The Right Reverend K. Reuben Mark is the present (2015[1] onwards) Bishop in Karimnagar[2] and the sixth in succession and occupies the Cathedra of the Bishop placed in Karimnagar's CSI-Wesley Cathedral. Reuben Mark is currently a Council Member[3] for the period 2015–2018 at the fully-ecumenical United Theological College, Bangalore. During the XXXVIth session of Church of South India Synod, Reuben Mark has been elected as Deputy Moderator for the triennium 2020-2023 succeeding V. Prasada Rao.[4]
Before he assumed the ecclesiastical office of the Bishop, Reuben Mark was Professor in Homiletics from 1995 through 2015.[5][6] Mark's professorship was at the Andhra Christian Theological College, affiliated to India's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) {a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956}[7] with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal.[8]
Ministerial formation
Graduate
After the completion of graduate studies in Hanumakonda, Reuben Mark discerned his avocation towards priesthood and became a ministerial candidate of the Diocese of Karimnagar of the Church of South India, then under the bishopric of G. B. Devasahayam, CSI who took him into the Church and became his Spiritual Confessor and sent him for spiritual formation to the United Theological College, Bangalore, where he studied Bachelor of Divinity degree from 1984 to 1988[9] under the Principalship of the Old Testament Scholar, E. C. John, CSI and was taught by faculty that comprised G. D. Melanchthon, AELC[9] James Carl, SALC[9] Theodore N. Swanson, ELCA, D. N. Premnath, CSI and others. In 1988 when Reuben Mark returned to the Diocese, he was ordained in 1988/1989 by then Bishop K. E. Swamidass, CSI following which he began ministering in parishes of the Diocese of Karimnagar.
Postgraduate
In 1992, Reuben Mark was resent to the United Theological College, Bangalore to upgrade his academics and studied from 1992 to 1994 during the successive Principalships of E. C. John, CSI and Gnana Robinson, CSI taking a postgraduate degree in Master of Theology[9] specializing in Homiletics under Professor P. Surya Prakash, CSI then Faculty Member[9] at the United Theological College, Bangalore. Reuben Mark was awarded graduate and post-graduate degrees by the Senate of Serampore College (University) during the Registrarship of D. S. Satyaranjan, IPC.
Research studies
After a period of teaching ministry at the near-ecumenical Seminary in Secunderabad, Reuben Mark was again sent by his Bishop S. John Theodore, CSI for research studies at the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen, Denmark where he researched from 2000 to 2004 on the theme, A Homiletical analysis of the Revival Sermons of D. G. S. Dhinakaran and its Relevance of the Dalit Perspective[10] and later transferred himself to the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad researching under the able guidance of Prof. V. K. Singh[10] and was awarded the doctoral degree in 2009.[11][12]
Ecclesiastical ministry
Pastoral
After his Seminary studies, Reuben Mark was ordained as a Deacon in 1988 by then Bishop K. E. Swamidass, CSI and the following year as a Presbyter at the CSI-Wesley Cathedral in Karimnagar and began pastoring parishes within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Karimnagar until 1992 when he went to upgrade his academics in the Protestant Seminary in Bangalore. After his return from the Seminary in 1994, Reuben Mark began re-pastoring the parishes until 1995 when Bishop S. John Theodore, CSI sent him for teaching ministry to the Protestant Regional Seminary in Secunderabad.
Teaching
In 1995, Reuben Mark joined the Faculty of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad and began teaching Practical Ministry/Homiletics[5] at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad from 1995 to 2015 and taught[6] in a near-ecumenical setting comprising the Wesleyan, Methodist, Lutheran, Congregational, Baptist, and Anglican Church societies beginning with the periods of Principalship comprising the Church of South India, the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars, the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches, and the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church notably under The Rev. R. Yesurathnam, CSI, The Rev. K. D. G. Prakasa Rao, CBCNC and D. J. Jeremiah, CBCNC, The Rev. B. J. Christie Kumar, STBC, The Rev. N. V. Luther Paul, AELC, The Rev. Ch. Vasantha Rao, CSI and The Rev. T. Mathews Emmanuel, CBCNC.
