Professorial lecture of Dr. George Zachariah

The professorial lecture of Dr. George Zachariah will be be held on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at the Tagore Hall, UTC at 4:30 P.M. Dr. George Zachariah will lecture on the topic "The Vocation of Theological Education In the Context of Fascism and Conformism". Dr. Gladson Jathanna will respond to the lecture and Rev. Dr. Allan Palanna will moderate the session. Tea and snacks will be served at 4:15 P.M. All are welcome.

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and McCormick Theological Seminary programme

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and the McCormick Theological Seminary faculty and students are on a visit to India as part of a course they are doing. The group is now visiting UTC and will move on to other parts of India from here.

They are spending their time here by having discussions with the students and faculty of the UTC and having exposure trips to different parts of Bangalore. They will be doing a worship on Friday at the UTC Ziegenbalg chapel.

College day in UTC

The 104 th college day of the UTC was held in the Ranson Hall of the UTC yesterday at 4:00 P.M. The chief guest of the programme Advocate Rajendra Sail, the founder general secretary of the Raipur Churches Development and Relief Committee (RCDRC) and president of the Chattisgarh Unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties gave a thought provoking and hard hitting talk on how theological education should be changed to become relevant today.

India needs a cow-dung theology where theology should emerge from the organic engagement of the church with the experiences of the rural masses in India, he said. Recollecting his forty years of association with the United Theological College, which started during his tenure at the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society under the mentorship of M M Thomas, he observed that the purpose of theological education has been reduced to the manufacturing of pastors who preach, chant and stay away from trouble.

Instead, he proposed the need for a radical envisioning so that the church will become an ally of social movements in India by participating actively in their struggles to create a new world. Drawing from his five decades long vocation as a social activist in Chattisgarh, Advocate Sail gave a contextual analysis of Indian society and challenged the community to pitch their tents in the lives of the rural communities to witness how God is making all things new through the agency of the dalits, women and other oppressed communities. To this end, he called upon the community to consider closing down UTC for one year, and invited the students and faculty to share in the lives of the rural communities for a year, and then come back to the college to engage with the bible and other sources. He also proposed a radical involvement with the social movements such as POSCO and Narmada as a component in theological education. He concluded his speech with the poem, “If you believe in heaven, make it a reality in the here and now.”

  

The Principal, Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj presented a detailed report of the activities of the College during the academic year 2013-14. Dr. Nalini Arles, the faculty adviser of the College Day Celebrations welcomed and introduced the chief guest, and Mr. Gandham Daniel Vivek, the convener of the College Day Celebrations proposed the vote of thanks. Students and friends from the Kolar Gold Fields presented cultural progrmmes. Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas said the opening prayer, and the celebrations came to an end with prayer and benediction by Rev. Dr. C. I. David Joy. 

Reported by Dr. George Zachariah

Photo credits- Mr. Calvin Sushith Ambler (BD III)

JK

UTC Alumni Refresher Course programme 2013

THE UNITED THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, BANGALORE

REFRESHER COURSE PROGRAMME, OCTOBER 22-24, 2013.

Theme: Theological Education and the Church

22^nd October, 2013 (Tuesday)

8:30 -9:00                                - Worship at Ziegenbalg Chapel

9:00-9:15                                 - Inaugural  -    UTC Principal

9:20-10:30                               - Theological Education and the Church in India-  Key Note Address by Dr. K.C. Abraham

10:30-10:45                             - Coffee Break

10:45-11:30                             -  Bible, Context and the Interpretation: Re-reading

  Psalm 22   with Dalit Communities in India- Rev. Dr. K. Jesurathnam

11:30-1:00                               - A Case Study – “Can a Church be an NGO ?”

