Rev. Fr. Dr. Jacob Joseph, PhD
Dean, St. John’s Theological Seminary
Lecturer in Theology, St. Athanasius Coptic Theological College – University of Divinity
Associate Professor, Holy Transfiguration College – Agora University
Rev. Fr. Dr. Jacob Joseph is a priest of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Dean of St. John’s Theological Seminary. He holds a Doctor of Theology from the University of Divinity, Melbourne, where he received the Chancellor’s Award in 2020 for academic excellence. His doctoral dissertation, “The Christ Who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Margins in India,” explores mission and marginality from an Orthodox theological perspective.
Fr. Jacob’s teaching and research focus on Patristic and Contemporary Theology of Mission, Orthodox Theology, Oriental Liturgies, and Church History. He has lectured extensively at St. Athanasius Coptic Theological College (Melbourne), Holy Transfiguration College (USA), and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary (India), as well as serving as Guest Lecturer at Pilgrim Theological College (University of Divinity, Melbourne).
He is the author of The Christ Who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Mission (Brill, 2025) and editor of Millennium Vision (2002). His scholarly contributions include numerous articles in international journals such as Springer’s Encyclopedia of Indian Religions, CISRS’s Religion and Society, and Hekamtho: Syrian Orthodox Theological Journal.
Ordained in 1999, Fr. Jacob has also served in parish ministry across India, New Zealand, the United States, and Australia, bringing pastoral experience into the classroom and mentoring future church leaders.
Fr. Jacob is fluent in Malayalam, Hindi, and English. He is married to Baskyomo Deepa Jacob, and they are blessed with two sons, Hansel and Georgy.
Dn. Dr. George Anton Kiraz, Ph.D
Senior Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Lecturer in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
Dr. George Anton Kiraz is an eminent Syriac scholar, computational linguist, digital humanist, and ordained Deacon (“Shamshono”) in the Syriac Orthodox Church, widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities in the preservation and study of Syriac language, literature, and heritage. Born in 1965 in Bethlehem to a Syriac Orthodox family with ancestral roots in Elazığ, Anatolia, Dr. Kiraz learned Syriac at an early age at the Monastery of Saint Mark in Jerusalem before emigrating to the United States with his family in 1983. He earned his B.Sc. in Engineering from California State University, Northridge, in 1990, a Master’s degree in Syriac Studies from the University of Oxford in 1991, a Master’s in Computer Speech and Language Processing from the University of Cambridge in 1992, and completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge in 1996 with a dissertation on “Computational Approach to Semitic Nonlinear Morphology” under the supervision of Dr. Stephen G. Pulman, FBA.
Dr. Kiraz has dedicated his career to bridging the worlds of traditional Syriac scholarship and modern computational methods, pioneering the use of digital tools for the study and preservation of Syriac manuscripts and advancing the field of digital humanities. He has taught Syriac language and culture at institutions such as Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Rutgers University, and the POLIS Institute in Jerusalem. In addition to his academic appointments, Dr. Kiraz is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gorgias Press, a publishing house dedicated to Eastern Christianity and Middle Eastern studies, and the founder of Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, which promotes the study and preservation of Syriac heritage worldwide.
His scholarly contributions are prolific, with more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, books, primers, grammars, and edited volumes to his credit, including The Syriac Primer: Reading, Writing, Vocabulary & Grammar, Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels, The New Syriac Primer, and The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. His research interests include Syriac language and culture, Eastern Christianity and its interaction with Islam, cultural history of Middle Eastern minorities, and computational linguistics. He has been awarded major research grants from the Qatar National Research Fund, Erasmus+ Programme, International Balzan Prize Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supporting projects ranging from lexicographical surveys of Beth Qaṭraye to the development of new digital tools and standards for the study of Syriac manuscripts.
Ordained first as Reader (Qoruyo) in Bethlehem in 1977 and later as Sub-Deacon in Jerusalem in 1983, Dr. Kiraz was ordained as a full Deacon (Ewangeloyo) in Teaneck, New Jersey, in 2012 by His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, then Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim. His lifelong commitment to the Church and scholarship continues to inspire students, clergy, and researchers across the globe.
Dr. Kiraz is married to Christine Kiraz, and together they have three children. He resides in Piscataway, New Jersey, and remains committed to using his scholarship and leadership to ensure that the Syriac heritage is preserved, studied, and passed on to future generations.