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Fr. Brendan Pelphrey

Fr. Brendan Pelphrey, PhD (Economos) is proistamenos (pastor) of St.. George Greek Orthodox Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. Before coming to Shreveport in July, 2004 he was Assistant Priest at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Houston, Texas. He previously served as Assistant to the President at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was adjunct professor in Christian theology and mission, world religions, and western civilization.


His education includes a BA with Honors in Philosophy, Pre-Med and Honors Liberal Arts (Plan II) at the University of Texas (Austin); a BD Honours from New College, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), with Joint Honours in Christian Dogmatics and Practical Theology (Christian Ethics); a ThM from Holy Cross School of Theology in New Testament and Church History (Brookline); a PhD from the University of Edinburgh with joint studies in Christian Dogmatics and Practical Theology (specializing in medieval Christian mysticism); and certificates in Clinical Pastoral Education and in Chinese Language.


Fr. Brendan has published two books and nearly a hundred articles, book chapters and monographs on Christian theology, prayer, mission, world religions and medieval studies. During the 1980’s in Hong Kong he was founding editor of Areopagus, an international full-color quarterly on Christian mission and interfaith dialogue which for ten years served missionaries in more than seventy countries from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds. In this capacity he had the rare opportunity to meet with leaders of many religions from all parts of the world for interfaith dialogue.


Before entering the Orthodox Church, for twenty years Fr. Brendan was an ordained Lutheran pastor. For ten years he and his wife, Sharon, were missionaries for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Hong Kong, where he was a pastor/evangelist of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong and a professor of theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary. He has also been a drug counselor (Chief Counselor for the U. S. Army Fort Lewis Drug and Alcohol Counseling Center); worked in ministry to street gangs in Great Britain, the United States and Hong Kong; and directed a college campus ministry.


While serving as a pastor and missionary in parishes in America and overseas Fr. Brendan has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Hellenic College (Boston), the Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology (Hong Kong), Lutheran Theological Seminary/Hong Kong, St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary (South Bound Brook, NJ), St. Thomas University the School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary (Houston, TX), Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX), Texas State University (San Marcos, TX), Texas Lutheran University (Seguin, TX), and the University of Colorado at Denver. He has also given guest lectures in many institutions including Rice University (Houston, TX), Houston Baptist University (Houston), Hong Kong Chinese Baptist University (Hong Kong), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (New Orleans, LA), and others. He was twice chosen by students to be listed in Who’s Who among American Teachers. Today as a priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America he serves as a consultant to other congregations and churches regarding interfaith dialogue, apologetics, and religious movements in America and overseas.


Presvytera Sharon Pelphrey, MA, is a professional teacher of English as a Second Language as well as a free-lance writer. She is currently preparing a new translation from the Latin of the Irish epic tale of St. Brendan’s voyage from Ireland to the Americas in about the year 565 AD. The Pelphrey’s have three married children and six grandchildren.



Citat din viata si activitatea acestui pastor
Rev. Economos Brendan Pelphrey