Thanks giving service for Rev. Dr. James Massey and Prof. Dr. Ninan Koshy

The United Theological College, Bangalore and the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College will be conducting a thanksgiving service to celebrate the life and witness of the Late Rev. Dr. James Massey and Late Prof. Dr. Ninan Koshy on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 4 P.M. at the Ziegenbalg chapel in the UTC.

The President of the Senate of Serampore Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac Mor Philaxenos, the former director of the SATHRI, Rev. Dr. K.C. Abraham, Professor of Old Testament in the UTC, Rev. Dr. K. Jesurathnam and Professor in the Department of Mission and Ecumenics, Rev. Dr. Gudrun Loewner will offer tributes.

All friends, partners, pastors, church leaders, lay representatives, alumni and well wishers are welcome to this solemn service to celebrate the life and contribution of two well known and respected figures in the field of theology, church and society.

Professorial lecture of Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas

The Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas delivered his professorial lecture titled "A Theologians Wrestling with Anger and its Trajectories in shaping theology" in UTC yesterday at 4:30 P.M. in the Tagore Hall. The lecture was chaired by the Dean of the Masters Division, Rev. Dr. K. Jesurathnam and introductory remarks were made by the dean of the Doctoral Division, Dr. Nalini Arles. Dr. Sahadhas started by thanking his teachers Dr. O.V. Jathanna, Dr Sathianathan Clarke, Dr. Jayakiran Sebastian, Dr. Christopher Doraisingh, his faculty colleagues, principal, all UTC staff and wife Usha and son Benil.

Dr. Sahayadhas in his lecture talked about the role of anger in our lives and tried to bring out the theology of anger and how it can be channelised to be used by all communities who face oppression. He introduced the participants in the lecture to how anger was seen over the centuries. He looked at anger from the perspective of church fathers, Martin Luther and Buddha.

He then tried to contextualize it by talking of the experience of the Arunthathiyars. He spoke of how they are angry at being oppressed and relegated to the sidelines. But this anger according to Dr. Sahayadhas has taken a good direction and has become the anger of hope rather than the anger of despair. He reminded those present that theology is very ritualistic in India and we have to come out of this.

 Those present congratulated Dr. Sahayadhas and his family.

Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas, his wife Usha and their son Benil

Rev. Dr. K. Jesurathnam

Rev. Dr. K. Jesurathnam

Designation:

        Dr. Jesurathnam is a professor in the Biblical Studies Department (Old Testament). He Joined the United Theological College (UTC) in the year 1994, June and then completed his Ph.D in the University of Edinburgh, U.K.

Hobbies:

        His hobbies have transitioned from playing cricket, football and listening to music to having a daily walk and reading regularly.

If not a Lecturer…:

        He would’ve become a Doctor or got into any medical profession.

A description of the United Theological College in one sentence:

        … UTC is a place of opportunities and resources and one can only benefit from that if one makes appropriate use of it.

His views on the status of Theological Education and Colleges in India:

        According to Dr. Jesurathnam, there seems to be a steep decline in the academia in comparison to the 90’s and the standard of education (theological) is declining.

Advice to the young and aspiring Theologians:

        To be open-minded and be more receptive; never to take the easy way out as success comes only from hard work.

His vision for the Dalits:

        As a theologian in the making, he was introduced to Dalit Hermeneutics. Ever since, he has been attempting to interpret the Bible (particularly the Old Testament) and relate it to the Dalits. His aim is to make people understand that the Bible can be seen as a tool to help Dalits and bring about Dalit liberation and emancipation. But until then, he will continue to write and emerge with relevant texts (from the Old Testament) for the same.  

His publications and outside engagements (in the last eight months):

Publications:

·         “Daniel’s experience of God and his encounter with the Persian Empire”

·         “Sabbatical Year and Jubilee Year as Eco-justice principles for human and non-human liberation”

·         “Dalit Christian Biblical Hermeneutical Stance through Job and Jeremiah and its sensibility in the current theological debate”

Outside Engagements:

·         Executive Committee member of Society of Asian Biblical Studies (SABS)

·         Executive Committee member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SIBS)

·         Regular preacher at the local Telugu Baptist Churches in Bangalore

·         Taught B.D Old Testament courses at the Calvin Institute of Theology, Yacharam, Hyderabad between February 4-8, 2013

·         Participated in the National Seminar on Spirituality for Socio-economic Development sponsored by and held at Academy of Higher Education (ACTS)

Forthcoming Works:

·         “Am I My Brother’s Keeper? : Corruption from an Old Testament Perspective.”

·         “Dalit Concerns of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), Bangalore.”

·         Global Perspectives on the Bible: The Book of Ecclesiastes.”
Phone: 91-9900144752 
E mail: jesu.rathnam@gmail.com

Prepared by Mr. Arvind Theodore, BD III

Arvind Theodore, BD III