use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , other_names = , years_active = 1979–present , occupation = Priest , education = * B.D. (

Serampore Serampore (also called Serampur, Srirampur, Srirampore, Shreerampur, Shreerampore, Shrirampur or Shrirampore) is a city in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Srirampore subdivision. It is a part ...

) *

M.Th. Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...

(

) *PhD ( King's College) , alma_mater = *

United Theological College, Bangalore United Theological College (UTC) is an ecumenical Mainline Protestant, mainline seminary founded in 1910. It is situated in the southern city of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka in South India and affiliated to India's first Theological Unive ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(United Kingdom) , known_for = Old Testament scholarship and able administration , spouse = , partner = , parents =

Smt. Shrimati, also spelt Srimati, Shreemati, Shrimathi, and Shrimatty (, ; abbreviated as Smt.) is a traditional Indian honorific used to address or refer to married women. It is equivalent to the English title "Mrs." and is commonly prefixed to the n ...

Thankamma (Mother) and Bishop M. C. Mani (Father) , children = , relatives = , website = , footnotes = , signature = , signature_alt = , nocat_wdimage = , religion = Christianity , church =

Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India. With a membership of over 4.5 million, it ...

(''A

Uniting church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost a ...

comprising

Wesleyan Methodist The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary societies –

ABCFM The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most im ...

, SPG,

WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, commonly identified as "The Buzzard". Widely regarded as one of the most influen ...

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Len ...

Basel Mission The Basel Mission is a Christianity, Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' ...

CMS CMS may refer to: Computing * Call management system * CMS-2, a programming language implemented for and used by the United States Navy * Code Morphing Software, a technology used by Transmeta * Collection management system for a museum coll ...

, and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

)'' , ordained =1987 , laicised = , writings =1983, ''The theological understanding of the land in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

''.
2002, ''Liberation And Service Of God'' , congregations =

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and London , offices_held = *Pastor,

*Teacher,

Serampore College Serampore College is located in Serampore, in West Bengal, India. Established in 1818, it is the fourth oldest college in the country after Old Seminary, Kottayam (Established 1815), CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College in Kolkata, a ...

(

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

) *Teacher,

Gurukul Lutheran Theological College Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute is an ecumenical seminary situated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. It is affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University).Indiaedunews.net Nepal Christians to renew t ...

*Director,

Ecumenical Christian Centre Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) was founded in 1963 by M. A. Thomas. ECC is located in Whitefield in Bengaluru on a campus. Taking the total context of the world as "the text" and "the context" of theologizing: > Involving all churche ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

*General Secretary,

Bible Society of India The Bible Society of India is a Christian body that is authorized to translate, produce, distribute and market the Bible and is a member of the United Bible Societies. The motto of the Society is to translate the word of God into languages, which ...

, Bangalore , title = The Reverend Doctor , module = Modayil Mani Chacko (born 1955Xavier Tete on Mani Chacko in Anand Amaladass, ''Indian Christian Thinkers'', Volume 2, Satya Nilayam Publications, Chennai, 2005, p.301.

/ref>) is an Old Testament scholar and a management consultant. In a career spanning over four decades from the eighties, his roles included ministering, teaching, directing and managing largescale human resources in educational, goodwill-promoting and literary organisations with a pan-Indian presence.

Spiritual formation

Karnataka

Mani Chacko had his initial ministerial formation from 1975 to 1979K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), ''Directory of the United Theological College, Bangalore, United Theological College 1910–1997'', Bangalore, 1997. Past students of the college diploma course, p.54; Postgraduate course, p.118. at the

, affiliated to the nation's firstUNESCO Structures of University Education in India, 1952
/ref> University, the

Senate of Serampore College (University) The Senate of Serampore College (University) is an ecumenical regulatory and affiliating body for Christian theological education, which works in partnership with Bible colleges, seminaries and theological research institutes in the Indian subco ...

