Samuel Rayan

{{Infobox person

| name = Samuel Rayan SJ

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = 23 July 1920

| birth_place = Kumbalam, Kollam District, Kerala, India

| death_date = {{dda|2019|1|2|df=y|1920|7|23}}

| death_place = Nirmala Hospital, Kozhikode, Kerala, India

| occupation = Theologian, Priest

| known_for = Indian Liberation Theology

| alma_mater = De Nobili College, Pune, Rome

| notable_works = {{Plainlist|

The Holy Spirit: Heart of the Gospel and Christian Hope (1978)
Collected writings of Samuel Rayan, SJ (2013)

}}

Samuel Rayan {{post-nominals|post-noms=SJ}} (23 July 1920 – 2 January 2019) is a student of IHS and the first Indian liberation theologian.

Biography

Rayan was born in the village of Kumbalam in Kollam District, Kerala into a family of eight children (2 girls and 6 boys).

Rayan joined the Jesuit novitiate in 1939 and was ordained Catholic priest in 1955, taking his final vows as a Jesuit in 1958.Directory of Common Houses, JCSA, New Delhi, 2005, p. 45. He devoted many years to the study of Malayalam literature, mastered Sanskrit, and was well read in Indian religions and philosophy. He completed his theological studies in De Nobili College in Pune, before his doctorate in Rome.

He died on 2 January 2019 at the age of 98 in Nirmala Hospital, Kozhikode in Kerala where he was undergoing old age ailments.{{cite news|title=Jesuit theologian with an Asian perspective passes away|date=3 January 2019|url=https://www.ucanews.com/news/jesuit-theologian-with-an-asian-perspective-passes-away/84198|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104021623/https://www.ucanews.com/news/jesuit-theologian-with-an-asian-perspective-passes-away/84198|archive-date=4 January 2019}}

Theology

Rayan was convinced that the human person in community is the object of God's special love. His theology highlights a need for care of the earth, concern for life, and commitment to people.{{cite web|url=http://www.sedos.org/english/Rayan.html|title= Samuel Rayan, SJ - Decolonization of Theology|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725040820/http://www.sedos.org/english/Rayan.html |archive-date=25 July 2008 }}

According to Rayan, theology is a reminder of the great demands of the Kingdom of God. For Rayan, the central mission of the Christian faith is its insertion into the concrete and daily life of the people, especially of the most marginalized and oppressed members of the social body. As Rayan says, "Rice is for sharing, bread must be broken and given. Every bowl, every belly shall have its fill, to leave a single bowl unfilled is to rob history of its meaning; to grab many a bowl for myself is to empty history of God."{{cite web|first=Kirsteen|last=Kim|author-link=Kirsteen Kim|url=https://www.cccw.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Kim-Dr-Kirsteen-2-Feb-2000.pdf|title= Bread and Breath in India: The Mission Pneumatology of Samuel Rayan}}{{cite web|last1=Gomes|first1=Janina|url=http://www.natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2000b/051200/051200o.htm|title=Theologian finds gospel in life of the people|publisher=National Catholic Reporter|date=12 May 2000}}

Works

{{Cite book|title=The Holy Spirit: Heart of the Gospel and Christian Hope|last=Rayan|first=Samuel|date=1978|publisher=Orbis Books|isbn=978-0883441886|location=Maryknoll, NY|language=English|oclc = 3706609}}
{{Cite book|title=Collected writings of Samuel Rayan, SJ|last=Rayan|first=Samuel|editor-last=Kunnumpuram|editor-first=Kurien|date=2013|isbn=9788184653335|publisher=ISPCK|location=New Delhi|language=English|oclc = 877930877}}

Samuel Rayan

Biography

Theology

Works

References

Further reading