God's Word Nourishing Life and Inspiring Mission : Biblical Essays in Honour of Prof. Dr. Thomas Malipurathu, SVD

Foreword In the mid-1970's two well-known exegetes, Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP, and Fr. Donald Senior, CP, offered a seminar at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago called "Biblical Foundations of Mission." I was privileged to participate in the first seminar that they offered on this subject, which explored the close relationship between the Word of God and Christian mission. Years later I taught a course with the same name. The seminar had inspired my interest in exploring the links between Bible and mission.

In the summer of 1982, I first met Fr. Thomas Malipurathu, SVD, in Rome. Each of us would follow similar paths. Both of us had been sent to Rome by our respective religious superiors to study exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. We were together for four years, and we worked hard to master the intricacies of Hebrew, Greek, exegesis, textual criticism, and other demanding fields of study in order to receive a licentiate (S.S.L.) in Sacred Scripture from the Biblicum. Fr. Malipurathu headed back to India to begin his academic career, while I taught for two years in Ghana and then returned to Rome to begin a doctorate in biblical theology at the Gregorian University. In 1990 Fr. Thomas also returned to Rome, and once again we were fellow students, working on our doctorates. This time he focused on the New Testament, specifically on the Gospel of Luke and its Beatitudes, whereas I devoted my efforts to the Old Testament, specifically the Book of Deuteronomy. Having had a two-year head start, I finished ahead of Fr. Malipurathu and returned to the United States to begin teaching at Catholic Theological Union and helping with the formation of seminarians. After defending his doctoral thesis in 1994, Fr. Thomas returned to India to give biblical courses at the Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) in Pune and to help with the formation program at Divine Word Seminary.

**Contents and Sample Pages**