Rev. Joseph Chandrakanthan

Reverend Joseph Chandrakanthan

Adjunct Professor of New Testament Studies

EDUCATION

M.Phil. Gnana Deepa Vidyapeeth Pontifical University, Pune, India 1975
B.Th, Gnana Deepa Vidyapeeth Pontifical University, Pune, India 1978
M.Th. Gnana Deepa Vidyapeeth Pontifical University, Pune, India 1980
L.Th. St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada 1983
Ph.D. University of Ottawa, Canada 1986
Th.D. St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada 1988

AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

Specialization in Eastern Philosophy with a special emphasis on Hindu-Saivism and Buddhism particularly in relation to Christian Ethics and Philosophy. Specialization in Systematic Theology with a concentration on New Testament Hermeneutics and its application to the Pauline Corpus.

BIOGRAPHY

Fr. Joseph Chandrakanthan  was ordained a priest for the diocese of  Jaffna in Sri Lanka in 1979.    In 1980 he was appointed Lecturer and Dean of Studies at St. Francis Xavier’s Seminary in Colombogam, Jaffna. The State University of Jaffna (UofJ) appointed him in 1981 as the First tenured    Lecturer in Christian Studies at  the Faculty of Arts.  On completing his doctoral studies in Canada, he returned  to the UofJ  and was appointed Senior Lecturer  and  Founding Head of the Department of Christian and Islamic Studies.  He held a Sessional Professorship in Biblical Studies at Concordia University in Montreal from 1996-1999 and in 2000 he joined the Faculty of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and was a Sessional Professor  at the University of St. Michael’s College and concurrently began teaching courses in Systematic Theology and Scripture at  St. Augustine’s Seminary. Fr. Chandrakanthan has given invited Public Lectures on Asian Religions and Political Theology in  many Universities in Europe and Asia including the University of Oxford (1995), University of  London (SOAS -2001), and Uppsala University in Sweden (2011, 2016 and 2019).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / SELECTED AREAS OF SERVICE / PASTORAL WORK

He is Accredited by the Supreme Court of Canada as an Expert Witness on World Religions and a Member of the Inter Religious Dialogue Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

 Publications

  • Catholic Revival in Post-Colonial Sri Lanka: Challenges to Ecclesial Contextualization, SEDEC, Colombo, 1995.

  • Jesus- Lord And Christ, A Reader in Christology, Campus Publications, 2006.  

 Workshops

  • Water & Fire: The Divine Person of the Holy Spirt in Christian Life.

  • Life and Writings of St. Paul the Apostle

  • Socio-political issues in Buddhism, Saiva-Hinduism, Christianity and Islam