Johnson Gnanabaranam

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Johnson Gnanabaranam in 1995.

Johnson Gnanabaranam (born  August 3, 1933 as Jubilee Gnanabaranam Johnson in Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu , South India ; †  August 10, 2008 in Chennai (formerly called Madras ) in Tamil Nadu, South India) was an Indian Evangelical Lutheran theologian, from 1993 to 1999 the ninth Bishop of Tranquebar the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church ( Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church TELC) in Tamil Nadu and a world-renowned author of Christian literature, whose works have been translated into numerous languages.

Life

parents house

Johnson Gnanabaranam was born on August 3, 1933 as the eldest son of the Evangelical Lutheran pastor J. Ephraim Jubilee and his wife Marthal Joyce around 40 kilometers northwest of Madras in the south Indian city of Tiruvallur . At the age of 34 he wrote about his native India and his parents: Anyone who is proud of their noble and wealthy family or who is sad about their low origin is not wise. It is more or less a coincidence in which family we are born. If the toddlers were asked which country they wanted to be born in, I assume that few brave babies would choose India as their home. As far as I can remember, no one asked me if I wanted to be born in South India. One can find life in India wonderful if one accepts poverty as a task of God. The only thing I don't like about India is the rock-hard association of life with a false belief. I thank my parents for worrying more about my spiritual growth than about my studies . His mother was a teacher, his two grandfathers worked as evangelists for the Leipzig Mission .

Childhood and youth

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his four younger sisters in different places, as his father worked in several parishes in Tamil Nadu. He finished school in Sirkali and Sattur after eleven years with the Secondary School Leaving Certificate . His elective was mathematics.

Study time

As a student in a Hindu and later in an Islamic college, he got to know the different religious views of India. From 1948 to 1950 he studied mathematics, logic and economics at the Hindu Senthilkumara Hindu Nadar College in Virudhunagar . He trained as a teacher in Tranquebar from 1951 to 1952 . Then he taught from 1953 to 1957 in schools of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) in Mayuram and Tiruchirapalli (formerly known as Trichinopoly or Trichi ). He also qualified to teach in Sunday schools . At the Trinity College of Music in London in Chennai , he studied Western music with a focus on organ and concluded his studies in music with the final examination. Now he also worked as a volunteer organist and choirmaster in the Lutheran Church in Tiruchirapalli .

At the age of twelve he met one of the founders of the Christakula Ashram , the doctor Savarirayan Jesudason . Hugald Grafe describes this encounter: It was shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima . Savarirayan Jesudason interpreted the two parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan so impressively that from then on Johnson Gnanabaranam saw the salvation of the world nowhere else than in radical conversion and boundless love - both central themes in his talks and writings. This charismatic doctor had made him want to get to know this ashram. He lived for some time in the monastic Christakula Ashram in Tirupattur . He assessed the stay in the ashram as follows: A stay in an ashram, a kind of Christian monastery, showed me the need for social work and meditation. These influences made me believe that it was God's plan that I too should be a witness of Christ in India.

From 1957 to 1959 he studied economics at the Islamic Jamal Mohammed College in Tiruchirapalli . At the end of his studies he received a BCom degree from the University of Madras . He then studied Protestant theology from 1959 to 1962 at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute in Madras . He graduated from theology in 1962 with the first theological exam, the BD of the University of Serampore .

On June 8, 1962, he was called to serve as Vicar of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC). He started his vicariate in the small town of Sirkali . The management of a large children's home was also part of his work. Since he had also obtained the Technical Teacher Diploma , the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) then transferred him to their Fabrizius High School in Madras as a mathematics teacher . During this time he began to learn the German language at the local Goethe Institute .

In 1964 he received a scholarship for the Mission Academy at the University of Hamburg . Here he continued his theology studies. After the language tests in Greek and German, he devoted himself to his studies, wrote the master’s thesis on the subject of " Tirukural with relevance to the Indian Christian understanding of the Bible" and completed his master’s degree in Protestant theology with a master’s degree in theology (M.Th. ).

