Benoît Vermander

Benoît Vermander (born 1960), also known as Wei Mingde (Chinese:魏明德) and Bendu (Chinese:笨笃), is a French Jesuit, sinologist, political scientist, and painter. He is currently professor of religious sciences at Fudan University, Shanghai, as well as academic director of the Xu-Ricci Dialogue Center within the University. He has been director of the Taipei Ricci Institute from 1996 to 2009, and remains its academic advisor as well as the editor-in-chief of its electronic magazine erenlai. He is also consultor to the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and associate researcher at the Asia Centre (Paris). He holds a M.Phil in political science from Yale University, a doctorate in the same discipline from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, a Master of Sacred Theology from Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan) and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Jesuit Faculties of Philosophy and Theology of Paris (Centre Sevres).