Christmas carol service held in UTC

The Christmas carol service of the UTC was held on Dec 11^th in the Charles Ranson Hall. The service which lasted over two hours included Christmas carol songs in various Indian languages. The college which has students and staff from all parts of India, shared the joy of the birth of Jesus by singing and praying together. The various language fellowships got together to bring about a perfect harmony of voice and mind.

Christmas dinner and send off for Dr. P.T. George and Dr. Eric Lott

 The UTC Christmas dinner was held on December 10, 2011. The highlight of the dinner was a send off for Rev. Dr. P.T. George and Rev. Dr. Eric Lott. The Christmas dinner was unique because of the inclusion of several games for the children.

Dr. Eric Lott, Mrs. Chris Lott and Dr. P.T. George

The dinner was also an opportunity to bid farewell to the chairperson of the Missiology department, Rev. Dr. P.T. George and the Rev. Dr. Eric Lott who has helped UTC for several decades. He was here again to teach Religion for two terms on a special request from the college. Rev. Dr. Sahaya Das represented the faculty and Mr. Sam Sunny represented the students in bidding farewell to the two distinguished teachers. Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj, the principal, presided over the send off function.

Mr. Sam Sunny representing the students

Rev. Dr. Sahaya Das representing the faculty

Dr. P.T. George is leaving to join the KUTS as principal. Both the speakers mentioned the joy of having known the teachers and the void everyone would feel at their departure. The principal offered his thanks and gifted the two teachers with special mementos. The Rev. Dr. Santosh S. Kumar was the faculty in charge of the Christmas dinner. 

Cultural programme

Santa enthralling the children

Carol rounds in UTC

 

The carol round by students in the UTC was held on Dec 9, 2011. As part of an age old tradition both women and men hostel students joined together and went to all campuses of the UTC. The all night carol round ended with a camp fire. Songs in different languages were sung and the students celebrated the end of their term examinations as well.

UTC Inter Sunday School Competition

 The 17th edition of Intersun, the Inter Sunday School Competition organized by the Junior Bible Fellowship of the Carey Society of the UTC was held on 19^th November 2011 from 08:00am to 06:00 pm. The event was noted for the active participation of 33 churches in and around Bangalore. There were competitions for 13 different items which took place at three venues. CSI East Parade Malayalam Church bagged the overall Championship. Christ the Saviour Church CSI, Yeshwantpur and CSI East Parade Tamil Church came second and third respectively. Co-ordinator- Rency Thomas

House of Soul performs in UTC

House of Soul, a contemporary Christian Jazz music band that visited India performed at the UTC on November 12, 2011. They enthralled the audience with numbers like ‘Swing low sweet chariot’ and ‘Oh, happy day’. The band is based in Colorado, USA and they are touring India and Nepal. Their aim is to create good music that transcends various genres and ethnic barriers. (Reported by Vincilo G. Shaaber, JK)

PRO meets Jacobite prelate

The Public Relations Officer of the UTC, Rev. M. Jacob met the metropolitan of the Bangalore diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, H.G. Pathrose Mor Osthathios on Nov 5, 2011. The meeting which lasted over one and a half hours was at the residence of the bishop in Hoskote, Bangalore.

Rev. Jacob reminded the bishop of the long and deep relationship of UTC and the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church. The bishop in turn thanked the college for educating many priests and bishops of the church. The bishop offered all support and prayers for up coming projects of the UTC and discussed ways of a long lasting partnership and understanding between the church and the college. Rev. Jacob invited H.G. Mor Osthathios to visit UTC and be a part of the programs of the college whenever he would get time.

(Photo credit- Iniyan Joshva, JK)

UTC Inter-House Cultural Competitions 2011

 
Inter-House Cultural Competitions 2011-12
The Inter-House Cultural Competition 2011-2012 was held on 1st November, 2011, Rajyotsava Day in the United Theological College by the Cultural Wing of the Carey Society. The four houses Devanandan, Thorp, Herrick and Larsen showed high spirit and competency throughout all competitions. The Competitions began at 9.30 am in JRC with Pencil drawing and Essay Writing. The first part of the competitions was held in JRC and the second part of the competitions was held in Charles Ranson Hall. The competitions included Pencil Drawing and Water colour painting for adults as well as children. The other literary items were Essay writing, Short-story writing and Poetry writing. The performing events started from 2.30 pm at Charles Ranson Hall starting with solo events-western and eastern followed by group singing-western and eastern. It was followed by instrumentals, choreography, skit, press conference and mono act. The judges for the event were Prof.I.P Santiago, Mrs.Geetha Basappa and Mr. Isaac Behera.
Vinod Babu,
Cultural Programme Co-ordinator,
Carey Society, U.T.C, Bangalore.