One of the tutors at the Mission Academy of the University of Hamburg was the German vicar Eva Maria Siebert . She discovered his talent as a writer and translated the works written in English into German .

Writing activity

Johnson Gnanabaranam in 1995.

Johnson Gnanabaranam published the following works in German: "Today my Jesus" (1967), "My Jesus, make me new" (1986), "I talk to you every day" (1996) and "Feelings are tender as flowers" ( 1999). His books contain poems, prayers, stories and meditations. They want to awaken and strengthen faith in Jesus Christ . The greatest literary success was the book "Today My Jesus" , it was published in nine languages. He donated the fees for his books to social and evangelistic work in Papua New Guinea and Brazil . Hugald Grafe describes the effect of these works as follows: It was the content of these small volumes that drew Christians all over the world under the spell of the meditations of the Indian pastor. They are opened again and again, used as a confession or prayer in church services, used as an allusion or as an introduction to the sermon , read aloud at sick beds and during Bible studies , reprinted in church newspapers, included in the slogans of the Moravian Bible verses.

The Svenska kyrkans mission (SKM) created the film "En Ny Dans" from the meditation "A new dance " . The German NDR television showed a film on Good Friday 1982 in which an Indian dancer performed the Passion of Jesus . Johnson Gnanabaranam wrote the meditative lyrics for this film.

Career advancement

Bishop Johnson preaches.
Bishop Johnson baptizes a child in a village church.

After returning to Tamil Nadu, Johnson Gnanabaranam was ordained a pastor on June 15, 1969. His first own parish was Sadras , a fishing village on the Coromandel coast on the Bay of Bengal . The Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and the Madras nuclear power plant (MAPS) were built there in 1969 . A new building area for the employees at the nuclear power plant expanded the two fishing villages of Sadras and Pudupattinam to form the new town of Kalpakkam . Since his pastorate included fishermen and highly qualified employees at the nuclear power plant, who also came from different denominations , the work in Sadras was a challenge for him. He saw his diaconal tasks in Sadras in building houses for poor fishermen in the area.

In 1971 the theological Serampore College in Serampore near Calcutta appointed him lecturer in systematic theology . From 1972 to 1974 he learned Swedish and worked in Uppsala in the Mission of the Church of Sweden as assistant to the Asia advisor. In secularized Sweden he saw himself as a missionary from India. The missionaries of the Swedish Church SKM in Tamil Nadu were once among the pioneers of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC). Now, in a time of de-Christianization , Johnson Gnanabaranam saw the time had come for missionaries from the former mission areas to come to Sweden to do missionary work in Sweden. Therefore he gave missionary sermons in many church communities. From 1974 to 1978 he researched the poetry of the Christian Tamil poet Henry Alfred Krishnapillai and the sayings of Solomon in the Old Testament at Uppsala University . During this time he wrote numerous Christian meditation texts himself, which are published posthumously in Tamil translation in Tamil Nadu.

On December 6, 1978, in Darmstadt , he married the German pastor of the Evangelical Church of Hesse and Nassau, Eva Maria Siebert , whom he had met while studying in Hamburg. At the beginning of 1979 he returned to India to see his dying father and to take care of his mother and four sisters in his place. There he became the director of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute in Madras , where he taught systematic theology and, together with his wife, devoted himself to the theological training of pastors and church workers.

In 1983 the church leadership of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) appointed him director of the newly established Ziegenbalg Spiritual Center in Tranquebar , where he taught systematic theology . In addition, he took over the pastoral position in Akkur with its many village communities. He founded other parishes and built ten village churches there and the Bethel retirement home in Tranquebar . In addition, through his initiative, the girls' school in Porayar was expanded to become the Talitha Kumi High School and the Gründler Hostel children's home named after the missionary Johann Ernst Gründler was built in Tranquebar. During an extended study visit to Jerusalem in 1984, he deepened his knowledge of Hebrew and gained extensive knowledge of Judaism .

The 9th Bishop of Tranquebar

Bishop Johnson.

