Biography Myanmar Christian Writers

Kyaw Than, U

(b. Pakokku, Myanmar, 17 Dec 1923), Lay ecumenical leader and professor in Myanmar.

U Kyaw Than was the associat general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) from 1950 to 1956. In this capacity, he traveled to universities in Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, and New Zeland, but he concentrated on the ecumenical leadership training of undergraduates in Asia. A delegate of the Burma Baptist Convention, he was elected to the central committee of the World Council of Churches by the assembly at Nairobi in 1975, and later to the executive committee, serving until 1992. U Kyaw Than was chairperson of the history working group of WSCF, producing a centenary publication edited by Philip Potter,. His main concerns are mission in unity and the Christian's role in the university.

After graduating with honors from the University of Yangon, he served on its faculty while earning his master's degree. In 1981 he was conferred a DD degree in church history by the senate of the South East Asia Graduate School of Theology (SEAGST) In 1956 he succeeded the late Bishop R.E Manikam as the joint East Asia secretary of the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches. He orgnized the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC, now the Christian Conference of Asia) that was held at Prapat, Indonesia, the folowing year. At the EACC inaugural assembly in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, in 1959, U Kyaw Than was elected associate general secretary. In 968 he succeeded D.T Niles as general secretary and held the post until 1974, one year after the fifth assembly in Singapore.

A visiting professor of mission at Yale Divinity School, United States, from 1974 to 1976), U Kyaw Than's services were later shared with the Vancouver School of Theology, Canada, for one year before he became the William Paton Fellow at Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham, United Kingdom. He returned to Myanmar in 1978 to teach in theological schools on Seminary Hill, Insein, until 1984. He was appointed director of the Training Institute for Christian Participation in National Development (TICPIND) by the National Council of Churches, and his target is the development of the Chins, an ethnic minority in the northwestern border region of Myanmar. Since Oct 1984, U Kyaw Than has been serving at the Mahidol University, Thailand, the University of Oregon, United States, and Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, Illinois, United State. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America supported him while he was on a Fulbright program in the United States. U Kyaw Than is now involved with Buddhist-Christian relations.

Bibliography
Kyaw Than, U, Joint Labourers in Hope (1973); Witness Together (1959); The Common Evangelistic Task of the Church (1957); Hpoont pyo ye nint ka-rit-yan (Christians in development) (in Myanmar) (1984; Athin-daw I tha-U Kyaw Thana (The mission of the church) (in Myanmar) (1983)

KYAW NYUNT

A Dictionary of ASIAN Christianity
Scott W. Sunquist, editor
David Wu Chu Sing and John Chew Hiang Chea, associate editors.
@2001 Wm, B Berdmans Publishing Co. Michigan, USA