Meet Jessica Prakash-Richard, Editor @ the helm of TheoEdits …
Jessica brings with her over 17 years of experience in writing, editing, copyediting, and coordinating multi-author publishing projects in South Asia.
She has worked with authors from different cultural and ecclesiastical backgrounds to lend clarity and focus to their writing.
With degrees in English, Theology, Women’s Studies, and Gender and Religion, she brings her fluency of language, knowledge of theological content, perspective on South Asian issues, research writing skills, expertise, and experience in gender and community mobilisation in faith-based organisations to bear on her editing.
To know more about Jessica’s career as an editor click the links below.
Project Editor of Multi-author Book Projects Spanning 7 South Asian Countries:
Jessica worked on two major South Asia focused, ecumenical, multi-author publications since 2001.
In both these multi-author projects, she traveled and liaised with key persons – both academic leaders and church leadership, practitioners, writers, and editors from various confessional traditions across South Asian countries. She also carried out research to ensure the inclusion of indigenous topics related to Christian presence that has hitherto not been documented.
Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity
Jessica served in Mylapore Institute of Indigenous Studies (MIIS) as Project Manager & Editorial Assistant of Dictionary of South Asian Christianity, which has since been published in the Oxford Series as the Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity. Along with the Editorial team, Jessica facilitated documentation of the historical Christian presence in 7 South Asian countries through the Oxford Encyclopedia Of South Asian Christianity (2001 – 2012).
In this role, Jessica facilitated primary data collection and capacity building of writers through Writers’ Workshops in 5 regions in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Along with other editors she was in charge of allotment of topics to writers, planning and conducting writers’ workshops, liaising with editors and writers, reporting to Advisory Boards, fundraising, reporting, pre-press work, liaising with publishers, researching and writing some articles, and editing the manuscript.
For more information about this project please see these links: http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/2014-01/2014-01-040-jones.html https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/swc.2013.0063
South Asia Bible Commentary
Jessica was invited to serve as Project Editor of South Asia Bible Commentary (2008 – 2014), a project of Langham Literature and Langham Partnership Regional Council – South Asia.
Jessica’s role was to ensure the contextualization of the commentary to the realities in the 5 South Asian countries in addition to editing and overseeing the publication processes.
Jessica coordinated between Langham Literature and the constituents of the project, liaising between the editors and writers of the commentary, allotment of topics to writers, planning and conducting Writers’/Editors’ workshops, reporting to Advisory Board, database management tracking the timeline and progress of the project, content and stylistic editing, proofreading, and pre-press.
For more information about this project please see these links: http://us.langham.org/south-asia-project-underway/ http://us.langham.org/progress-on-the-south-asia-bible-commentary/ http://articles.langhampartnership.org/2010/09/29/progress-on-the-south-asia-bible-commentary/
Other Editing Assignments and Roles:
Copy Editing:
Copy edited the book “Waters of Life and Death: Ethical & Theological Responses to Contemporary Water Crises”, Sam P. Mathew & Chandran Paul Martin (Eds.), UELCI (United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India)/ISPCK, 2005, ISBN81-7214-891-7
Copy edited the book “Christianity, Wealth and Poverty – Indian Perspectives”, Chandran Paul Martin (Ed), ISPCK/NCCI (National Council of Churches in India), 2004, ISBN 81-7214-758-9
Copy Edited the book: “The Prophetic Engagement of the Church”, Chandran Paul Martin (Ed.), ISPCK / NCCI, 2003, ISBN 81-7214-734-1
Guest Editor/ Co-Editor:
Co-Editor, In God’s Image, Issue of the Young Women Doing Theology (YWDT) network on the theme “Claiming our Space: Young Women Doing Theology in Asia”, Vol.26, No.1, March 2007. (Malaysia: AWRC, 2007) ISSN 1394-7931.
Guest Editor, In God’s Image, Indian national issue on“Weaving Peace and Justice”, Vol.23, No.3, September 2004, (Malaysia: AWRC, 2004.) ISSN 1394-7931.
Coordination and Publishing:
As Coordinator of Asian Women’s Resource Centre for Culture & Theology (AWRC) spearheaded two groundbreaking issues of the Asian Feminist Theological Journal“in God’s image” on the themes “Queer Theologies” and “Disability” which were among 8 issues coordinated and published during this period [2015-2017]
Served in the Editorial Advisory Committee (EAC) of the Asian Feminist Theological Journal“in God’s image” IGI (2010-13); led the coordination and wrote the editorials for the journal in the role of Coordinator (2014-2017)
Documented, Revised, and helped publish the proceedings of the “Exploratory Workshop on Sexuality Module” into a manual entitled “Transforming Attitudes Towards Sexuality – A Module For Asian Women”.Published by AWRC in 2002, ISBN 983-40384-1-0
Memberships and Responsibilities Related to Editing and Publishing
Member, Editorial Advisory Committee (EAC) of AWRC’s journal In God’s Image (2010 -2013)
A member of the Planning Team on “Modules on Asian Feminist Theologies”- project of the AWRC. (2003-2010)
What Mentors and Colleagues say:
Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity:
“This two-volume compendium of 2000 years of Christianity in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and the global South Asian diaspora, was released in January 2012. Here we find 1100 entries on events, institutions, places, theological issues, churches, texts and treatises, historical developments, contemporary themes, ground-level saints, local pioneers and martyrs, nation-building, distinctive South Asian expressions of Faith, models of ecclesiology – by 461 contributors: writers from major denominations and traditions including Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, Independent, and other writers and editors. A great staff team at Mylapore Institute of Indigenous Studies (MIIS) in Chennai deserves thanks, but none more than editorial assistant and project manager Ms. Jessica Richard without whom this work might never have reached completion. Thank you, Jessica, for a job well done!” – Dr. Roger E. Hedlund, Chief Editor, Oxford Encylopedia of South Asian Christianity