Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Ninan Koshy, teacher, author, intellectual, political thinker and a well-known ecumenical leader passed away March 4 in Thiruvanananthapuram, the capital of Kerala state. He was 81.
Koshy was a former director of the Churches’ Commission on International Affairs of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches.
He was also a former general secretary of the Student Christian Movement of India and a former director of the Ecumenical Christian Centre in Bangalore.
After his post-graduate studies at the St John’s College, Agra, Koshy taught English at colleges including Bishop Moore College, Mavelikara and CMS College in Kottayam, Kerala. He was also a vice-principal of the Bishop Moore College.
A member of the Church of South India, Koshy was a member of its executive committee in 1963.
He received an honorary doctorate from the Serampore University.
Koshy was a candidate of the Left Democratic Front from Mavelikara constituency in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.
He was a Visiting Fellow, Human Rights Programme, Harvard Law School, USA.
In 2007, Koshy served on a committee to draft Kerala’s policy on higher education.
Among the books he has written are, Caste in Kerala Churches, War and terror, Reordering the World, Sabayum Rshtravum (in Malayalam), Iraq: Continuing Occupation with a New Codename and NATO’s Legitimacy Crisis. He also authored two volumes of the History of the Asian Ecumenical Movement, published by the Christian Conference of Asia.
V S Achuthananthan, leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly and Kodiyeri Balakrishanan, general secretary of the Communist Party Of India (Marxist) condoled the death of Koshy.
Koshy is survived by his wife, Susan, and two children.