Anna May Say Pa

American Baptist Churches U.S.A.

Recipient of the Princeton Seminary Distinguished Alumni/ae Award in 2010, Dr. Anna May Say Pa (Ph.D. Old Testament, 1989) was born into an ethnic minority Christian family in Myanmar (then Burma). In 1962, just as she was completing her university education, a military coup gained power and drove all foreigners, especially Christian missionaries, out of the country and prohibited the study of English. She enrolled in a two-year master’s degree program in religious education at the Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT), and upon graduation she began a fifteen-year stint as lecturer in biblical studies, serving as dean for five of those years. In 1979 she arrived at Princeton Seminary. After earning her Ph.D. she returned  to MIT, where she served as principal (president) until her retirement in 2006. Say Pa has held leadership posts in many national and international Baptist and ecumenical organizations, among them World Vision Myanmar, the Central Committee of the Christian Conference of Asia, and the World Council of Churches, and in particular led numerous women’s advocacy commissions. She served as editor of several theological journals in Myanmar and founded a feminist journal, Dee Hline Than (Sound of Waves), now published in both Burmese and English. She is currently based in the United States to provide academic leadership for Burmese immigrant religious education programs sponsored by the American Baptist Churches U.S.A. and the Karen Baptist Convention, U.S.A.