Paul David Devanandan (1901–1962), spelt also as P.D. Devanandan or Paul D. Devanandan, was an Indian

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

ecumenist Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

, and one of the notable pioneers in inter-

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

dialogues in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Biography

He was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(''present''

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 ...

) on 9 July 1901, and graduated from

Nizam College The Nizam College is a constituent college of Osmania University established in 1887 during the reign of Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, in Basheerbagh, Hyderabad, Telangana. History The Nizampur University College was originally the "Mirsa ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

.Boston University website, Missiology section, ''Devanandan, Paul David (1901-1962)'', article by Creighton Lacy
/ref> He did his M.A from Presidency College, Madras. While studying at Madras, he was acquainted with K. T. Paul, a prominent

Social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

leader. He taught briefly at Jaffna College,

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. With assistance from K.T. Paul, he flew

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in 1924 and studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a Private university, private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains Covenant (religion), covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the ...

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. He received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1931 - for his dissertation on the concept of

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. Upon his return to

in 1931, he was absorbed as a professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

s at

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 ...

for seventeen years between 1932 and 1949. He had a lasting and long association with

Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

(YMCA); he worked as a secretary at the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, and later as national

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

secretary at YMCA between 1949 and 1956. In 1954, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

of the

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 ...

. In 1956, he was appointed as the director of the new "Center for the study of Hinduism" - later renamed to "Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society"(CISRS), Bangalore. He was the first person appointed to the post. His address to the Third Assembly of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

in 1961, under the title "Called to Witness," was delivered a few months before his death and caught the attention of the large

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

church. He died on 10 August 1962 at

Dehra Dun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, ...

, India, on his way to a conference at the Christian Retreat and Study Centre.

Bibliography

While working at CISRS, he along with M. M. Thomas, an associate and then-Chairman of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, edited ''Religion and Society'', a journal, which was published by CISRS to initiate and provoke a dialogue between Christians and people of other faiths - this journal contributed by him has been described as a ''preparatory steps'' for a dialogue, as the conversations among people of different faiths were mostly controversies or monologues, during that time. Devanandan is credited for initiating a series of dialogues with

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

thinkers and scholars, whereby laying a foundation for a deeper understanding of religions based on the actual experience of dialogue - he was also instrumental in laying the foundation for CISRS and World Council of Churches dialogues with people of other faiths. He frequently lectured on theological topics, edited articles, participated and conducted seminars and conferences; he focused on the attention of Indian Christians involvement in nation-building (a favourite term), dialogues on ''Concept of Truth'' between Christians and Hindus - including, commonality on which Hinduism and Christianity might agree. He spent most of his lifetime working for YMCA and fighting for the missionary establishment; his views on how the Indian Christian community could fit into the national ethos became predominant in the post-missionary era. He initiated dialogues with leaders of other religious communities, based in a faith that

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

didn't limit his work to the church alone. He drew attention to "the surging new life manifest in other religions," and asserted that: He authored a number of books, notably, ''The Concept of Maya'' in 1950 and ''The Gospel and Renascent Hinduism'' in 1959; however, his name usually appears as an editor along with M.M. Thomas for most of the books he published, and the articles he contributed like ''The Changing Patterns of Family in India'', ''Christian Participation in Nation-Building'', ''Communism and Social Revolution in India'', ''Community Development in India's Industrial Urban Areas'', ''Cultural Foundations of Indian Democracy'', ''Human Person, Society and State'', ''India's Quest for Democracy'', ''Problems of Indian Democracy'', and alike. According to Stanley Jedidiah Samartha, an Indian theologian; student of P.D. Devanandan; and editor of ''I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills: Sermons and Bible Studies of P. D. Devanandan''

Devanandan impressed me not only by his scholarly knowledge of Hinduism but also his attitude towards it. He was indeed critical of many aspects of Hinduism, as is evident in his book The Concept of Maya (1950). But instead of taking a negative attitude towards other religions, including Hinduism, he encouraged a positive attitude, even respect for the beliefs of others. At a time when almost every book on religions in the library, no matter how scholarly, ended with a chapter on "the uniqueness of Christianity", this attitude struck me, especially since I had been brought up to take a wholly negative view of other religions. That one could be a committed Christian and yet take a positive attitude towards other religions came to me as a surprising alternative. Devanandan contributed decisively to this change of attitude.

Works

His publications include the following; * ''The Concept of Maya'', 1950. * ''The Christian Attitude and Approach to Non-Christian Religions'', 1952. * ''Communism and the social revolution in India: a Christian interpretation'', 1953. * ''India's quest for democracy'', 1955.Open Library website, ''Paul David Devanandan''
/ref> * ''Cultural foundations of Indian democracy'', 1955. * ''Foreign Aid and the Social and Cultural Life of India'', 1957. * ''Human person, society, and state'', 1957. * ''Religion and National Unity in India'', 1958. * ''Resurgent Hinduism: review of modern movements'', 1959. * ''The Gospel and Renascent Hinduism'', 1959. * ''Living Hinduism: a descriptive survey'', 1959. * ''The Dravida Kazhagam: A revolt against Brahminism'', 1959. ABE Books website, ''Paul David Devanandan''
/ref> * ''The Changing Pattern of Family in India'', 1960. * ''Christian Concern in Hinduism'', 1961. * ''Christian Issues in Southern Asia'', 1963. * ''I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: sermons and Bible studies'', 1963

References

External links

Devanandan, Paul David (8 July 1901, Madras - 10 August 1962, Dehra Dun), Protestant Indian theologian

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20111019193922/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,825039,00.html Religion: Can Christians Be Hindus?
In memoriam: M.M. Thomas; Paulos Mar Gregorios - Obituary

Mission in The Indian Cultural Context : The Significance of Paul David Devanandan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devanandan, Paul David 1901 births 1962 deaths Indian Christian theologians Christian and Hindu interfaith dialogue People in interfaith dialogue YMCA leaders