G. Solomon (28 December 19106 February 1993) was an Old Testament Scholar and a Baptist Patriarch hailing from the Protestant Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society (an affiliate member of the Baptist World Alliance and the National Council of Churches in India) and led it as its President during the years 1978-1982 overseeing the spiritual affairs of the Church Society whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction comprises the three states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 873A. John Prabhakar, Preaching Contextually: A Case with Rural Dalits in India, Notion Press, Chennai, 2016. Churches comprising nearly a million members per present statistics.
Contribution Comparative analysis In 1957, Solomon made a comparative analysis of suffering as viewed in two ancient scriptures, one from the Ancient Near East and the other from the Indian subcontinent where he provides the respective literature on suffering in both the scriptures, its genesis and outlook and some common insights between the two, particularly on retribution (see Klaus Koch (1955): Is there a Doctrine of Retribution in the Old Testament).Klaus Koch, Is there a Doctrine of Retribution in the Old Testament ? in James L. Crenshaw (Edited), Theodicy in the Old Testament, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1983, pp. 57-87. Solomon highlights the example of Job (biblical figure) where the sufferer endures it with the thought of a glimmer of hope some day or the other reposing unflinching trust in God. Old Testament Scholars down the line have drawn parallelsS. Prabhakara Rao and M. Prakasa Reddy, Job and His Satan - Parallels in Indian Scripture in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Volume 91, Issue 3, Berlin, 1979. on Prophet Job and Raja Satya Harishchandra providing scholarly insights into the problem of suffering endured by these two legendsMadanu Francis, Why the Innocent Suffer: Job and Harishchandra: Biblical and Puranic Expression, St. John's Regional Seminary, Hyderabad, 1998. and how they overcame it for a cause. A chronological analysis of the comparative literature on the problem of suffering in addition to the one by Solomon, reveals that John Bowker came out with Problems of Suffering in Religions of the World in 1970 where suffering as viewed by the diverse religions of the world has been presented.John Bowker, Problems of Suffering in Religions of the World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1970. Later, in 1979, the Pune-based inquisitive Chemical engineers of the National Chemical Laboratory namely S. Prabhakara RaoS. Prabhakara Rao, S. Ponarathnam and S. L. Kapur, The applicability of Kelen-Tudos method for the evaluation of monomer activity ratios in high conversions copolymerization, in Report, National Chemical Laboratory of India, Pune, 1976, p.110. and M. Prakasa ReddyM. Prakasa Reddy and James E. Sturm, Decomposition of ethane in radiolysis and in glow discharges: Temperature and Pressure Effects in Bulletin de la Société chimique, Volume 40, p.237 ff., 1975. came out with Job and His Satan - Parallels in Indian Scripture which was published in the German Old Testament scholarly journal, ZAW. A couple of years' later, David J. A. Clines came out with a research paper entitled In Search of the Indian Job where he provides a century of scholarly research on Job and Raja Satya Harishchandra that appeared in the Vetus Testamentum.D. J. A. Clines, In Search of the Indian Job in Vetus Testamentum, Volume 33, Fasc. 4, October 1983, pp. 398-418. Later in 1998, a Scholar at the St. Peter's Pontifical Seminary, Bangalore studying under Anthony Raymond Ceresko and Gnana Robinson researched specifically on Job and Harishchandra focusing on the problem of suffering.
Solomon's research brought out the many facets of suffering where his scholarship is profoundly visible as he sheaves through the views on suffering in the Old Testament as he quotes from the Pentateuch and the other books of the Old Testament with a comprehensive bibliography but the conclusions that he drew are an eye opener for those viewing suffering as a reason of our own follies. In the final analysis, Solomon looks into the possibilities of a more humane understanding of suffering overcoming Dogma and providing for repentance or rather an opportunity to set right the past and move forward. Solomon wrote, The solution of the problem of suffering in Christianity is that God also suffers along with the sufferer and helps him to endure it for His glory.
