User:Grbpradeep/Babu Rao
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| Pseudonym(s): | Babu |
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| Born: | December 24, 1942 Vedurupaka |
| Occupation(s): | Teacher |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Subject(s): | Old Testament |
| Influences: | Prophets, K.V. Matthew, Victor Premasagar |
| Influenced: | Students, Community |
Rev. G. Babu Rao is a Pastor, an Old Testament Teacher, a Biblical Scholar, a Bible Translator and a Member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India - incorporating Biblical Scholars of the Catholic and Protestant traditions. Aramaic, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Greek and German besides Telugu and English are the languages known to Rev.Babu Rao.
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[edit] Early days
Rev.Babu Rao was born in Vedurupaka of East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh in a family comprising of two sisters and a brother. Bedtime stories included the ancient Indian epics and the Bible. Early schooling was in his hometown. When his mother went to check on him in the School, the Teachers praised his son for his abilities[1]. This was enough for the mother to decide further education was necessary for the future of his son as well as her other children. Being a peasant, sending her wards for education was a daunting task. When family income was depleting, she had to work as an agricultural coolie as was the way of the community that she belonged to. Soon she enrolled her wards at the McLaurin High School, Kakinada. The McLaurin School was part of the missionary enterprise of the Canadian Baptist Mission. All through his years in McLaurin, the disciplinarian attitudes of his Teachers and Wardens there together with domestic discipline by his mother left a profound impact. After finishing his school studies, he joined the Pithapuram Rajah Government College in Kakinada for pursuing his B.Sc. in mathematics.
[edit] The Call
During the time in Kakinada, Rev. Babu Rao was attending the Church services of Craig Memorial Baptist Church where the Preachers included those teaching in the Baptist Theological Seminary, Church Square, Kakinada.
He used to take notes whenever a Preacher was speaking on the pulpit. The stories of the Bible and the promise it held seem to have enchanted him. When other counterparts were busy preparing themselves for a vocation, he was deep in thought thinking about pursuing divinity. Job offers coming straight at him were cleverly[2]sidelined.
When he made it known to his family members that he would chose the priestly vocation, it met with a lot of resentment as they wanted him to don the family mantle.
However, his spiritual aspirations took the lead and he began preparing himself for the pastoral line. His sister testifies that he used to wake up suddenly in the nights blurting out Serampore, Serampore! When his sister would pat him and ask him what the matter was, he would repeat the words Serampore! Serampore! Such was his zeal to pursue divinity.
[edit] A Student of divinity
Rev. Babu Rao applied for pursing Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) course to his Church Council (the Seminary Council of Baptist Theological Seminary) which sponsored him for his studies in Serampore College, Serampore founded by Rev.William Carey, Rev.Joshua Marshman, and Rev.Ward (the Serampore trio). There, his subjects also included Old Testament (OT) among others. He used to receive prizes for taking part in collegiate exams. His teachers there included Rev. Chetti Devasahayam, and Prof.K.V.Matthew (OT Professor).
[edit] A Pastor
After returning from Serampore his Church Council sent him as a Pastor to Peddada in East Godavari District to minister a rural congregation comprising of agricultural coolies.
Apart from nurturing the congregation and preaching on Sundays, he would utilize the other days of the week in conducting evening study hours for the children of the congregation comprising of the Dalit and Christian communities. His rigorous and disciplined methods of teaching had positive results and word soon spread to the other communities of the village about the Pastor's teaching skills. These communities too were interested in advancing the education of their children and wanted the Pastor to come to their homes as they did not want to send their children to the Dalit colony. Sensing this, the congregation members of the Church refused to send their Pastor out and instead told the other communities that they were welcome to send their children too for the evening study hour. Left with no other choice, they obliged. With this, the student members wanting to join the study hour conducted by the Pastor increased manifold. Mathematics and English were drilled into the pupils. It is said that the name of the Pastor still lives to this day[3].
[edit] Further studies
After serving as a Pastor for over four years, he applied through his Church Council to pursue further studies - Master of Theology in the field of Old Testament and was sent to United Theological College (UTC), Bangalore where he studied under Rev. Dr. E.C. John at which time Rev. J. Russel Chandran was the College Principal. After completing his degree, he was married to a Bible Woman who happened to be pursuing her theological degree there.
[edit] The Bible Translator
Soon after completing further studies, he took up the responsibility of translating portions of the Telugu Bible into common language for the Bible Society of India till the time he was invited by Serampore College to teach Old Testament. However, on his return from Serampore College, he re-took the responsibility of translating - a task that he does till today. In the 1990s the Convenorship of the Telugu Bible Translation Committee of the Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary of the Bible Society of India passed on to him from Rev. Dr. Victor Premasagar.
[edit] The Scholar
Later, he was invited to teach [4]in Serampore College, Serampore beginning from the academic year 1974-75. Old students recall his disciplined approach. During this time, the scholarly ways of this Bible Teacher were doing the rounds. During that time his teaching colleagues included Dr. Saral K. Chatterji (who was also the Principal) and Dr. R.K. Rodrigues.
[edit] The Bible Teacher[5].