, under the Principalship of

Joshua Russell Chandran Joshua Russell Chandran (1918–2000) was an Indian Christian theologian, who served as President of Senate of Serampore College, Bengal (1970–1), and as President of the United Theological College, Bangalore (1954–83), and was for some yea ...

where he studied a graduate course,

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

. After a brief pastoral ministry, Chacko returned to the Seminary and registered for a postgraduate course,

Master of Theology Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...

which he studied from 1981 to 1983 specialising in

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

under Theodore N. Swanson and E. C. John working out a dissertation entitled ''The theological understanding of the land in Deuteronomy''M. M. Chacko, ''The theological understanding of the land in Deuteronomy'' in ''Thesis Titles'',

Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College The Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC) is the arm of theological education under the Senate of Serampore College (University). BTESSC was formed in 1975. The Senate of Serampore College (University), unde ...

, Bangalore, 1991. under guidance of Rudolf Ficker.Rudolf Ficker geht in den ruhestand in Bread for the World article
/ref> Both the graduate and post-graduate degrees were awarded by the University in successive convocations during the Registrarship of

D. S. Satyaranjan D. S. Satyaranjan (19 January 1939 – 13 June 2022) was a Silver Jubilee Pastor, a New Testament Scholar, and an AdministratorSamson Prabhakar (Edited), ''Together with People: Essays in honour of Rev. D. S. Satyaranjan'', BTESSC / SA ...

England

Chacko underwent research studies in Old Testament at the

and returned to India in 1990. While at the

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, Chacko studied under the Old Testament Scholar, Ronald E. Clements and later published his thesis in book form in 2002 with the title, ''Liberation And Service Of God''.M. M. Chacko, ''Liberation And Service Of God'', ISPCK, New Delhi, 2002.

/ref>

Ecclesiastical career

West Bengal

Mani Chacko was taken as faculty member on

(

) from academic year 1983–1984 onwards, where he began to teach Old Testament, also providing his guidance to Scholars studying in

North India Institute of Post Graduate Theological Studies North India Institute of Post Graduate Theological Studies (NIIPGTS) is an academic institution of higher learning promoted by the Bishop’s College, Calcutta and the Serampore College, Serampore comprising faculty from both the institutions a ...

. After a three-year teaching period, Chacko took study leave in 1986 and proceeded for doctoral studies to King's College, London to upgrade his studies.

Tamil Nadu

From 1990 onwards, Chacko began to teach Old Testament at the

. At one point of time,

Victor Premasagar Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Prem ...

also began teaching at the Seminary as Professor Emeritus thereby increasing the research potential of the Seminary. In 2001,George Anthony, ''Bible Society of India elects Rev. Dr. Mani Chacko as new general secretary'' in Christian Today.

/ref> Chacko was appointed as Principal of the Seminary, a post which he held until 2006 when he moved over to the

to take up its Directorship.

Karnataka

Following the change of helm at the

in 2006, Chacko succeeded M. J. Joseph and served up to 2011 as its Director and then moved out to the

when its General Secretary, B. K. Pramanik stepped down after his extended superannuation came to an end resulting in his appointment as the General Secretary. He was installed on 13 September 2011 at the CSI-

St. Mark's Cathedral, Bangalore St. Mark's Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mark the Evangelist, is the cathedral ( Ecclesia Matar) of the Diocese of Central Karnataka of the Church of South India. The cathedral church, noted for its English Baroque architecture inspired by th ...

by the Bible Society of India Trust Association led by its President

Navamani Elia Peter use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , other_names = , years_active = 1980–''Present'' , occupation = ...

in the presence of a host of clergy, G. Dyvasirvadam,

John S. Sadananda Bishop Emeritus John S. Sadananda (born 24 September 1949) was the Master of Serampore College (University), the nation's first University ')'' with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West B ...

, G. D. V. Prasad, Robert R. Cunville,

Joseph Mar Thoma Joseph Mar Thoma XXI (27 June 1931 - 18 October 2020) was the 21st Mar Thoma Metropolitan and the church’s primate. Early days Palakunnathu family Joseph Mar Thoma XXI came from an ecclesiastical family. In the seventeenth century, a me ...

, Ignatius Paul Pinto and others.E. Leelavathi Manasseh, Nicholas G. Parmar, ''Installation Service of the new General Secretary'' in ''Sowing Circle'', Volume 27, Numbers 3 and 4, July–December 2011, pp.8–11.

/ref>

References

;Notes ;Further reading * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chacko, M. Mani Old Testament scholars Alumni of King's College London Senate of Serampore College (University) alumni Church of South India clergy 1955 births Living people Academic staff of the Senate of Serampore College (University)