D.Th. (Historical Theology) and Dr. habil (Religious Studies and Ecumenics) from the Faculty of Theology, Martin Luther University Halle- Wittenberg, Germany; Ph.D. (German Studies) from the Department of German Studies at the University of Mumbai; Professor of World Christianity, Director of Andrew F. Walls Center for the Study of African and Asian Christianity and Chairperson for the University Research Ethics Sub-Committee at Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, United Kingdom; He is also one of the Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom. He edits Dharma Deepika: A South Asian Journal of Missiological Research. Since 1991 he has been studying and publishing on the multiple origins of Protestant (Evangelical) Christianity in southern India and their impact on the Tamil people, their language and literature and on intercultural learning