Arichea Receives Distinguished Alumni Award

October 9, 2006

Daniel C. Arichea, Jr., Bible translator and retired bishop of the Methodist Church of the Philippines, has been named the 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for Duke Divinity School.

A graduate with the M.R.E. degree in 1960 and Ph.D. in 1965, Arichea was honored with the award during the alumni homecoming luncheon on Oct. 9. The annual award recognizes outstanding leadership and service.

Bishop Arichea began his ministry by serving pastorates in Bataan and Manila in the Philippines and teaching for eight years at Union Theological Seminary. In 1969 he joined the United Bible Societies as a translation consultant working in the Philippines (1969-72), Thailand (1972-74), and Indonesia (1974-87). In 1987 he was moved to Hong Kong to become the Asia-Pacific regional translation coordinator, a position he held for eight years before he was elected to the episcopacy (in absentia) in November 1994.

As bishop, he was assigned to the Baguio Episcopal Area in the Philippines. He retired from the episcopacy in December 2000. While with the Bible Society, he co-authored four handbooks for translators (Galatians, 1 Peter, Jude and 2 Peter, and the Pastoral Letters) in addition to writing numerous articles on Bible translation, most of which were published in The Bible Translator.

His continuing ministry to churches in the Philippines includes a monthly column for The Filipino Methodist entitled Biblical Passages People Love, which started in 1982. He has also written numerous Bible studies for youth and on the subject of women in the Scriptures.

Arichea is bishop in residence at Duke Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, where he also serves as professor of New Testament. He is married to Ruth Mandac (MRE ’65), with whom he has three children.