Dr. Lindy Backues meets with the Campolo Scholars to lead their forum meeting.

Biography

For close to fifteen years Dr. Lindy Backues served as a professor at Eastern University in Philadelphia, with publications, writings, and public speaking events exploring the interface between theology, interfaith practice, dialogue, and community development, especially nested in the midst of practical, implemented, participatory involvement. Dr. Backues took up full-time academic work after nearly two decades of direct community life in Indonesia, where, among his other accomplishments, he founded a multidisciplinary, multi-faith community empowerment, non-government organization. Living in Indonesia from 1989–2007, Dr. Backues worked primarily in the region of West Java amongst the Sundanese, serving as Indonesia Country Director for Millennium Relief & Development Services (MRDS), headquartered in Houston, Texas. He also served as MRDS program supervisor for tsunami response in Aceh, North Sumatra between 2005 and 2007. As a university lecturer, Dr. Backues has taught a wide variety of courses, such as ”Epistemological Insights for Anthropological Practice,” “Faith and Economic Justice,” ‘Economic Development of Third World Countries,” “Introduction to Microfinance,” “Theology of Culture,” and “Theology of Poverty.” He is presently at work on two book projects: one centered on interfaith dialogue and understanding (he is writing this in cooperation with a close Muslim friend and religious studies scholar from Indonesia), and another on the intersection of Christian faith and the political economy.