Paul-Gordon Chandler

Paul-Gordon Chandler

Chandler in 2016
Born 1964
Occupation Author, Interfaith Advocate, Social Entrepreneur, Episcopal Priest, Art Patron

Paul-Gordon Chandler (born 1964) is an author,[1] interfaith advocate,[2] social entrepreneur,[3] U.S. Episcopal priest,[4] and an art curator and patron[5] who has lived and worked extensively in the Middle East. He has also ventured into the field of feature film production.[6] Paul-Gordon Chandler grew up in Muslim West Africa (Senegal),[7] and has lived and worked throughout the Islamic world with churches, religious publishing and Christian relief and development agencies. His acclaimed book on Muslim/Christian relations is Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths.

Chandler is a direct descendant of Samuel Jordan, the early English settler and Ancient Planter of colonial Jamestown, and one of the first colonial legislators. He is also one-eighth Cherokee.

Life

Cover of Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road

He is currently the Founder and President of CARAVAN,[8] an international interfaith Arts initiative that seeks to build bridges through the Arts between the creeds and cultures of the East and West. From 2003-2013, for ten years, he was the Rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist/Maadi in Cairo, Egypt, within the Anglican/Episcopal Diocese of Egypt & North Africa.[9] St. John’s Church/Maadi is the international English-speaking Episcopal/Anglican church in southern Cairo with an international congregation of over 25 nationalities from many denominations and faith traditions.

Immediately prior to this role, he served as the President/CEO of Partners International (PI), an international and ecumenical development organization that exists to assist and empower indigenous faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in over 70 countries. Before serving with PI, he was the U.S. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IBS Publishing (now Biblica), a publishing and distribution non-profit that works in over 500 languages, and the sponsor of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

Prior to that he worked with the Anglican Church for five years. From 1995-1997, he worked with SPCK in London, England as the Director of SPCK Worldwide, an international publishing agency of the Church of England involved in publishing and communications in the UK and throughout the Two-Thirds World. Before this he served in Tunisia, North Africa, as the Rector of St. George's Episcopal/Anglican Church in Tunis/Carthage and Chaplain to the British Embassy. St. George’s Church was the only English-speaking church in Tunisia, a Muslim majority country, and served as the international church congregation to internationals from over 30 nationalities living and working in Tunisia. Prior to that, he worked with IBS Publishing as Director of International Programs and served for several years directing translation, publishing and distribution projects throughout the world, in over 100 countries.

He is actively engaged in exploring and encouraging the interplay between “Faith and the Arts” within the context of interfaith.[10] In 2009 in Cairo, Egypt he started CARAVAN as an interfaith arts festival, which has since developed into an international peacebuilding arts non-profit/NGO that builds bridges through the arts between the creeds and cultures of the Middle East and West.

He studied at Wheaton College, where he majored in Biblical and Theological Studies (B.A. 1986), and also at Chichester Theological College (a Church of England institution) in England.

Books

Paul-Gordon Chandler’s book on Muslim/Christian relations, titled Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths (published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2008) focuses on what we can be learned from the life and thought of Mazhar Mallouhi, the well-known Syrian Arab novelist and “Sufi Muslim follower of Christ”. His first book was God’s Global Mosaic, What We Can Learn from Christians Around the World, published by InterVarsity Press (IVP) in January 2000. His most recent book is titled Songs In Waiting: Spiritual Reflections on Christ's Birth...A Celebration of Middle Eastern Canticles, published by Morehouse Publishing in July 2009. He has recently finished another book which focuses on the spiritual journey of Kahlil Gibran,[11] the early 20th century Lebanese writer and mystic of Christian background (best known in the West for his book "The Prophet"). Additionally he has written numerous articles in various publications.

Film

Paul-Gordon Chandler is the founding producer of a feature film[12] being developed (in partnership with Ron Senkowski and Symply Entertainment, LLC)[13] of the best-selling novel Ports of Call (Les Echelles Du Levant) written by Amin Maalouf, the award-winning Lebanese-French novelist (considered the most prominent Arab writer in the world today and a member of the prestigious Académie française).

References

  1. ↑ ""Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road". Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Paul-Gordon Chandler (8 March 2015). "The Middle East & the West - Building Bridges through the Arts". The Interfaith Observer. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Hana Zuhair. "The Peace Maker" (PDF). Egypt Today (February 2011). pp. 44–46. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Peggy Eastman (4 September 2015). "Beauty of Holiness". The Living Church. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Antonia Blumberg (23 September 2014). "Washington National Cathedral's 'Amen' Exhibit Offers The World A Prayer Of Hope". Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Pat McCaughan (16 December 2014). "Episcopal priest-curator hopes to build peace through filmmaking". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Najet Belhatem (29 April 2015). "Paul-Gordon Chandler: Voyagiste pour âmes en guerre". Al-Ahram Hebdo. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  8. ↑ "Founder and President of CARAVAN Arts". Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Living in Egypt through revolution, protests, new opportunities". Episcopal News Service. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  10. ↑ Amy Sowder (16 October 2014). "Christian, Muslim and Jewish artists unite in a prayer for the world". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  11. ↑ "Books in Progress". Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "Shankaboot actress co-producing film based on Amin Maalouf novel". The Daily Star. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "About | Symply Entertainment". Retrieved 13 March 2014.
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