Serampore College

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Serampore College
Latin: GLORIAM-SAPIENTES-POSSIDEBUNT
Motto The wise will possess glory
Established 1818
Type College
Principal Dr. Lalchungnunga
Staff 79 (teaching), 30 (non-teaching)
Students 2,277
Location Serampore, West Bengal, India
Campus Rural
Affiliations Senate of Serampore College (University) and University of Calcutta
*NAC 2004 report on the College and its degree issuing position

Serampore College is located in Serampore Town, in Hooghly District, West Bengal, India.

The College consists of two entities:

  • An individual College with faculties of Arts, Science, Commerce and
  • The Theological faculty.

The Senate of Serampore College (University) runs the academic administration of all the theological colleges affiliated with it. The Council of Serampore College holds a Danish Charter and had the power to confer degrees in any subject, which it currently exercises only for conferring theological degrees as recommended by the Senate. [1]

Degrees are awarded:

The present Principal is Dr. Lalchungnunga[3].

Several theological Colleges and Seminaries all over India including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College.

Contents

[edit] Motto

The Latin name of the College motto is GLORIAM SAPIENTES POSSIDEBUNT. It is derived from Chapter 3, verse 35 of the Latin Vulgate - Book of Proverbs [4], meaning, the wise shall possess glory.[5]. [6]

[edit] Authority to issue degrees and accreditation

King Frederick VI of Denmark originally granted a Royal Charter giving Serampore College the status of a University to confer degrees. With the later establishment of Calcutta University in 1857 the Arts, Science and Commerce parts of Serampore College were affiliated to the Calcutta University. However Serampore College still today continues to enjoy the privilege of conferring its own degrees in Theology under the power vested by the Charter and Act of Serampore College. It is a private Grant-in-aid Minority College. The College is recognized by the University Grants Commission under Section 2(f) and 12(b) of the UGC Act, 1956.

[edit] History

[edit] Founding By English missionaries in 1818

Part of a series on
Protestant
missions
to India
William Carey

Background
Christianity
Thomas the Apostle
Pantaenus
Protestantism
Indian history
Missions timeline
Christianity in India

People
Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg
Joshua Marshman
William Ward
Alexander Duff
Anthony Norris Groves
Amy Carmichael
James Mills Thoburn
more missionaries

Works
Serampore College
Scottish Church College
Wilson College

Missionary agencies
London Missionary Society
Church Missionary Society
Baptist Missionary Society

Pivotal events
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Republic

Indian Protestants
Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Pandita Ramabai
Jashwant Rao Chitambar
Mahakavi K.V. Simon
P.C. John
Ravi Zacharias

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Serampore College was founded in 1818 by the English missionaries William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward (The Serampore trio), to give an education in Arts and Sciences to students of every "caste, colour or country" and to train a ministry for the growing Church in India (See: Christianity in India).

From its beginning the College has been ecumenical, but this means that it has no automatic basis of support from any one branch of the Christian church. Prior to 1818, the Serampore Trio had worked together in providing education for their own children and the children - including females - of the native Indians.

William Ward

William Carey

John Clark Marshman

Joshua Marshman

[edit] Original Charter from Danes in 1827

Since Serampore was then a Danish colony, King Frederick VI, the King of Denmark, issued Serampore College its Royal Charter of Incorporation on February 23, 1827, in Copenhagen, Denmark (Charter, 1, Charter, 2, Charter, 3). The charter came in response to Joshua Marshman's visit to King Frederick in August 1826; the charter gave Serampore College the privilege of awarding degrees in Arts and Theology. William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and John Clark Marshman (Joshua's son) were designated as members of the first Council. At its opening, the Trio released a prospectus which proposed "A College for the instruction of Asiatic Christian and other Youth in Eastern Literature and European Science." The College was open to all persons of any caste or creed, and the founders ensured that no denominational test would apply to faculty members. The charter has also been confirmed by the Bengal Govt Act.IV of 1918.

The status accorded by the Danish Charter has since been re-affirmed for the study of Theology and now forms the basis for degrees of all levels conferred by over forty theological colleges throughout India, and is administered by the Senate.It was incorporated by Royal Charter of 1827 and Bengal Government Act.IV of 1918.

[edit] Control passed back to the British in 1845

New look Serampore College on May Day 2006.
New look Serampore College on May Day 2006.

After February 22, 1845 when Denmark sold all of its Indian assets to Great Britain the management and operation of the College continued without interruption under the direction of a Master and Council. In 1856, the Baptist Missionary Society in England took over the management of the College, and in 1857, the College became affiliated with the newly established University of Calcutta and became a constituent college of that university.

[edit] Arts College closes to become full-time seminary in 1883

In 1883, the College closed as an Arts College and began functioning as a Christian Training Institution and a theological institute for the Baptist Churches in Bengal. Affiliating again with the University of Calcutta in 1911, Serampore College, in 1913, was authorised to award the Bachelor of Arts degree. The College faculty was interdenominational.

[edit] Twentieth Century at Serampore

On December 4, 1915, the first group of Bachelor of Divinity students graduated:

  • Rev. I. W. Johory, Professor in the Canadian Mission College, Indore;
  • Rev. N. G. Kuriakos, a priest in the Orthodox Syrian Church; and
  • Mr. D. M. Devasahayam, London Missionary Society, South India.

Between 1916 and 1927, sixty-nine further students earned their Bachelor of Divinity degrees through Serampore College.

