IFTAG members and links

Stephen Roberts is Tutor in Practical Theology and Mission at Cardiff Baptist College and Honorary Lecturer in Theology at Cardiff University.

He is an Anglican, who values the experience of working ecumenically, not only with Baptists but with students and colleagues from The Presbyterian Church of Wales and The Union of Welsh Independents.

Alongside his academic role he is Associate Priest at St John the Baptist Church in Wales Church in Cardiff City Centre.

His interest in inter-faith relations stems from his experience in university chaplaincy and he has ongoing interests in chaplaincy as a context for interreligious encounter. His PhD arose out of that context and explored the relationship between inter-religious dialogue and the public sphere.

He writes in the areas of practical theology, interreligious dialogue, theology and music, and chaplaincy studies.

Since 2012 Revd Dr Graham Adams has been Tutor in World Christianity (including Mission Studies) and Religious Diversity with Northern College (United Reformed and Congregational), a constituent college of the ecumenical partnership, Luther King Centre for Theology and Ministry, in Manchester. He also teaches with the Congregational Institute for Practical Theology.

Graham previously was in church ministry in Manchester, while first studying part-time for a PhD, and subsequently working in training development for the Congregational Federation. His doctoral thesis was revised for publication as a book, Christ and the Other: In dialogue with Hick and Newbigin (Ashgate, 2010). Working with a framework from Andrew Shanks to help assess the Christologies of John Hick and Lesslie Newbigin, the book proposes a ‘social christology’, an understanding of Jesus fostering our ‘mutual humanization’ through relationship with others – those within our own tradition, those in other traditions, and those who are ‘invisible’.

In 2019 he wrote, Theology of Religions: Through the lens of ‘truth-as-openness’ (Brill), which works further with Shanks to illuminate the dynamics in the field now generally called ‘theologies of religious diversity’. Otherwise, his research interest is mission in the context of Empire, leading most recently to: Holy Anarchy: Dismantling Domination, Embodying Community, Loving Strangeness (SCM, 2022). He is currently working on a new book, God the Child: Small, Weak and Curious Subversions.

Until her retirement in 2018 Canon Dr Clare Amos was head of the World Council of Churches office for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation. Prior to moving to Geneva in 2011 Clare had held a similar role in the Anglican Communion Office. Clare is a biblical scholar by background with a particular interest in the interface between interreligious concerns and biblical studies, stemming partly from the years she spent living in Jerusalem and then Beirut. Her commentary on the book of Genesis, Birthpangs and Blessings, reads Genesis in the light of current concerns in the Middle East. Clare is currently writing a book for the World Council of Churches focusing on the topic of religion and violence, which seeks to take account of the interreligious perspective.

Inderjit is married to Kathy and is a grandfather. He enjoys cooking, walking, writing, photography and sport. In 1997, he walked from Sheffield where he lives to 10 Downing Street to hand deliver a letter to the Prime Minister asking that ‘asylum seekers’ are not detained in conventional prisons. He is passionately committed to the achievement of justice especially in immigration matters, and also to promoting good interfaith relationships.

Inderjit is a retired Methodist minister, and Co-Founder of the City of Sanctuary network and movement. He is a former President of the Methodist Conference, and former Leader of the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland, and former Chief Executive of the Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum.

Inderjit is a Patron of Stand and Be Counted, the UK’s first Theatre Company of Sanctuary. He is currently working with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland to develop and promote the Church of Sanctuary network and movement. Inderjit is a recipient of the World Methodist Peace Award. He has recently published the book Hospitality and Sanctuary for All, a biblical underpinning of Church of Sanctuary.

The Revd Dr Peter Colwell is Deputy General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, with particular responsibility for inter faith and faith and order matters. He is an ordained minister of the United Reformed Church (since 1994), having served as local church minister in London. Prior to his appointment at CTBI he was Deputy Director of the London Inter Faith Centre, which promoted dialogue and study between different religions. He is the author of “Embracing the Land: Theological and Political Thought and the Encounter between Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land” (Living Stones of the Holy Land Trust, 2025).

Since 2012, Rose Drew has managed a new project called Interfaith Glasgow, which supports interfaith engagement in Glasgow through innovative initiatives fostering friendship-building, dialogue, and cooperation between people from diverse religious and non-religious backgrounds (see www.interfaithglasgow.org).

Prior to taking up her current post, Rose was a Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK and, in 2011, a Research Scholar at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests are predominantly in Buddhist-Christian dialogue and the theology of religions.