Solomon's work could best be understood if one were to look at a 1990G. Babu Rao, Wisdom tradition and the Indian Parallels with special reference to Telugu literature in Reflections on Theology Today, ACTC, Hyderabad, 1990. work entitled Wisdom tradition and the Indian Parallels with special reference to Telugu literature by the Old Testament Scholar,G. Babu Rao, Content Analysis of Theological Syllabi – Old Testament in Religion and Society, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, 3 September 1985. G. Babu Rao, who writes,
Old Testament teaching As an Old Testament Teacher, Solomon first taught at the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary, Ramayapatnam from 1958B. R. Moses, Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary Centenary Report 1874-1974, in K. J. W. Jayakumar (Compiled), The Lights That Never Quench - Baptist Missionaries, Self published by the author, Nellore, 2008, pp.107-114. to 1972 during the Principalships of The Rev. Maurice BlanchardPeter Penner, Russians, North Americans, and Telugus: The Mennonite Brethren Mission in India 1885-1975, Kindred Productions, Winnipeg, 1997, p.141. and The Rev. Louis F. Knoll. Subsequently in 1962, the seminary was affiliatedGeorge M. Anathil, The Theological Formation of the Clergy in India, Pontifical Athenaeum, Rome, 1966, p.190. to the Senate of Serampore College (University), India's firstSankar Ray, The Hindu Business Line, 11 April 2008 Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. UniversityThe Senate of Serampore College (University) is a University within the meaning of Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act, 1956 under which a University means a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act, and includes any such institution as may, in consultation with the University concerned, be recognised by the Commission in accordance with the regulations made in this behalf under this Act. The UGC took the opinion that the Senate fell under the purview of Section 2 (f) of the said Act since The Serampore College Act, 1918 was passed by the Government of West Bengal. making the seminary become the first B.D.-level institutionThere have been other seminaries which were affiliated to Serampore but offered only L.Th. level courses. See Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada. in Andhra Pradesh to be affiliated with the University.
In the 1970s, Ecumenism brought together the different seminaries in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with the starting of the near-ecumenical Andhra Christian Theological College in the year 1964James A. Scherer, Mission and Unity in Lutheranism: A Study in Confession and Ecumenicity, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1969, p.234. by the Baptists (CBCNC), the Lutherans (AELC, SALC), the Methodists (MCI) and the Anglicans, Congregationalists and the Wesleyans (CSI). Solomon's Church Society, the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches was already running a seminary with English as a medium of instruction with Serampore affiliation for its B.D. whereas the new near-ecumenical venture offered L.Th. courses in Telugu as a medium of instruction.
However, two years' later, the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary through the efforts of both The Rev. Maurice Blanchard as well as The Rev. Louis F. Knoll in 1967,Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, 1979, p.81 with the cooperation of the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars who sent their learned faculty comprising W. G. CarderYear Book of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, 1970, p.113. began to function as a separate entity together with the within the campus of the newly-formed near-ecumenical Andhra Christian Theological College at its erstwhile location in Rajahmundry, giving an unprecedented impetus to the new near-ecumenical venture as the inclusion of the Ramayapatnam Seminary meant higher level theological education as well as English as the medium of instruction and also the availability of the well-trained faculty of the Ramayapatnam Seminary comprising Solomon, Suppogu Joseph, Louis F. Knoll, P. Joseph, K. Wilson and others who moved from Ramayapatnam to Rajahmundry to take up B.D. classes teaching alongside the faculty of Andhra Christian Theological College which was then entitled to offer only Licentiate in TheologyYearbook 1965 of the United Lutheran Church in America, 1965, p.11 courses. By 1972, Louis F. Knoll along with W. P. Peery led the integration of the B.D. section of the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary into the Andhra Christian Theological College before it moved in 1973 to its present location in Secunderabad.
Studies After general studies at the AELC-Andhra Christian College, Guntur leading to Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics under the Andhra University in 1934, Solomon took up work at the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in Chennai but a decade later, discerned his avocation towards priesthood and much like the early Church Father, Saint Ambrose of Milan, Solomon relinquished civil work at Chennai and took to priesthood.
Graduate By 1949,K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910-1997, Bangalore, 1997. Past students of the college diploma course, p.24. Solomon enrolled at the Protestant Regional Theologiate - the United Theological College, Bangalore for spiritual studies during the Principalship of Max Hunter Harrison, the College's first Old Testament Teacher and studied until 1952 for the three year Bachelor of Divinity course. Solomon's companions who were studying at the College at varying intervals included, D. J. Ambalavanar, N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel, V. C. Samuel, Victor Premasagar, E. C. John, Bobbili Prabhudass and others.
During the ensuing convocation of the Senate of Serampore College (University) held in 1953, Solomon was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity during the Registrarship of The Rev. W. W. Winfield.
Postgraduate During 1956-1957, Solomon was sent for postgraduate studies to the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary,OCLC King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where he specialized in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew language under the guidance of Edward R. Dalglish, Carl H. Morgan,Carl H. Morgan, The layperson's introduction to the New Testament, Judson Press, Valley Forge, 1991. and Walter B. S. Davis.Supplement to the Evangelical Theological Society Directory, Volume VII, p.36.. By 1957, Solomon's research with the title, The Concept of Suffering in the Bible and HinduismG. Solomon, The Concept of Suffering in the Bible and in Hinduism, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, King of Prussia, 1957. was published by the seminary leading to the award of Master of Theology in Old Testament.