Seminary | |
![]() The Baptist Theological Seminary, Jagannaikpur, Kakinada | |
Type | Baptist Seminary |
---|---|
Established | 2 October 1882[1] |
Affiliation | Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars |
Dean | The Reverend K. J. Emmanuel, CBCNC (Chairperson of the Seminary Council) |
Principal | Rev. K. Ranjit Kumar, [2] [3] CBCNC |
Academic staff | 3+ |
Location | 16°56′15″N82°14′18″E / 16.93750°N 82.23833°E |
Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist seminary located in Jagannaickpur, Church Square, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is affiliated with the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars.
The Seminary was founded in Samalkot in 1882 by the Canadian Baptist Mission, under the stewardship of the John McLaurin. [4] [5] In 1912, the Seminary was shifted from Samalkot to Kakinada. [4] 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 the beginning, in 1949, the seminary was affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University). [6] [7] However, with the formation of the Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) in 1964, [8] 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. The BTS began offering self-managed and operated Graduate of Theology courses under the seal of the Seminary Council since then.
In 1964 the Seminary moved to Rajahmundry in the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary. [9] With the formation of the ecumenical seminary – Andhra Christian Theological College in 1964, the B.Th. and B.D. classes were moved in 1964 [8] to it while the Seminary retained the stand-alone diploma courses.
The BTS was upgraded from S. Th to B. Th in August 2015.
Period | Succession of Administrators at CBM-Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada | Academic Credentials (earned) |
1882 [20] -1887 [21] | The Rev. John McLaurin, CBM | B.A. (Canadian Literary Institute) [22] |
1888 [21] -1898 [21] | The Rev. H. E. Stillwell, [4] CBM | B. A. [21] |
1899-1905 [21] | The Rev. John Craig, CBM | B. A. (Toronto) [23] |
1912 [24] -1920 | The Rev. H. B. Cross, [25] CBM | B. A. [21] |
1926-1939 [24] | The Rev. J. B. McLaurin, [20] CBM | B.A., [26] B.Th. [27] M. A. [27] |
1939-1945 [24] | The Rev. Gordon P. Barss, [28] CBM | B. A. (Acadia), B.D. (Rochester) |
1945-1952 [24] | The Rev. Archibald Gordon, CBM | B. A. (Brandon), B. Th., (Brandon), B. D. (Toronto) |
1952-1955 [24] | The Rev. C. Bhanumurthy, [29] CBCNC | L.Th. (Serampore) |
1955-1958 [24] | The Rev. A. B. Masilamani, [29] CBCNC | L. Th. (Serampore), B. D. (Serampore), M.A. (Calcutta), Th.M. (Toronto), PhD (Osmania) |
1958-1964 [24] | The Rev. Waldo Penner, [30] CBM | B. A. (McMaster), B. D. (Berkeley), M. Th. (Berkeley) |
1964-1966 [24] | The Rev. Victor Hahn, CBM | B. A. (McMaster), B. D. (McMaster), S.T.M. (ANTS) |
1966-1968 [24] | The Rev. Paul Antrobus, CBM | B. A. (Brandon), B. D. (McMaster), PhD (Waterloo) |
1968-1969 [24] | The Rev. T. Gnananandam, CBCNC | B. D. (Serampore), M. A. (Calcutta) |
1975-1977 [24] | The Rev. Gordon D. Barss, CBM | B. A. (Acadia), B. D. (ANTS) |
1977-1993 [24] | The Rev. S. E. Krupa Rao, CBCNC | L. Th. (Serampore), B. D. (Serampore), S.T.M. (UTS) |
1993-2014 | The Rev. C. L. Johnson, CBCNC | BSc (Andhra), B. D. (Serampore) |
2014-2017 | The Rev. P. V. Raja Babu, CBCNC | B. A. (Andhra), B.D. (Serampore) |
2017-Present | The Rev. K. Ranjit Kumar, CBCNC | B. Com. (Andhra), M. A. (Andhra), B. D. (Serampore), M. Th (Serampore) |
The Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC) is a Baptist Christian denomination in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The churches are part of the Telugu Christian community of Southern India. Its language is Telugu. It is affiliated to the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).
M. Victor Paul was a biblical scholar who served as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1993 to 1997.
Ryder Devapriam was systematic theologian who taught during the 1960s and the 1970s at the Andhra Christian Theological College, a Protestant Regional Theologiate in Secunderabad, affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) {a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956}with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal.
