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CHANDRA MALLAMPALLI
Chandra Mallampalli is a historian of modern South Asia and of World Christianity. He earned an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For more than twenty years, he taught in the history department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, where he held an endowed chair. He and his wife Beverly currently live in Boston, where he is a research fellow at Boston College. Chandra is the author of four monographs, the most recent being South Asia's Christians: Between Hindu and Muslims, which offers a general history of Christians and their interactions with South Asia's Hindu and Muslim communities. In addition to his scholarly interests, Chandra is passionate about looking carefully at American culture and how it often militates against core aspects of following Christ and being whole.
Chandra on growth:
As the son of Indian immigrants to Wisconsin, I grew up understanding what it feels like to live between multiple cultural spaces and not fit neatly into any of them. Over time, I have come to appreciate the virtues and creativity that can accompany life at the margins. I believe growth occurs in people when they allow themselves to be pruned – letting go of things that don't deliver lasting goods, so that new life and new imagination can emerge. Learning from mistakes, having self-compassion, and finding a path out of ourselves and into community are essential aspects of the growth I've experienced in my personal spiritual journey. I've learned these lessons vocationally, and also on the tennis court and in my journey as a history professor.
Favorite Tree: Bonsai
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