Regunta Yesurathnam

Comparative religion

Yesurathnam, also wrote on the work on the concept of Avatara, which has been cited by other scholars. Bob Robinson noted this work with special emphasis on the relationship to Christianity and Steven Tsoukalas quoted Yesurathnam's work on the forms of Avatara.

Contextualization

Inter-disciplinary writings by Yesurathnam have struck new ground in inculturation as espoused by Swamy Amalorananda and the New Testament Scholar Suppogu Joseph, STBC (2007) had made a sustained research exploring possibilities for the Gospel to adapt itself to the multi-religious ethos of India. Earlier proponents who experimented with Contextualization, emphasizing on the presentation of Christ adapting to the Indian culture, were Robert de Nobili, SJ, E. Stanley Jones, MCI, and B. V. Subbamma, AELC, who together were known for their contribution to the Christian Ashram Movement in India.

Yesurathnam's definition of Contextualization has been acknowledged by scholars as a resourceful addition. Charles E. Van Engen refer to the word contextualization as defined by Yesurathnam.

Renewal of the Church

Yesurathnam cautioned the Church against falling into traditionalism. During the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the Uniting church, the CSI held in Chennai in 1997, Yesurathnam spoke on the ills befalling the Church in India, Echoing the apprehensions by Yesurathnam, Stanley Jedidiah Samartha who was also present at the Jubilee in Chennai, pointed out that one must first introspect before raising cudgels against the Indian caste system and believed that one failed to notice the gradual transformation of the episcopacy into such a system. Yesurathnam, in an introduction to the book Jesus' Tears! by Elizabeth Thelma Johnson (2007), has highlighted the work of a Laity and appreciated their contribution towards the Christian missions.

Studies From his youth, Yesurathnam was inspired by the work of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian missions in Telangana. He entered the ministry of the Protestant Church through the Diocese of Medak, becoming a ministerial candidate during the bishopric of Frank Whittaker, the first Bishop-in-Medak. He studied at a seminary in Bangalore for spiritual formation and was ordained in 1967 by Bishop Eber Priestley, the then Bishop-in-Medak.

Graduate After initial schooling at the mission schools founded by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) in Telangana, Yesurathnam decided to take up priesthood. Bishops Frank Whittaker and Eber Priestley, successively, became his Spiritual Confessors and led him to take up spiritual studies at the United Theological College, Bangalore during 1963–1967. Yesurathnam's Bishop during that period, B. G. Prasada Rao, made efforts to ensure that Yesurathnam was able to join his alma mater, the United Theological College, Bangalore, where he was able to take up research in the discipline of systematic theology under the guidance of Arvind P. Nirmal, CNI. Yesurathnam also came under the tutelage of Stanley Jedidiah Samartha, a leading authority on Dialogical Theology. During the research period between 1978 and 1982,

By 1981, Yesurathnam returned to the United Theological College and began shaping his doctoral dissertation under the guidance of David C. Scott and by 1982, he rejoined the Andhra Christian Theological College, which by then was being led by the New Testament scholar, K. David, CBCNC and took up his teaching role in systematic theology, but was able to submit his doctoral thesis to the university through his supervisor at the United Theological College and finally in 1987, much before nearing a decade of registering with the university, it awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology.

Though Yesurathnam sought permission from the Senate of Serampore College to publish his doctoral work nearly two decades later, in 2006. on works relating to the contribution of Swami Abhishiktananda.

Ministry

Pastoral ministry The CSI-Medak Cathedral, Medak where Yesurathnam was ordained in 1967 by Bishop Eber Priestley, Bishop - in - Medak.

Yesurathnam was ordained in 1967 by Priestley, then Bishop-in-Medak, and was assigned ministerial functions in the parishes falling under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak and served in Sangareddy while in Germany turned the tides for those in fray, resulting in the appointment and subsequent consecration of B. P. Sugandhar.

Teaching

The Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) relocated from Rajahmundry to Secunderabad. Yesurathnam was invited to join the college in 1974, In 1993 he was appointed guest professor at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel in Germany, where he taught until 1994. He then returned to ACTC and was appointed principal under the institution's policy of rotating that office between the various constituent churches in four-year cycles.

Yesurathnam took a year's sabbatical leave in 1998 to the Overseas Ministries Study Center, and rejoined the Theologiate in Secunderabad to teach for two more years until 2001.

Missionary service When the Council for World Mission (CWM) sought missionaries from the CSI, Yesurathnam moved to the International University of the Caribbean, Kingston, Jamaica, where he began his sojourn in the New millennium and served as a theological educator for nearly a decade until his death on 8 August 2011

1972, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's concept of man and its relevance for a Christian interpretation of man in India 1987, The adequacy of the concept of Avatara for expounding the Christian doctrine of incarnation 1987, The Mythic Symbol Avatara in Indian Conceptual Formulations 1988, Religious Pluralism: Some Implications for the Mission of the Church 1990, Abhishiktānanda : An Indian Christian Theologian with a difference 1993, Contours of the emerging Indian Church: Problems and Possibilities 1998, Liberation from Jubilee Perspective 1999, Can the Clergy make it ? 1999, Book Review: Mission Today, Challenges and Responses 2000, Contextualizing in Mission 2001, Book Review: Relevant Patterns of Christian Witness in India: People as Agents of Mission 2001, Channels of Peace: A Theological Perspective 2003, The Cross of Christ as the Anchor of Hope in Suffering 2006, A Christian Dialogical Theology: The Contribution of Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux)