A Visiting Scholar’s farewell can take many forms. Dr Johnson Srigiri chose to say thank you by taking over the OCMS kitchen and preparing lunch for the whole community: a delicious lamb curry, richly flavoured with spices from his home city of Hyderabad. Beautifully prepared and thoroughly appreciated, it provided a fitting conclusion to his time with us.
Johnson joined us from Heidelberg, Germany, and spent three months at OCMS as a postdoctoral Visiting Scholar. He first heard about OCMS through his PhD supervisors, whose own links with the Centre included connections through Interserve and with OCMS co-founder Dr Vinay Samuel.
From the outset, he entered wholeheartedly into community life. His booming voice, infectious enthusiasm and larger-than-life personality made him a memorable presence at coffee times, Friday lunches and other gatherings. An experienced preacher as well as a scholar, he was also invited to preach at one of our Wednesday chapel services.
From the outset, he entered wholeheartedly into community life. His booming voice, infectious enthusiasm and larger-than-life personality made him a memorable presence at coffee times, Friday lunches and other gatherings. An experienced preacher as well as a scholar, he was also invited to preach at one of our Wednesday chapel services.
Originally from Hyderabad in India, Johnson is an ordained Baptist pastor, scholar, teacher and preacher. He completed his PhD in Systematic Theology at Goethe University Frankfurt and subsequently published his research as Time – Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Discovering in Augustine’s Corpus Temporality Arising from Cognitive Complexity. His work brings philosophical theology into conversation with questions of temporality, human cognition and neuroscience.
During his time at OCMS, Johnson made extensive use of the OCMS Library and the wider library resources available across Oxford. His current research explores the Baptist understanding of the royal priesthood—a subject he hopes to develop into his next book, alongside articles for academic journals.
Johnson is now spending time in Hyderabad, visiting his mother and wider family and resuming teaching at the Hyderabad Institute of Theology and Apologetics. We wish him every success with his continuing research and writing and hope to welcome him back to OCMS in the future.
Visiting Scholars enrich both the academic and community life of OCMS, bringing new perspectives, experiences and areas of research into our midst. We are very grateful for all that Johnson shared with us—his scholarship, his warmth, his unmistakable voice and, of course, his wonderful curry.
