Rev Dr Rory MacKenzie

Rory spent 7 years in the Merchant Navy, including 18 months on the OM ship Logos where he met his wife Rosalyn.  As members of OMF they were involved in church planting in Bangkok for 12 years.  They have three daughters.

Rory studied at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh, and then gained an MTh in Non-Western Christianity from the Centre for the study of Christianity in the Non-Western World at Edinburgh University in 1995. 

He completed his PhD through the University of Sunderland, which has been published under the title New Buddhist Movements in Thailand and examines the spirituality of two new Buddhist movements in Thailand.

Rory was a visiting lecturer on the MA International Programme in Buddhist Studies at Mahachulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand – a university primarily for Buddhist monks.  He is also involved in the Thai community in Edinburgh.

Areas of Research Interest / Supervision
Buddhism (in particular Theravada Buddhism)
New Religious Movements

Publications & Papers
Forthcoming: “Buddhism & Christianity” in the New Dictionary of Theology (Leicester: IVP)

2008: “Millenarianism and a New Thai Buddhist Movement” in The Nahachulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies

2006: New Buddhist Movements in Thailand: Towards an Understanding of Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke (UK: Routledge)

2004: articles in Lion Encyclopaedia of New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities (Oxford: Lion)

2001: "Back to the Basics of Buddhism: The Santi Asoke Movement", in Fundamentalisms, ed. by Chris Partridge (Carlisle: Paternoster Press)