1:00-2:00                                 -  Lunch

2:00-3:00                                 -Laity’s Expectations of the ministry of  the Church - Mrs.Balasundram    and Dr. Charles

-  Laity’s interest in Theological Education -   Rajesh

- Reflections on  Theological Education  -  Alumni.   Rev. Jerry Anderson,   Dr. Ezekiel S. Kumar, Rev. P. Deenan Inbarasu  and  Father Jacob Joseph

3:00-4:20                                   - Transition of Ethics in Church and Academy – Dr. Allan S. Palanna

23^rd  October, 2013 (Wednesday)

8:30 -9:00                                - Worship with the UTC Community at Tagore hall - Worship conducted  by Alumni

9:10-10:10                               - Issues Confronting the Theological Education and the Church” – Reflections of Bishop Sampath Kumar

10:15-11:15                             - Health – Experiential Session with - Mr. Datta

11:15-11:30                             - Coffee Break

11:30-12:30                - The impact of Mental illness on the Indian Population in India: Challenges to the Church -  Medico Pastoral Association

12:30-1:00                           - Review of  New books from the Church and Synod- Rev. Vinod Victor

                                                   and Fr. Kurian Mathew   

1:00-2:00                             - Lunch with UTC Community at Charles Ranson Hall

2:00-4:00                   -Alumni sharing their Experiences Especially Pastoral Problems Confronted by them - Faculty with Senior Students – Doctoral, M.Th II (Counselling) and BD IV (Pastoral Administration) will  attend  the session

4:30-5:30                                 - Faculty Research Seminar at Tagore Hall  -  Dr. David Joy

24^th October, 2013 (Thursday)

8:30 -9:00                                - Worship Service at Ziegenbalg Chapel

9:10-10:00                               - Theological Education, Church and Society – Rev. Dr. Daniel Jones     Muthunayagom

10:00-11:00                             - Justice Mission Work Among  Children: Challenges to the Church

11:00-11:15                             - Coffee Break

11:30-12:00                             - Presentation of the Construction Project  -  Mr. George Varghese

12:00-1:00                               - Closing Worship and Communion – Rev. N.B  Gladstone Robert and Dr. Nalini Arles.

Hindu Nationalism and the Indian Church: Towards an Ecclesiology in Conversation with Martin Luther

Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas, professor in the department of Theology and Ethics in the UTC has published his latest book "Hindu Nationalism and the Indian Church: Towards an Ecclesiology in Conversation with Martin Luther." The book published by Christian World Imprints costs Rs 1,390 and is being offered at a price of Rs 1251with free delivery all over India.

The publishers say that "In the book, the author attempts to re-construe an Indian ecclesiology vis-à-vis the narrowly defined ideals of Hindu nationalism in contemporary India by analyzing and investigating the ecclesiological thoughts of Martin Luther, the 16th century Protestant Reformer. The book brilliantly places the teachings of the Reformer within ‘the social and historical travails of that time and brings them to bear on the ongoing constructive task of living into a relevant and appropriate Indian ecclesiology (and thereby, Indian Christian theology) today’.In this process, it is being maintained that the Indian Church must transform itself into a “Perichoretic Communion”, in which the diverse Christian ethnic groups and the plurality of cultures of India must interpenetrate in order to form one unit, while keeping their respective ethnic, linguistic and cultural identities intact. The author draws his insights from Luther’s fundamental theological/ ecclesiological principle: unity of the opposites or distinction and integration, and passionately proposes that it must be the principle of the Indian Church today. This theological writing presents an important and pioneering opus. It clearly focuses on contemporary contextual issues, concerns and challenges, and offers insights of general validity, not only for the Indian world but also from a global perspective. It is a timely volume and is well advised for the worldwide Church and the public at large."

Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Reimagining Christian Public Witness in India

Dr. Mohan Larbeer

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta

A public lecture on the topic "Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Reimagining Christian Public Witness in India" was held in UTC at 5:00 P.M. yesterday. Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, the General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement India (SCMI) gave the main lecture and it was moderated and commented on by Dr. Mohan Larbeer, the secretary of the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC). The lecture was jointly conducted by UTC and SCMI.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta explained the loss of life of Ilavarasan, a dalit man, as a murder and something for which all are responsible. He gave a blow by blow account of the issue which lead to the death of Ilavarasan. The violence of the Vaniyars against dalits was brought out clearly. He saw the incident as
1. The violence against dalit communities after inter caste marriages.
2. There is a anti-dalit hate campaign and also an attempt to say that they are coming up and dressing up like others.
3. There is a political conspiracy to spit venom against dalit communities and this is for the creation of an electoral constituency.
4. There is an ongoing increase of suicides among dalits in various places.
5. There is a nexus between caste and politics, caste and patriarchy and caste and power.

