Eric J. Lott

Eric J. Lott
Born	27 May 1934 North Devon, England
Other names	Guruji
Education	Richmond Adult Community College, Richmond King's College, London (BD) University of Lancaster, Lancaster (M.Litt.) and (PhD)
Church	Methodist
Ordained	1961
Writings	See section on Writings
Congregations served	The Melton Mowbray Methodist Circuit
Offices held	Professor of Religions
Title	Reverend Doctor

Eric J. Lott^[1] (born 27 May 1934 in North Devon, England)^[2] is a religious scholar who taught in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Of the Indian languages, he knew Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada.^[1]

Background

After theological studies at Richmond Methodist Theological College, he joined a graduate course in divinity at King's College, London^[3] and earned a B. D. degree in 1959.

The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society designated Lott as a missionary to India and sent him in 1959^[4] to minister in the Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India.

Lott was ordained in 1962^[2] in the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Dornakal during the Bishopric of P. Solomon,^[5] as a Presbyter of the Church of South India.

Contribution

Andhra Pradesh

Lott first taught at the Andhra Union Theological College, Dornakal from 1962 to 1964^[6] along with Victor Premasagar, then Lecturer of Old Testament.^[6] The Principal of the College in Dornakal at that time was C. S. Sundaresan^[7] and the College was affiliated^[8] to the Senate of Serampore College.

With the 1964 merger^[9] of the College in Dornakal into the newly formed ecumenical Andhra Christian Theological College in Rajahmundry, then headed by W. D. Coleman, Lott began taking classes in the river town of Rajahmundry.^[10] Later in 1972, Lott moved to Hyderabad along with the College when it was relocated to Hyderabad.

During Lott's teaching career in Andhra Pradesh from 1962 to 1976, Lott taught New Testament and Religions to students pursuing L.Th., B.Th., and BD in Dornakal, Rajahmundry, and Hyderabad.

In 1973, the Andhra Christian Theological College released Service for All Seasons,^[11] Lott's ecumenical worship book, which continues to be the primary worship book for students of Baptist, Lutheran, Anglican, Pentecostal, and Methodist backgrounds studying theology at the seminary in Hyderabad.^[12] The book was also adopted in a Church setting by the United Church in Defence Colony in Sainikpuri, Hyderabad, which serves an ecumenical congregation.

Karnataka

From 1977, Lott began teaching Religions at the United Theological College, Bengaluru^[13] along with G. D. Melanchthon, then Professor of Religions. The college enjoyed autonomous status with the Senate of Serampore College. Lott mentored students pursuing theology who came from diverse backgrounds. During the late 1970s during the Principalship of Joshua Russell Chandran, Lott encountered a student who would not complete his M.Th. thesis in Religions. The student's thesis was on self-proclaimed avatar Sai Baba; when Lott offered revision suggestions, the student balked, since he believed that the "spirit of Sathya Sai Baba" had already taken control of the thesis and it could not be revised, lest the spirit got disturbed.^[14]

Higher studies

While teaching at Rajahmundry, Lott took study leave for the academic year 1969–1970 and completed postgraduate studies^[2] (M.Litt.) at the University of Lancaster in England. His dissertation was later published under the title God and the Universe in the Vedāntic Theology of Rāmānuja.^[15][16]

In 1975, Lott again went on study leave to the University of Lancaster to pursue doctoral studies.^[2] His 1977 doctoral dissertation was entitled Vedāntic approaches to God.^[17]

Writings

• 1973 – Service for All Seasons^[11]
• 1975 – India's Religions (in Telugu)^[18]
• 1976 – God and the Universe in the Vedāntic Theology of Rāmānuja: A Study in his Use of the Self-body Analogy^[15]
• 1980 – Vedāntic Approaches to God^[17]
• 1986 – Worship in an Indian Context: Eight Intercultural Liturgies^[19]
• 1988 – Vision, Tradition & Interpretation: Theology, Religion & Religious Studies^[20]
• 1998 – Healing Wings: Acts of Jesus for Human Wholeness^[21]
• 2005 – Religious Faith, Human Identity: Dangerous Dynamics in Indian & Global Life^[22]
• 2008 – Faces of Vision: Images of Life and Faith (with Jyoti Sahi)^[23]

Ornithology

An amateur ornithologist, Lott contributed to the cause of birds through his writings, which include:

• "On the Occurrence of White-naped Tit Parus nuchalis in Southern India"^[24]
• The Birds of the Cauvery Valley^[25]

Honours

In 1985 the Indian Institute of World Culture, Bengaluru, invited Lott to deliver the Justice B. Vasudevamurthy Memorial Lecture.^[26]

In 1996 David C. Scott and Israel Selvanayagam brought out a festschrift published for the United Theological College and entitled Re-Visioning India's Religious Traditions in Lott's honour on his turning 60.^[2]

In 1998 and 2000 Lott delivered the Cambridge Teape Lectures in Cambridge and India respectively.