Acting workshop held in UTC

The Communication department of the United Theological College conducted a workshop on acting skills on October 7 (4:00 P.M- 7:00 P.M.) and October 8 (9:00 A.M. – 12 P.M.), 2011 in the JRC, UTC. The workshop was led by noted theatre personality and pianist Mr. Preetam Koilpillai. The workshop was attended by twenty students of the UTC who were made to go through rigorous mental and physical exercises.

Mr Preetam Koilpillai is known to many Bangloreans as an excellent pianist and contemporary drama personality. His strengths include allowing actors to express themselves in the language comfortable to them and exploring the art of communicating non-verbally. Drama for Preetam is a collaborative and political process as well. He initiated the Black Coffee Productions and is involved with various drama projects in the city. His latest interest also includes short films and his fourteen minute film “Passport Photos” has been screened in as many as seven international film festivals.

                                               (Acting out the dragging scene)

                                                               

                                                                 (Head banging)

                                          (Exercises in trust building and confidence)

Rev. Dr. Jayakiran Sebastian the new dean of LTSP

                                                       (Picture courtesy LTSP)

The Rev. Dr. J. Jayakiran Sebastian has been appointed as the new dean of the Lutheran Theological Seminary Philadelphia (LTSP). He will be taking over from the Rev. Dr. Paul Rajashekar, in July, 2012. This is the first time that the seminary started in 1864, will be having a non-Lutheran as its dean.

Professor Dr. Jayakiran Sebastian is an alumnus of the UTC, Bangalore and taught in the college for over a decade. During this time he has served as the Theology and Ethics department chairperson and the dean of doctoral studies. He also has several years of experience as a presbyter in the Church of South India , Karnataka Central Diocese. Dr. Jayakiran is presently the H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Culture, and Director of the Multicultural Mission Resource Center at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

He is a Member of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ, USA, and was in residence there from August 2003 to May 2004. In addition to several articles in edited books, various articles have been published in journals that cover a range of interests including the contributions and the ongoing relevance of the study of the early teachers of faith, the baptism and conversion debate, and contemporary missiological issues and themes. Recent publications include: "Towards a Christological Missiology Today with the Guide-Who-Stands-Aside," in Theology Today; "Enduring to the End -- Persecution, Martyrdom and Identity," in Bangalore Theological Forum; and "Having and Sharing: Theological Perspectives from India on Consumerism and Exclusion," in the inaugural issue of the new journal International Journal of Public Theology, to name a few.

The principal, faculty, students and all staff of the UTC congratulate the Rev. Dr. Jayakiran Sebastian on his appointment and wish him and his family all the best for the future.

BTESSC-UTC Librarians Training on 'Online Techniques and Different Possibilities.'

29-30 August 2011, UTC, Bangalore

Proceedings/Report

The training programme for librarians on “Online Training Techniques and Different Possibilities” started at the Ecumenical Resource Centre at the United Theological College, Bangalore, at 9.30 am on 29 August 2011 with devotion led by Fr Jerry Kurian, Lecturer in the Department of Communication, UTC. The worship order for the devotion related the aspects of communication and information technology to our understanding of God, and this became apparent in the affirmation of faith, confession of sins and absolution, prayers and benediction.  Rev Dr John Samuel Raj, principal of UTC, led the meditation in the light of St Mark 11: 12-19 and underlined the reality of connectivity in our age, the necessity to learn together and share our knowledge and information with each other. He also highlighted the significant role played by libraries in theological education all over the world.

 

Rev Dr Mohan Larbeer, Secretary of the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC), welcomed the participants and delivered a short speech about some of the plans of the Senate of Serampore College with regard to updating the online resources in the libraries of colleges affiliated to the Senate and making them accessible to students and teachers, and highlighted the significance of this meeting in that venture. This was followed by Fr Jerry Kurian introducing the nature of the programme and the presentations for 29 and 30 August 2011.

 Rev Dr Samuel Meshack, Principal of the Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil and chairperson of the World Association of Christian Communication Asia Region (WACC-AR) delivered the keynote address. He spoke on the process of computerising the libraries under the Senate and the necessity to network them. He talked about the availability and the usability of online resources and the importance of the developing of digital/virtual libraries which will be much more efficient and effective than the regular libraries that we have. He also highlighted some of the advantages of having digital libraries such as their interactive nature and the space for multiple users at the same time. He pointed out some of the plans the Senate of Serampore College was planning to undertake in collaboration with Globethics.net, the World Council of Churches and other institutions in establishing a digital library GlobeTheoLib – to be launched on 23 September 2011 – in order to ensure that theological students all over the world get access to the basic theological material required for their education. He concluded with inviting the librarians under the Senate to cooperate along with others to contribute to this digital library. It was followed by Mr Roby Matthew, Business Manager in charge of marketing ATLA (American Theological Library Association), introducing the major features of ATLA. He explained to the participants about how to use it in order to access full journal texts online. The Post-lunch session was led by Mr Shreenivas who introduced the KOHA Integrated Library System which is an open source web based library software for cataloguing and circulating books in libraries.

