Mangalore: KTC Enters into Partnership with Georg-August-University, Germany
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VA)
Mangalore, Sep 9: A programme was organized to mark Karnataka Theological College’s (KTC) partnership in MA in inter-cultural theology with Georg- August- University, Goettingen, Germany at Sahodaya on Wednesday September 8.
Professor Dr Martin Tamcke, director, department of ecumenical theology, Georg- August-University, Goettingen, Germany inaugurated the programme along with Dr Hannibal Richard Cabral, principal, Karnataka Theological College (KTC), Sydney Salins, registrar, KTC, Dr H M Watson, co-ordinator, MA programme, KTC and Amritraj Khode, president KTC Okkoota.
Professor Tamcke delivered a lecture on the theme ‘Oriental identity and colonial authority: Indian Christian response during the first half of the 18th century’.
Professor Martin Tamcke is the author of numerous books and articles, most recently Religion of Tolstoy: A Spiritual Biography of Leo Tolstoy, Christians in the Islamic World, Christian- Muslim Dialogue in the Middle-Ages, and Protestants in the Orient.
Dr Hannibal Richard Cabral presided. Sydney Salins welcomed the dignitaries and Dr H M Watson proposed the vote of thanks. Former principal of KTC and the former Bishop of KSD pronounced the benediction.
About Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany
Founded in 1737, the Georg-August-University of Göttingen is a research university of international renown with strong focuses in research-led teaching. The University of Göttingen is one of the highest-ranked universities in Germany. It is associated with 45 Nobel laureates, more than any other German university. The University is distinguished by the rich diversity of its subject spectrum particularly in the humanities, its excellent facilities for the pursuit of scientific research, and the outstanding professors. Almost all academic disciplines including medicine are represented in the 13 faculties.
The Faculty of Theology in Göttingen belongs to the most intensive research establishment of its kind in Germany. The Faculty remains bound to the heritage of such leading theologians as, among others, Albrecht Ritschl, Karl Barth, Hermann Gunkel, Julius Wellhausen, Friedrich Gogarten, Emmanuel Hirsch and Rudolf Bultmann. Today, historical and contemporary topics of theology and religious studies are handled in a large inter-disciplinary openness.
About Karnataka Theological College, Balmatta
The Karnataka Theological College was established in 1847 by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society which was then known as BEM Theological Seminary. Dr Hermann Moegling, a well- known missionary of the Basel Mission was its founder principal. The college was training Pastors for the Protestant churches in Karnataka and Malabar areas. In 1965 BEM Theological Seminary and the Union Kanarese Seminary at Tumkur were merged and the college was renamed as Karnataka Theological College. In 1967 the Karnataka Christian Educational Society was formed with KTC as the nucleus along with another institute, Hebich Technical Training Institute. Several new educational institutions such as Balmatta Institute of Priniting Technology, Balmatta Institute of Commerce, KACES ITI in Stichcraft, KACES
Hostel, and Moegling Institute of German Language were added in the subsequent years.
At present Karnataka Theological College offers residential Bachelor of Divinity degree course and a few non-residential courses such as BCS, Diploma in CS and C Th. The students are basically from the Protestant Churches in Karnataka, and this is the only regional Theological College in Karnataka affiliated to the Serampore College (University) which offers training in Kannada language.