Serampore College

During the Centenary Year of the College in 1918, the Bengal Legislative Council passed the Serampore College Act (1918 Act, i, 1918 Act, ii, 1918 Act, iii, 1918 Act, iv) for the purpose of enlarging the College Council and forming a new interdenominational Senate that would confer theological degrees for all Christian denominations in India. By 1960, twenty other Indian colleges and seminaries affiliated themselves with Serampore.

The name of the College and its founders are honoured today more widely than just within Christian circles – the Carey Library at Serampore houses 16,000 rare volumes and is used by scholars from across the world.

The Hindu saint Paramahansa Yogananda was an alumnus of this college and the Scottish Church College.

[edit] Honours

On June 7th, 1969, the Department of Posts of the Government of India issued a stamp[7] and a first day cover[8] along with a brochure.

[edit] List of Principals

The List of Principals since the inception of the College is below:[9]

[edit] Past faculty

[edit] Arts, Science and Commerce Departments

[edit] Theology Department[10]

[edit] 1929-1960

  • Rev. I.N. Rawson
  • Dr. C.H. Watkins
  • Rev. W.W. Winfield
  • Rev. R.A. Barclay
  • Mr. C.E. Abraham
  • Mr. K. Cheryan
  • Rev. Paul Nesamoni
  • Rev. A.L. Sircar
  • Rev. E.L. Wenger
  • Rev. J.F. McFadyen
  • Mr. V.E. Devadutt
  • Rev. E.T. Ryder
  • Rev. B.F. Price
  • Rev. W.G. Wickramsinghe
  • Rev. William Stewart
  • Rev. M.P. John
  • Rev. Frank Manley
  • Rev. A.E.D. Frederick
  • Rev. R.N. Stewart

[edit] 1961-2005

  • Prof. M.N. Biswas
  • Rev. E.L. Wenger
  • Rev. D.F. Hudson
  • Rev. D.A. Christadass
  • Rev. J.C. Hindley
  • Rev. C. Devasahayam
  • Rev. K.V. Matthew
  • Rev. V.C. Samuel
  • Rev. Y.D. Tiwari
  • Rev. E.L. Wenger
  • Rev. D.W. Luck
  • Dr. S.J. Samartha
  • Dr. W.S. Rhodes
  • Dr. C.N. Krause
  • Dr. Reid Graham
  • Rev. Bilas Ch. Das
  • Rev. Somen Das
  • Rev. R.W. Taylor
  • Rev. Allan K. Jeokins
  • Rev. J.J. Tiga
  • Rev. K. Devasahayam
  • Rev. J.G. Johnson
  • Rev. Dr. M. Bage
  • Rev. G.S.N. Prasadam
  • Rev. Dr. John D.W. Watts
  • Prof. Dr. Saral K. Chatterjee
  • Ms. Findlay
  • Rev. E.J. Furcha
  • Rev. Jacob W. Verghis
  • Dr. T.V. Philip
  • Rev. G. Babu Rao[11]
  • Rev. Dr. A. Behera
  • Prof. R.K. Rodrigues
  • Rev. P. Joseph[12][13]
  • Rev. Dr. A.T. Abraham
  • Dr. S. Mukhopadhya
  • Rev. Dr. Uans Guenther
  • Rev. Dr. Friedrick Huber
  • Rev. Dr. H. Kloss
  • Dr. C.A. Marro
  • Rev. J.K. Skirrow
  • Mrs. Alison Mukherjee
  • Rev. C.K. Paul Singh
  • Dr. N.G. Joy
  • Rev. Dr. Ravi Tiwari
  • Rev. M. Devadas
  • Mr. Lalzuitluanga
  • Dr. F. Hranghuma
  • Prof. Roger Hedlund
  • Rev. S.D.L. Alagodi
  • K. David
  • Rev. Samuel Rajkumar
  • Rev. Dr. Evangeline-Anderson Rajkumar
  • Dr. V.T. Samuel
  • Dr. O.L. Snaitang
  • Rev. Dr. J.G. Muthuraj
  • Rev. Dr. D.K. Sahu
  • Dr. Siga Arles

[edit] See also

The Serampore trio:

The first woman missionary to India:

Successive missionaries:

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ World Council of Churches [1] Ministerial Formation, July 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2006.
  2. ^ Education Info India [2] Colleges under University of Calcutta, July 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2006.
  3. ^ William Carey College Jubilee Lecturer [3] Dr. Lalchungnunga
  4. ^ Chapter 3 of the Book of Proverbs [4]
  5. ^ For a full interpretation of the college motto, please refer to [5]
  6. ^ Writing about the history of the college motto in Codex 2006, the annual magazine of the Theology Department, Z.N. Sironbou, a B.D. student makes particular mention about the adoption of the motto during the Principalship of George Howells.
  7. ^ Postal Stamp[6]
  8. ^ First Day Cover[7]
  9. ^ The Story of Serampore and its College [8] IVthedition 2006 page 174
  10. ^ The Story of Serampore and its College [9] IVthedition 2006 pp. 75-99
  11. ^ User page of G.R.B. Pradeep[10]Rev. G. Babu Rao
  12. ^ Andhra Christian Theological College[11]Past Faculty
  13. ^ The Story of Serampore and its College[12]page 92 - The Department also welcomed Rev. P. Joseph, who was appointed to teach practical theology
Further reading

[edit] External links

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