Dr. Kosuke Koyama

Our Second Paul Wattson Lecturer in Halifax was born in Tokyo in 1929, studied at Tokyo's Union Theological Seminary, Drew University, and received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He lectured at Thailand Theological Seminary from 1960-1968, served as director of the Association of Theological Schools in south East Asia from 1968-1974, while simultaneously Dean of the South East Asia Graduate School of Theology (Singapore) and Editor of the South East Asia Journal of Theology. From 1974-1979 he was the Senior Lecturer in Religion at the University of Otago (New Zealand), and from 1980 to his retirement earlier this year he was Professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, from 1983 to 1994 the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor of Ecumenics and World Christianity, and from 1995 the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor of Ecumenical Studies.

Dr. Koyama has published some thirteen books, including a three volume work titled On Christian Life (available only in Japanese), and one hundred scholarly articles. Perhaps his best known works in English are Waterbuffalo Theology (1974) and Mt. Fuji and Mt. Sinai (1984).

His ecumenical experiences include being active in the Christian Conference of Asia under whose aegis he was a participant in the Asian Missionary Consultation, the Conservative-Ecumenical Consultation in Asia, the Dialogue with Buddhists, and the Theological Education Consultation. In the World Council of Churches he has participated in Faith and Order, Humanum Studies, the Dialogue with People of Other Faiths and Ideologies, Church and Society, the Nairobi Assembly, and the commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

He has also served as Assembly Preacher for the 190th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA , and for the Sweden "Kirchentag", was the keynote speaker at the 75th Anniversary of the 1910 International Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, and has lectured at the Biennial Assembly of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the International Association for Mission Studies, the European Gathering of Congregational Groups, Teologiska Seminariet, the Kanuga Bowen Conference, and delivered the Second Bonhoeffer Lecture in Berlin.

November 1996