Acharya A. B. Masilamani or Abel Boanerges Masilamani (1914–1990) was a Golden Jubilee Baptist pastor and evangelist on whom parallels had been drawn comparing his ecclesiastical ministry with that of Saint Paul. The Mar Thoma Syrian Church, one of the Saint Thomas Christian Churches founded by Thomas the Apostle in the first century which holds the annual Maramon Conventions used to have Masilamani preach at its conventions since the 1970s. During one such Maramon Convention held in 1983 at Maramon, Masilamani was one of the main speaker who spoke on Christology in the presence of the two patriarchs of the Mar Thoma Church, Alexander Mar Thoma and Thomas Mar Athanius.
G. Devasahayam was the Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served during the periods 1956–1960 and again from 1963–1964. During his second stint as President of the AELC, Devasahayam participated in the opening of the newly formed Andhra Christian Theological College then located in the same campus of the Lutheran Theological College in Rajahmundry.
Ravela Joseph is a Priest of the Protestant Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches (STBC) with over 50 years of ecclesiastical ministry, much of which was into Spiritual formation, having taught at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad, Telangana (India).
Suppogu Joseph is a Golden jubilee Pastor of the Protestant Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches with major contribution to New Testament scholarship with reference to Lukan literature. In a study on Luke in 2010 by Justin Alexandru undertaken at the University of Durham, Joseph's work has been cited by the researcher in the context of Authorship of Luke–Acts where Justin authoritatively attests the work of Joseph.
Rayi Ratna Sundara Rao was a prolific writer, theologian and comparative religion scholar who once was the principal of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai, affiliated to India's first university, the Senate of Serampore College (University).
Chetti Devasahayam was the Registrar of the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) who was in office from 1960 through 1975. It was during Devasahayam's tenure at the University that ecumenism gave way to merger of seminaries and the formation of special purpose entities throughout India. It was Devasahayam who gave the inaugural address when the Andhra Christian Theological College was formed in 1964 in Rajahmundry.
S. E. Krupa Rao was a Pastor of the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars where he held leadership positions in the Church society whose area of operation extended from Srikakulam District in the northern circars along the Bay of Bengal right through seven districts up to Guntur District.
CBM-Serango Christian Hospital located in Serango, Gajapati District, Odisha, India was the outcome of missions of Canadian Baptist Mission who set foot in 1876 with arrival of The Reverend William F. Armstrong and subsequently established a mission station on the hills in Serango. It is a participating hospital of Council of Christian Hospitals, an autonomous body founded to take forward medical missions of Canadian Baptist Ministries.
Quirk Memorial Baptist Church (QMB Church), founded in 1948, is a Baptist Church affiliated to the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars. The Church is located on Rama Talkies Road in Resapuvanipalem, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (India).
The Kretzmann Commission was constituted in 1969 by the Board of Governors of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad to:
survey and study the task of theological education in the Churches related to the College Society
T. Gnananandam was a Pastor of the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars and was Principal of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada during 1968-1969, the shortest ever in the history of the seminary.
M. Theophilus was a Baptist Patriarch and Spiritual Formator of the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars, a major congregation along the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh, India that extends from Srikakulam District in the northern tip through Guntur District in the middle. Theophilus taught at the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada during the period 1926–1946 and was also Senator of India's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) during 1942–1946 taking forward not only the theological concerns of the university but also the concerns of Serampore College, which as a dual University affiliated entity, had the arts, science and commerce faculties affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In matters of Church union, Theophilus actively cooperated with the National Council of Churches in India that not only incorporated the Protestant and the Oriental Orthodox Churches but also reached out to the Catholics.
G. Solomon was an Old Testament Scholar and a Baptist Patriarch hailing from the Protestant Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society (an affiliate member of the Baptist World Alliance and the National Council of Churches in India) and led it as its President during the years 1978-1982 overseeing the spiritual affairs of the Church Society whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction comprises the three states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 873 Churches comprising nearly a million members per present statistics.
M. S. G. Lalitha Kumari a.k.a. Lalitha Krupa Rao was the eighth Principal of Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women, Tuni. She held the term from 1993 through 2011. Lalitha was a theologically trained woman who also used to pastor a Church. With her ordination in 1992, she became the first Woman priest in the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars.
Nalla Thomas was an Asian Christian and a spiritual personality, who served the Church in Assam and undivided Andhra Pradesh for nearly four decades comprising the seventies through the New millennium. He used to compose hymns for enhancing spiritual direction. Thomas was an Ecclesiastical administrator of Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society.
Perapogu Joseph was a military chaplain in the Indian Army Corps of EME and a counselor who taught students in Serampore College, Serampore and Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad.
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