On January 14, 1993 he was introduced to Tranquebar as the 9th Bishop of Tranquebar of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC). He held this office until his retirement in January 1999. His official seat was Tiruchirappalli . When he was 60 years old, the Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration awarded him an honorary theological doctorate (Dr. theol. Hc).

From his youth he was a staunch pacifist and an opponent of chauvinism . He considered racism and the caste system to be incompatible with the Christian faith . He was committed to the protection of creation by often planting trees after services. His speeches were clear, and his sermons impressed with memorable examples. He consciously brought Lutheran theology into ecumenical encounters and conversations . Because of his extensive and special knowledge, he was regarded by many as a "walking lexicon". That is why he was often invited to speak at meetings and conferences.

During his work as a bishop, his priorities were the strengthening of evangelism and mission and the promotion of diaconal help for the poor, the sick, children and the elderly. His simple lifestyle and his dedication to all walks of life (be it Christian or non-Christian) earned him the title People's Bishop .

He supported the construction of church buildings. In Virudhunagar he founded St. Luke's Hospital and in Dhamapuram the TELC Eye Hospital . He was the second president of the Indian Bible Society of India and served on the boards of the United Theological College in Bangalore (UTC), the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary in Madurai (TTS), the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College in Chennai and the Meston College of Education in Chennai. He developed the new version of the two hymn books for the services of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church : the Lyric Book, which is mainly used in villages, and the Fabricius Hymn Book , which is common in the cities and which appeared for the first time with four-part notation. He was a co-founder of the Indian Missionary Society United Christian Missionary Society of India (UCMSI) whose main focus in the state of Orissa is. Until his death he was the chairman of the divine service department of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI), and he developed the new series of pericopes for them .

retirement

During his retirement he lived with his wife first in Tranquebar and then in Chennai . Until his death he used his knowledge and strength for the Bible Society of India. He was actively involved in the revision of the Old Testament in Tamil . He directed the Tamil Study Bible project and wrote the scientific commentary on the Pauline Letters for the Tamil Study Bible . He also provided the Bible Society's historical calendar with biographies of important missionaries . He also belonged to the group of scholars who edited the interdenominational translation of the Tamil Bible. During the 1999/2000 Millennium celebrations in New Delhi , he led the delegation of the Indian Bible Society on the visit of the Indian President K. R. Narayanan and presented the President with a Tamil Bible. He preached in church services to the end and wrote articles for publication. He died on August 10, 2008 in Chennai. He was buried in the Evangelical Lutheran Arulnathar Church in Chennai. His German wife Pastor D. Eva Maria Siebert Johnson has since published his works in India in the Tamil language .

Obituaries and tributes

“With a large majority he was elected Bishop X of Tranquebar by the TELC Synod in 1993, although he had hesitated to stand for a long time. But for the sake of his church, which was shaken by internal quarrels, he was persuaded. His goodness, love of truth, and almost limitless self-denial created problems as well as they carried him through. But he was able to plant the seeds for the satisfaction of the Church before he retired in 1999. But Gnanabaranam Johnson had another side to himself, quietly alongside his many important functions for his church. Concerns on this side of his life are expressed in the titles of his three most famous prayer books: Today, my Jesus (1967), My Jesus, make me new (1986) and I talk to you every day (1996). In doing so, he encouraged people far beyond his own country to pray and to follow Christ in practice. At the same time it expresses how deeply he was in the way of life in his homeland and in the closeness to the poor and simple people. And with regard to the abundance of religions in India, he said: Many people know God's omniscience and God's omnipotence, but not his heart, that is, his love. God's heart is Jesus Christ. "

  • Michael Hanfstängl, Director of the Leipziger Missionswerk (2005–2010), paid tribute to Johnson Gnanabaranam in the Leipzig Missionswerk's obituary as follows:

"I got to know him as a pious man in the best sense of the word , happy and confident in faith, without losing my grip on things."