Her monograph, Buddhist and Christian? An Exploration of Dual Belonging (Routledge, 2011) won the 2013 Frederick J. Streng Award for Excellence in Buddhist-Christian Studies. It is the first in-depth study of the thought and practice of those who take themselves to be both Buddhist and Christian. Drawing on interviews with individuals in the vanguard of this growing phenomenon, the book engages from Buddhist and Christian perspectives the theological, philosophical, and practical questions that arise. See: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415611237/

Bonnie Evans-Hills is a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church and has considerable experience in inter-religious dialogue, working with organisations such as the EU Commission on Foreign Affairs & Security, the World Council of Churches, Churches Together in Britain & Ireland, the Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Mission organisation USPG (United Society for Partners in the Gospel). Bonnie has been involved in contributing to the UN Office for the Prevention of Genocide’s Global Plan of Action for Religious Leaders & Actors. Alongside several other publications, Bonnie is co-author of the book ‘Engaging Islam from a Christian Perspective,’ published by Peter Lang. She was recently awarded the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

You can find Bonnie on the X social media platform.

Andy S-J Lie is of Indonesian Chinese origin but grew up in Singapore from the late 1950s onwards, and has lived with his family in the UK since 1986. Besides a professional interest in inter-religious (especially Christian-Muslim) relations, he had worked in the NHS, higher education, and third sectors. For the past 17 years, Andy has sat as a Lay Member of Employment Tribunals (Ministry of Justice). A communicant member of the Church of England, he has served voluntarily for 30 years as a Reader in the Diocese of Newcastle. From 1996-2005, he served on the CofE’s Inter-Faith Consultative Group. Since 2011, he has worked as the Ecumenical & Inter-Faith Officer for the United Reformed Church Northern Synod and plans to retire in mid-2024.

From December 2015 to February 2016, Andy participated in the WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel based in the much-troubled town of Bethlehem. This was meaningfully followed by a 10-day intensive Seminar at Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) in September 2019.
Besides a few light-weight articles in collected volumes and several book reviews since 1997, Andy had two stints at teaching: New Testament Greek at St John’s College, Nottingham (1991-1993); Muslim-Christian Relations at Department of Religious Studies, Newcastle University (1997-1999). Andy is also a life member of the Society for Old Testament Study.

Last but not least, Andy is a keen runner and most recently completed Athens as his 50th marathon/ultra-marathon record.

Eleanor Nesbitt is an Elder in Central England Area Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and an emeritus professor in religions and education at the University of Warwick. Her first teaching post was in north India but most of her teaching and ethnographic research have been in Coventry. Her family by marriage is Hindu. She’s a member of the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations and she authored Interfaith Pilgrims (2003, Quaker Books) and Open to New Light: Quakers and Other Faiths (2022, Collective Ink). Her other publications mainly focus on Hindu and Sikh faith communities and they include Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn 2016, Oxford University Press) and Sikh: Two Centuries of Western Women’s Art and Writing (2024, Kashi House).

Rajbharat Patta is currently a PhD student at the University of Manchester. He has been a recipient of Lincoln International Doctoral Studentship (2014-17) from Lincoln Theological Institute of the University of Manchester. He is currently writing a thesis on “Constructing a Subaltern Public Theology for India”, where he is engaged in researching what is public from a non-public perspective and what is theological about such an enterprise. He also works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at the University of Manchester leading seminars for the courses ‘Religion in Modern South Asia’ and ‘Introduction to Christian Theology’ for the graduate students.

Raj is an ordained minister of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in India and currently serves as Honorary Chaplain at St. Peter’s Church and Chaplaincy, ministering to the higher education communities in Manchester. Prior to this, he served as the general secretary of the Student Christian Movement of India, and also served as an executive secretary of the National Council of Churches in India. He was a visiting faculty member at the United Theological College, Bangalore where he taught Dalit Theology. He was commissioned by the Alternative Tourism Group in Palestine on a study on the Theology of Pilgrimage in Palestine Israel and has released the book titled Listening to Living Stones: Towards a Theology of Kairos Pilgrimage in December 2014. He is also the author of the book A Violent Sight on a Silent Night: Missological Discourses on Violence against Dalit Christians in India in 2008. He has written extensively on contemporary theological and political issues and has lectured at several places. He is a blogger and blogs at thepattas.blogspot.co.uk.

Fr. Dr. Jobymon Skaria is a Faculty Member of St John’s Theological Seminary, specialising in Biblical Studies, Postcolonial Theology and Interreligious Dialogue.

He is a distinguished theologian, researcher, and educator whose work bridges the fields of biblical hermeneutics, South Asian religious traditions, and postcolonial theology. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Theology from Dublin City University in Ireland, where his research focused on the intersections of liberation theology, intercultural hermeneutics, and the voices of marginalized communities. He also holds a Master of Theology from St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, a Bachelor of Divinity from Serampore University, and a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India.