Baptist Theological Seminary

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.

This article is about the seminary in India. For the seminary in Richmond, Virginia, United States, see Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada
Seminary
The Baptist Theological Seminary, Jagannaikpur, Kakinada
TypeBaptist Seminary
Established2 October 1882 (2 October 1882)[1]
AffiliationConvention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars
DeanThe Reverend K. J. Emmanuel, CBCNC
(Chairperson of the Seminary Council)
PrincipalRev. K. Ranjit Kumar,[2][3] CBCNC
Academic staff
3+
Location
Church Square, Jagannaickpur, Kakinada 533 002, Kakinada district, Andhra Pradesh, India

16°56′15″N 82°14′18″E

History

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.

Members of faculty

Present (resident and visiting)
  • The Rev. N. Leela Grace,[10] CBCNC, Faculty member,
  • The Rev. B. Devasahayam,[11] CBCNC, Faculty member,
  • The Rev. B. Theophilus, CBCNC, Faculty member,
  • The Rev. Vara Joseph Deepak Raj Kumar,[12] CBCNC, Faculty member,
  • The Rev. K. Ranjit Kumar,[13] CBCNC, Faculty member and Principal,
  • The Rev. P. V. Raja Babu, CBCNC, Faculty member

Resident

Visiting

Succession of seminary principals
PeriodSuccession of Administrators at
CBM-Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada 		Academic Credentials (earned)
1882[20]-1887[21]The Rev. John McLaurin, CBMB.A. (Canadian Literary Institute)[22]
1888[21]-1898[21]The Rev. H. E. Stillwell,[4] CBMB. A.[21]
1899-1905[21]The Rev. John Craig, CBMB. A. (Toronto)[23]
1912[24]-1920The Rev. H. B. Cross,[25] CBMB. A.[21]
1926-1939[24]The Rev. J. B. McLaurin,[20] CBMB.A.,[26] B.Th.[27] M. A.[27]
1939-1945[24]The Rev. Gordon P. Barss,[28] CBMB. A. (Acadia), B.D. (Rochester)
1945-1952[24]The Rev. Archibald Gordon, CBMB. A. (Brandon), B. Th., (Brandon), B. D. (Toronto)
1952-1955[24]The Rev. C. Bhanumurthy,[29] CBCNCL.Th. (Serampore)
1955-1958[24]The Rev. A. B. Masilamani,[29] CBCNCL. Th. (Serampore), B. D. (Serampore), M.A. (Calcutta), Th.M. (Toronto), PhD (Osmania)
1958-1964[24]The Rev. Waldo Penner,[30] CBMB. A. (McMaster), B. D. (Berkeley), M. Th. (Berkeley)
1964-1966[24]The Rev. Victor Hahn, CBMB. A. (McMaster), B. D. (McMaster), S.T.M. (ANTS)
1966-1968[24]The Rev. Paul Antrobus, CBMB. A. (Brandon), B. D. (McMaster), PhD (Waterloo)
1968-1969[24]The Rev. T. Gnananandam, CBCNCB. D. (Serampore), M. A. (Calcutta)
1975-1977[24]The Rev. Gordon D. Barss, CBMB. A. (Acadia), B. D. (ANTS)
1977-1993[24]The Rev. S. E. Krupa Rao, CBCNCL. Th. (Serampore), B. D. (Serampore), S.T.M. (UTS)
1993-2014The Rev. C. L. Johnson, CBCNCBSc (Andhra), B. D. (Serampore)
2014-2017The Rev. P. V. Raja Babu, CBCNCB. A. (Andhra), B.D. (Serampore)
2017-PresentThe Rev. K. Ranjit Kumar, CBCNCB. Com. (Andhra), M. A. (Andhra), B. D. (Serampore), M. Th (Serampore)
BTS Alumni: The Rev. P. V. George & Mrs. Dhimathamma (ca 1926–1929)

See also

References

Notes

  1. Orville E. Daniel, Rising Tides in India, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1963, p.91.
  2. Senate of Serampore College (University), Common Entrance Examination 2012 – Missiology.
  3. Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai Inter-Theologiate Seminar 2014.
  4. M. L. Orchard, Canadian Baptists at Work in India, Published by Read Books, 2008.
  5. Ministry of Home Affairs List of organizations
  6. Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Church History Association of India, 1979, p.77.
  7. Please refer to Andhra Christian Theological College – The Kretzmann Commission
  8. Prospectus 1964 of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Printed by A. Nageswara Rao at Saraswathi Printing Press, Rajahmundry, 1969.
  9. 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.
  10. Senate of Serampore College (University), Statement of marks for M. Th. qualifying examination, 2013, p.13.
  11. The Rev. B. Devasahayam underwent ministerial formation at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad where he took his B.D. Archived 15 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine 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.
  12. Senate of Serampore College (University), Madras Theological College and Seminary – Examination paper registration for B. D., 2013, p.1.
  13. Senate of Serampore College (University), Teaching faculty.
  14. Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Church History Association of India, 1979.
  15. K. David, The development of the concept of salvation in the Qumran Community and its significance for our understanding of salvation in the NT, Indian Journal of Theology, Volume 30, Issue 3-4, July–December 1981, pp.131-137.
  16. H. S. Wilson (Edited), The Church on the Move: Essays in honour of Victor Premasagar, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1988, p.vi.
  17. D. J. Jeremiah, Christian Ministerial Training in the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars from 1882 to 1971. A B. D. thesis submitted to the Senate of Serampore College (University) through the Andhra Christian Theological College, Rajahmundry, 1971. Cited by W. G. Carder in On theological education in Andhra Pradesh of the Canadian Baptist Mission Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars 1880-1975 in Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Issue 1, 1979, pp.70-84.
  18. See Succession of Principals in Andhra Christian Theological College.
  19. Paul Carter pastors First Baptist Church, Orillia, Canada. Surge 2007, p. 12.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. William H. Brackney, Biographical note on John McLaurin in Gerald H. Anderson (Edited), Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids/Cambridge, 1999, p.450.
  23. University Monthly, Volume 10, 1910, p.377
  24. 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.
  25. Colin Campbell McLaurin, McLaurin (Eds.), Pioneering in Western Canada: A Story of the Baptists1 1854–1940, 1939. p.232.
  26. Calendar, McMaster University, Hamilton, 1906, p.85.
  27. The Calendar, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, 1930, p.638.
  28. Stanley Reed (Ed.), The Times of India Directory and Year Book including Who's Who, Bennett and Coleman, 1922.
  29. 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.
  30. Waldo Penner, Jeremiah's Idea of Religion, McMaster University, 1945.

Further reading
  • N. Surya Rao (1984). The History of the Theological Training Institute at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh 1882–1964 (M.Th. thesis). United Theological College, Bangalore.
  • D. J. Jeremiah (1990). The Relationship of the Baptist Churches in Andhra Pradesh to the Church Union Movement in South India since 1919 (M.Th. thesis). Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad. OCLC 46565446.
  • G. Beaulah Pearl Sunanda (1990). An Insight into the History of the Canadian Baptist Mission in Andhra Pradesh (1874–1924) (M.Phil. thesis). Madras Christian College, Madras.
  • Martin Senftleben (1992). Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh (PDF) (PhD thesis). Vol. I. Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2006.
  • Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh (PDF) (PhD thesis). Vol. II. Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2006.
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