  • Pastor Dr. Ponniah Manoharan, director of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute in Madras , published the following obituary in English on August 13, 2008 on behalf of the Lutheran World Federation :

"With deep regret we announce the sudden demise of the Rt Rev Dr J Gnanabaranam Johnson, (IX Bishop of Tranquebar), Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, India. Bishop Johnson was the ordained Pastor of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC), serving in many congregations and taught Systematic Theology in Serampore College, Calcutta and in Gurukul Lutheran Theological College Chennai. Later he served as Director of Gurukul and Director of the ZIegenbalg Spiritual Center at Tranquebar. He was consecrated as Bishop of TELC on 14th January 1993 and served the church till January 1999. Bishop Johnson is a versatile writer and his German Book “Heute mein Jesus” is translated into many languages. The royalty from this book was given for evangelistic work in Papua New Guinea. Bishop Johnson is survived by his wife Rev Dr Eva-Maria Siebert Johnson and three sisters. May his soul rest in peace. "

  • Pastor Dr. Ishmael Noco, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation , wrote in a letter of condolence dated August 29, 2008 to the widow Dr. Eva-Maria Siebert Johnson:

“Bishop Johnson wants to be remembered as giant among theological scholars within the ecological arena. His theological courage and insight were of high quality. His mastery of languages ​​gave him a unique advantage in environmental relations. It is for this reason that the LWF asked him again and again to participate in Ecumenical Dialogues. His personality was marked by humility and simplicity which can never be "reproduced". During theological disagreements among theologians in dialogue commissions, he served as a "bridge" because of his unassuming personality. We always upheld him as a gift to the Church in India and abroad. "

  • Pastor Peter Lindvall, responsible for ecumenical and ecclesiastical relations in the Church of Sweden, wrote in the condolence letter of August 29, 2008 to the widow Dr. Eva-Maria Siebert Johnson:

"Bishop Johnson was always highly appreciated in Church of Sweden and he meant a lot for the development of the relation between our two churches. We also remember him as an important writer and theologian and I think you know that some of his writings were also translated into Swedish. Myself I remember an afternoon in his home in Tranqebar when I was invited together with bishop Martin to dinner. It was a remarkable moment for me to listen to bishop Johnson that day. "

Honors

  • 1993: Dr. theol. hc of the Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration .
  • 2003: Ziegenbalg Award from the International Tamil Pastors 'and Leaders' Conference
  • 2009: The TELC Child Care Ministry set up three Bishop Johnson Challenge Cups in Chennai , Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore , which are given annually to children's worship groups with excellent knowledge of the Bible.
  • October 20, 2012: The TELC church leadership named the high school in Tranquebar after Johnson Gnanabaranam. The high school is named: TELC Bishop Johnson Memorial Higher Secondary School . In front of the grammar school is the golden bust of Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg .
  • 2013: The church leadership of TELC named the children's home in Kamuthi Bishop Gnanabaranam Johnson Memorial Free Boarding Home for Children .
  • 2013: The church leadership of TELC named the boys' home in Pandur the Bishop Johnson Home for Boys .
  • 2014: The church leadership of TELC gave the newly built church in Velinchangudi the name Bishop Johnson Good Shepherd Church.

