Peter BaekelmansPETER BAEKELMANS, born in 1960 in Brasschaat, Belgium, has dedicated his life to the study of religions. He holds an MA in Comparative Religion (Lugano, Switzerland), an MA in Buddhist Studies (Koyasan, Japan), and a PhD/STD in Theology of Religions Nagoya, Japan). He worked twenty years as a CICM missionary at different parishes and universities in Japan where he also practiced in-depth Zen meditation and Shingon rituals at Buddhist monasteries. He is presently the director of SEDOS (Rome), as well as guest professor at KU Leuven (Belgium), where he teaches Hinduism, Buddhism, and Eastern religions on the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. As a Roman Catholic priest-theologian, he seeks to bring religions closer to each other also on a theological level. Read More Read Less