Bishop Emeritus P. Surya Prakash was the fifth Bishop-in-Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India.The Hindu, Andhra Pradesh, 26 March 2007. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. from 2007 through 2014 and occupied the Cathedra in Karimnagar's Wesley Cathedral. He retired on account of superannuation in 2014 following which the Church of South India Synod headquartered in Chennai appointed a successor to him in 2015.
After discerning his avocation towards priesthood, Surya Prakash entered the portals of a Protestant Seminary in 1972K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910-1997, Bangalore, 1997. pp.50 and 118 in Bangalore where he studied spirituality leading to the award of the graduate degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1976 after which he began pastoring parishes within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak, Church of South India. In 1980, Surya Prakash went on to major in Greek and New Testament and became a member of the Society for Biblical Studies, India in which his Professor, J. G. F. Collison was already a distinguished member. Again from 1982, Surya Prakash continued to pastor parishes of the Diocese of Medak until Victor Premasagar sent him for doctoral studies in 1987 to the Kirchliche Hochschule, Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany where researched on Homiletics specializing in indigenous movements and Churches in India, especially the work of Sadhu Sundar Singh. Roger E. Hedlund, the Missiologist with major contribution to indigenous Christianity in India terms Surya Prakash as a leading authorityRoger E. Hedlund (Edited), Christianity is Indian: The Emergence of an Indigenous Community, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2000. Cited in Klaus Koschorke (Edited), in Transcontinental Links in the History of Non-Western Christianity, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2002. on Sadhu Sundar Singh.
From 1991 onwards, Surya Prakash spent nearly a decade teaching Homiletics at the United Theological College, Bangalore, an autonomous College affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University) until 2000 when he went to Stuttgart as India Liaison Secretary of the EMS succeeding Luise Plock who bridged the gap after C. L. Furtado.Zeitschrift für Kultur, Politik, Kirche, Volume 46, Verein Reformatio, 1997, p.309. After a distinguished record at Stuttgart, Surya Prakash returned to India in 2005 donning the role of a Presbyter at the Diocese of Medak until his elevation to the Bishopric in 2007 in the adjoining Diocese of Karimnagar to succeed the Old Testament Scholar and Bishop S. J. Theodore who retired on attaining superannuation.
Surya Prakash contributes as an academic and as an administrator to the Church taking into consideration not only the mainline Churches but the small and indigenous Churches in India as well. In 2006, India's firstSankar Ray, The Hindu (Business Line), 11 April 2008 Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. University (a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956The 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 recognised 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.)with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal elected Surya Prakash as a Member of its Council.Senate Web Site. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008 In 2010, the Henry Martyn Institute, Hyderabad an Institute with inter-faith concerns with focus on Islam partnered by the Canadian Baptist Ministries elected Surya Prakash as its Chairperson where he provides leadership in an inter-religious setting.
Early years and studies Surya Prakash was born in Dudgaon in Nizamabad District in undivided Andhra Pradesh, India to Smt. Guyyani Sundaramma and Sri Perumalla Prakasham who realised the need for education and sent him to the CSI-Wesley Boys High School, Secunderabad from where he completed schooling and pre-university studies in 1968 and continued higher studies at the State-run Nizam College of the Osmania University where he earned a graduate degree leading to Bachelor of Arts in English in 1972.
Spirituality and Seminary studies During the incumbency of Bishop H. D. L. Abraham,Cf. Wikipedia article on Diocese of Medak for H. D. L. Abraham, B. G. Prasada Rao, Victor Premasagar and B. P. Sugandhar during whose incumbency Surya Prakash was sent for studies. then Bishop – in – Medak (1968–1975), Surya Prakash evinced interest in pursuing a priestly vocation and was sent to the United Theological College, Bengaluru in 1972,D. J. S. Sekhar, Rev. Dr. P. Surya Prakash : A Church Visionary, Interview Excerpts in The Parish Messenger, Church of St. John the Baptist, Secunderabad, Volume 22, April – May 2007, pp. 4–5. then headed by the eminent theologian Joshua Russell Chandran, where Surya Prakash completed the graduate degree of Bachelor of Divinity (B. D.) in 1976 during the Registrarship of D. S. Satyaranjan at Bengaluru.Cf. Wikipedia article on D. S. Satyaranjan Incidentally, Christopher Asir and J. W. Gladstone who also led the Bishopric of the Church of South India in other dioceses also happened to pursue theology at the same College during that period.Cf. Wikipedia articles on Christopher Asir and J. W. Gladstone.
