THE
P RTAL
February 2016
Page 7
The Right Reverend
Michael Nazir-Ali
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane travelled to his office in
central London to meet with the former Bishop of Rochester
A
s the 106th Bishop of Rochester, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was the first non-white Diocesan Bishop
in the Church of England. Originally from Asia he was appointed in 1994. Before that he had been the
General Secretary of CMS (Church Missionary Society) from 1989 to 1994. Before that he was Bishop of
Raiwind in Pakistan.
Holding both British and Pakistani citizenship, he sat
in the House of Lords from 1999. Here he was active
in a number of areas of national and international
concern. Bishop Michael has both a Christian and a
Muslim family background. He resigned as Bishop of
Rochester on 1st September 2009. Now he is President
of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy
and Dialogue (OXTRAD).
Bishop Michael’s secondary education was in
Pakistan. He read Economics, Sociology and Islamic
History at the University of Karachi, and Theology at
Fitzwilliam College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
His interests have led him to research and study
in several fields, including comparative literature,
comparative philosophy of religion and theology
at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, among
other educational institutions. He has taught at
colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and
Pakistan, and is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund
Hall, Oxford as well as at Fitzwilliam College,
Cambridge. Among other interests, he is Senior
Fellow of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Visiting Professor of
Theology and Religious Studies in the University of
Greenwich and on the Faculty of the London School
of Theology (LST) affiliated to the Universities of
Brunel and Middlesex, as well as the Oxford Centre
in danger of persecution.
for Mission Studies.
Bishop Michael has been a visiting lecturer in
a number of universities and colleges in the UK,
Canada, the USA and Australia. He has travelled
widely in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and
South America. He is the author of a number of books
and numerous articles on Mission, Ecumenism, the
Anglican Communion, and relations with people of
other faiths, especially Islam.
Oxtrad seeks to enable Christian workers and
pastors to engage with these challenges and to bring
the Gospel to bear on the important questions they
face. Heightening tensions between the West and
Islamic countries in the Middle East, Asia and SubSaharan Africa, for example, have impacted Christians
and churches in the region. The Oxtrad vision arises
from the growing challenge of international religious
extremism, terrorism and ideological secularism
Oxtrad’s mission is to prepare Christians for ministry faced today by Christian leaders and the churches
in situations where the Church is under pressure and they lead.
contents page