Marius Brand is an ordained minister in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa and a Clinical Pastoral Therapist. He has served as head of the Christian Ministry Department of Cornerstone Christian College since 2006, where he is responsible for curriculum development, faculty oversight, teaching, research and community engagement. Prior to serving at Cornerstone Christian College Marius was minister of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in the city centre of Cape Town. St Andrew’s is the mother church of Presbyterianism in South Africa but as an inner city congregation became a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual congregation where Marius pioneered a ministry among refugees and immigrants from other African countries. He has also taught part-time at the Theology Faculty of Stellenbosch University and the AAA School of Advertising, worked as a hospital chaplain and continues to practice as a Pastoral Therapist.

Marius holds a BA in Theology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (cum laude), a BD, and a MTh in Clinical Pastoral Care and Counselling (cum laude), all from Stellenbosch University. He is currently working on a DTh (also at Stellenbosch) in Pastoral Theology with the working title: The self as theological and psychological construct: A comparative study of Karl Barth’s theological anthropology and Donald Winnicott’s object relations psychology. His teaching and research interests focus on the interplay between theology and psychology and he has a more than passing fascination with the emerging, missional church.

Marius has served on numerous denominational committees and is a member of a number of professional bodies. He has travelled widely throughout Africa in both a personal and professional capacity in pursuit of his passion for reconciliation and peacemaking, having grown up in Zimbabwe during that country’s liberation struggle. He currently serves as the South African coordinator for Amahoro Africa, a faith-based network that trains and empowers emerging Christian leaders in sub-Saharan Africa.

Marius is married to Mariza and they have two sons, Jack and Murray. As a family they love the outdoors and Marius is a keen mountain biker.