| Paul G. Chandler | |
| Birth Date: | 1964 |
| Spouse: | Lynne Chandler |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Author, interfaith peacemaker, art curator |
| Notable Works: | In Search of a Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Kahlil Gibran |
Paul Gordon Chandler (born 1964) is an author,[1] art curator,[2] interfaith peacemaker, social entrepreneur[3] and former Episcopal bishop.[4] He grew up in West Africa (Senegal)[5] and has lived and worked in leadership roles throughout the world, with an emphasis on the Middle East and Africa, with ecumenical publishing, relief and development agencies, the arts and the Anglican Communion.[6] His book on Kahlil Gibran, the best-selling Lebanese born poet-artist and author of The Prophet, is In Search of a Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Kahlil Gibran.[7]
In 2020, he was awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation, the highest international award for outstanding service in the work of reconciliation and interfaith dialogue within the Anglican Communion.[8]
Chandler is the founding president of CARAVAN,[9] an international non-profit/NGO that is focused on using the arts to "heal our world and to creatively foster peace, harmony, wholeness and health in all its forms."[10] He was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming in the USA from 2021 to 2024. His service as bishop ended in March 2024, when he voluntarily accepted a sentence of deposition from ordained ministry after an investigation into "an alleged indiscretion with a member of [the] diocesan team."[11] In a statement to Episcopal News Service, Chandler said he does not admit to the "specific allegations and charges brought against [him]".[12]
Prior to serving as bishop, he was the rector of the Church of the Epiphany[13] and chairman of the Anglican Centre,[14] a church that hosts 85 congregations and groups in Qatar, with approximately 16,000 to 25,000 people from 65 countries worshipping in its building every weekend.[15] Between 2003-2013, he was the Rector of St. John's Church (Maadi) in Cairo, Egypt[16] and Director of the East-West Center for Peace.
Prior to his time in Cairo, he was the president/CEO of Partners International (PI),[17] an international ecumenical relief and development organization that exists to assist and empower indigenous faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in over 70 countries. Before serving with PI, he was the U.S. CEO of IBS Publishing, a publishing, distribution, and linguistics non-profit that works in over 500 languages.[18]
Prior to that he worked with the Anglican Church for five years. From 1995 to 1997, he worked with SPCK Publishing in London, England as the director of SPCK Worldwide, an international publishing agency of the Church of England involved in publishing and communications in the UK and throughout the Two-Thirds World. Before this he served in Tunisia, North Africa, as the rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Tunis/Carthage and Chaplain to the British Embassy. St. George's Church was the only English-speaking church in Tunisia, a Muslim majority country, and served as the English-speaking church congregation to internationals from over 30 nationalities living and working in Tunisia. Prior to that, he worked with IBS Publishing as director of international programs and served for several years directing translation, publishing and distribution projects throughout the world, in over 100 countries.
He studied at Wheaton College, where he majored in theological studies (B.A. 1986), and also at Chichester Theological College (a Church of England institution) in England.[19]
Chandler's book on Kahlil Gibran, the best-selling Lebanese born poet-artist and author of The Prophet, is In Search of a Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Kahlil Gibran (Rowman & Littlefield).[20] He is also the author of a book on Muslim-Christian relations titled Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths (Rowman & Littlefield) that focuses on the life and thought of Mazhar Mallouhi, the Syrian Arab novelist and “Sufi Muslim follower of Christ”.[21] His first book was God’s Global Mosaic, What We Can Learn from Christians Around the World (InterVarsity Press/IVP, 2000).[22] Chandler is also the author of Songs In Waiting: Spiritual Reflections on Christ's Birth...A Celebration of Middle Eastern Canticles (Morehouse Publishing, 2009).[23]