Robert Scheuermeier

Robert Scheuermeier (born July 31, 1927) was the first Principal of the Karnataka Theological College,[3] Mangalore, a Seminary affiliated to the country's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University), Serampore.

Robert Scheuermeier
Born	July 31, 1927[1] Berne, Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Occupation	Minister
Ordained	1952,[1] Swiss Reformed Church of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland
Writings	The Concept of Partnership: Its Prospects and Problems[2]
Congregations served	Utzenstorf (1952-54[1]), Reichenbach im Kandertal (1954-56[1]), Kirchberg, Bern (1967-81[1])
Offices held	Teacher/Principal,[3] Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary, Mangalore(1958-60/1960-65) Principal,[3] Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore(1965-67) India Secretary,[3] Evangelical Missionswerk Südwestdeutschland (Evangelical Mission in Solidarity), Stuttgart (1982-92)
Title	The Reverend Doctor

Ecclesiastical ministry

Switzerland

Scheuermeier was ordained in 1952 by the Swiss Reformed Church of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland and held ministerial roles at the Churches in Utzenstorf from 1952 to 1954[1] and at Reichenbach im Kandertal from 1954 to 1956. After a decade of overseas work in India from 1957 to 1967, Scheuermeier resumed the role of a Minister, this time at Kirchberg, Bern from 1967 till 1981.

India

Scheuermeier came to India in 1957[1] and undertook language studies in Kannada for a year and began to teach at the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary (BEMTS) at Mangalore. In 1960, when S. J. Samartha, the Seminary Principal moved to the United Theological College, Bangalore to teach Religions,[4] the Seminary Council appointed Scheuermeier as the Seminary Principal.

By this time, ecumenical conversations were taking place to merge the Basel Mission with the Church of South India.[5] As a prelude to it, the two vernacular medium (Kannada) Protestant regional seminaries in Karnataka affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University), namely,

• the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary, Mangalore formed in 1847[6] (managed by the Basel Mission) and
• the Union Kanarese Seminary, Tumkur formed in 1915[6] (managed by the Church of South India),

were merged in 1965 resulting [4] in the formation of the Karnataka Theological College in the premises of the erstwhile Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary in Mangalore. Scheuermeier was appointed as the first Principal of the new entity, a post which he held for two years until 1967, when he left[1] India for good making the College Council to appoint the Old Testament Scholar C. D. Jathanna, who had by that time returned[7] from the University of Hamburg, Germany where he was pursuing doctoral studies.

Germany

While Scheuermeier was ministering at Kirchberg, Bern, he was appointed as India Secretary in 1982[1] at the Stuttgart-based Association of Churches and Missions in South Western Germany/Evangelical Mission in Solidarity and entrusted with the task of building up theological education of the partner Church in India, the Church of South India and made efforts to forge greater ties for building up ecclesiastical cooperation among the Dioceses within the Church of South India and the Association of Churches and Missions in South Western Germany. The continued representation of the EMS in the Church of South India synods[8] as well as in the Society[9] of the United Theological College, Bangalore attests to this fact. When Scheuermeier retired from the EMS, Stuttgart on attaining superannuation, he pitched for having an Indian[3] as India Secretary at the EMS resulting in the appointment of C. L. Furtado in 1992 to succeed Scheuermeier.

Contribution

In the postcolonialism scenario, Scheuermeier who was teaching in Mangalore from 1958 onwards was a strong advocate for the development of Indian christian theology, an indigenous theology free from western influence.[10] K. M. George who authored Church of South India, Life in Union 1947-1997 covering a period of 50 years right from the founding of the Church of South India in 1947 till 1997, wrote that the Basel Mission merged into the Church of South India in 1968[5] as a result of protracted ecumenical efforts that began as early as 1936.

Scheuermeier was part of the ecumenical talks between the Basel Mission and the Church of South India in his capacity as Principal of the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary in Mangalore.[1]

Recognition and honour

In 2013,[3] the country's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) conferred the honorary doctorate degree by honoris causa upon Scheuermeier.[11]

References

1. The Scheuermeier Collection held at the Library in Karnatataka Theological College, Mangalore. Swiss missionary to be honoured on Sep 15, Times of India, Mangalore, September 14, 2013. ...On this occasion, Scheuermeier will hand over a personal collection of historical documents and manuscripts to the KTC archives...
2. Robert Scheuermeier, The Concept of Partnership: Its Prospects and Problems in Godwin Shiri (Edited), Wholeness in Christ: The Legacy of the Basel Mission in India, KATHRI, Mangalore, 2009 (second impression).
3. Corinna Waltz, Honorary doctorate for Robert Scheuermeier, 7.3.2013. Evangelical Mission in Solidarity.
4. Hans Schwarz, Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, 2005, p.524.
5. K. M. George, Church of South India: life in union, 1947–1997, Jointly published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Christava Sahitya Samithi, Tiruvalla, 1999, pp.41-44.
6. Werner Schuder, Karl Ignaz Trübner, Minerva, Volume 35, Issue 2, 1969, p.1554.
7. C. L. Furtado, Foreword in John S. Sadananda (Edited), Vision and Reality: Essays in honour of C. D. Jathanna, KTCRI, Mangalore, 1989, p.xi.
8. CSI EMS Liaison Office in Church of South India Web Site
9. Handbook 2006-2007, United Theological College, Bangalore, 2006, p.3.
10. C. L. Furtado in The Hindu, KTC gets Christian artefacts, September 13, 2013.
11. List of the Recipients of the Degree of Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa). Senate of Serampore College (University).
12. Origen Vasantha Jathanna, The decisiveness of the Christ-event and the universality of Christianity in a world of religious plurality: with special reference to Hendrik Kraemer and Alfred George Hogg as well as to William Ernest Hocking and Pandipeddi Chenchiah, Peter Lang, Frankfurt, 1981, p.vi.
13. Zeitschrift für Kultur, Politik, Kirche, Volume 46, Verein Reformatio, 1997, p.309.
14. WCC staff member Dietrich Werner receives honorary doctorate