For Raj Bharath the need to remember Ilavarasan today is that he reminds us of several others and their struggles against injustice. Ilavarasan reminds us of Rosa Parks, the modern civil rights movement and the life of resilience. Ilavarasan also reminds us of Nelson Mandela and archbishop OscarRomero. Rev. Bharath pointed out that high caste Hindu educated youth are campaigning against inter caste marriages and saying that their crusade is to preserve Indian traditions. He therefore said that inter caste marriages are the need of the hour if we have to thwart false traditions. Dr. Ambedkar also had such a view.

Rev. Bharath then articulated the problem of caste with what Felix Wilfred and Satish Deshpande have written and talked about as our silence on caste. Rev. Bharath finally brought in an analysis from the bible in the form of the story of Cain and Abel and said that Ilavarasan's death is like Abel's death. It was not death but murder. The retort of Cain "Am I my brother's keeper?" is what we are doing by not talking about Ilavarasan. Good news for the poor is bad news to the rich.

He then talked of a positive story in the bible regarding Ruth and Boaz and how their marriage was inter-territorial and went beyond set boundaries. This is the same route the church must take in India. He ended with a letter written to Ilavarsan confessing our inability to help him and affirming that Ilavarasan is now an epitome of hope to the community.

Dr. Larbeer started by saying that he has always been a supporter of inter caste love marriages. He gave a succint report on the real situation of caste in Tamil Nadu referring to the problem between the Vaniyar dominated PMK and the dalits. He brought out the key issue of the economics of caste and how this was also very much an issue of how the social upward mobility of the dalits was a problem to other castes. He also reminded those present of the new expression of dalit capitalism. He ended by saying "No one can murder or kill love." Students and faculty from UTC and the SCMI unit from Goodwill Women's Christian College attended the lecture.

Dr. Sahayadhas introduced the speakers, Dr. Allan Palanna and Dr. George Zachariah made venue arrangements and took care of logistics, Ms. Veronica, MTh II and Mr. Paul Karunakar, BD III helped in the conduct of the programme and Rev. Dinesh, MTh II offered prayer.

Public lecture by the Department of Theology and Ethics and SCMI

The department of Theology and Ethics of the UTC and the Student Christian Movement of India will be jointly hosting a public lecture on "Remembering Ilavarasan, Interrogating Casteism: Re-imagining Christian Public Witness in India" at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, July 22, 2013 at the Ziegenbalgh chapel in the United Theological College.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta, General Secretary of the SCMI will be delivering the lecture and it will be presided over by Rev. Dr. Mohan Larbeer, the Secretary, Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College. All are invited.

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

Dr. George Zachariah

Dr. George Zachariah joined the United Theological College, Bangalore as a teaching faculty in the department of Theology and Ethics on 1^st June, 2013. Born and raised in a Mar Thoma family in Kerala, he was nurtured in Christian faith by his family and the Church. During his college days, he got the opportunity to be part of the Student Christian Movement, which widened his perspectives and deepened his commitment to God and God’s world. This new awareness enabled him to dedicate his life to full time ministry witnessing Christ in solidarity with the marginalized in their search for a new world.

After completing his post-graduation in Commerce from the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Dr. Zachariah joined AWAZ, a Christian social action group, and worked among the landless people in the villages of Chattisgarh for three years, organizing them through trade unions and peasant movements. It was a journey of vocational discernment in communion with people at the margins, re-imagining the public witness of the Church, informed by the politics and spirituality of radical societal engagements.  In 1990, he accepted the call to serve the Student Christian Movement of India, Kerala Region, and served SCM as program secretary for three years.  