Retirement

Lott retired on health grounds in 1988 from the United Theological College. From 1989 he began pastoral work in the inner city community of Leicester in England.^[3]

Reminisce

Talathoti Punnaiah who studied a 3-year theology course leading to Bachelor of Theology at the Andhra Christian Theological College, both at Rajahmundry and at Hyderabad from 1970-1973 recalls his association with Lott,

“

Lott was from England who learnt Telugu and Sanskrit languages and taught us the life of Christ and Hinduism very well. I used to ask him several questions in the class and he used to patiently give answers to me. During a year he was our Faculty Leader and took us all to Khammam for preaching tour. He was a very good teacher and preacher. He was a melodious singer. He was an inspiration to all of us.[27]

”

References

Notes

1. Shobha Warrier, "Christian tradition has much to learn from Hindu tradition", Interview (Rediff on the Net), 1 November 1999.
2. David C. Scott, Israel Selvanayagam, eds., Re-Visioning India's Religious Traditions – Essays in honour of Eric J. Lott, UTC / ISPCK, Bengaluru, 1996.
3. Joseph George (Ed.), The God of All Grace, Essays in Honour of Origen Vasantha Jathanna, Asian Trading Corporation, Bengaluru, 2005. p.573.
4. Gideon Sobhanam, Vinod Victor, Shepherd of a Pilgrim People, Essays in honour of J. W. Gladstone, Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New Delhi, 2005. p.83.
5. Rajaiah David Paul, The First Decade: An Account of the Church of South India, Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 1958. p.276.
6. Eric J. Lott, Biblical Faith and Cultural Pluralism: An Integrative Interpretation of Primal Imagery in H. S. Wilson (Ed.), The Church on the Move: A Quest to Affirm the Biblical Faith, Essays in honour of Peddi Victor Premasagar, Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 1988. Reprinted 1999. p.66.
7. Religion and Society, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Bengaluru, 1963. p.59.
8. The Story of Serampore and its College, Council of Serampore College, Serampore (Third edition, revised), 1961. p.124.
9. The American Lutheran, American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1965. p.12.
10. Al-Basheer, Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic Studies, Hyderabad, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan.–March 1972. p.29.
11. Eric J. Lott, Service for All Seasons, Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad, 1973.
12. Hannah Ward, Jennifer Wild, Resources for Preaching and Worship-Year C: Quotations, Meditations, Poetry, and Prayers, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. p.119.
13. Gnana Robinson, Foreword in David C. Scott, Israel Selvanayagam (Edited), Re-Visioning India's Religious Traditions – Essays in honour of Eric J. Lott, UTC / ISPCK, Bengaluru, 1996.
14. Johanna Rose Ratnavathi, Interview Excerpts, Hyderabad, 11 April 2009. Ratnavathi is a member of the Association of Theologically Trained Women of India who happened to be in Bengaluru at the time while pursuing a second graduate degree in theology.
15. Eric J. Lott, God and the Universe in the Vedāntic Theology of Rāmānuja: A Study in his Use of the Self-body Analogy, Ramanuja Research Society, Chennai, 1976.
16. K.E. Venkatesh, "List of publications on Sri Ramanuja and his philosophy", archives of Ramanuja.org.
17. Eric J. Lott, Vedāntic approaches to God, Barnes & Noble, Liverpool, 1980.
18. Eric J. Lott, India's Religions (in Telugu), Telugu Theological Literature Board, Hyderabad, 1975.
19. Eric J. Lott, Worship in an Indian Context: Eight Intercultural Liturgies, United Theological College, Bengaluru, 1986.
20. Eric J. Lott, Vision, Tradition & Interpretation: Theology, Religion & Religious Studies, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1988.
21. Eric J. Lott, Healing Wings: Acts of Jesus for Human Wholeness, Asian Trading Corporation, Bengaluru, 1998.
22. Eric J. Lott, Religious Faith, Human Identity: Dangerous Dynamics in Indian & Global Life, Asian Trading Corporation, Bengaluru, 2005.
23. Eric J. Lott and Jyoti Sahi, Faces of Vision: Images of Life and Faith, Christians Aware, Leicester, 2008.
24. Eric J. Lott, "On the Occurrence of White-naped Tit Parus nuchalis in Southern India", Forktail (Journal of Asian Ornithology, Oriental Bird Club), 1999, pp.93–94.
25. Eric J. Lott, "The Birds of the Cauvery Valley", Newsletter for Birdwatchers Vol. 27 (1&2):7–10 January–February 1987.
26. The Indian Institute of World Culture was established in 1945 in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru.
27. Talathoti Punnaiah, My Memoir, Ministry and Message: 60 years Life Experiences 1950-2010, Self published by the Author, Kakinada, 2010, p.24.

Further reading

• Arvind Sharma, Jacques Waardenburg (2001). "To the things themselves: essays on the discourse and practice of the phenomenology of religion". ISBN 978-3-11-016956-0.
• Geoffrey Wainwright, Karen Beth Westerfield Tucker (2006). "The Oxford history of Christian Worship". ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3.
• Paul M. Collins (2007). "Christian inculturation in India". ISBN 978-0-7546-6076-7.
• Bryan S. Rennie (2007). "The International Eliade". ISBN 978-0-7914-7087-9.