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Chris Vonck

E-mail:

Born

March 21, 1940, Antwerp. Belgium.

Education

Institut Biblique Européen, Paris - France. 1957 - 1960.

Linguistics (SIL), London - UK. 1958

Seminario Teologica Baptista, Lisboa - Portugal. 1960 - 1961.

Protestant Theological Faculty, Brussels - Belgium. 1969 - 1970.

Southern University, USA. 1977. PhD. thesis 'The Philosophy of Inmates based on the Theology of K. Barth & R. Otto'.

Ordination: United Protestant Church (UPCB), Genk, January 7, 1979.

Ordination: SBC, Phoenix, Arizona, August 24, 1980.

H.Dr. Parthasarathy Cultural Academy, Madras 1985.

My inspiration

My first study period happened to be at the European Bible Institute in Paris in 1957. Much too young for a serious (academic) study! So, they accepted me as a first year student to study the French or English language. But the language teacher told the Examination Board that I belonged to the Dutch tongue and therefore was allowed the full course. Lucky me!

Bible Institute is Bible. When (trying!) reading Albert Schweitzer's thesis on the life of Jesus (Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung) I became very curious.

I was permitted by the Dean to visit other religious groups and movements in Paris: a small Buddhist temple, the Mosque, the Synagogue. It was also the time in which J.P. Sartre was the figure head. As students of the Bible, or as believers, some of us tried to observe what the students of philosophy (at the Sorbonne) had to tell us. In those days, most of us believed they had not much to offer. We had our domain (truth) and the others theirs. Their was an attitude of religious exclusivism which denied truth claims in other 'traditions'. Back at home and doing military service, a correspondence started with C. J. Bleeker (Amsterdam). In later years Bleeker advised me to contact R. Boeke (Rotterdam) and thanks to him a link was made with M. Braybrooke (Oxford), and N. Smart (Lancaster). And in that way, I became to understand what Mary Baker Eddy (Boston) took as the main inspiration of life: "To injure no man, but to bless all mankind".

Present functions

Founder and Secretary of World Congress of Faiths Belgium, (WCF) Inc.

Member of the Executive Board of the Friends of the Ethnographical Museum, Inc. (VEMA).

Rector of the Faculty for Comparative Study of Religions, Inc. (FVG).

Professor of Philosophical Theology and Psychology.

Founding Member of the Philosophical Workgroup S. Kierkegaard.

Member of the Executive Board of Action Antwerp University. Inc. (ActUA). www.ua.ac.be/actua

Editor Acta Comparanda.

Lecturer 'Introduction Christianity' Free University Brussels (VUB), Faculty LW, 2007+.

Member of the Board of "The European Observatory of Religion and Laicity" www.observatoire-religion.com

Member of the Board of Europe of Cultures Forum www.europeofcultures.eu.

Lid Beschermcomité 'Dwaallicht Prijs'

Past / Present

Visiting lecturer

Columbia University (S. Carolina, USA)

Union of Arab Historians (Baghdad, Iraq)

Ferdowsy University (Mashhad, Iran),

Silpakorn University (Bangkok, Thailand).

Some Lectures & Conferences

UG - Godsdiensten in verandering - "De uitdaging van de wereldraad van Kerken".
Rotary Lectures - "Godsdiensten vergelijken, kan dat?" Antwerpen/Genk during many years.
Silpakorn University, Bangkok - "In which way Compare Religions?".
De Prinsen - "Reformatie in de wereldgodsdiensten" - Kapellen.
Union of Arab Historians, Baghdad - "Western Media and conflicts in the Middle East".
Provinciale Vereniging van Vrijzinnige Protestanten Zeeland - "Verdraagzaamheid - een hedendaagse illusie" - Middelburg