Bunyan Joseph


Bishop Bunyan Joseph was the first and only elected Bishop - in - Anantapur-Kurnool Diocese who was consecrated on 27 September 1947 and was among the 15 inaugural Bishops when the Church of South India was inaugurated at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Chennai. He was presented for consecration by The Venerable F. F. Gladstone and Canon T. Sithers. to the Presiding Bishop Cherakarottu Korula Jacob, who as the first Moderator, consecrated Bunyan Joseph.
Bunyan Joseph began ministering since the 1920s in parts of Andhra Pradesh and in line with the Indian ethos, he made use of the Tanpura, presenting the Gospel in Telugu language through a Hymn. There are 7 hymns composed by Bunyan Joseph which have been included in the Christian Hymnal in Telugu language. As observed by the Christian Artist P. Solomon Raj, the Hymnal has been of high literary standard consisting of hymns in Telugu set in music patterns of Carnatic music and Hindustani classical music. The Missiologist Roger E. Hedlund notes that together with the Bible, the Hymnal has also gained usage equally with the Bible to both the literate and the illiterate. The Old Testament Scholar, G. Babu Rao reiterates the significance of the hymn in making a plain listener understand the message of the Gospel. Though it may outwardly seem nothing, the inherent technique adopted in composing such a hymn required much understanding of the scriptures and the context. An insight into the spiritual formation of Bunyan Joseph brings forth facets of sound theological grounding at both the SPG Theological College in Madras under Oxbridge Scholars and later at the Divinity School at Dornakal, under the able bishopric of Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah.

Life and times

Bunyan Joseph was an Anglican Priest of the Diocese of Dornakal under the bishopric of Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah and it was here that Bunyan Joseph became a Deacon and Presbyter in 1923 and 1924 respectively. He composed Hymns in Telugu language and prior to becoming the Bishop, he was a Theological Tutor at the Divinity Schools in Dornakal and Giddalur and had already become a Canon.

in Madras

A couple of days' prior to 27 September 1947, the award-winning photographer Mark Kaufman of Life undertook a photo shoot of few personalities at Madras that included Joseph Bunyan. It was J. S. M. Hooper, then General Secretary of the Bible Society of India who preached the inaugural sermon at the Cathedral. It is said that the Cathedral and its surroundings were packed with nearly 5,000 people that day. There were a total of 15 Bishops who were consecrated, among them 9 were first time Bishops,
The remaining 6 were already Bishops in their erstwhile dioceses until their integration into the union,
The bishopric to which Bunyan Joseph was appointed was already mired in a problem of dependency and the entire Church union did not go well with the congregations who were ignorant about it and refused to join the union. The bishopric of Bunyan Joseph was short lived and he had to relinquish the Cathedra on 2 August 1949 due to manifold reasons which is best known as the Nandyal Problem. It was during his oversight of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction that brought him in interaction with B. E. Devaraj and Emani Sambayya.
A couple of decades later, Constance M. Millington took up Nandyal Problem as her doctoral dissertation at the University of Leeds in 1990. Much later, S. J. Sampath Kumar, a researcher at the Sri Krishnadevaraya University, took up research on the history of the Rayalaseema diocese in 2002 and had also covered the life and times of Bunyan Joseph.
In retrospect, L. W. Brown, writing in The Churchman in 1951 about the initial three years' of the formation of the Church of South India, between the two biennial Church of South India Synods, highlighted the issues in Anantapur-Kurnool Diocese, with special reference to the bishopric of Joseph Bunyan.
. Bunyan Joseph was consecrated in this Cathedral on 27 September 1947.
Finally in 1952, after more than two years of confrontation with the Church of South India, Bishop Bunyan Joseph came in full communion with it. Constance M. Millington writes,

in Secunderabad

After Bunyan Joseph returned to the fold of the CSI in 1952, Arthur Michael Hollis, then Moderator, invited him to be Assistant Bishop - in - Madras. Bunyan Joseph chose to proceed to Secunderabad where Frank Whittaker, then Bishop - in - Medak accommodated him in Medak Diocese made him as Assistant Bishop. Bunyan Joseph also served as Presbyter during the period 1956-1957 and 1960-1961 at the CSI-Church of St. John the Baptist in Secunderabad. Rajaiah David Paul recorded that Bunyan Joseph retired in August 1959 after attaining superannuation. However, he also recorded that it was only in October 1963 that he finally retired from active service of the Church.

Hymn compositions and writings

Writings

During the 1970s, the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College, then in Bangalore under the stewardship of Hunter P. Mabry, H. S. Wilson, and Zaihmingthanga planned to prepare a comprehensive bibliography of original Christian writings in India in vernacular languages. Subsequently, Ravela Joseph was appointed in the 1980s to take up the task of gathering material from as many sources as possible across the Telugu-speaking states. The search for such vernacular Christian writings and compositions from institutions of the Catholic, Protestant, the New and Indigenous Churches and individual authors and composers gathered steam and finally concluded in the 1990s by which time Suneel Bhanu also assisted in the initiative. The Bibliography of Original Christian Writings in India in Telugu was published in 1993 and includes the following two writings by Bunyan Joseph,
YearTitle
In English / తెలుగు		PublisherCompiler's sourceCompiler's thematic arrangement
1954Sangha Jyoti: Light of the Church / సంఘ జ్యోతిAndhra Christian Council,
Dornakal		ACTC,
Secunderabad		Church, Ministry and Sacraments
1965Satya Jyothi: Torch of Truth / సత్య జ్యోతిSelf-published,
Dornakal		ACTC,
Secunderabad		Person and work of Jesus

Hymn compositions

As a Hymn writer, Bunyan Joseph composed many hymns and 7 of them find place in the Christian Hymnal in Telugu with the corresponding hymn numbers.
Hymn NumberHymn
In English / తెలుగు		RagamTanam
29O God, we praise you / ఓ దేవా, నిన్ను స్తుతించుచున్నాముDheerashankarabharanamAdi
48Morning hymn / ఉదయగీతిAnandabhairaviTriputa
218The resurrection of Christ / క్రీస్తు పునరుతానముMukhariAta
225The ascension of Christ / క్రీస్తు ఆరోహణముAnandabhairaviEka
574Christian philanthropy / క్రైస్తవ దాతృత్వముNadhanamakriyaAta
593Palm Sunday / మట్టలాలాదివారముShankarabharanaAdi
597The memory of All Saints / సర్వపరిశుద్దుల స్మరణKalyaniTriputa

Legacy and reminisce

It was said of Bunyan Joseph as being a bullock-cart Evangelist who tended the congregations not only through the word, but through deed and has been the inspiration behind Joshua Vision India. Scholastic and Collegiate level institutions in Nandyal supervised by the Nandyal Diocese have been named after Bunyan Joseph, namely,
Constance M. Millington, as part of her research, had visited Bunyan Joseph in the 1980s who by that time was in his nineties in Secunderabad and reminisces,