Pongal celebration

 
The festival of Pongal was celebrated in the UTC on January 18, 2012 on the lawn in front of the library. The Tamil fellowship took the lead in celebrating the festival and included other members in the community celebration. Pongal signifies the end of the traditional farming season, giving farmers a break from their monotonous routine. The morning worship was colourful and mixed with song and dance. The Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadas preached on the occassion. The worship was followed by the sharing of the sweet pongal dish and sugarcane. A lunch for the entire community was also organized.

UTC community sitting for the worship

Bhajan

Dance

Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadas

Pongal is not complete without the sweet dish

The UTC staff joined in the celebration

Breaking the pot

The Tamil fellowship members

The pot for boiling milk

The toil of the land in the form of sugarcane

UTC staff, students and community members queuing up for lunch

Rev. J. Jeyakumar and family contributed towards the lunch for the marriage of his daughter

UTC alumnus consecrated as bishop

 
Jomy Joseph, an alumnus of the United Theological College was ordained as a bishop of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church on Sunday January 15, 2012 in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Damascus, Syria,  by His Holiness the Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. Jomy Joseph is now Mathews Mor Antheemos and the church will decide his engagements and responsibilities later. Mathews Mor Antheemos did his doctorate in Salsburg and his thesis was on "Integrity of Creation in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian. A Patristic Eco Theology."

(Pictures courtesy of SOCM and Malankara Syriac Voice)

UTC Library

The UTC library from outside

The UTC Library is one of the biggest theological libraries in Asia and the biggest in India. The well furnished library building has a built-in area of over 43,000 sq. ft with bright, spacious and airy reading rooms on one side and stacks on the other. 

Entrance

Book cards and stairs leading to two floors

Book check out section at the entrance

 

The library has reference sections, reading rooms, stacks with books for reference, new books arrival section, shelves containing dictionaries, encyclopedias, journals and magazines, a photocopying room, a computer room for students offering internet and online access to resources and archives containing documented materials, theses and rare manuscripts. 

Book stacks

Archives

Reference section including dictionaries and encyclopedias

The library not only offers substantial resources primarily for theological study and research at all levels, but also serves other disciplines such as literature, history, anthropology, sociology, etc. Research scholars from various universities in India and abroad continue to make use of the invaluable resources of the library. Books and journals can be searched manually and through the computers on offer for that purpose.

Computer room

New arrivals

Reading hall

The library has more than 75,000 books, 672 periodical titles, 420 microfilms of historical record and 23,023 microfiches which includes the Indian census from 1872. The archives which preserves the original records and periodicals on the history of missions, churches, microfilm / microfiche etc. is an invaluable source of information about the life and conditions during the last two centuries. Efforts are also being made to collect books published by the Indian Language Theological Literature Committees. Some of the treasures in the Archives are Martin Luther's Commentary on the Galatians in Latin, printed in Basel in 1523; Bartholomew Ziegenbalg's Grammatica Damulica, Hale, 1716 and the Biblia Damulica by Zie genbalg and Benjamin Schultze, Tranquebar, 1725-28. The Palm Leaf Collection dating back to about 600 years are in Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam on subjects such as history, poetry, stotras, puranas, astrology etc.

Mrs. Tabitha Shamsunder, Librarian

People in Bangalore with proper recommendation can avail membership facilities for reading and checking out books from the library. The librarian can be contacted through phone or e mail or can be contacted in person during office hours. The library is open on Monday to Friday 9 AM- 1 PM and 2 PM- 7 PM and 8 PM to 11 PM. Books can be checked out from 9-4. On Saturdays the library is open 9 AM - 12 noon and 2 PM- 5 PM. Sunday is a holiday.

Contact address:

The Librarian
United Theological College
P.O.Box 4613,
63, Millers Road,
Benson Town
Bangalore - 560046. India.
Telephone : 0091-80-23333438/23330502 Fax: 0091-80-23330015
E-mail: librarian@utcbangalore.org

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.