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Rayi Ratna Sundara Rao (born 1934; died 1992〔Rayi Ministries. (Rayi Ratna Ministries )〕) was a prolific writer, theologian and comparative religion scholar who once served as the principal of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai, affiliated to the nation's first〔(UNESCO Structures of University Education in India, 1952 )〕 university, the Senate of Serampore College (University). Some of the writings of Sundara Rao are kept in digitized versions at the National Library of India〔 and the Indian Institute of Science.〔 In a recent 2014 study by Katherine C. Zubko of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Zubko highlights that Sundara Rao's assumption of Bhakti was a more inward expression for concern for others cutting across religious boundaries.〔Katherine C. Zubko, ''Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam'', Lexington Books, Plymouth, 2014, p.86. ()〕 In fact, Sundara Rao's treatise, ''Bhakti Theology in the Telugu Hymnal'' had struck new ground in finding out the origins of Bhakti element in Christian Hymns in Telugu. The Missiologist, Roger E. Hedlund asserted that along with the Bible, the Christian Hymnal in Telugu also formed the main bulwark of Christian spiritual life for the Telugu folk and of equal use to both the non-literates and the literates as well.〔Roger E. Hedlund, Quest for Identity: India's Churches of Indigenous origin: The "Little" Tradition in Indian Christianity, New Delhi, 2000, p.261. ()〕 In such a setting of the importance of the Telugu Hymnal, Sundara Rao's study reiterated〔James Elisha Taneti, ''History of the Telugu Christians: A Bibliography'', Scarecrow/ATLA, Toronto, 2011, p.11. ()〕 the fact that Bhakti had been a binding factor for the early Christians in the Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While this has been so, new studies in 2014 by Harvard-Scholars, Ch. Vasantha Rao and John B. Carman indicate that the element of Bhakti had not done much inroads into the otherwise rural India which in their study wholly depended on folk element.〔John B. Carman, Chilkuri Vasantha Rao, Christians in South Indian Villages 1959-2009, Decline and Revival in Telangana, Eerdmans Publishing, Cambridge, 2014, pp.68-71. ()〕 ==Studies== Sundara Rao had his ministerial formation at the Lutheran Theological College, Rajahmundry, affiliated to the nation's first〔 University, the Senate of Serampore College (University), under the Principalship of William D. Coleman (Pastor). Sundara Rao later upgraded his academics by pursuing a Bachelor of Divinity degree.〔 Sundara Rao was awarded a degree by the University during the Registrarship of Chetti Devasahayam. For language studies, Sundara Rao enrolled for a graduate and postgraduate programme in Telugu at the Andhra University and the Venkateshwara University which awarded him with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts respectively. Sundara Rao also researched from 1976 to 1980〔 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison〔''The Galveston Daily, News from Galveston, Texas'', January 12, 1980, page 9. ()〕 submitting a dissertation in 1981 entitled ''The bhakti element in Āndhra Kraistava Kīrtanalu : an intensive study of the phenomenon of bhakti, a Sanskrit word for devotion, as presented in the Telugu Christian Hymnal''〔R. R. Sundara Rao, ''The bhakti element in Āndhra Kraistava Kīrtanalu : an intensive study of the phenomenon of bhakti, a Sanskrit word for devotion, as presented in the Telugu Christian Hymnal'', University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1981. ()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「R. R. Sundara Rao」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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