John
Roxborogh is a Presbyterian minister and retired theological educator and mission
historian living in Dunedin New Zealand. He is a writer researcher and teacher with
a background in the study of Reformed Christianities, Christian mission, Southeast
Asian church history, and church and mission archives and has a special interest
in Malaysian church history.
John worked as a telecommunications engineer prior to training for the Presbyterian Ministry in Dunedin in 1974. He was awarded the travelling scholarship of the Presbyterian Church and studied under Andrew Walls in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen. In 1978 he completed his doctorate on the Scottish Evangelical Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847).
Returning to New Zealand John was in parish ministry in Wellington from 1979 to 1983 when with his wife Jenny and their four children he became a member of the overseas staff of the Presbyterian-Methodist Council for Mission and was appointed as a teacher at Seminary Theology Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. He was faculty member in charge of the library, taught biblical studies and church history and was active in the Malaysian Church History Society encouraging denominational and local histories as a foundation for other historical and theological studies.
In 1991 he took up the position of Head of Department of Mission Studies at the Auckland campus of the Bible College of New Zealand developing courses in the history and theology of mission, world religions and Third World theologies. In 1999 he became Coordinator of Lay and Recognised Ministry Training at the School of Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand in Dunedin. He worked with elders and locally ordained ministers and developed online and class-room courses at diploma and post-graduate level for Presbyterian and Reformed Studies. Since his retirement in April 2008 he has continued part-time distance teaching of Presbyterian Studies through the Ecumenical Institute for Distance Theological Studies in Christchurch and the University of Otago. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Otago and also a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for the Study of Asian Christianity at Trinity Theological College Singapore involved in their study programme on Popular Christianity in Southeast Asia.
John continues to be involved in the supervision and marking of research papers, masters and doctoral theses. From 1992 to 2005 he was chair of the Documentation, Archives and Bibliography workgroup of the International Association for Mission Studies. For some years he was a board member of World Vision New Zealand.
Links
Christianity in Southeast Asia
Did Calvin write the hymn "I greet thee who my sure redeemer art?"
Publications (see also John Roxborogh CV and Links)
“Freedom of Religion 3. Asia, Africa, Latin America.” in Hans Dieter Betz, et al, (eds.) Religion Past and Present. Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion vol. 5, Leiden, Brill, 248, 2009.
“Asia, Southeast” and “Technology” in Jonathan Bonk, ed., Encyclopedia of missions and missionaries, New York and London, Routledge. 2007.
“Persistent Presbyterianism? Lay leadership and the future of the Reformed tradition.” In John Stenhouse and Brett Knowles, eds., Christianity in the post-secular West, Adelaide, ATF Press, 241-255. 2007.
“Christianity in South East Asia: 1914-2000.”
In McLeod, Hugh, ed. World Christianities.
Vol. 9, The Cambridge History of Christianity.
“Mapping the Evangelical Landscape in New Zealand.” In Susan and William Emilsen, eds. Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity, festschrift for Ian Breward , New York: Peter Lang, 318-331, 2000.
“The history and scope of BISAM within IAMS: 1972 - 1992.” In Teresa Okure, SHCJ, ed. To Caste Fire Upon the Earth: Bible and Mission Collaborating in Today’s Multicultural Global Context, Pietermaritzburg , South Africa: Cluster Publications, 2000.
Thomas Chalmers Enthusiast for Mission: The Christian Good of Scotland and the Rise of the Missionary Movement. Edinburgh : Rutherford Studies in Historical Theology, Carlisle: Paternoster Press. 1999, 2000.
“Südostasien.” In Karl Müller and Werner Ustorf, eds. Einleitung in die Missionsgeschichte Tradition. Situation und Dynamik des Christentums. Stuttgart : Kohlhammer: 143-158. 1995.
“The Roman Catholic Church,” “The Presbyterian Church,” and “The Story of Ecumenism.” In Robert Hunt, Lee Kam Hing and W. John Roxborogh, eds. Christianity in Malaysia. A denominational history. Petaling Jaya: Pelanduk: 1-33, 75-106, 277-322, 1992.
A Common Voice: a history of the ecumenical movement in Malaysia, Ecumenism in Malaysia series, 1. Series editors Varghese George, John Roxborogh, and Yeoh Seng Guan. Petaling Jaya: Resource, Research and Communication Unit, Council of Churches of Malaysia, 1991.
A Bibliography of Christianity in Malaysia, Malaysian Church History Series No.2. Kuala Lumpur : Seminari Theoloji Malaysia and the Catholic Research Centre, 1990.
“South-East Asia.” In L. Pirouet,
ed.
“Ministry to
all the people? The Anglican Church
in Malaysia.” in W. J. Sheils and D. Wood, eds. The
Ministry: Clerical and Lay. Studies in Church History,
26.
A Short
Introduction to Malaysian Church History. Malaysian
Church History Series No.1. Kuala Lumpur : Seminari Theoloji
(with Stuart Piggin)
The St Andrews Seven.
For on-line copies of some of his writing and teaching notes see Links.
John be contacted by email on john @ roxborogh . com.