Divine Word missionary priest John Mansford Prior, a theologian and sociologist who lectured at St. Paul’s Institute of Philosophy in Flores Island, Indonesia, died on July 2 at the age of 76.
Father Prior worked in eastern Indonesia since 1973 after his ordination in 1972 as a member of the Society of the Divine Word.
He was associate lecturer in the Yarra Theological Union and has served on the advisory board of the Intercultural Bible Collective, Vrieje Universiteit, Amsterdam, since 2008.
He was editor of Jurnal Ledalero: Wacana Iman dan Kebudayaan from 2008 to 2017 and consultor to the Pontifical Council for Culture from 1994 to 2009. He earned his Ph.D. in intercultural theology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
In his lifetime, Father Prior wrote 145 articles in journals, 79 chapters in an anthology, and editor of 47 books — 38 in Indonesian, eight in English, and two in Indonesian and English.
