Australian linguistics and theology
Mark Durie (born 1958) is an Australian Anglican priest and a scholar in linguistics and theology. He is the founding director of the Institute for Spiritual Awareness, a Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a senior research fellow of the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at the Melbourne School of Theology.[1]
Life and career
Durie was born in Papua to missionary parents, and grew up in Canberra.[2]
Mark Durie was awarded a Ph.D. by the Australian National University in 1984.[2][3] Subsequently he held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.[2][4] From 1987 to 1997 he held positions of postdoctoral fellow, lecturer, senior lecturer, reader and associate professor at the University of Melbourne. Ordained an Anglican deacon and priest in 1999, he has served on the staff of St Mark's Camberwell, St Hilary's Kew, St Mary's Caulfield, St Clement's Elsternwick and St Catharine's South Caulfield.[5] He holds a BTh (Hons), and DipTh from the Australian College of Theology and in 2016 completed a Th.D. with the Australian College of Theology and Melbourne School of Theology.[6]
Durie has published articles and books on the Acehnese language of Aceh, Indonesia, linguistics, the genesis of the Quran and interfaith relations. He was elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.[7] He has been described as "the most accomplished specialist on Acehnese writing in English".[8]
His book The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom has a foreword by Bat Ye'or, and Durie has been described as a proponent of Ye'or's counter-jihadist worldview.[9]
He has appeared on Sky News Australia.[10][11][12]