 

 

In the afternoon, a video conference was arranged by Dr. Mohan Larbeer with Dr Christoph Stueckelberger in Switzerland, founder of Globethics.net, who spoke about the attempts taken for launching the GlobeTheoLib – the digital library for global theological education. It was moderated by Dr Meshack, who has been networking with Dr. Stueckelberger for a long time in this regard. Dr Stueckelberger emphasised the significance and necessity of the GlobeTheoLib and explained about its nature, content and functioning. He highlighted two important features about this digital library – the availability of resources free of cost for the registered theological students and teachers all over the world, and the possibility of uploading resources into the library. He mentioned that GlobeTheoLob will basically have three types of contents – freely accessible resources already available online which will be collected and placed into the library, materials from subscription to online journals and the content uploaded from the theological community in the Global South. Dr Stueckelberger’s presentation was well received among the participants who also interacted with him. At the end Dr Meshack presented his concluding remarks where he urged the librarians present to contribute to this venture in all possible ways.

On 30 August 2011, the programme started with devotion and mediation led by Fr Jerry Kurian. Based on St Luke 7: 1-10, he reflected on sharing our resources such as information and knowledge with others as Jesus did for others during his ministry. The faith of the Roman centurion and his commands of ‘go’, ‘come’ and ‘do’ can be re-interpreted in our times as ‘click’, ‘send’ and ‘like’. It was followed by the presentation by Mr Yesan Sellan, Librarian, SAIACS, on Online Theological Archives and repositories. He introduced a number of library software which would be helpful for library cataloguing and circulation. He also introduced some open source software for eBook management or digital library. Mr Manoj Samuel made a presentation on Online Theological Resources whereby he introduced to participants several websites which provide free access to the people.

The post-lunch session involved group discussions and presentations. In addition to filling up a questionnaire which contained questions about (1) the usefulness of this training programme, (2) suggestions by the participants to BTESSC for further follow-up action, (3) and how they will utilise the insights learned from this programme in their respective organisations, the participants were divided into four groups to discuss the workshop. For the first question, the groups noted that they have got a clear concept of digital libraries and their importance and usefulness, more confidence about acquiring and sharing knowledge, and information about various online sources which would be helpful for libraries of colleges affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College. Second, the groups suggested BTESSC/SSC to conduct similar meetings for college authorities about improving theological libraries, to make available essential reading materials online for students, to connect the possible donors for weaker seminaries to develop their libraries, to conduct regular training programmes for librarians of colleges affiliated to the Senate, and to publish an occasional news letter on online materials. They also suggested that the BTESSC/Senate may instruct all affiliated colleges to use one software for library for sharing resources, to introduce a few websites for students during orientation, to offer training for library software like KOHA, to elevate the library levels of colleges affiliated to the Senate, to equip the library staff, to include librarians in decision making bodies of the respective colleges, to digitalise their libraries and to have IT departments in their institutions. Third, regarding how they would do the follow-up in their institutions, the participants affirmed that they would pass on the information and insights the received in this programme such as the information regarding online sources and software for library to the faculty and students in their institutions.

The programme came to end as Dr. Mohan Larbeer, on behalf of BTESSC, and Fr. Jerry thanked the participants, resource persons and all those who helped to organise and run this two-day training programme.

 The deliberations of the various groups of librarians and their suggestions-

First group

1. a. The workshop gave a clear concept of online libraries

b. Got information about acquiring and sharing knowledge

c. Good that the Senate has global plans

d. Got information on free sites

2. a. Similar meetings should be held again

b. One software can be used in all colleges

3. Make a list of free accessible web sites and give this list to all colleges

Second group

1. It was a good opportunity to come together

2. a. Faculty should work together with the librarians

b. Circulate new websites and free web site lists to students during their orientation. Training on KOHA is a good idea.

c. Librarians can identify good site adds and circulate in the college.

d. An IT section for the college should be initiated.

Third group

1. a. Was an exposure for librarians

b. Got information about free web sites

c. Information about digitisation techniques and collaboration

2. a. Elevate the standard of libraries

b. Search for possible donors to help weaker seminaries

c. Equip library staff on technology and new innovations

d. BTESSC mobile units can visit seminaries and conduct workshops

e. Librarians should be included in policy making bodies

f. There should be an IT department in the college and there should be a IT support group in the Senate

3. a. Internet connectivity for all colleges essential

b. IT awareness for library users

Fourth group

1. a. Came to know each other

2. a.  Such meetings should be conducted more often

2. b. Meetings should be held in places with good libraries and internet support

3. Senate can have a newsletter on new websites

4. Librarians can be supported to do BCS and be made a part of the faculty

(Prepared by Mr. Muthuraj Samy, Lecturer, UBS, Pune. Photos courtesy Comm Dept, UTC)