For Immediate Release

South American Scholar to Give Students’ Lectureship on Missions at Princeton Seminary

Princeton, NJ, November 14, 2005- Dr. C. René Padilla, president emeritus of the Kairos Foundation and director of Ediciones Kairos, will give Princeton Theological Seminary’s annual Students’ Lectureship on Missions on Monday, December 5 and Tuesday, December 6. The title of his lecture series is “Imperial Globalization and the Globalization of Solidarity.”

The Kairos Community of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Padilla has been working since 1992, is made up of members of evangelical churches who have come together in order to grow and work together in various ministries. Its history goes back to 1976, when a group started meeting to consider the historical meaning of Christian discipleship in the contemporary world. Their central concern was the shaping of disciples of Jesus Christ who would seek to live out their faith in every area of daily life. In 1987 the Kairos Community was legally constituted as Fundación Kairós, an Argentine non-profit organization with an interdenominational board of directors. At present this foundation has five departments: Literature, Theological Education, Community Ministries, Family Ministries, and the Kairos retreat center. All these ministries are carried out in Spanish.

Padilla, who was born in Quito, Ecuador, and brought up in Bogotá, Colombia, has resided in Buenos Aires since 1967. He received both his B.A. and his M.A. from Wheaton College, his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, and the honorary D.D. from Wheaton. He was on the staff of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) for more than twenty years, first as traveling secretary, then as general secretary for Latin America, and finally as director of Ediciones Certeza, the IFES publishing house in Buenos Aires. For eight years he was the general secretary of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL). He has traveled extensively, teaching and lecturing in universities, seminaries, and colleges, and has written many articles and five books, and has edited or coedited twelve books. His best-known work, Mission Between the Times, has been published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Swedish, and Korean.

The times and topics of Padilla’s lectures are as follows:

Lecture I:  Monday, December 5, 7:00 p.m., with a reception immediately following the lecture in the Private Dining Room of the Mackay Campus Center 
“The Historical Development of Imperial Globalization”

Lecture II:  Tuesday, December 6, 1:15 p.m. 
“Imperial Globalization and the Poor”

 Lecture III:  Tuesday, December 6, 7:00 p.m. 
 “Imperial Globalization and Integral Mission”

All lectures will be held in the Main Lounge of the Mackay Campus Center and are open to the public free of charge. For more information, contact the Communications/Publications Office at 609-497-7760 or visit www.ptsem.edu.