George Zachariah’s decision to do formal theological studies brought him to the United Theological College, Bangalore in 1993, and he completed his BD studies in 1997. After serving the M.M. Thomas Center in Thiruvalla, Kerala as coordinator and the Theological Literature Council as editor for a short period, he decided to continue his advanced theological studies in the area of Christian Ethics in the United States of America and joined the Union Theological Seminary, New York for STM. Zachariah earned his Ph.D. with distinction in the field of Systematic Theology with special emphasis in Christian Ethics from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, IL, USA, in 2006. His Dissertation was entitled “Towards a Subaltern Earth Ethics: Narmada Bachao Andolan as Text.”

On completion of his doctoral studies, Dr. Zachariah returned to India and served the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai as faculty in the department of theology and ethics for seven years. During that period he held several responsibilities such as head of the department of theology and ethics, staff-in-charge of the Martin Luther Library, and dean of Graduate Studies. He also served as the editor of Gurukul Journal of Theological Studies for a term of three years, and brought out six issues of the journal on various themes. During this period Zachariah also actively participated in the programs of The Senate of Serampore College (University). He was part of the BD Curriculum Revision process and served on the editorial committee. Currently he is a member of the board of studies.

George Zachariah has got sufficient opportunities to present papers at various national and international consultations organized by ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches, Christian Conference of Asia, Council for World Mission, and the Lutheran World Federation. The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and the Chicago Center for Global Ministries invited him to give the 2010 Scherer Lecture. In 2012, he served as visiting scholar at the Goettingen University, Germany in the Intercultural Theology Program. His recent publications include Alternatives Unincorporated: Earth Ethics from the Grassroots, (London: Equinox Press, 2011) and Gospel in a Groaning World: Climate Injustice and Public Witness (Nagpur/Tiruvalla: NCCI/CSS, 2012). His current research areas include Ethical Reflections on Climate Injustice, Human Sexuality, and HIV and AIDS.  

His wife Anshi Zachariah is a theologically trained social worker. Since 2006, she has been working with a faith-based NGO among people living with HIV and AIDS. They are blessed with two daughters; Amritha Mariam (I PUC, Mount Carmel College) and Aruna Elizabeth (IVth Standard, St. Johns High School).

.

Rev. Dr. Joseph Prabhakar Dayam

Rev. Dr. Joseph Prabhakar Dayam is an ordained Minister of AELC (Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church). He hails from Rajahmundry town of East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. He did his graduation in Rajahmundry town and later came for theological Studies at UTC, Bangalore. He did his doctoral studies in Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.  He is married to Rev. Selina who is also an ordained pastor of AELC. He has two children Sophia and Ashish Nirmal. He is personally committed to the cause of equality and liberty of marginalized classes.

Engagements for Past One year

March 2012 Vice President address in Carey Society, United Theological College, Bangalore.

Edited one book: Margins in Conversation: Methodological discourse in Theological discipline

Wrote one article in the book published by BTESSC titled “Re-membering the memory towards a Theology of Justice, Peace and reconciliation,” Article titled “From the Perspective datil Theology of Cross”.

Book co-written with Dr. Peniel Rufus Jesudason and Deenabandhu Manchala titled “Mission at Margins”.

Paper Presentation in Faculty Research Seminar article: “Context(s) in Theology and Theology in Context”.

Presented a Paper at UTC Council, titled “God of Life: Lead us to Justice, Peace and compassion: Theological meditations in Fragments”.

Presented a Paper at World Council of Churches International Workshop on “Redemptive Masculinities” at UTC.

Took a session in BTESSC workshop organized for national level theological students.

Took a session last year in the NCCI-Preassembly of youth at SCM House, Bangalore titled “Justice, Peace and Ecology”.

Participated in SCMI Centenary celebrations at SCM House Bangalore.

Participated as observer in National Council of Churches in India held at St. Johns hospital, Bangalore.

