Roger Philip Abbott

Proud to be born and raised in rural south west Cornwall (UK), Roger Abbott has lived through the era that has witnessed the most substantial and rapid cultural and technological changes in history to date. His interest in Christian theology and practice has spanned the years from the late '60s to today. Following graduation in theology he spent the next thirty years engaged in Protestant evangelical pastoral ministry in the UK, during which he also many encounters with traumatic situations and traumatised persons. Not least was this the case with a tragic aircraft accident in the east Midlands in early 1989. His responding to that incident and it's consequences was hugely influential in developing his now considerable academic and practical interest in disaster response globally. He gained his Ph.D. in 2010, in a practical theology of major incident response in the UK, and then practiced in his own consultancy in pastoral care of trauma. Since 2012 he has been Research Associate in Natural Disasters at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge (UK), and is working on projects based in Haiti, the Philippines, New Orleans (U.S.), and Somerset (UK). He also teaches a Master's degree level module at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology.

Roger is married to Marion and they have five adult children to keep them prematurely old and poor, and numerous grandchildren to keep them perpetually young and poor!

His books to date are: Sit on Your Hands, or Stand on Your Feet: Exploring a Practical Theology of Major Incident Response for the Evangelical catholic Community in the UK. Eugene, OR.: Wipf & Stock, 2013; and, Hello? Is Anyone There? A Pastoral Reflection on the Struggle with 'Unanswered Prayer'. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.