Orlando Costas

Orlando Enrique Costas (15 June 1942 – 5 November 1987) was a Hispanic evangelical theologian and missiologist.

Early life and education Costas was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Methodist parents, Ventura Enrique Costas and Rosaline Rivera, on June 14, 1942. He moved with his father to the United States, living first in the Bronx and then Bridgeport, CT. He finished his high school years at Bob Jones Academy and studied at the Missionary College of Nyack in New York.

Career and ministry Costas returned to Puerto Rico in 1965, where he was ordained in the American Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico, pastored a local church, and studied at the Interamerican University. He returned to the United States in 1966, where he pastored and studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Wheaton College, completed a master's degree at Winona Lake School of Theology, and, in 1969, completed an M.Div. at the Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary. During his lifetime he published dozens of books, book chapters, and journal articles on a variety of topics related to theology and missiology.

Since 1990, the Boston Theological Institute (a consortium of nine theological schools in the Greater Boston area) has honored Costas’ legacy by hosting the annual Costas Consultation on Global Mission focused on a specific mission-related theme.

In 2007, a festschrift was published in his honor entitled Antioch Agenda: Essays on the Restorative Church in Honor of Orlando E. Costas. Costas continues to hold relevance for many contemporary theologians well beyond his death.

Personal life and death Costas married Rosa Lydia Feliciano in December 1962, and they had two daughters, Annette (born 1963) and Dannette (born 1967). He died of stomach cancer in his home in Newton Centre, MA on 5 November 1987.

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