He also works as resource person at Vichara, Sophia Centre, Old Seminary, Kottayam

Courses he teaches at UTC

At Graduate level

Christian Doctrines

Dalit Theology

At Post Graduate level

Modern trends in Theological Methodology

Christology

Jurgen Moltmann

His research interests

Liberation Christologies

Theologies of Cross

Religion of marginalized

Dalit Theology

Human Sexuality

(Rev. Dr. Joseph Prabhakar Dayam has joined the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai from June 1, 2013.) 

E mail: jpdayam@gmail.com

 Prepared by Mr. Prashanth Babu, BD III

BTESSC National Level Theological Students Conference

Participants of the NLTS Conference

BTESSC organized the National level Theological Students Conference from 5^th to 8^th May 2012 at UTC, Bangalore on the theme God of Life, Lead us to Justice and Peace.  More than 130 students from different parts of India and belonging to various denominations and seminaries actively participated.  Representatives from Korea and Sri Lanka also attended.   The  chairperson of BTESSC Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac Mar Philexinos inaugurated the conference.  In his inaugural address, he narrated the background of the WCC Assembly theme.  Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Coorilos gave the key note address.  He challenged the students by highlighting present day realities in the light of the theme.  The following resource persons presented papers on specific topics:

Rev. Vinod Victor on Asian Realities and Challenges
Rev. Deenadayalan on Indian Realities and Challenges
Dr. A. Wati Longchar on Theological Education in India: Development, Problems and Challenges
Mr. David Selvaraj on Transformative Learning
Dr. Packiam Samuel on Theological Education in Multi faith context
 

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta and SCMI members conducted worship on all days and bible studies were conducted by Dr. Atula, Rev. Vincent Rajkumar and Ms. Sweety Helen.

The following resource persons led workshops on various issues:

Dr. George Zachariah on Climate Justice
Dr. Samuel George on Disability
Rev. Christopher, Mr. Manohar and Ms. Shubha Chacko on LGBTQ
Dr. Richard Devadoss and Rev. Chandra Mohan on Violence and Peace

The following resource persons led the interest groups on different movements

Dr. Joseph Prabhakar Dayam on Dalit Movement
Ms. Geetha Menon and Rev. Margaret Kalaiselvi on Women’s Movement
Dr. Roy David on Tribal Movement
Rev. Fr. Selvinraj on Students Movement

The secretary of the BTESSC Dr. Mohan Larbeer reported on the conference and stressed on the role of students in theological education. The students who participated in the conference brought out a statement.

"We the 115 theological students from the 37 Senate of Serampore College affiliated colleges and seminaries in India and Sri Lanka with a theological Student representative from South Korea, student representatives from the All India Catholic University Federation, Student Christian Movement of India  including 38 women students send this message to the theological fraternities and Churches in India and at large. This conference was facilitated and organized by the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC) collaboration with several organizations including the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), Students Christian Movement of India (SCMI), Christian Institute for Study of Religion and Society (CISRS) and aimed to facilitate dialogue between different student communities, cross-learnings and cross fertilization.  There were several theological educators, theologically trained social workers and present students of theology served as resource persons. This conference was held from 5^th – 8^th May 2012 at the UTC Campus, Bengaluru, India on the theme: God of Life: Lead to Justice and Peace (Forth coming WCC Assembly theme).

We the participants dealt with and discussed the issues related to the relevance and challenges of the Students of theology by reviewing the issues including ‘Transformative Learning’, ‘Right to Education’, ‘Eco-Justice’, ‘Disability’, ‘Human Sexuality’, ‘Dalits’, ‘Tribals’, ‘Asian pluri-faith and political  Scenario’,  issues related to ‘Peace and harmony’, ‘neo-developmental policies and polity’ of the states and ‘peoples movements’ including the anti-nuclear movement in Kudankulam, Tamilnadu and Anti-POSCO movement in Jagatsinghpur, Odisha. These were eye opening sessions and all the worship services and Bible studies were centered on the main theme and the issues empowered us and our spirituality to recommit ourselves for the mission of God and to thevarious ministries of the Churches and Society.