He was soon invited to teach in Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC), Gandhinagar, Hyderabad headed then by Rev. Dr. P. Victor Premasagar, B.D. (Ser.), M.A. (Cantab), Ph.D. (St. Andrews), a Cambridge tripos. A parallel invitation [classified] was also extended by Rev. Dr. E.C. John, B.D. (Ser.), Dr. Theol. (Heidelberg?), a receipient of the pretigious Alexander von Humboldt scholarship to teach in the United Theological College, Benson Town, Bangalore, but the Pastor chose the former. It was later known that he had a zeal to develop the Church in Andhra Pradesh by imparting quality biblical education to the Telugu pupils there.
Once in ACTC, he was teaching Old Testament and Hebrew in a manner easily understandable to his pupils. As a warden he gave a round-the-clock attention to the needs of the students besides placing strictures on their movements.
[edit] Research
Later, he applied for pursuing research in Old Testament to the Senate of Serampore which deputed Rev.Dr.C.D.Jathanna [B.D. (Serampore), Dr.Theol. (Hamburg)] who at that time was the Principal of Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore for interviewing the candidate. During the interview, Dr. Jathanna matter-of-factly seems to have said that there existed a scholar with deep understanding of Old Testament in Serampore with the same name. When it was made known that it is the same person before him, the interview closed abruptly !!
With this he took study leave from ACTC on sponsorship from his Church Council to pursue further research in Old Testament under South Asia Theological Research Institute (SATHRI), Bangalore under the Senate of Serampore College. He was later sent to the University of Hamburg for research exposure under Prof. Dr. Klaus Koch, a past pupil of Prof.Rev.Dr. Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament's expert scholar.
[edit] Back at ACTC
Once he returned to his teaching assignment in ACTC, the student strength was already on the rise. Student indiscipline and unscholarly atmosphere was all around. Sensing this, he increased his disciplinarianism and by displaying high levels of simplicity in his attitudes, took all the students into the fold of discipline. Also, by increasing the assignments, compulsory references to various authors and initiating scholarly discussions [6] on campus, he quickly became an exemplary Lecturer. His name sends shivers down the spines of his past students till this day!
After another stint of 15 years in ACTC, he had to bid adieu to his teaching assignment for unknown reasons much to the chagrin of the present day students who voiced their concerns at their Lecturer's leaving at many forums continuously for a period of over four years well after he left ACTC.
[edit] Auxiliary Secretary
Once out of ACTC, he was selected[7] as the Auxiliary Secretary of the Bible Society of India (BSI)- Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary.
This meant relocation from ACTC to Bible House on Rashtrapathi Road. The two-and-half years spent there were made use to mobilize funds from the Church-going community of Andhra Pradesh towards the work of the Bible Society. Rapport was built with the Churches and the congregations akin to a Teacher-Student relationship.
[edit] Continuing Leadership
Currently he provides leadership to the Council of Christian Hospitals (COCH)[8] which runs four mission hospitals in the Canadian Baptist Mission area (from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh in the south to the interiors of Orissa in the north) in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh besides conducting Pastors workshops[9] for the Pastors serving in the Canadian Baptist Mission field.
He also takes occasional Bible classes at a few local Church Institutes and at the Manna Bible College[10], Kismatpur, Hyderabad besides translating for the Bible Society of India (Telugu Common Language).
[edit] Internal Links:
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Gerhard von Rad, Klaus Koch, Talk:Biblia_Hebraica_Stuttgartensia
[edit] External Links:
Claus Westermann[5], Rev. D.S. Satyaranjan[6] [7], Rev. G.D.V. Prasad [8], Fr. George M. Soares-Prabhu [9][10]
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Her mother matter-of-factly narrated how the local Teachers (read Brahmins) had stated that their pupil had far surpassed their domain in matters of study and understanding
- ^ Word has it that a direct offer in the form of selections for an Officer in the National Cadet Corps where the senior sergeant is selected was sidelined. That year, Rev.Babu Rao was the senior sergeant. However, during the selection day, Rev.Babu Rao seemed to have deliberately absenteed himself much to the surprise of his fellow classmates
- ^ One of the son's of the present Pastor there narrated the daily life of Rev.Babu Rao while in Peddada - the said son was a young kid at that time. The simple meals that he used to partake, the tuitions that he took and the care of the Church were briefly told by him voluntarily. This was in the year 2003
- ^ See second paragraph in page 92 of The Story of Serampore and its College, [1] .....Mr.G.Babu Rao, a former student of the college, joined as Lecturer of Old Testament. Retrieved July 9, 2006.
- ^ To express simplicity, Rev.Babu Rao used to tell others to address him as "Bible Teacher" and do away with the terms "Lecturer" and "Professor"
- ^ During the tenure of Rev.Dr.S.Joseph in ACTC, Rev.Dr.Klaus Schäfer and Rev. Babu Rao initiated the faculty to prepare scholarly papers every month resulting in Reflections on Theology Today - a compilation of such papers
- ^ It is rather amusing to note that Rev.Babu Rao's colleague at ACTC, Rev. Dr. P. Victor Premasagar headed the Selection Committee
- ^ Council of Christian Hospitals [2]
- ^ CBM Direct Link Prayer Network [3]
- ^ Manna Bible College [4]
- Further reading
- The Council of Serampore College (2005). "The Story of Serampore and its College" (Fourth Edition).
- Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad. (1990). "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.".
