Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar is a feminist activist ecumenical theologian who taught at Serampore College, Serampore (1990-1994) the United Theological College, Bangalore, (1999-2014). Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar was the first permanent woman faculty to serve as faculty in the Theology Department of the renowned Serampore College, founded by William Carey when he came to India in 1792. She was the first Lutheran Woman to serve as first Vice President of the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India in 2006. She comes from a family of theologians - about 17 of them, her father, all eight siblings, and seven of the eight who married into the family. Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar served as the President of the Association of Theologically Trained Women of India (ATTWI) and is a sought after resource person on Body Theology.
Writings
Practicing Gender Justice as a Faith Mandate in India, Studies in World Christianity, triannual, Edinburgh University Press, April 2007, Volume 13, pp. 33–52, ISSN 1354-9901. Dear God, Reveal Your Name!, The God of All Grace: Essays in Honour of O. V. Jathanna, Edited by Joseph George, Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore, 2005. , Engendering Leadership: A Christian feminist Perspective from India, in Responsible Leadership, Edited by Christoph Stückelberger and J.N.K. Mugambi pp. 168, Action Publishers, Nairobi, 2005. Women's Movements in Mission: Some lessons for the Church Today, Re-routing Mission: Towards A People's Concept of Mission, Chraistava Sahitya Samithi, Tiruvalla, April 2004, pp. 39–60. New Eyes, New Reading, New Woman..., Feminist Hermeneutics, Edited by Lalrinawmi Ralte and Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar, IWIT/ISPCK, New Delhi, 2002, pp. 102–114. , . Mission from a Dalit Perspective, Mission Paradigm in the New Millennium, Edited by W. S. Milton Jeganathan, Indian Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, New Delhi, 2000, pp. 296–304. Gender and Identity in Envisioning a New Heaven and a New Earth, Edited by Rini Ralte and others, Indian Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, New Delhi, 1999. William Carey's Mission of Compassion and Justice, Carey's Obligation and India's Renaissance, Edited by J.T.K. Daniel and Roger E. Hedlund, Council of Serampore College, Serampore, First published 1993 and reprinted in 2005, pp. 323–333. "Turning the Body inside out" in Dalit Theology of the 21st century. Ed. Sathianathan Clarke, Philip Peacock and Deenabandhu Manchala, Oxford Publications, Delhi, 2010. "The Violence of Silence: Reviewing the Church's stance on the issue of Domestic Violence" in Asian Christian Review, "Engaging the dis-ease of silence and passivity in church and society: New energy from rereading the Bible through a gender lens." In In love with the Bible and its ordinary readers: Hans de Wit and the intercultural Bible reading project, edited by Hans Snoek. Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2015, pp. "Womb: Is it inside or Outside? Reflections on the issue of Women renting their wombs" in The Yobel Spring. Vol 1 eds. Praveen PS Perumalla, et al., ACTC &ISPCK, Delhi, 2013, pp. 239–248.
Early days
Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar was born on 19 March 1963 in Bangalore. She is the third daughter in a family of eight siblings, (six sisters + two brothers) and all eight siblings completed their theological education and entered various forms of ministry. Acts 1: 8 "Be my Witnesses" is the under-girding Bible verse that motivates the whole family to witness to a loving and gracious triune God who sustained them in days of hardship and despair. Faith in God is therefore the richest resource that the family is endowed with, making the millionaires in faith to the rest of the world to state that God is a living and an ever present God, active in history, in everyone's lives. The neighborhood where Evangeline lived (The Jeremiah Road Neighborhood) is yet another large family comprising at least twenty families, belonging to all faiths: Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Christian, and those who were from different culture, caste, color and faith orientations. That this friendship and comradeship remains alive and vibrant even today after thirty – forty years speaks of the quality of relationship fostered in that neighborhood community. She went to Goodwill's Girls School and later joined Mount Carmel College, Bangalore where she obtained a BSc degree in the year 1983.
Studies in divinity
Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar's father stands as THE person who influenced her most, in her personal and faith formation. How do those parents who have faced difficult moments in their own lives, convert those experiences into faith and commit themselves to building a positive family, neighborhood,