Works

Bishop Johnson in the bishop's robe of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tamil Nadu with miter and crook .
Primary literature (selection)
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Called out of darkness to receive God's grace. In: Lutheran World Federation (ed.): In Christ - called to witness. Bible studies. Lutheran World Federation, Ninth Assembly, Hong Kong 1997. Lutheran World Federation, Geneva 1996. ISBN 3906706311
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Church and Society in Tranquebar Today. In: George Oommen u. a .: It started in Copenhagen. Junctions in 300 years of Indian-Danish relations in Christian mission. ISPCK, Delhi 2005.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Det Verkliga. Älvsjö: Skeab, Stockholm 1981. In Danish translation: Det Virklige. En andagts- og meditation arch. DMS - forlag, Hellerup 1986.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Feelings are tender as flowers. Christian wisdom from India. Verlag Bock & Kübler, Berlin undated (1998). ISBN 978-3-86155-077-8
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Today my Jesus. Poems, prayers, stories and meditations on faith in Jesus Christ. Worldwide broadcast, volume 3. Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, Erlangen, first edition 1967, 10th edition 1983. ISBN 978-3-87214-002-9
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: La Danse du semeur. Prières évangéliques d'un India. Centurion, Paris 1986. ISBN 2-227-33510-6
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: My Jesus, make me new. Conversations with God. Meditations and prayers of an Indian interpretation of the biblical message. Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, Erlangen, first edition 1986 and 2nd edition 1986. ISBN 978-3-87214-180-4
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Mission Today. A Personal Experience and Understanding of Mission. In: Victor Premasagar, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute (Ed.): New Horizons in Christian Mission. Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute, Chennai 2000.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: On Being Church in India. In: Lutheran World Federation: LWF Documentation. No. 47. Kreuz Verlag Erich Breitsohl, Stuttgart 2001.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Ordination. In: Daniel Jeyaraj (Ed.): Ordination of the first Protestant Indian Pastor Aaron. Lutheran Heritage Archives Gurukul, Chennai 1998
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: I talk to you every day. New texts from India. Erlanger Taschenbücher Volume 110. Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, Erlangen 1996. ISBN 978-3-87214-510-9
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Tirukural with relevance to the Indian Christian understanding of the Bible. English manuscript of the Magister script, Hamburg 1968/1969.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: That's Faith For Me. Lutheran Church of Australia 1999.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: That's Faith For Me. The Christian Literature Society (CLS), Chennai 2013
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Tranquebar i dag. In: Arcotkirken: Arcot-krøniken. Indisk kirke i 125 år. DMS - forlag, Hellerup 1989.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Ziegenbalg's Literary Contribution. In: Tranquebar Mission (1706-2006) Tercentenary Souvenir. TELCT, Tiruchirapalli.
  • Johnson Gnanabaranam: Be patient and pray. Published by: Leipziger Missionswerk , Leipzig 2014.

Secondary literature

  • Hugald Grafe: G. Johnson Gnanabaranam - a master of pictorial meditation. In: Evangelisches Missionswerk in Deutschland (EMW): People with a mission. Biographies, portraits, interviews. Mission year book 2003. Missionshilfe Verlag, Hamburg 2003. ISBN 3-921620-71-6
  • Michael Hanfstängl: Retired Bishop Gnanabaranum Johnson - Tamil bishop and writer died. In: Church worldwide. 3/2008, page 15. Bulletin of the Leipziger Missionswerk. Leipziger Missionswerk , Leipzig 2008.
  • Ernst-August Lüdemann: Today my Jesus. On the death of Gnanabaranam Johnson. In: Share. Hermannsburger Missionsblatt 65/02, issue No. 5, September / October 2008, 148th year. Published by Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony , Hermannsburg 2008.
  • Hugald Grafe: Church under Dalits, Adivasi and caste people in South India. The Indian partner churches of the Lutheran churches in Lower Saxony. Becoming and growing. Series: Sources and contributions to the history of the Hermannsburg Mission and the Evangelical Lutheran. Mission in Lower Saxony. Vol. 22, pages 200-203. LIT Verlag Berlin-Münster-Vienna-Zurich-London 2013. ISBN 978-3-643-12098-4

Web links

Commons : Johnson Gnanabaranam  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Notes, individual references

