>InternetArchiveBot at 22:17, 8 February 2020

2020-02-08T22:17:29Z

New page

{{for|the American academic administrator|Elizabeth L. Paul}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox clergy
| name = Elizabeth Paul
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1927|02|28}}
| birth_place = [[India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2001|01|17|1927|02|28}}
| death_place = [[Bengaluru]]
| church = [[Church of South India]]
| other_names =
| education = <br />
* [[Selly Oak Colleges]], Birmingham
* [[Senate of Serampore College (University)]] ''(External Candidate)''
| ordained =6 May 1976
| writings =
| congregations =Georgetown Church & St. Andrew's Church, Chennai,
| offices_held =<br />
* Lecturer, [[United Theological College (Bangalore)|United Theological College]], Bengaluru
* In-charge, Vishranti Nilayam, Bengaluru
| title = Reverend Sister
| parents =
| footnotes = My Aunt : Wg Cdr Thomas Walker
}}
'''Reverend Sister Elizabeth Paul''' (28 February 1927 – 17 January 2001)<ref name="Ralte">Lalrinawmi Ralte, Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar (Ed.), ''Feminist Hermeneutics'', Indian Women in Theology / Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New Delhi, 2002. pp.8–9. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jBuUAAAACAAJ&dq=]</ref>
was the first ordained woman in India.<ref name="Ralte"/> She was a Sister of the [[CSI Order of Sisters]] in the [[Church of South India]] who also taught at the [[United Theological College (Bangalore)|United Theological College]], Bengaluru.

==Beginnings==
Elizabeth Paul was born on 28 February 1927<ref name="Ralte"/> in India. She first taught at the C.S.I. Monahan Girls Higher Secondary school in Royapettah, Chennai. Paul also oversaw the Gnanodaya Teacher Training Institute in St. Thomas Mount, Chennai.<ref name="Ralte"/>

Paul was sent for studies to the [[Selly Oak Colleges]] in Birmingham during the academic year 1961–1962, after which she became a tutor at Carey Hall at Selly Oak Colleges.<ref name="Ralte"/>

In 1964–65 she returned to Chennai and was made the director of Christa Seva Vidhyalaya,<ref>Refer minutes of the Vidhyalaya available at the Yale University Library (Divinity School Library). [http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/fedora/get/divinity:187/PDF ]</ref> a missionary training centre founded in 1945 in the [[Women's Christian College, Chennai|Women's Christian College]], Chennai.<ref name="Ralte"/>

==Divinity==

===Studies===
While Elizabeth Paul served as director of Christa Seva Vidhyalaya in Chennai, she registered as an external candidate to pursue the graduate course of [[Bachelor of Divinity]] (B.D.) with the [[Senate of Serampore College (University)]].<ref name="Ralte"/>

===Sisterhood and ordination===
The [[CSI Order of Sisters]] in the [[Church of South India]] was founded in 1952<ref name="Gill">Kenneth E. Gill, ''Count us Equal : The Ministry of Women in the Church of South India'', Association of Theologically Trained Women in India, 1990. pp.48–49. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tCJrGwAACAAJ&dq]</ref> Bishop Kenneth E. Gill remarks that it was a religious order for women missionaries, teachers and nurses from many traditions who wished to live by a simple rule.<ref name="Gill"/> In 1966, Elizabeth Paul joined the [[CSI Order of Sisters]] in the Church of South India. Sundar Clarke, then Bishop – in – Madras of the Church of South India ordained Elizabeth Paul as a deacon on 6 May 1976.<ref name="Ralte"/>

Bishop Kenneth Gill writes that the Synod of 1970 of the Church of South India took up the question of ordination of women. The issue of ordination was debated in all the subsequent synods of the CSI of 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978 and some even went to courts.<ref name="Gill"/> It was not until 1982 that the Synod of the Church of South India voted with a two-thirds majority in favour of the ordination of women.<ref name="Gill"/>
It was in 1987 that Elizabeth Paul was ordained as a presbyter of the Church of South India and became a presbyter in the CSI Diocese of Madras serving as assistant pastor in Georgetown Church, Chennai.<ref name="Ralte"/>

===Participation in debates===
Sr. Elizabeth Paul participated in Diakonia World Federation Assemblies in 1963 and 1966 held at Berlin and Edinburgh and in 1976 became its vice-president.<ref name="Ralte"/>

In 1980, she participated in a conference of the [[World Council of Churches]] in Geneva.<ref>Constance F. Parvey, ''Faith and Order Paper 105'', World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1980.[http://www.womenpriests.org/related/parv_lit.asp]</ref>

==Death==
Elizabeth Paul was looking after Vishranti Nilayam, the headquarters of the [[CSI Order of Sisters]] in the Church of South India when she died on 17 January 2001 due to a prolonged illness caused by a broken tooth.<ref name="Ralte"/>

==See also==
* [[Muriel Carder]]
* B. V. Subbamma
* [[Association of Theologically Trained Women of India]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal
| author=Rajaiah David Paul
| title=Ecumenism in Action: A Historical Survey of the Church of South India
| year=1972
| volume=
| issue=
| url =https://books.google.com/?id=5cpWAAAAMAAJ&q=order+of+sisters+church+of+south+india&dq=
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=John C. B. Webster, Ellen Low Webster
| title=The Church and women in the Third World
| publisher=Westminster Press
| year=1985
| volume=
| issue=

| isbn=978-0-664-24601-3| url =https://archive.org/details/churchwomeninthi0000webs
| url-access=registration
| quote=elizabeth paul church of south india.
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=Ruth Tucker, Walter L. Liefeld
| title=Daughters of the Church: Women and Ministry from New Testament times to the present
| year=1987
| volume=
| issue=

| isbn=978-0-310-45741-1| url =https://books.google.com/?id=Z6e5yCGh1JsC&dq=
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=Carol Graham, P. Dharmagnani
| title=Sister Carol Graham, the beloved "Amma"
| year=1989
| volume=
| issue=
| url =https://books.google.com/?id=Ty0xAAAAMAAJ&q=order+of+sisters+church+of+south+india&dq=
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=Jacqueline Field-Bibb
| title=Women towards Priesthood: Ministerial politics and feminist praxis
| publisher=CUP Archive
| year=1991
| volume=
| issue=

| isbn=978-0-521-39283-9| url =https://archive.org/details/womentowardsprie0000fiel
| url-access=registration
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=Sakhi Mariamma Athyal
| title=Indian Women in Mission
| year=1995
| volume=
| issue=
| url =https://books.google.com/?id=CBc_AAAAIAAJ&q=
}}
* {{cite journal
| author=Leonie Beth Liveris
| title=Ancient taboos and gender prejudice: challenges for Orthodox women and the church
| year=2005
| volume=
| issue=

| isbn=978-0-7546-5344-8| url =https://books.google.com/?id=B_YrluQ2jgoC&dq=
}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Elizabeth}}
[[Category:Indian priests]]
[[Category:Christian clergy from Bangalore]]
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:Senate of Serampore College (University) alumni]]
[[Category:Church of South India clergy]]
[[Category:CSI Order of Sisters]]
[[Category:Female Christian clergy]]

Elizabeth Paul - Revision history

>InternetArchiveBot at 22:17, 8 February 2020