Stanley Jedidiah Samartha

Stanley Jedidiah Samartha (; 7 October 1920 – 22 July 2001) was an Indian theologianEeuwout van der Linden, ''Samartha, S. J.'' in Gerald H. Anderson, ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions'', William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, 1999. pp.588-589

/ref> and a participant in inter-religious dialogue.

Samartha's major contribution was through the World Council of Churches (WCC) sub-unit "Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies" of which he was the first director.

Western Scholars on Hinduism like Jan Peter Schouten brings Samartha in the line of thinking of M. M. Thomas (an Indian thinker) and Raimundo Panikkar (a Catholic Priest) terming them as the "Great Three"
Jan Peter Schouten, ''Jesus as Guru: The Image of Christ Among Hindus and Christians in India'', Rodopi, Amsterdam, 2008. pp.206-207.

/ref> of whom Samartha was very involved in the developments in the Church in India.

Early life and education

Stanley Jedidiah was born on 7 October 1920Union Theological Seminary (New York, N.Y.) The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York New York : Alumni Office, 1970.Electronic reproduction. New York, N.Y. : Columbia University Libraries, 2007. JPEG use copy available via the World Wide Web. Master copy stored locally on DVDs#: ldpd_6122000_000 01,02,03,04,05,06. Columbia University Libraries Electronic Books. 2006. p.321

/ref> in Karkala, Karnataka into a pastoral family. His mother was a primary school TeacherStanley Jedidiah Samartha, ''Between Two Cities – Part I: Early Years''. WCC Web Site

/ref> while his father was a Pastor with the Basel Evangelical Mission. Stanley had his education at the Basel Evangelical Mission High School after which he enrolled at the local Government College. Later in 1939 he joined the Jesuits, Jesuit St. Aloysius College ''(then affiliated to the University of Madras)'' from where he obtained a B.A. in 1941.

Divinity

It felt natural for Stanley to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Pastor. The Basel Evangelical Mission Board approved his candidature for theological studies and sent him to the United Theological College, Bengaluru in 1941. While pursuing theology, Stanley was afflicted with typhoid which kept him out of the Seminary for a year. While at the Seminary, Samartha came under the influenceO. V. Jathanna, ''Memorial Service Sermon'', St. Mark's Cathedral, Bengaluru, 4 August 2001

/ref> of his Professors, particularly Marcus Ward and Paul David Devanandan, P. D. Devanandan. In 1945, he was awarded the graduate degree of BD from the Seminary.

Pastor and lecturership

From 1945 to 1947, Stanley served as an Assistant to the Pastor in Udipi. Stanley was appointed as lecturer in the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary (now Karnataka Theological College), Mangalore beginning from the academic year 1947 – 1948 to teach Theology and Religions. After availing study leave for the period 1949–1952 Samartha returned to the Seminary and resumed teaching responsibilities.

The Basel Evangelical Mission ordained S. J. Samartha on 30 March 1952.

In 1952, the Seminary made Samartha its Principal, a position in which he continued up to 1960. In fact, he was the Seminary's first Indian Principal.Constantine Devaprasad Jathanna (Ed.), ''Dialogue in Community: Essays in Honour of Stanley J. Samartha'', KTCRI, Mangalore, 1982.

/ref> It was during Samartha's period at Mangalore that the Seminary became affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University), West Bengal.

Higher studies

The Basel Evangelical Mission sent Stanley to the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York for post-graduate studies ( S.T.M.) in 1949. He studied under Paul Tillich, the Christian existentialist Philosopher and worked out a thesis titled ''The Hindu View of History According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan'' which eventually got published.

In 1950, Stanley enrolled as a doctoral candidate at the Hartford Theological Seminary, Connecticut and was awarded a PhDNews from Hartford Seminary, December 2001, Volume XIII, No. 3 (Special Issue). in 1951. Samartha's doctoral thesis was entitled ''The Modern Hindu View of History according to Representative Thinkers''.

After completion of doctoral studies at Hartford Theological Seminary in 1951, Samartha spent a year at Basel, Switzerland at the invitation of the Basel Mission Board. Being at Basel seemed to have thrilled Samartha since it was the very mission board through which his parents came to Christ. While spending his days here, he also began attending Karl Barth's weekly lectures at the University of Basel besides visiting the local congregations in Switzerland as well as in Germany. It was here that he also met Hendrik Kraemer, the Dutch Reformed Theologian and the first Director of the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey.

Sabbatical

While being the Principal at Mangalore, Samartha availed a sabbatical and taught for an academic year (1957–1958) at his ''alma mater'', the Hartford Theological Seminary before returning to Mangalore.

Professorship

Bengaluru

In 1960, Samartha moved to the United Theological College, Bengaluru where he began teaching Philosophy and History of Religions.

Serampore

William Stewart had been the Principal of Serampore College from 1959 to 1966. The Council of Serampore College appointed Samartha as the Principal of Serampore College ' in 1966. Samartha led the college through turbulent times up to 1968 after which he took up an assignment with the World Council of Churches. Among those who studied under his Principalship in Serampore included James Massey, S. Jeyapaul David and G. Babu Rao.

