Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) is a seminaryRoger E. Hedlund, World Christianity: South Asia, Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center, 1980, p.48. in Telangana which was founded in 1964.M. Ezra Sargunam (Edited), Mission Mandate: A compendium of the perspective of missions in India, Mission India, Madras, 1992, p.495. It is affiliated with 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, the Senate of Serampore College (University) (a university under section 2(f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956),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 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. 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 from the Secunderabad Junction railway station. Participating ecclesiastical societies,Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad, Telangana Methodist Methodist Church in India (MCI); 1964 Lutheran South Andhra Lutheran Church (SALC); 1964 Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC); 1964 Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church (GSELC); 1992 Baptist Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC); 1964 Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches (STBC); 1972Foundations, Volume 11, American Baptist Historical Society, 1968. p. 321. Anglican, Congregational, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist: the SPG, WMMS, LMS, ABCFM, CMS and the Church of England Church of South India (CSI); 1964
History Succession of Old Testament faculty at ACTC, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh and Secunderabad, Telangana W. D. Coleman, ELCA, PhD (Hartford),Talathoti Punnaiah, My Memoir, Ministry and Message - 60 years Life Experiences 1950-2010, Craig Emmanuel Baptist Church, Kakinada, 2010, pp.11, 12, 18, 23, 33. M. Vidyanandam, CSI, B.D. (Serampore),The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's Who, Bennett and Coleman, Bombay, 1954, p.961. P. Victor Premasagar, CSI, PhD (St Andrews)John C. England, et al. (Edited), Asian Christian Theologies, Volume 2, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2002, pp.275-276. G. Solomon, STBC, Th.M. (Eastern)G. Solomon, The Concept of Suffering in the Bible and in Hinduism, Eastern University (United States), Pennsylvania, 1957. G. Babu Rao, CBCNC, M.Th. (Serampore) Scott L. Harris, ELCA, PhD (Union) N. V. Luther Paul, AELC, D.Th. (Serampore) Ch. Vasantha Rao, CSI, Dr. Theol. (Hamburg) Henriette Howarth, C of E, M.A. (Utrecht)Journal of the Henry Martyn Institute, Volume 18, Issue 1, 1999, p.4. T. Mathews Emmanuel, CBCNC, D.Th. (Serampore) R. Jeeva Kumar, STBC, D.Th. (Serampore)Ravela Jeeva Kumar, Struggle for land rights in 1 Kings 21 : a dalit hermeneutic perspective, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2012. K. Joseph Premavardhan, CSI, M.Th. (Serampore) G. Varaprasad, AELC, D.Th. (Serampore) G. David, SALC, M.Th. (Serampore) The college was founded on the Lutheran Theological College campus in Rajahmundry and the founding societies includedProspectus ACTC, Printed by A. Nageswara Rao at Saraswathi Power Press, Rajahmundry, 1969, p.4.Rajaiah David Paul, Ecumenism in action: a historical survey of the Church of South India, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1972, p.146. the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Church of South India, the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars, the Methodist Church in India and the South Andhra Lutheran Church. The Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches held its B.D. classes at ACTC in 1967, and in 1972 the B.D. programme of the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary was integrated into the college. When M. Victor Paul was principal (1991–1993), Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church joined the college.
Christian missions in Andhra PradeshMartin Senftleben Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh. Retrieved 23 April 2006. opened seminaries in Gooty (Union Theological Seminary),Edmund Davies draws attention to Prof. Wilfred Scopes, a Missionary of the London Missionary Society who taught in the seminaries in Gooty and Dornakal. Edmund Davis, The History of Theological Education in Jamaica: The United Theological College of the West Indies and its four antecedent colleges (1841-1966), 1998, page 167. Dornakal (Andhra Union Theological College, for the Church of South India), Ramayapatnam (Baptist Theological Seminary, for the American Baptists), LuthergiriWinnipeg Free Press United Lutheran Church Advances - The Board sends new missionaries to each of six foreign mission fields. Retrieved 23 April 2006. (Lutheran Theological College), Kakinada (Baptist Theological Seminary, for Canadian Baptists) and Shamshabad (Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College, for the Anabaptists). Although professors were exchanged among the seminaries, Bachelor of Divinity students attended Serampore College in West Bengal.
Merger In 1964, the college was founded in Luthergiri, Rajahmundry, East Godavari with the merger of threeJ. Herbert Kane, A Global View of Christian Missions from Pentecost to the Present, Baker Book House, 1971, p.120. theological colleges.Victor Premasagar Interpretive Diary of a Bishop, Chennai, 2001, p.88 In 1967, Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary, Ramayapatnam moved from Ramayapatnam to Rajahmundry, as a separate part of the college in Rajahmundry until it merged in 1972.Foundations: A Baptist Journal of History and Theology, Volumes 11-12, American Baptist Historical Society, 1968, pp.320-321. 1964 Andhra Union Theological College in Dornakal, Baptist Theological Seminary in Kakinada, and Lutheran Theological College in Rajahmundry.1966 Yearbook of the Lutheran Church in America, United Lutheran publication house, 1965, p.11. 1972 Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary, Ramayapatnam
With William D. Coleman as its first principal, the college was dedicated on 1 JulyMargaret Eunice Hawkinson née Coleman, That they may be one - The Story of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Published by the Mission Council of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, and printed at the Lenox Press, Madurai, 1966. 1964 by R. M. Clark of the BTESSC. The inaugural address was delivered by Senate of Serampore College registrar C. Devasahayam in Rajahmundry.
