C. L. Furtado

Christopher Lazarus Furtado
Bishop in Karnataka Southern Diocese of Church of South India
Church	Christian
Diocese	Karnataka Southern Diocese
See	Church of South India
In office	1997[1]-2004
Predecessor	D. P. Shettian
Successor	Devaraj Bangera
Orders
Consecration	25 August 1997 by Vasanth P. Dandin, Moderator and William Moses, Deputy Moderator, Church of South India Synod
Personal details
Born	Karnataka
Previous post	India Secretary, Evangelical Mission in Solidarity, Stuttgart (1991-1997), Principal, Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore (1983-1991).

C. L. Furtado (Christopher Lazarus Furtado) was the third Bishop - in - Karnataka Southern Diocese of Church of South India. It was on 25 August 1997 that Furtado was consecrated as^[1] headquartered in Mangalore with the Cathedra of the Bishop placed at Shanthi Cathedral, Mangalore.

Studies

Graduate

Furtado pursued a spiritual course leading to Bachelor of Divinity at the United Theological College, Bangalore during the years 1962-1964^[2] during the Principalship of Joshua Russell Chandran after which the University awarded him a degree during the Registrarship of C. Devasahayam. Furtado's graduate thesis was entitled A Brief History of the work of the Basel Mission in Coorg from 1855 to 1914 with special reference to the methods of Evangelism.^[3]

Research studies

In 1972, Furtado went on study leave to the University of Hamburg, Hamburg where he studied Church History at the Faculty of Evangelical Theology and was able to complete his doctoral dissertation in 1977^[4] under the supervision of Professors Hans Jochen Margull^[5] and Waack^[5] which was later published in 1978 under the title The Contribution of D. T. Niles to the Church Universal and Local.^[6]

Ecclesiastical ministry

Teacher

Soon after his ministerial formation at the Protestant Regional Seminary in Bangalore, Furtado began teaching at the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore, affiliated to the nation's first^[7] University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) along with Robert Scheuermeier, C. D. Jathanna and other Teachers till 1991 when he accepted an overseas assignment as India Liaison Secretary.^[8]

Administrator

From 1991 through 1997, Furtado was India Liaison Secretary^[9] at the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity, Stuttgart, an overseas support partner of the Church of South India. In fact, it was Robert Scheuermeier, then India Secretary who advocated for an Indian to hold the post which he was relieving. After Furtado's stint at Stuttgart, he returned to India to take up the Bishopric in the Karnataka Southern Diocese after which P. Surya Prakash, then Professor of Homiletics at the Protestant Regional Seminary in Bangalore was appointed.

Bishopric

In 1997,^[1] when D. P. Shettian vacated the Cathedra in the CSI-Shanthi Cathedral, Mangalore on attaining superannuation, the resulting sede vacante was filled by the Church of South India Synod with the appointment of Furtado who by then returned from Stuttgart. Furtado was consecrated as Bishop - in - Mangalore at the CSI-Shanthi Cathedral, Mangalore by Vasanth P. Dandin, the Moderator and William Moses, the Deputy Moderator of the Church of South India Synod.^[1]

Writings

• 1985, Contribution of Basel Mission to the cause of Theological Education,^[10]

References

1. 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.36-41.
2. K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910-1997, Bangalore, 1997. p.32
3. Vijaya Kumar, Ecumenical Cooperation of the Missions in Karnataka (India), 1834-1989: A Historical Analysis of the Evangelistic Strategy of the Missions, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2005, p.258.
4. Aprem (Mar), Indian Christian Who is Who, Bombay Parish Church of the East, Bombay, 1983, p.110.
5. Johann Anselm Steiger, Johann Anselm Steiger (Edited), 500 Jahre Theologie in Hamburg: Hamburg als Zentrum christlicher Theologie und Kultur zwischen Tradition und Zukunft, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2005, p.450.
6. C. L. Furtado, The Contribution of D. T. Niles to the Church Universal and Local, CLS, Madras, 1978.
7. UNESCO Structures of University Education in India, 1952
8. Vijaya Kumar, Ecumenical Cooperation of the Missions in Karnataka (India), 1834-1989: A Historical Analysis of the Evangelistic Strategy of the Missions, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2005, p.132.
9. Albrecht Frenz, Hermann Gundert: Brücke zwischen Indien und Europa : Begleitbuch zur Hermann-Gundert-Ausstellung im GENO-Haus Stuttgart vom 19. April bis 11. Juni 1993 in Verbindung mit der Dr. Hermann-Gundert-Konferenz, Stuttgart, 19. bis 23. Mai 1993, Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1993, p.10.
10. C. L. Furtado, Contribution of Basel Mission to the cause of Theological Education in Godwin Shiri (Edited), Wholeness in Christ - The Legacy of the Basel Mission in India, KATHRI, Mangalore, 1985, pp.96-106.

1. Zeitschrift für Kultur, Politik, Kirche, Volume 46, Verein Reformatio, 1997, p.309.