Quiet Day

Rev. Dr. Daniel Premkumar

The first term Quiet Day retreat was held on August 1 and 2 in the UTC. Rev. Dr. Daniel Premkumar, Director of the CSI Synod Diaconal Concerns was the retreat leader. The retreat was divided into four sessions and started  yesterday night and ended late in the afternoon today. The retreat leader emphasized on entering into the persona and talked of three things which is love for God, love for neighbour and love for both God and neighbour.

Matthew 22:32-40, Mark 5:1-10 and Mark 4:1-9 were the various passages chosen. As part of the persona of the self, Dr. Premkumar talked of the caste divide in the church in India and the anti-people thrust by the government and insisted that the good news is not seeking personal gains but transformation of the total context in which we live. In a re-reading of the bible passage of the prodigal son he stressed that the forces of darkness have taken over the land of the poor. The story of the prodigal son was used to highlight the plight of those with HIV-AIDS. He therefore called for a re-conferring of the status of sons and daughters to those who have been distanced from the church just like the prodigal son is re-conferred his status by his father.

Inauguration of the Francke Foundation exhibition

Hon. Hans-Günter Löffler, German Deputy Consul General, Bangalore.

The Francke foundation exhibition was inaugurated in UTC by the German deputy consul general in Bangalore Mr. Hans-Günter Löffler on June 10, 2012. In his speech he talked of the coming together of Indian and German culture and how important it is to learn  from each other.

Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj talked about the importance of such an exhibition in UTC. He said "The Francke Foundation was founded by the Prof. Dr. August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) in Halle, which is in the eastern part of Germany. Prof. Francke was an outstanding theologian and a visionary as well. He is known for his piety but more than that he is remembered for the great contribution of imparting knowledge with others who did not have access to it." The need for this exhibition according to the principal "is because of someone who is known to all of us – Prof. August Hermann Francke’s famous student, the missionary Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and his colleague Henrik Plütschau. When the Danish king wanted missionaries for his Danish Colony in Tanquebar he did not find anyone suitable or willing among the Danish clergy, and therefore he asked Father Prof. Francke whether he could be of help in this regard. Francke was already sending missionaries to various parts of the world at this time, and he readily agreed to send two young students, who came then in the year 1706 via Denmark to the shores of India and landed in Tranquebar. Both were full of enthusiasm and commitment for modern education following the pattern of Halle and eager to explore their new place." 

 

He continued "He was followed by more than 50 other missionaries of the Danish Halle Mission. Among them is the famous missionary Schwartz, who was very influential at the Tanjavore court and initiated there a palm-leaf library. All these missionaries because of their incredible passion for scientific education took keen interest in improving the system of education in the native schools they established, and encouraged literacy particularly among Dalits and women. Ziegenbalg started most probably the first school for Indian girls. The missionaries had regular communication with Germany in the form of letters and reports whenever they saw something new. These letters and reports are well preserved in the Halle library."

 

Today the letters and reports of the missionaries are an indispensable source of research-material for anyone doing research on 17th and 18th century in South India. Therefore scholars in the areas of religion, sociology, mission, anthropology, history, botany, biology etc., take keen interest in the archives of Halle.

College opening and covenant service

Welcoming the students

 

The re-opening of the United Theological College, Bangalore was held with the traditional principal’s tea, introduction of students and staff, and the covenant service on Sunday evening. The opening tea which brought all members of the community together was held at 4:30 P.M. while the service was held at 6:30 P.M. in the Tagore Hall. The old students are back after a two month vacation and the new students joining for the BD, MTh and DTh programmes have just arrived. The principal Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj along with Rev. Dr. Sahayadas and Rev. Dr. Allan Samuel Palanna led the covenant service. 

Covenant service

Holy Communion

Communion

The principal also introduced the new faculty member for the  department of Mission and Ecumenics, Sr. Dr. Rani Joseph Mary Shruti. She is a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame, Coesfeld, Germany. This is the first time that a Roman Catholic nun has been appointed as a full time faculty member of the UTC. Sr. Dr. Rani has taught in two theological seminaries in India and has worked among the tribals in West Bengal and other parts of North India.  

