ELCA News Blog
July 7, 2006
Lutheran Leaders Receive Honorary Degrees in India
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
As part of a week of celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg's arrival in India July 9, 1706, the Academy of Ecumenical Indian Christian Theology and Church Administration hosted a convocation July 7 at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai, India. The convocation honored those who supported the cause for which the German missionary came to India. Ziegenbalg's arrival marked the start of 300 years of Protestant ministry in Asia.
The Lutheran University of India awarded honorary doctor of divinity degrees to 26 recipients, including: the Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Chicago; the Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission, Chicago; the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, Geneva; Priscilla Singh, secretary, LWF Office for Women in Church and Society, Geneva; and the Rev. Howard Wennes, interim president, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, and former bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod. Wennes was not present for the ceremony.
A delegation of ELCA members is attending the tercentenary celebrations in Chennai and Tranquebar and is keeping a blog during their trip. In Tranquebar (Tarangambadi) events include worship and rededication of the New Jerusalem Church, which Ziegenbalg first dedicated in 1718. Ziegenbalg died the next year, at the age of 37, and his body was buried at the church.
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