We learnt that ….

·         theological studies is not only to serve the Church as pastors and church workers but also to serve the society at large.

·         theologically trained persons must play a major role for the development and growth of any society at large.

·         The God of Bible is the God of all, therefore our services need to be made available for all.

·         the persons with disability and transgender also created in God’s image and they need to be treated with proper respect and dignity.

·         our ecological sins cause pathos for the earth community as climate-refugees, global warming and all kinds of ecological catastrophes.

·         Since the church as a body of Christ will be irrelevant without his presence and agency in remedying the need of the society we affirm that “a church which does not care for and minister in the entire society is not church”.

·         Missio- Dei or the Mission of God needs to be an imperative and therefore, the communities who live on the edges of the societies are to be made participants in mission. This mission in our specific context as in India is imperatively interfaith and social action oriented. Therefore our missions should move beyond to specific faith and confessional and social traditions. We are expected to exhibit sensitivity to plurality of resource for care giving, networking and advocating. This would lead to a meaningful collaboration of all.

We urge that ….

·         the theological fraternities especially the Senate of Serampore to move from notions of the mark-oriented academic programmes in which students are considered and treated as objects. Instead we appeal the concern body to adopt the transformative educational methods to train the students as agencies of God’s image, voice and activity in this world.

·         in the light of the pedagogical discourse at present  the Senate of Serampore present programmatic notions need to relook frequently and regularly from the emerging needs of the society and its relevance. 

·         proactive attention should be given while doing theologies to the already marginalized and discrimination groups and communities such as persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, aged women and children in order that, the theology of today will be just-theology OR justice- based faith expressions. 

·         more theological literature both as reference material and as sermon aids needs to be developed for pastors and church workers and also materials which will aid in conscientization on social issues to be produced theologically as workbooks  for  Sunday School curriculum and other Christian education fora in order to provide a strong basis for building up an inclusive church.

We Propose that……..

·         the Right to Education be advocated through the senate of Serampore designed community based theological educational programmes suitable to all irrespective of  faiths including for atheist and agnostics. 

·         the senate should initiate networks of like-minded individuals locally through its affiliated colleges and organizations to reach out to conscientize the local congregations and local communities in the society at large.

·         the church needs to encourage ordained ministry to include women and persons with disability and transgenders as the history of the church and church leadership has been inclusive of those belonging to the excluded communities.

·         theological institutions should be the  advocates and  initiators of net-work with the states and other stakeholders in making the Church ‘society-friendly’.

·         the theological education in India should keep  students at the Centre in its focus, in formulating its polies, curriculum etc. 

·         to make field exposures not less than six months instead of present three months and enforce the affiliated colleges to follow it strictly.

We demand that…

·         the Senate of Serampore to provide participatory rights of students in all its decision making bodies including curriculum revision since the programmes revolve around students.

·         there should be a Senate level autonomous  grievance and redressel cell.

·         the Senate should facilitate all the affiliated institutions to have a work place policy on gender and sexual harassment and make all the institutions by having a women redressel commission as per the Government norms since it is mandatory and compulsory.

·         a National Forum of theological Students be formed and recognized to dialogue among themselves on issues pertaining to the Church, Society and Theological education vis a vie theological students.

Further, we the participants of the National Theological Students Conference affirm that we will not follow the caste system, accept dowry, follow discriminative regionalism, fanatic denominationalism, patriarchy, classism, corruption, power politics, stigmatization and discrimination etc. as a response to the call of God of life, who leads us to justice and peace."

Adopted by:

The  Participants of the

National Theological Students Conference

08^th May 2012, Bengaluru, India.

From left to right: Bishop Dr. Gheevarghese Coorilos, Rev. Dr. Mohan Larbeer (Secretary, BTESSC) and Bishop Dr. Issac Philexinos (Chairperson, BTESSC)

Mr. David Selvaraj taking a session on "Transformative Learning."