fred Goodwill (1874–1969) was a British missionary stationed in Bangalore, British India between 1899 and 1924, serving as the Superintendent of the Wesleyan Tamil Mission, Bangalore and Kolar Gold Fields. He is acknowledged for working for the cause of education of native women in the Bangalore Cantonment. The Goodwills Girls School located in Fraser Town, Bangalore Cantonment is named after him. He was a scholar of the Tamil Language, and was also fluent in Canarese (Kannada) and Telagu (Telugu). Fred is acknowledged as an authority on Tamil Shaiva Literature, with authors quoting from his research. As one of the founding members of the Mythic Society, his published papers on the history of the Mysore State form the basis of history of the State, as we know it now.

Gregory Karotemprel

Mar Gregory Karotemprel is an East Syriac Catholic bishop and theologian. He is Bishop Emeritus of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Rajkot.

Thomas Aykara CMI is the rector of Dharmaram College in Bengaluru, India. He is a Catholic priest of the Syro-Malabar Church. He joined the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI)Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation, St. Joseph's Province Kottayam in 1954. He is a philosopher, theologian and religious. He is a scholar, teacher, author and thinker. Several academic centres in India and abroad originated through the efforts of Thomas Aykara.

Kurian Kachappilly, born 6 July 1955, at Mallussery, in Kerala, India, is a Catholic priest of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) order, and a professor of philosophy and religion.

Jose Nandhikkara CMI is a professor of philosophy at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and Christ University, both in Bangalore, India. He is the author of several books including Environmental Interface: Literature, Law, Science, Philosophy and Ethical Interface: Literature, Economics, Politics, Religion.

Mor Osthathios Pathros is a Syriac Orthodox bishop, currently Metropolitan of Bangalore Diocese. He belongs to the Pulikottil family of Kunnamkulam. He took the initiative in the formation of Coimbatore Christian Ecumenical Fellowship.

<i>Journal of Dharma</i> Academic journal

The Journal of Dharma is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering discussion and debates on philosophies and religions. It was established in 1975 and is published by Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram. The editor-in-chief is Jose Nandhikkara. Besides regular articles, the journal also includes book reviews of recently released books in philosophy.

Saju Chackalackal

Saju Chackalackal is an author and professor of Philosophy at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram Bangalore. He is also a catholic religious priest of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation. He is a Kantian scholar who obtained a PhD from Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas Rome. He was the former chief editor of the Journal of Dharma. He has authored many books and articles. He was instrumental in preparing a number of course materials for Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mathew Chandrankunnel". The Syro-Malabar Church Internet Mission. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. ↑ "Mathew Chandrankunnel". Academia.edu. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ↑ "A world of science and art". Deccan Herald. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Activist physicist". The Hindu . 11 November 2002. Archived from the original on 1 July 2003. Retrieved 12 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. 1 2 3 "Biodata". Mathew Chandrankunnel. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. 1 2 3 Philip Mathew (21 November 2016), "Ecumenical center gets scientist-philosopher priest as director", matters india, retrieved 3 December 2016CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. 1 2 3 "Organization". Chaavara Cancer Research Institute. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ↑ "A Campaign Declaration – Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)". World Council of Churches. 1 January 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Witness in a Multireligious World". Presbyterian Church (USA). Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. ↑ "Bharat Nirman commences in Pala". The Hindu. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  11. ↑ "Board of Administration". Georgian CMI Centre for Counselling, Training and Transformation. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  12. ↑ "Members' Contact Details". ACPI. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  13. ↑ "Our Staff". Ecumenical Christian Centre. Retrieved 26 May 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.