The Reverend Doctor

John Stirling Morley Hooper
D. D. (Honoris causa)[1]
Born
Stirling[2]

(1882-04-12)12 April 1882[2]
England
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipBritish
EducationB. A. (Oxford)[2]
M. A. (Oxford)[2]
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Oxford[2]
OccupationPastor
Years active1905–1947[3]
ParentJohn Henry Hooper[2]
ReligionChristianity
ChurchWesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)
Offices held
Headmaster, Wesley Higher Secondary School, Chennai (1930)[4],
general secretary, British and Foreign Bible Society in India, Nagpur (1932–1944), general secretary, Bible Society of India, Nagpur (1944–1947)

J. S. M. Hooper[5] was the first General Secretary of the Bible Society of India on its creation on 1 November[6] 1944.[7] Hooper was also involved in translations of the Bible Society of India.[8]

Contribution

Archana Venkatesan,[9] Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley in an English version of Nammalwar's A Hundred Measures of Time: Tiruviruttam has referred to a publication of J. S. M. Hooper in 1929 titled Hymns of the Alvars and has devoted a lengthy footnote[10] on the life and times of Hooper, especially the period when he came to India, his contribution to the ecumenical efforts resulting in the formation of the Church of South India and to the Bible Society of India. Archana also writes that Hooper worked closely with Lesslie Newbigin and V. S. Azariah, both of whom were pioneers in the ecumenical efforts[10] towards the formation of the Church of South India.

Education

After taking B. A. and M. A. degrees at Corpus Christi College, Oxford,[2] Hooper came to India in 1905 and stayed in Chennai serving as a Pastor of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.[3] In 1930, Hooper served as Headmaster of the Wesley High School.[4]

Ecumenism

As a Wesleyan, Hooper was involved[11] in the negotiations with the Anglicans and other Protestant congregations towards working forward towards ecumenism[12] which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Church of South India in 1947 at the St. George's Cathedral, Chennai.

Translations of the Bible into the languages of India

Hooper became the first[6] General Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society in India in 1932[12] and continued till 1944.[12] When the Bible Society of India was formed on 1 November 1944,[6] Hooper became the first general secretary and held the position from 1944 until 1947.[7]

Writings

  • 1918, The approach to the Gospel : addresses delivered to the Annual Conference of the American Presbyterian Mission of Western India at Panhala, Kolhapur,[13]
  • 1920, The approach to the Gospel,[14]
  • 1929, Hymns of the Āl̤vars,[15]
  • 1938, The Bible in India : with a chapter on Ceylon (republished in 1963),[16]
  • 1944, Life eternal : addresses delivered at the Kodaikanal missionary convention,[17]
  • 1947, A Call to Prayer to the Uniting Churches in South India[18]
  • 1948, The temptation and the establishment of the kingdom of God,[19]
  • 1957, Greek New Testament terms in Indian languages : a comparative word list,[20]
  • 1963, Bible translation in India, Pakistan and Ceylon (original version published in 1938; Revised by W. J. Culshaw),[3]
  • 1963, The story of Methodism in Stratford-upon-Avon,[21]

Recognition

The Emperor of India awarded the medal of Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in 1938[22] to Hooper for his meritorious service with the British and Foreign Bible Society in India. Nearly two decades later, the nation's first[23] University, the Senate of Serampore College, West Bengal, conferred a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) upon Hooper in 1957.[1]

Archives

A collection of archival material related to Rev J. M. Sterling Hooper can be found at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.[24]

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Senate of Serampore College, List of the Recipients of the Degree of Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa). Archived 11 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Neil A. Flanagan, Biographical Register 1880-1974 Corpus Christi College (University of Oxford), 1988, p.169.
  3. 1 2 3 J. S. M. Hooper, Bible translation in India, Pakistan and Ceylon, Oxford University Press, Mumbai, 1963.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Wesley Higher Secondary School, Chennai, Succession list of Headmasters.
  5. ↑ The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who, Bennett, Coleman & Company, 1945, p.415.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Neville Barker Cryer, Bibles Across the World, Mowbrays, 1979, p.109.
  7. 1 2 Annual Report of the American Bible Society, Volume 149, American Bible Society, 1964, p.144.
  8. ↑ Sophia Wadia (Edited), The Aryan Path, Volume 36, 1965, p.89.
  9. ↑ University of California, Berkeley
  10. 1 2 Nammalwar, A Hundred Measures of Time: Tiruviruttam. Translated by Archana Venkatesan, Penguin India, 2014.
  11. ↑ Gordon Stevens Wakefield, Robert Newton Flew, 1886–1962, Epworth Press, 1971, p.209.
  12. 1 2 3 Bengt Sundkler, Church of South India: the movement towards union, 1900–1947, Seabury Press, 1954.
  13. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, The approach to the Gospel : addresses delivered to the Annual Conference of the American Presbyterian Mission of Western India at Panhala, Kolhapur, American Presbyterian Mission of Western India, Kolhapur, 1918.
  14. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, The approach to the Gospel, Student Christian Movement, London, 1920.
  15. ↑ Hooper, John Stirling Morley (1929). Hymns of the Alvars. Calcutta: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  16. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, The Bible in India : with a chapter on Ceylon, Oxford University Press, London, 1938.
  17. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, Life eternal : addresses delivered at the Kodaikanal missionary convention, Christian Literature Society for India, Chennai, 1944.
  18. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, A Call to Prayer to the Uniting Churches in South India, Joint Committee on Union of the Church of England in India and the South India United Church, Unknown publisher, 1947.
  19. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, The temptation and the establishment of the kingdom of God, Christian Literature Society for India, Chennai, 1948.
  20. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, Greek New Testament terms in Indian languages : a comparative word list, Bible Society of India and Ceylon (1956–1966) Committee on Greek New Testament Terms in Indian Languages, Bible Society of India and Ceylon, Bangalore, 1957.
  21. ↑ J. S. M. Hooper, The story of Methodism in Stratford-upon-Avon, Herald Press, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1963.
  22. ↑ Supplement to the London Gazette, 9 June, 1938, p.3706
  23. ↑ Sankar Ray, The Hindu (Business Line), 11 April 2008 Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918. Internet, accessed 30 November 2008.
  24. ↑ "UoB Calmview5: Search results". calmview.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
Further reading
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