Melba Padilla Maggay (born 1951) is a

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

writer,

social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

, and

social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

best known for her academic work and books on culture, social change and development issues, and as the founder of the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC).

Early life and education

Maggay was the ninth child, with a mother of Spanish-Filipino mestizo background and father of

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

origins. She completed her A.B. in Mass Communication from the University of Philippines in 1972, a few months before

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

declared Martial Law. She later completed a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in English Literature and a PhD in Philippine Studies at the University of Philippines. During her university education, she was strongly shaped by

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students ...

(IVCF), later establishing the ISACC as a kind of daughter organization of IVCF.

Ministry and social activism

Evangelism and social activism

Maggay is known for her work as a social activist, advocating for evangelicalism to have an

integral mission Integral mission or holistic mission describes an understanding of Christian mission that embraces both evangelism and social responsibility. With origins in Latin America, integral mission has influenced a significant number of Protestants around ...

, that brings together evangelism and social activism. In 1978, Maggay co-founded the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC) in response to the crisis posed by the

dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law, stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party ...

During the 1986 People Power Revolution

Dr. Maggay's Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC) and Dr. Isabelo Magalit's congregation at the Diliman Bible Church (DBC) were the main groups that came together to form Konsensiya ng Febrero Siete (KONFES) and participate in the EDSA

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

of 1986. It was one of the early groups to man the barricades at Gate 2 of Camp Aguinaldo, which the Marcos military had identified as an entry point for storming the camp. In doing so, Maggay and Magalit joined the People Power Revolution earlier than other churches and organizations such as the

Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. It has 78 Christian denominations members, and more than 200 para-church organizations in the Philippines. The ...

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maggay, Melba 1950 births Living people 20th-century evangelicals 20th-century Filipino women writers 21st-century evangelicals 21st-century Filipino women writers Evangelical writers Filipino evangelicals Filipino women anthropologists World Christianity scholars