Baptist Theological Seminary

Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada
Seminary
Established 2 October 1882 (2 October 1882)[1]
Type Propaedeutic Seminary
Academic affiliation Formerly affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University), Serampore 712 201, Hooghly District, West Bengal
Location Church Square, Jagannaickpur, Kakinada 533 002, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India
16°56′15″N 82°14′18″E / 16.93750°N 82.23833°E / 16.93750; 82.23833
Dean The Reverend K. J. Emmanuel, CBCNC
(Chairperson of the Seminary Council)
Principal The Reverend P. V. Raja Babu, CBCNC
Academic staff 3+

Baptist Theological Seminary[2] (founded in 1882)[1] is a Protestant seminary of the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC) located in Jagannaickpur, Church Square, Kakinada in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The seminary was affiliated to nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) in 1949.[3] In the successive years', the Seminary embarked on an ecumenical initiative in 1964[4] along with other Protestant societies operating in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, namely,

Together with the above Protestant societies, the CBCNC and the Baptist Theological Seminary founded the Andhra Christian Theological College in Rajahmundry. However, the Seminary continued to function as a Propaedeutic Seminary in Kakinada without University affiliation.

The Seminary Council administers the Seminary as well as other institutions, the Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women, Tuni, the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad, and the Shanthi Parishodana Patashala, Rajahmundry.

Founding

Thomas Gabriel (missionary) founded the Canadian Baptist Mission in 1874 along with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. A Seminary in Samalkot in 1882[5] under the stewardship of the John McLaurin, a companion of Thomas Gabriel (missionary). In 1912,[5] the Seminary was shifted from Samalkot to Kakinada. However, in 1920, the Seminary closed and was merged with the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary and a joint faculty comprising the American Baptists and the Canadian Baptists began taking classes. In 1928, the Seminary was reopened in Kakinada and the faculty were recalled from Ramayapatnam.

In 1964 the Seminary moved to Rajahmundry in the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary.[6] With the formation of the ecumenical seminary – Andhra Christian Theological College in 1964, the B.Th. and B.D. classes were moved in 1964[4] to it while the Seminary retained the stand-alone diploma courses.

In the beginning, the seminary was affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University).[7] However, with the formation of the Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) in 1964,[4] the seminary began sending its students for Bachelor of Theology and Bachelor of Divinity to ACTC. After the formation of ACTC, an ecumenical seminary in Rajahmundry in 1964, the BTS got itself amalgamated into it in 1964 for Senate approved courses. However, the BTS began offering self-managed and operated Graduate of Theology courses under the seal of the Seminary Council since then. The BTS was upgraded from S. Th to B. Th from August 2015 onwards

Faculty

Resident

A. B. Masilamani was Principal during the sixties. Following the footsteps of his Spiritual Confessor, Chetti Bhanumurthy, Masilamani too contributed to the growth of Bhakti Theology through the songs which he composed which continue to be sung in Churches following the liturgy in Telugu language.

Visiting

Past

Succession of Seminary Principals

YearsSuccession of Seminary Principals Academic Credentials
1882[12]-1887[13]The Rev. John McLaurin, CBM
1888[13]-1898[13]The Rev. H. E. Stillwell,[5] CBM
1899-1905[13]The Rev. John Craig, CBM
1912[14]-1920The Rev. H. B. Cross,[15] CBM
1926-1939[14]The Rev. J. B. McLaurin,[12] CBM
1939-1945[14]The Rev. Gordon P. Barss,[16] CBMB.A. (Acadia), B.D. (Rochester)
1945-1952[14]The Rev. Archibald Gordon, CBMB.A. (Brandon), B.Th., (Brandon), B.D. (Toronto),
1952-1955[14]The Rev. C. Bhanumurthy,[17] CBCNCL.Th. (Serampore),
1955-1958[14]The Rev. A. B. Masilamani,[17] CBCNCL.Th. (Serampore), B.D. (Serampore), M.A. (Calcutta),
Th.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Osmania),
1958-1964[14]The Rev. Waldo Penner,[18] CBMB.A. (McMaster), B.D. (Berkeley), M. Th. (Berkeley),
1964-1966[14]The Rev. Victor Hahn, CBMB.A. (McMaster), B.D. (McMaster), S.T.M. (Andover),
1966-1968[14]The Rev. Paul Antrobus, CBMB.A. (Brandon), B.D. (McMaster), Ph.D. (Waterloo),
1968-1969[14]The Rev. T. Gnananandam, CBCNCB.D. (Serampore), M.A. (Calcutta)
1975-1977[14]The Rev. Gordon D. Barss, CBMB.A. (Acadia), B.D. (Andover),
1977-1993[14]The Rev. S. E. Krupa Rao, CBCNCL.Th. (Serampore), B.D. (Serampore), S.T.M. (Union),
1993-2014The Rev. C. L. Johnson, CBCNCB.Sc. (Andhra), B.D. (Serampore)