  1. ↑ The name Jubilee was already borne by his father. The English name Jubilee means anniversary . His father got this name from his Christian parents because he was born in 1906. Two hundred years earlier, on July 9, 1706, the first Lutheran missionaries Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau had arrived in Tranquebar on the ship Sophia , and in 1906 the Lutheran Christians in Tamil Nadu celebrated the 200th anniversary of their Lutheran church.
  2. ↑ The name Gnanabaranam is a Tamil name meaning: jewelry of wisdom .
  3. ↑ The name Johnson is a common form of the biblical name John . It is used as a nickname in India and thus has the function that the surname has in western countries. Examples are in the Indian spelling of names: Mr. Johnson , Rev. Johnson , Bishop Johnson , Dr. Johnson .
  4. ↑ Johnson Gnanabaranam is the author name of Jubilee Gnanabaranam Johnson .
  5. ↑ a b c Johnson Gnanabaranam: Today my Jesus. Poems, prayers, stories and meditations on faith in Jesus Christ. Worldwide broadcast, volume 3. Erlanger Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, Erlangen, 10th edition, 1983, page 78
  6. ↑ a b Source: Hugald Grafe: G. Johnson Gnanabaranam - a master of pictorial meditation. In: Evangelisches Missionswerk in Deutschland (EMW): People with a mission. Biographies, portraits, interviews. Mission year book 2003. Missionshilfe Verlag, Hamburg 2003. ISBN 3-921620-71-6 .
  7. ↑ Information about the Christakula Ashram can be found here ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / voiceofdharma.com
  8. ↑ The Goethe Institute in India is named after the German Indologist Friedrich Max Müller and bears the name Max Müller Bhavan .
  9. ↑ a b Ten editions of " Today My Jesus " appeared in the Federal Republic of Germany , three editions in the German Democratic Republic . The book has been published in the following languages: Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Swedish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Hungarian.
  10. ↑ a b The book " My Jesus, make me new " was translated into Portuguese: Senhor, renova-me. Reflexões. São Leopoldo, RS, Ed. Sinodal, 1993.
  11. ↑ Source: Obituary for Johnson Gnanabaranam
  12. ↑ Here you can find English-language information on the Church of Sweden Mission (Svenska kyrkans mission) ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.svenskakyrkan.se
  13. ↑ The meditation "A New Dance" can be found in the book "Today my Jesus" on pages 47-49.
  14. ↑ For the origin and meaning of the word Bethel see Bet-El .
  15. ↑ The name of this high school is taken from the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus of Nazareth and refers to an incident told by the evangelist Mark : When the daughter of Jairus was raised, Jesus took the child by the hand and said: “Talitha Kumi! - that means: girl, I tell you, get up! ”( Mk 5,41  LUT ) There used to be numerous diaconal institutions in Germany under the same name, e.g. B. the Magdalenasyl "Talitha kumi" in Niederlößnitz, near Dresden.
  16. ↑ Source: Gründler Hostel in Tranquebar
  17. ↑ The underlying Tamil words can be translated as follows in German: The bishop who turns towards the people .
  18. ↑ Ernst-August Lüdemann: Today my Jesus. On the death of Gnanabaranam Johnson. In: Share. Hermannsburger Missionsblatt 65/02, issue No. 5, September / October 2008, 148th year. Ed. Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony in Hermannsburg.
  19. ↑ Michael Hanfstängl: Bishop retired Gnanabaranum Johnson - Tamil bishop and writer died. In: Church worldwide. 3/2008, page 15. Bulletin of the Leipziger Missionswerk, Leipziger Missionswerk, Leipzig 2008.
  20. ↑ Church Obituary Posted by: GLTC on Aug 13, 2008 - 12:02 AM.
  21. ↑ Source: Archives of Dr. Eva-Maria Siebert Johnson in Madras
  22. ↑ Source: Archives of Dr. Eva-Maria Siebert Johnson in Madras
  23. ↑ In addition to the meditations published in the work " I speak with you every day ", this book contains further texts.
  24. ↑ Selected texts from the German-language books " Mein Jesus, mache miche neu " and " Daily I talk to you " were published in an English translation in Australia in the book " That's Faith For Me ".
  25. ↑ Orders from Daniela Zweynert, Tel. 03419940623, price 5.80 euros.

Picture gallery

  • Bishop Johnson dedicates a village church and cuts the ribbon.

  • At the church wedding, Bishop Johnson presents the groom with the thali to pass on to the bride .

  • Bishop Johnson blesses the ward at the end of the service.

  • After a service, Bishop Johnson and two co-workers will plant a tree.

personal data
SURNAME Gnanabaranam, Johnson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Jubilee Gnanabaranam (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian Evangelical Lutheran bishop and author of Christian literature
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Tiruvallur , Tamil Nadu , India
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 2008
Place of death Chennai