Jetti Alfred Oliver | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Indian |
Other names | J. A. Oliver |
Citizenship | India |
Education | Ph. D. in development economics |
Alma mater | Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla |
Known for | fostering ecumenism |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Microeconomics Rural Development |
Jetti Alfred Oliver (J. A. Oliver) is the present chancellor of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (SHUATS), Allahabad , which is a Govt. Aided Private (Minority) University under section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. He is an agriculturalist, with his past experience in the development sector, continues to be in the forefront of the leadership of like-minded initiatives and is an elected member of the 10-member international governing council of the Society for International Development (SID). [1] [2] [3]
Oliver was born in Raigudem village of Khammam district in Telangana, India. He obtained his doctorate in development economics from Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in 1970. [4]
In 1974, [5] Oliver headed the Rural Agricultural and Gramodyog Development Society in Khammam, [5] which was involved in improving quality of life among the rural folk. [6] During the next decade, Oliver moved over to Hyderabad and was leading the Centre for Promoters of Rural Development (CPRD) [7] and was also associated with the Andhra Pradesh Voluntary Health Association. [8]
As an academic, Oliver has been a member of the fully ecumenical, Church History Association of India (CHAI), Bangalore, [9] [10] where he has been providing the required support for conduction of the regional meetings of the CHAI since the 1980s, [11] espousing the cause of scholarly spirit among the Church historians in the study of History of Christianity and the emergence of the Church as an academic discipline.
Oliver has been espousing the cause of Telugu literature, as chairperson of the Telugu Theological Literature Board (TTLB), which has been in the forefront of publishing the Telugu Bible Dictionary [12] since many decades. [13] Also, as state representative of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), [14] [15] [16] [17] he is involved in overseeing the translation of a Daily Bible Reading book published by the International Bible Reading Association from English into Telugu by taking the assistance of Theologians who include the Systematic Theologian B. J. Christie Kumar, STBC, [18] the Christian educator, Johanna Rose Ratnavathi, AELC [19] among others, which helps in Bible reading among the faithful by providing the devotional in Telugu language .
As a promoter of the Telugu Bible, Oliver has also been in the leadership of the Bible Society of India Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary from the time when the Auxiliary was led by The Rev. Lella Prakasam, CBCNC and after its bifurcation in 2016, [20] he continues to be associated with the Bible Society of India Telangana Auxiliary headquartered in Secunderabad. [20]
Since the beginning of the 1980s, Oliver had been in the forefront of Interfaith dialogue and promotion of communal amity. In 1986, [21] Oliver spoke on the Role of Church in peace making conducted by the Henry Martyn Institute for Islamic Studies, Hyderabad during the tenure of its Director Sam V. Bhajjan, [21] which was well attended by Religious scholars of diverse faiths from the notable Universities in the country. [21] When the 1990 Hyderabad riots occurred during the tenure of then Chief Minister, Marri Chenna Reddy, Oliver as a Citizen of Hyderabad interacted with the religious heads of different faith traditions and led a peace march around Clock Tower, Secunderabad together with a Pujari, Imam, Jathedar, Bhikkhu, Jain monk, and a Catholic Priest, all of whom held hands and walked side by side as a show of togetherness in the presence of the Hyderabadi Historian Vasant K. Bawa. [22]
In fostering ecumenism and unity among the Churches, Oliver has made his contribution through the regional [23] [24] Councils of Churches which are affiliated to the National Council of Churches in India, Nagpur and was also its vice-president [25] in the 1990s and had made immense contribution to the revision of the Constitution of the NCCI. [26]
Oliver was honorary secretary of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Council of Churches and used to maintain brotherly relations with the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and the New and Indigenous Churches and liaised with Archbishops S. Arulappa [27] followed by M. Joji. Keeping doctrinal differences aside, during the tenure of Oliver, many small and indigenous Churches were welcomed into the fold of the Council of Churches, including the Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church, [28] and Oliver also participated in a central committee meeting of the World Council of Churches in 1992. [29]
The Protestant Regional Theologiate in Secunderabad is affiliated to India's first [30] University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) {a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956} [31] with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal. Oliver represented the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Council of Churches in the board of governors of the near-ecumenical Protestant Regional Theologiate, the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad comprising some of the Protestant Church Societies – the Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, and the Anglicans, Congregationalists and the Wesleyan Methodists from the time when the Theologiate was led by The Rev. S. Joseph, STBC followed by The Rev. M. Victor Paul, AELC, The Rev. R. Yesurathnam, CSI and the successive Principalships.
Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) is a seminary in Telangana which was founded in 1964. It is affiliated with India's first university, the Senate of Serampore College (University), and has degree-granting authority under a Danish charter ratified by the government of West Bengal. ACTC is on the Hussain Sagar canal (north) in Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the Secunderabad Junction railway station.
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.
B. P. Sugandhar was the fifth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop - in - Medak of the Church of South India whose bishopric lasted for more than a decade and half from 1993 through 2009 coinciding with the archbishoprics of Samineni Arulappa and Marampudi Joji of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad.
Kothapalli Jayashankar, popularly known as Professor Jayashankar, was an Indian academic and social activist. He was a leading ideologue of the Telangana Movement. He fought for a separate state beginning in 1952. He often stated that unequal distribution of river water was the root cause of the separate Telangana movement. He was the former Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University and an activist in the Separate Telangana Movement.
M. Victor Paul was a biblical scholar who served as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1993 to 1997.
Bishop T. B. D. Prakasa Rao was the fourth CSI-Bishop - in - Krishna-Godavari of the Protestant Church of South India who occupied the Cathedra placed at CSI-St. Paul's Cathedral, Vijayawada. The Bishopric of Prakasa Rao lasted for two decades from 1981 through 2001, one of the longest in the history of the Church of South India Society. Prakasa Rao led the bishopric of Krishna-Godavari that comprised the Christian missions established by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Church Missionary Society (CMS) which merged its South India Christian missions in India into the Church of South India Society which was inaugurated in 1947 at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Madras.
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.
Telugu Christians or Telugu Kraistava are a religious community who form the third-largest religious minority in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. According to the 2001 Census of India, there are over a million Christians in Andhra Pradesh, constituting around 1.51% of the state's population. This is a decrease from the 1971 census figure which put the percentage of Christians in state as 2%, and this decrease is mainly a result of low birth rates and emigration.
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.
Ravela Joseph was a Sapphire jubilee-Priest involved in Spiritual formation from the mid-1960s into the early 2000s in the Telugu states. He taught Systematic theology in Major Seminaries affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University), the nation's first modern 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.
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.
Bishop G. B. Devasahayam(born 23 August 1925; died 20 August 1996) was the second elected CSI-Bishop - in - Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India who occupied the Cathedra from 1982 through 1987 placed in the CSI-Wesley Cathedral in Karimnagar Town in Telangana, India
The Bible Society of India Telangana Auxiliary is located in Secunderabad which was bifurcated from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary on 2 February 2016.
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
A. C. Solomon Raj is the seventh successor of Frank Whittaker and eighth Bishop in Medak of the Protestant Church of South India Society and shepherds the Diocese from the Cathedra of the Bishop housed in the CSI-Medak Cathedral in Medak Town, Telangana, India. On 12 October 2016, the Church of South India Synod headquartered in Chennai, appointed Solomon Raj to assume the ecclesiastical Office of the Bishopric of Medak and was consecrated the next day on 13 October 2016 at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Chennai, ending four years of sede vacante in the Diocese of Medak which was without a bishop during the intervening period of 2012–2016.
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.
Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College (MBCBC), founded in 1920, is a Mennonite Bible College in Shamshabad and is affiliated with the Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches in India and the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University)with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal.
T. D. J. Nagabhushanam was an Agricultural Economist associated initially with the Andhra University in the 1950s followed by the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) since the 1960s in Bapatla and Hyderabad respectively. Nagabhushanam first taught at the Agricultural College, Bapatla, which was then an affiliated entity of the Andhra University until it became a constituent College of the APAU in 1964. After nearly three decades of teaching in Bapatla, Nagabhushanam became the Principal during the 1980s after which he was made Dean of Agricultural economics and was notable for his research articles that were written over a period of nearly five decades beginning with the 1950s.
P. Judson is an Indian Entomologist, who researched much on Dysdercus cingulatus in the 1970s. In the successive decades, he took to teaching of Zoology at Osmania University, Secunderabad, a State-run University u/s 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. He contributed much to the discipline of Entomology through scholarly articles in scientific journals (see section on writings). He was also a member of the Indian Society for Comparative Animal Physiology.
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.
The Senate of Serampore College (University) is a University within the meaning of Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act, 1956 under which a University means a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act, and includes any such institution as may, in consultation with the University concerned, be recoginsed by the Commission in accordance with the regulations made in this behalf under this Act. The UGC took the opinion that the Senate fell under the purview of Section 2 (f) of the said Act since The Serampore College Act, 1918 was passed by the Government of West Bengal