Ordination & Pastorship Soon after Surya Prakash's return to his Diocese, he was assigned a Deacon's role in Parishes of the Diocese of Medak and assigned to Varni near Nizamabad and was ordained by then Bishop – in – Medak, B. G. Prasada Rao (1976–1981) as a Presbyter on 31 July 1977 in the Medak Cathedral in MedakD. J. S. Sekhar, op. cit. after which he was made Presbyter – in – Charge in Adilabad.
Post-graduate studies The Diocese of Medak sent Surya Prakash to pursue further studies in theology and was sent again to the United Theological College, Bengaluru where he enrolled for the post-graduate degree of Master of Theology (M. Th.) in the discipline of New Testament in 1980Ibid. studying under J. G. F. CollisonMax L. Stackhouse, Apologia – Contextualisation, Globalisation and Mission in Theological Education, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1988, p.6. and K. James Carl then Professors of New Testament who stipulated a tough regimen of study which Surya Prakash stuck to and worked out a dissertation entitled Theological motives in Mark - a redactional critical study.P. Surya Prakash, Theological motives in Mark - a redactional critical study in Thesis Titles, Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College, Bangalore, 1991 This was during the time that the Old Testament Scholar G. Babu Rao began doctoral studies in Bengaluru.G. Babu Rao, Content Analysis of Theological Syllabi – Old Testament, Religion and Society, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, 3 September 1985. Prakash's classmates included Prasanna Kumari SamuelGeorge Zachariah, Remembering Prasanna Kumari Samuel in Epistle Summer 2006, Chicago, p.21. of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Surya Prakash also went to Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts and had an exposure at the Boston University School of Theology where he was also Student Chaplain at the United Methodist Church of All NationsUnited Methodist Church of All Nations, Boston. By the year 1982, Surya Prakash was awarded an M. Th. in New Testament by the Senate of Serampore College. Prakash was then reassigned a ministerial role in the Diocese of Medak as Presbyter – in – Charge in Bellampalli.
Research
In the year 1987, during the Bishopric of the Old Testament Scholar the Right Reverend Victor Premasagar (1982–1992), Surya Prakash was sent for higher studies to Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany where he pursued a doctoral degree (Dr. Theol.) in Homiletics under the India-born Traugott StählinTraugott Stählin is Professor of Practical Theology at the Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel. Internet, accessed 1 December 2008. at the Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel.Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel, Bielefeld. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. submitting a dissertation entitled "The Preaching of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Homiletic Analysis of Independent Preaching and Personal Christianity" which was later published in 1991.P. Surya Prakash, The Preaching of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Homiletic Analysis of Independent Preaching and Personal Christianity, Wordmakers, Bengaluru, 1991. Google Books. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008.
Ecclesiastical contribution
Professorship The United Theological College, Bengaluru, then under the Principalship of the Old Testament Scholar E. C. John invited Surya Prakash to serve on its faculty where he began teaching Practical Theology from 1991 to 2000. Apart from his teaching, Prakash continued to don the priestly mantle. He was Associate Presbyter at St. Peter's Telugu Church,, accessed 1 December 2008 Mission Road and at St. Mark's Cathedral, Bangalore Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore. In 1993 during the Principalship of the Old Testament Scholar Gnana Robinson Prakash was sent to Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey for a course in Speech Communication in Ministry and Worship During the academic year 1997 – 1998, the Professor went on a sabbatical as Visiting Professor to San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo and thereafter to Germany to the historical Mission Seminary in Hermannsburg. He also taught at his alma mater Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel, Bielefeld before returning to Bengaluru.
Administratorship
Evangelisches Missionswerk in Südwestdeutschland (EMS) While teaching at the Seminary in Bengaluru, the Evangelisches Missionswerk in Südwestdeutschland (EMS) – (Association of Churches and Missions in South Western Germany), Stuttgart invited Surya Prakash to be its Liaison Secretary for India in 2000.Stefan Heide, EMS Porträt, Gewonneneschätze, 2005–2006 The then Principal of the Seminary, O. V. JathannaCf. Wikipedia article on United Theological College, Bengaluru. relieved him while the Diocese of Medak under B. P. Sugandhar (1993–2008) loaned the services of Surya Prakash to the EMS, Stuttgart. Surya Prakash began monitoring partnership between the EMS and the Church of South India. He was also made the Deputy General Secretary of the EMS in 2002.
While at Stuttgart, Surya Prakash was also on the ChaplaincyEric Jarman, Warden's Corner, Crossroads – The Anglican Chaplaincy in Stuttgart, April 2007, p.2. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. of St. Catherine's Church.St. Catherine's Church, Stuttgart. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008.
With the end of the term of Surya Prakash at the EMS, he returned to Medak Diocese in 2005 and was made Presbyter-in-Charge of Church of St. John the Baptist, Secunderabad.
Bishopric