The principal welcoming Sr. Dr. Rani Joseph Mary Shruti

College Faculty Retreat held in Fireflies

Faculty members and senior administrative staff

The retreat for faculty members and senior administrative staff of the United Theological College was held at the Fireflies Ashram, Bangalore on June 6, 2012. The half day retreat was led by the Fireflies director Sidhartha. The ashram situated in Dinnepalya, Kaggalipura is a place to retreat, rediscover, regroup and renew. The earth and eco friendly place is filled with granite stone architecture, old style villas, a walking path and meeting places.

Stone relief of Mahatma Gandhi

The faculty members and bursar started for the ashram in the morning and was greeted by the friendly staff and the director. Mr. Sidhartha introduced the teaching staff to the ashram, the different stone works, the idea behind the place and the inter religious thought that has gone into the work there.

Coffee break

Talking and walking

The spiritual guru Sidhartha in his talk gave stress to climate justice, food security, alternative power, and the suffering of fringe communities. He reminded the faculty on the future yet imminent threat of lack of water and offered the alternative of cultivating different crops as a way to tackle this danger. He shared his fears of the possibility of gated cities, and elites protecting their own interests. Different faculty members shared their own views on the topic as well.

Mr. Sidhartha explaining the concept of the pictures

The principal Dr. John Samuel Raj honouring the director of Fireflies

The principal and faculty members thanked the ashram members for their hospitality and warmth. The faculty members also used the time available to interact with each other and relax in the green environs.  

A group picture of the UTC teaching staff and the bursar

Traditional houses add to the rustic touch of the ashram

A statue showing the care of a parent

A beautiful place for live performances

Retreating to the UTC van

Bishop Dr. M. Azariah passes away

 

Rt. Rev. Dr. M. Azariah, the former bishop of Madras Diocese went to his eternal abode yesterday. The funeral service will be held at St. George's Cathedral, Chennai today.

Bishop Azariah was presently the chief functionary of the Ecumenical Council for Drought Action and Water Management (ECoDAWM) which is a constituent member of the NCCI Council. Dr. Roger Gaikwad said Bishop Azariah was in the staff team of the National Council from 1975 to 1977 as Mission Secretary and Secretary for Christian Education Council of India. Bishop Azariah served the Church of South India Synod as its General Secretary (1982-1990). He started his ministry as a rural Pastor in CSI Madras Diocese, and he had taken up the Office of the Welfare Officer of the Leprosy Mission Hospital in Manamadurai. He also served as the Tamil Nadu Auxiliary Secretary of the Bible Society of India (1976 and 1981).

He was known for his Dalit commitment. He ministered the Dalits throughout his life as a church worker,leader, writer and teacher. He was instrumental in promoting several Dalit movements and organizations and made the churches to accompany the Dalits in their struggle for freedom towards equality, dignity and inclusiveness.  He was described as ‘the pillar’ of Indian Dalits and Dalit movements and was the ‘Dalit voice’ to the nation, church and ecumenical movement at one point of time. Bishop Dr. Azariah also taught in the Gurukul  Lutheran Theological College till recently. 

The UTC principal, faculty, staff and students pray and give thanks to God for the life of Bishop Dr. M. Azariah and offer condolences to his family members and bishop, pastors and laity of the CSI Madras diocese.

 

 

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."

   

UTC Job Application Advertisement

THE UNITED THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

BANGALORE

CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS, FROM QUALIFIED CANDIDATES FOR THE FOLLOWING POSTS:

1.       Lecturer/ Associate Professor/ Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture with special focus on Hinduism and/or Islam.

2.      Lecturer/ Associate Professor/ Professor in History of Christianity.

Qualification:  An earned doctorate from a University recognized by the Senate of Serampore College, in the respective field of specialization, preferably with teaching experience and competence in teaching at the post-graduate level.

The appointment will be for a period of three years, the first year being probationary year.  Application should include curriculum vitae with a bibliography of published works and, at least, two selected samples of scholarly publications as well as photocopies of the degree certificates.

Applications must reach:

The Principal, The United Theological College

No. 63, Millers Road, Benson Town, Bangalore 560 046,

on or before  June 15, 2012

Fax:+91-80-23330015