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 Orville E. Daniel, Rising Tides in India, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1963, p.91.
  2. ↑ Ministry of Home Affairs List of organizations
  3. ↑ Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Church History Association of India, 1979, p.77.
  4. 1 2 3 Prospectus 1964 of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Printed by A. Nageswara Rao at Saraswathi Printing Press, Rajahmundry, 1969.
  5. 1 2 3 M. L. Orchard, Canadian Baptists at Work in India, Published by Read Books, 2008.
  6. ↑ Robert George Torbet, Venture of Faith: The Story of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the Women's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 1814–1954, Judson Press, 1955.
  7. ↑ Please refer to Andhra Christian Theological College – The Kretzmann Commission
  8. ↑ The Rev. B. Devasahayam underwent ministerial formation at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad where he took his B.D. After a period of ecclesiastical ministry, Devasahayam pursued an M. Th. at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai where he studied Christian theology from 2013-2015 and attended the convocation of the University held at his alma mater, the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad in February 2016 where he was awarded a degree by the Master of the University, John Sadananda.
  9. ↑ Senate of Serampore College (University), Teaching faculty.
  10. ↑ Paul Carter pastors First Baptist Church, Orillia, Canada. Surge 2007, p. 12.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Church History Association of India, 1979.
  12. 1 2 Paul R. Dekar, Biographical note on John Bates Mclaurin pp.450–451 in Gerald H. Anderson Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999.
  13. 1 2 3 4 John Craig, Forty Years Among the Telugus: A History of the Mission of the Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, Canada, to the Telugus, South India, 1867-1907, 1908, pp.123-178.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 C. L. Johnson (Edited), Canadian Baptist Mission 125 years Jubilee Celebrations of Baptist Churches in Northern Circars, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, 1999, p.217-219.
  15. ↑ Colin Campbell McLaurin, McLaurin (Eds.), Pioneering in Western Canada: A Story of the Baptists1 1854–1940, 1939. p.232.
  16. ↑ Stanley Reed (Ed.), The Times of India Directory and Year Book including Who's Who, Bennett and Coleman, 1922.
  17. 1 2 R. R. Sundara Rao, Bhakti Theology in the Telugu Hymnal, Published for the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Bengaluru by the Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 1983. pp.56–58.
  18. ↑ Waldo Penner, Jeremiah's Idea of Religion, McMaster University, 1945.
Further reading
  • N. Surya Rao (1984). "United Theological College".
  • D. J. Jeremiah (1990). "The Relationship of the Baptist Churches in Andhra Pradesh to the Church Union Movement in South India since 1919. Reflections on Theology Today: Papers Presented by the ACTC Faculty during the Academic Year 1988–89 on Theology and the Mission and Ministry of the Church, Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad".
  • G. Beaulah Pearl Sunanda (1990). "An Insight into the History of the Canadian Baptist Mission in Andhra Pradesh (1874–1924). Unpublished M.Phil.(History) Thesis, Madras Christian College, Madras".
  • Martin Senftleben (1992). "Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati" (PDF). I.
  • __________________, (1992). "Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati" (PDF). II.
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