0 Sam Kocheri Clement

Sam Kocheri Clement

Houghton faculty member Sam Kocheri Clement.

Sam Kocheri Clement

Assistant Professor

My viewpoint on the Christian faith and its integration with knowledge and learning is best expressed by the words I composed in the acknowledgements for my PhD dissertation: โ€œI realize and acknowledge that without God and his Providential care, I am near to nothing and whatever merit that you may find in this research is primarily due to his marvellous love. He reached out to me, showing me things I had to see and places I needed to go. Hence, I thank the Divine Providence that has been guiding, motivating, and inspiring me throughout this journey.โ€ Even though my PhD research observed the missionary movement and Biblical dispersion in India with a critical eye, the Lord guided and directed my intention to seek answers for the many questions I have faced as a Christian and to prepare for new questions that I may face in the future. Striving to understand history from all dimensions helps us to have a more nuanced and balanced understanding of both past and present, thus avoiding the extreme positions often reached through a narrow or underdeveloped historical viewpoint. As a historian, especially a postcolonial historian, my endeavor is to search for and guide my students toward this balanced understanding of human events.

As argued by John Henny Newman, โ€˜the business of a university is to educate the intellect, to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth and to grasp it.โ€™ After experiencing Houghton University for a few days, I was sure that the institution and its academic team were fully committed to that pursuit of truth while holding steadfast to the bedrock of faith in Christ. As a teacher and developing scholar, I find this Christ-centered academic environment very encouraging, as it will inspire me and my students to look deeper into questions in search of Truth, critically reason in all social and cultural matters, and stand up for faith, no matter the consequences.

Education

  • PhD in Postcolonial History | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom
  • MA in English Literature | St. Aloysius University, Karnataka | India
  • BA in English Literature | Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala | India

Courses Taught

  • Enduring Questions: Ancient & Medieval World
  • Special Topic: History of India I, 1000-1605

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