J. Dudley Woodberry

Dr. J Dudley Woodberry (born 1934) is dean emeritus and senior professor of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies, specializing in Islamic Studies. While most of Woodberry's time has been spent teaching and writing for scholarly publications, he has also served for many years in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan (amongst other Muslim-majority countries). Woodberry has acted as editor for (from most recent to oldest): Paradigm Shifts in Christian Witness: Insights from Anthropology, Communication, and Spiritual Power; Resources for Peacemaking in Muslim-Christian Relations: Contributions from the Conflict Transformation Project (2006); Muslim and Christian Reflections On Peace: Divine and Human Dimensions (2005); Reaching the Resistant: Barriers and Bridges for Mission (1998); Missiological Education for the Twenty-First Century: The Book, the Circle, and the Sandals (1996); and Muslims and Christians on the Emmaus Road: Crucial Issues in Witness Among Muslims (1991)

Woodberry's primary contribution to the field of Islamic-Christian relations has been in the area of "respectful understanding and witness among Muslims, " theological comparative works, as well as numerous reflections and articles concerning relevant topics in the world of Muslim-Christian relations. Woodberry also emphasizes a holistic approach to intercultural outreach that is theologically grounded, learned in behavioural sciences, and is not ignorant of the history of Muslim-Christian encounter.

Background

Woodberry was born to American parents engaged in Christian ministry in the Chinese province of Shandong in 1934. He became a Christian "in a childlike way" at the age of three while his family was on furlough back in the States. Upon returning to China, Woodberry recalls surviving an incident where he fell into the freezing Yantai harbour and barely survived the subsequent pneumonia. This incident (in Woodberry's own words), "led to a sense that I had been saved for a purpose". Woodberry would later be sent to the China Inland Mission School in Chefoo where, due to the outbreak of World War II, he would be detained as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. Eventually Woodberry (and his brothers and sisters) were exchanged for Japanese civilians in America and, after a year of separation from his parents, he was reunited with them.

Life in America

Woodberry began his life in America in Upstate New York after a brief stint at Cornell University where his parents studied agriculture. When his Father then decided to move back to China, Woodberry followed his mother and one sister to Nyack, NY where she taught missions at the Missionary Training Institute (now Nyack College). At the age of 13, Woodberry went to boarding school at The Stony Brook School in Stony Brook, Long Island.

Eventually choosing to attend Union College in Schenectady, New York, (where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts) Woodberry soon found himself growing restless and soon embarked on a ministry tour of Latin America – eager to become involved in intercultural outreach. It was at a stopover in Havana, Cuba, where Woodberry sensed he should enter seminary teaching "as a means of equipping indigenous Christians for ministry". This group of scholars decided to rename and repurpose a Christian NGO led by two members of the group as the Woodberry Intercultural Institute." Dudley Woodberry's son Robert Dudley Woodberry serves on the Board of this Woodberry Institute.