The Theological College of Lanka

It's been a quiet two weeks for you, the anxious reader, and I apologize for that. I've been (and am till Saturday) at the Theological College of Lanka, an ecumenical training ground for ministers and teachers of religion. Internet access here is limited at the best of times, and has been more so due to some technical issues at the college. To make it up to you, I'll not write too much, but post some pictures.

The college is on a hillside in the jungle. It's near the town of Kandy, which is the site of the last independant Sri Lankan kingdom, and a heartland of Sinhalese culture. It's hard to get good pictures of the college as a whole, because there is so much jungle in the way! The main classrooms, mess hall and men's dorm is at the top of the hill, and the library half way down, so you look out at the roof of the library from the classrooms. The quarters for the married students and the lecturers are nearer the bottom of the hill, and run up the side of the next hill.



This is a view looking down at the library. You have to walk down about a million steep slippery concrete steps to get there.

The college is an ecumenical one, with four main denominations: Anglican (Church of Ceylon), Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian. Baptists and Presbyterians are not common in Sri Lanka, and there are none of those students at the moment. There are a couple from the Church of South India, which has a diocse in Jaffna.



This is looking up to the main class room building. There are four classrooms, a larger seminar hall, and a beautiful chapel.

The dorms are pretty basic (well, the men's dorm is. I assume the women's is as well). Basic, but not horrible. There is the standard cement floor (this is common in Sri Lanka), and the whole place is open (also common). There are only cold water showers (common) but the climate here is much cooler than the rest of the country. This is especially noticable at 5:30 in the morning!

This is my room in the hostel - the bed is not as comfortable as it looks.

But I didn't come here for a soft bed or hot water. I came to meet the students, and they are what has made my time here special. They are mostly (but not all) in their twenties. Some are married, and live in housing provided by the college, but most are single. When a person becomes a candidate for ministry here, they are not allowed to marry until they are ordained.



This is me with Pradeep, the secretary of the Student Body.

This is a picture of some of the students having afternoon tea on the verandah of the mess hall.

This is (from left) Sashi, Fr. Stephen (the lecturer in Church History), Newton and Anil. Newton and Anil are both candidates from the diocese of Colombo, and brought me up to the college with them when they returned to school from the long vacation (April-May and half of June)