Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute

The revival of Gurukul in 1985 brought about new insights in theological thinking and training in Christian ministry. These new insights were conceptualised and incorporated in the entire programme – teaching, training and continuing education - of the College as ‘new thrusts’. These bold visions, call for praxis-oriented theological theory and practice; action and reflection, include concerns for:

1. Women’s empowerment for equality in both church and society expressed through introducing course Gender studies in theological education programme of the Senate of Serampore College, encouraging women to become forerunners in the mission of the Church. Gurukul is the first theological institution in India to establish a department of Women’s studies, later renamed it as Gender Studies. Priorities are given to women in scholarships, appointments, publication resources, etc.
    
2. Dalits, another pioneering study in theology with concern for the oppressed people in India, who comprised about 80% in the Indian Church. A separate department of Dalit theology was established to develop course in Dalit theology at the B.D., and MTh, level and organise seminars and consultations to highlight the issues faced by the Dalits in Indian society and the church. Gurukul is a leading theological institution concerned about publication of theological literature on Dalit issues.
    
3. Theology of Human Development. Human development is the concern of the Church, as more than 50% of the Indian population are living below poverty line and many Churches and Christian Non-Governmental Organisations are working towards the development of the oppressed and downtrodden people or people living on the margins. Hence it is the concern of theological education to sensitise the students of theology and enable them to be instruments of change in the society. Hence Theology of Human Development is seen as an important area to be introduced in theological education at Gurukul.
    
4. Human and Mass Communication: Though communication is primordial in nature, its significance and importance has been realised only during the later half of the last century. Seeing the incredible developments in this field and the new inventions has made people to call the 21^st Century, a century of Communication. Its significance is seen in every walk of life to develop human relationships on the one hand and the marvels of new media on the other are significant. Hence, pastoral training needs to be given importance to this new trend, as pastors are basically communicators, whose daily activities involve in relationship building, preaching, teaching, administration, and etc., requires better skills in communication. Gurukul responds to these challenges by introducing new and innovative courses in all aspects of communication, not ignoring computer application to its students. It endeavours to make the fruits of new communication technology available to students so that the students can have easy access to books, periodicals, archival materials for research using computer skills.
    
5. Widening Frontiers of Christian Theology (Summer Institute) is an effort of Gurukul to get the theological educators, church leaders and development activists, secular scholars to engage in discussions on contextual issues on the theme of widening frontiers of Christian Theology during summer vacations. Ten such institutes on the subjects of specific thrusts had taken place in the past and their presentations are now published, which serves as tools for teaching the new courses offered at the theological institutions. The widening frontier of Christian Theology at present is widened to work on Bible commentaries from the perspectives of people from the margins, particularly on the oppressed in Indian context.
    
6. Mission, Ecumenism and Dialogue is central to the ministry of the Church. The college endeavours to serve the churches in understanding mission, ecumenism and dialogue with other faiths as well as promoting these concerns through consultations, training and offering courses in these areas at graduate and post-graduate levels. New initiatives are under way to develop it as a centre for Inter-faith conversations between different faiths.
    
7. Green Theology is a reflection on emergence of a new awareness and response for protecting our world and its environment. As a theological response Green Theology aims to understand Christian doctrines in the light of ecology and environment. The Green Theology is another pioneering effort of Gurukul to develop course with the concern for care of the earth and aims to contextualize theological education relevant to the realities of our times from the perspectives of Ecology and environment.
    
8. Science and Religion is a new field of study introduced recently to relate our faith to the developments in Science and technology. Courses have been developed and introduced for both B.D. and MTh., as integrated courses.