Prof Kurien Kunnumpuram, SJ (1931-2018) is no more physically present with us. We are at a loss to comprehend the loss for the Society of Jesus, the Catholic Church and Papal Seminary and JDV communities.

Fr Kurien was an enthusiastic, creative and intelligent person. He completed his PhD on Vatican II from the University of in 1968, just three years after Vatican II. The next year he joined Papal Seminary Community, teaching at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth and remained here till 2013. This means he has spent 44 years out of 87 years in Pune. On September 25, 2018 he was admitted in the hospital in coma  state, due to a blood clot in the brain. Sadly, after 29 days in coma, he breathed his last on October 23, 2018.

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The milestones of his eventful life are as follows:

8 July 1931
Birth at Teekoy, Kerala, India
11 July 1950
Entered the Society of Jesus
24 March 1963
Ordination to the priesthood
1968
Completed Doctorate in Systematic Theology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, on "Ways of Salvation."
1969
Started teaching Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune, India
1974-77
Dean of the Faculty of Theology, JDV, Pune
1987–1993
Rector of Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India
January 1998
Founded Jnanadeepa: Pune Journal of Religious Studies (also editor and publisher)
January 2002
Started editing and publishing AUC: Asian Journal for Religious Studies
8 July 2011
Eighty memorable years: Celebrated at Papal Seminary, Pune, with the Holy Eucharist and felicitation by Rt. Rev. Thomas Dabre, Bishop of Pune, India
31 August 2013
Returned to the Jesuit Province, Calicut (Kozhikodu), Kerala.
17 November 2017
Stroke, Calicut (Kozhikodu), Kerala. .
25 September 2018
Blood clot in the brain; went into comma; Calicut (Kozhikodu), Kerala.
17–18 October 2018
National Seminar on "Kurien's Contribution to Indian Theological Vision", Calicut (Kozhikodu), Kerala.
23 October 2018
Rest in Peace, at Nirmala Hospital, Kozhikodu, Kerala.

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Prof Kurien Kunnumpuram is an eminent thinker and creative theologian. He started the journal Jnanadeepa: Pune Journal of Religious Studies in 1998. He worked as editor of Asian journal for Religious Studies for more than ten years. He was the first editor of Encyclopedia of Christianity, published by Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth. Author of more than 20 books in areas of Church (Ecclesiology), Anthropology and Spirituality, he has contributed significantly to theologizing in the Indian context. On 17-18, October 2018 a seminar was organized in Kozhikode, to honour his contribution to Indian theologizing, where more than 40 participants studied 18 papers on themes dear to Kurien's heart.

One of the creative and significant Indian theologians, Kurien’s last book, aptly titled “Freedom and Joy” signifies his own life. As you know, Gandhi, dared to say, “my life is my message.” Kurien would not really make that claim, but his life came very close to the message of this book. He is quite convinced that freedom and joy are essential characteristics of our Christian existence.

He, along with Francis D’Sa,and George Soares-Prabhu, belonged to the second generation of theology professors at JDV, who brought about the emphasis on freedom and Indian orientation in the campus. [The first generation being Fr Lionel Mascarenhas, Fr Carlos D’Mello SJ and Fr Joe Miranda SJ]. Further, as you know, he followed the footsteps of great man like Scripture scholars like Fr Rui de Menezes and Fr Francis Pereira SJ (1931-2014), liturgist Fr Lorenzo Fernando (1947-2017) and Indian philosopher Fr Noel Sheth SJ (1943-2017).