Appraisal by other Scholars

* Israel Selvanayagam, Principal, United Theological College, Bengaluru.

* Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe of Indonesia:Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe, ''Theologia Crucis in Asia: Asian Christian Views on Suffering in the Face of Overwhelming Poverty and Multifaceted Religiosity in Asia'', Rodopi, 1987. pp. 95-103. This was originally a doctoral dissertation presented to the Vrije university, Amsterdam in 1987

/ref>

* Hans Schwarz, University of Regensburg,Hans Schwarz, ''Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years'', William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. pp.523-526

/ref> Germany.

* Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena.

* Timothy Yates, an Anglican Evangelical Missiologist, Durham.

* Kirsteen Kim, Past Lecturer, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune.Kirsteen Kim, ''India'' in John Parratt (Ed.), ''An Introduction to Third World Theologies'', Cambridge University Press, 2004. pp.44-73

/ref>

Contribution

Samartha was acknowledged as a leading authority on inter-religious dialogue. S. Wesley Ariarajah quotes Samartha on dialogue:

Criticism

Criticism wasn't too far. Sunand Sumithra in his doctoral dissertation defended at the University of Tübingen, Germany in 1981 criticised ''(page 217)'' the work of Samartha arguing that Samartha failed to project Christ's distinctness in a pluralistic context. However, Samartha responded that Sunand Sumithra was not aware of the beliefs of other faiths. Kirsteen Kim believed that Sunand Sumithra was indeed aware of the beliefs of others and only wanted to distinguish Christ from others.

Further, Sunand Sumithra in a book on ''Christian Theology from an Indian Perspective'' evaluated Samartha's writings. He summarised that Samartha resorted to Advaitic system not on theological grounds but on mere empirical enquiry.Sunand Sumithra, ''Christian Theology from an Indian Perspective'', Theological Book Trust, Bengaluru, 1995 (Revised Edition). pp.187-197.

Similarly, Ken Gnanakan of ACTS Institute, Bengaluru, argued that Samartha's writings failed to uphold the Biblical Text in a setting of theology of religions.

Sunand Sumithra and Ken Gnanakan may have been right in their argument if one looks into a recent doctoral work by Dirk Griffioen submitted to the Utrecht University where Dirk brings to light the fact that Samartha rejected the Dutch Reformed Theologian Hendrik Kraemer's version of Christology stating that it was Christomonistic and not theocentric.

Samartha first met Hendrik Kraemer in Bossey during his sabbatical in Basel.

Stint at WCC

After being relieved as Principal of Serampore College, Serampore in 1968, Samartha served as Associate Secretary, Department of Studies in Mission and Evangelism in Geneva up to 1971 working closely with Hans-Jochen Margull, Professor of Missions at the University of Hamburg, Hamburg.

It was at the Central Committee meeting at Addis Ababa in 1971 that a sub-unit of the WCC ''Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies'' was set up with Samartha as its first director. S. Wesley Ariarajah succeeded Samartha at the WCC.

Honours

In 1982, the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore brought out a festschrift in his honour edited by the then Principal Rev. Dr. C. D. Jathanna entitled ''Dialogue in Community: Essays in Honour of Stanley J. Samartha''.

India's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) in West Bengal conferred upon Samartha an honorary doctorate in 1986Senate of Serampore College (University), List of the Recipients of the degree of doctor of divinity (honoris causa).

In the same year, the Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands also awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Retirement and death

In 1980, Samartha returned to India after his stint in Geneva with the WCC was over and was Consultant to the Christian Institute for Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), Bengaluru and also visiting professor at the United Theological College, Bengaluru. After 1989, Samartha returned to India and got empanelled on South Asia Theological Research Institute's Committee supervising theses on Theology and Religions in Bengaluru.

A Press Release issued by the World Council of Churches Office of Communication on 24 July 2001 stated that Stanley Samartha died of prolonged illness on 22 July 2001World Council of Churches Office of Communication, Press Release on 22 July 2001

/ref> in Bengaluru.

Tributes

* Georges Lemopoulos, Acting general secretary (2001), World Council of Churches, Geneva.

See also

* The Reverend, Rev. Dr B. V. Subbamma
* The Reverend, Rev. Yisu Das Tiwari
* Bishop N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel
* The Reverend, Rev. Fr. Dr D. S. Amalorpavadass
* The Reverend, Rev. Emani Sambayya
* Bishop Victor Premasagar
* The Reverend, Rev. Joshua Russell Chandran

References

Further reading

* S. K. Samartha, ''Introduction to Radhakrishnan'' (1964)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Samartha, Stanley Jedidiah
People in interfaith dialogue
Hartford Seminary alumni
Indian Christian theologians
Kannada people
20th-century Indian Anglican priests
Christian clergy from Bengaluru
Mangaloreans
People from Dakshina Kannada district
1920 births
2001 deaths
Senate of Serampore College (University) alumni
Academic staff of the Senate of Serampore College (University)
Christian and Hindu interfaith dialogue