After a two-decades teaching ministry that began in 1995, Reuben Mark was recalled to the Diocese of Karimnagar by the Church of South India Synod in mid-2015 as his name was announced as Bishop-elect for the Diocese of Karimnagar resulting in his resignation from the Faculty of the near-ecumenical Protestant Regional Theologiate in Secunderabad.
Bishopric
During the period when Reuben Mark was teaching at the Seminary in Secunderabad, the Diocese of Karimnagar saw the change of at the Bishopric in 2007 following which P. Surya Prakash, CSI, Reuben Mark's Professor at Bangalore was consecrated as the fifth Bishop - in - Karimnagar who occupied the Cathedra up to 2014 until his resignation on account of superannuation resulting in sede vacante. The Church of South India Synod conducted elections for the Bishopric following which G. Dyvasirvadam, CSI, then Moderator of the Church of South India Synod announced the appointment of K. Reuben Mark as Bishop-elect for the Diocese of Karimnagar.
On 4 May 2015[1] the Most Reverend G. Dyvasirvadam, CSI, then Moderator principally consecrated Reuben Mark with other co-consecrator, The Right Reverend Thomas K. Oommen, CSI, then Deputy Moderator at the CSI-Wesley Cathedral, Karimnagar in the presence of Bishops of the adjoining dioceses, B. D. Prasada Rao, CSI, Eggoni Pushpalalitha, CSI Order of Sisters, V. Prasada Rao, CSI and the General Secretary of the Church of South India Synod, Daniel Sadananda, CSI. Also present were the two living patriarchs of the Diocese of Karimnagar, the Old Testament Scholar S. J. Theodore, CSI and P. Surya Prakash, CSI.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 CSI Synod News, New Bishop consecrated and installed in CSI Karimnagar Diocese, Monday, 18 May 2015.
- ↑ Anglican Communion, Member Churches.
- ↑ United Theological College, Bangalore, Council 2015-2018.
- 1 2 George Conger, New moderator for the Church of South India, Anglican Link, January 12, 2020.
- 1 2 Senate of Serampore College (University), Directory of Teaching Staff.
- 1 2 P. Surya Prakash, Karimnagar Diocese 133 years and Beyond: Church of South India Karimnagar Diocese - A Story of Transformation (1879-2012), 2013.
- ↑ 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 recoginsed 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.
- ↑ Sankar 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.
- 1 2 3 4 5 K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910-1997, Bangalore, 1997. pp.70 and 134
- 1 2 Annual Report, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, 2008-2009, p.22. Archived 14 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ List of Ph.D. Scholars. Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad.
- ↑ User Bishopreuben unsourced edit on 13 March 2016: He registered on 1-9-2000 as a Ph.D. Student in the Copenhagen University and studied for three years (I.e. Up to 31-8-2004) in the field of Homiletics, concentrating especially on the Indian revival sermons by Dhinakaran. He has also conducted valuable fieldwork in India and gathered material related his research. He had fulfilled Ph.D.requirements of Copenhagen University except submission of his thesis. He wanted to transfer his Ph.D. Studies to one of the Indian universities that are under UGC, India for he wanted to do it in India under and Indian scholar for an able guidance, for which the University of Copenhagen also agreed and transferred his candidature from University of Copenhagen to any of the Universities in India. The reasons to transfer his candidature firstly, the research is mostly I.e. 80% related to Indian context. Secondly, as there was no Indian scholars in Copenhagen University and as the studies needed to have further guidance and to be evaluated by Indian experts, informed about the specific social and religious environment in India. Hence, he got transferred to Sam Hagginbotham Institute of Agriculture and Technological Sciences (formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute) - Deemed University and was awarded a Ph.D. on 25 February 2009.
Further reading
- K. M. Hiwale (Compiled) (1998). "Directory of the United Theological College 1910–1997".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Anantha Sudhaker Bobbili (2000). The Road from Poodur in Biographical Passages: Essays in Victorian and Modernist Biography : Honouring Mary M. Lago, University of Missouri, North America. ISBN 978-0-8262-1256-6.