Relocation By 1973, the college had moved from Rajahmundry to Secunderabad due to pollution from nearby paper mills.Minutes of the Biennial Convention, Issue 7, Lutheran Church in America, 1974, p.553. The new buildings were dedicated by Church of South India bishop Pereji Solomon in the presence of Catholic archbishop Samineni Arulappa and seminarians from St. John's Regional Seminary. During the 1990s, the college's postal address changed to Hyderabad (now in Telangana).
Overview Kretzmann Commission Succession of New Testament faculty at ACTC, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh and Secunderabad, Telangana K. David,Indian Journal of Theology, Volume 18, 2-3, April–September 1969, p.196. CBCNC, PhD (Edinburgh), Muriel Spurgeon-Carder, CBM, Th.D. (Toronto) M. Victor Paul, AELC, M. Th. (Serampore),Victor Paul has a postgraduate degree in New Testament from the Senate of Serampore College (University). In addition, he also has a doctoral degree in the field of Christian Ministry. S. Joseph, STBC, D. Th. (Serampore) K. Prasada Rao, STBC, M. Th. (Serampore),K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory 1910-1997 of the United Theological College, Bangalore, 1997, p.111 David Roland Hall, WMMS, M. Th. (Serampore)70 years of God's Faithfulness: CSI (Medak Diocese) UK Telugu Christians Souvenir commemorating the 70th year of the formation of the Church of South India, 2016, p.15. Klaus Schäfer,The Bulletin of the Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic Studies, Volume 12, 1993, p.2. EMS,Reconciliation as the mission of God, Reconciliation Network, 2005, p.23. Dr. Theol. (Hamburg),International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Volume 19, Number 2, April 1995, p.67. V. Manikya Rao, AELC, D. Th. (Serampore),List of Recipients of Doctor of Theology Degree, Senate of Serampore College (University). K. Suraj Kumar, CBCNC, PhD (Cape Town), M. John Sundar, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore),Church of South India Synod, Diocese of Medak. Ch. Helen Salomy, STBC, M. Th. (Serampore),Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Committee of the Academic Council held on 17 July 2012, p.32. G. Niranjan Nishchal, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore)Church of South India Synod, Pastoral Concerns Department, Lenten Meditations, 2020. V. John Pradeep Kumar, AELC, M.Th. (Serampore) ACTC constituted the Kretzmann Commission in 1969,Martin Kretzmann (1906-2000) was a missionary to India and was also instrumental in affiliating the Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil with the Senate of Serampore College (University). Internet, accessed 23 April 2006. consisting of: M. L. Kretzmann, D.D., secretary for planning, study and research of the Lutheran World Federation's Department of World Missions K. Devasahayam, M.A., B.D. (Hon.), S.T.M., Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church A. B. Masilamani, M.A., Th.M., Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars C. S. Sundaresan, bishop of the Church of South India's Diocese of Rayalaseema
The commission's report, presented to the board of governors, suggested increasing the Bachelor of Divinity curriculum and abolishing the Licentiate in Theology programme.
Administration and faculty Board of governors The college is administered by a board of governors composed of representatives of participating Protestant ecclesiastical societies: Telangana Church of South India (CSI) Dioceses of Dornakal, Karimnagar, Medak (headquartered in Dornakal, Karimnagar and Medak) Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church (headquartered in Bhadrachalam) Methodist Church in India, Hyderabad Regional Conference Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society, Deccan Association Tamil Nadu CSI Dioceses of Madras and Vellore (headquartered in Chennai and Vellore) Andhra Pradesh Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, headquartered in Guntur CSI Dioceses of Krishna-Godavari, Nandyal and Rayalaseema (headquartered in Machilipatnam, Nandyal and Kadapa, respectively) Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars, originally headquartered in Kakinada Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches, originally headquartered in Nellore South Andhra Lutheran Church, headquartered in Tirupati
Motto The college motto is derived from Ephesians 4:12, which reads in the Latin Vulgate: "Ad consummationem sanctorum in opus ministerii..."Vulgate, Ephesians 4 Retrieved 23 April 2006. ("For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry..." in the King James Version).
Hall system W. D. Coleman, the college's first principal, explained the hall system: "Each of the participating denominations has its own 'hall'. There are two hours of instruction each week about the liturgy, history, and policy of each denomination".Edgar R. Trexler, Mission in a New World, Fortress Press, 1977. p. 29.