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Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
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Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and docent of ecumenics at the University of Helsinki. Kärkkäinen previously served as president and professor at IsoKirja College in Keuruu, Finland. A prolific writer, Kärkkäinen has authored or edited about 20 books in English (and seven in his native Finnish), including The Trinity: Global Perspectives (2007), One With God: Salvation as Deification and Justification (2004), and the five-volume systematic theology series titled Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World (2013-2017), which engages not only Christian tradition in its historical and contemporary diversity but also teachings of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, as well as natural sciences. Kärkkäinen is ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (minister of word and sacrament, 2015) and has served since 2014 as associate pastor (part-time) for the Finnish Lutheran Church in California and Texas.