The formation of Basel Evangelical Mission was the fulfilment of a pledge taken by a few believers at Basel, a town in Switzerland. It was the time of the Napoleonic wars. These people took a vow to start a missionary organisation to spread Christ’s message in different parts of the world. The end of the battle of Waterloo in 1815 saw the defeat of Napoleon. These six men of God—a professor of philosophy, three clergymen, a merchant and a notary did not have to think twice. They met in the rectory of St. Martin of Basel under the leadership of Rev. Nickolous von Brunn and constituted themselves as the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society on September, 25, 1815 with its headquarters at Basel. The main task they took upon themselves in the beginning was to train missionaries and provide them to other missionary societies which are already engaged in evangelistic work overseas. In 1816, they started a Theological Seminary for training personal for the propagation of the Gospel in distant lands. In the beginning they did not have the intension to send missionaries of their own to worldwide, but rather only to train missionaries for other societies who had already started their missionary work in different parts of the world. However, within few years the Basel Mission decided to send its own missionaries to different parts of the world.

The Karnataka Theological College (KTC), Mangalore is one of the oldest Theological Institutions in India established in 1847 by Dr. Hermann Mögling of Basel Mission. In 1833 a German Prince Count Otto Viktor von Schönberg-Waldenburg (1785-1859) had offered an amount of 10,000 Taler if the Basel Mission was prepared to establish a Preachers’ Seminary in India. His condition was to start the endeavour within 12 months. On 31 st October 1834 three missionaries from Basel arrived in Mangalore to found a mission station and to establish a training centre for local co-workers. The missionaries started their work with opening a Kannada School in 1836. Right from the very beginning their work was geared to the goal of establishing a Theological Seminary at Mangalore. However before fulfilling this mandate they had a long way to go. They could not start this work straightaway as there were no native Christians in this place. Hence they had to begin their evangelism and establish Christian communities. It was only in 1847, thirteen years after their arrival, that they could establish a training institute for Indian Pastors. This so-called “Catechist School” was located on the hill known as Balmatta in Mangalore.

The history of the Seminary shows constant attempts to improve educational level of its candidates. The first step was taken in 1863 when only those students were admitted to the Seminary who had gone through the newly established Secondary Schools. This was the year in which the Catechist School was upgraded to a Theological Seminary. From 1901 onwards one of the conditions for entering the Theological Seminary was to have passed out of one of the Christian High Schools in Udupi, Tellichery and Dharwar. So during the second half of the 19 th century the general level of education improved rapidly.

In 1915 the Methodist Missionary Society (Wesleyan Methodist) and London Missionary Society joined hands and founded the Union Kanarese Seminary (UKS) in Tumkur, near Bangalore. Later the Methodist Church in South Asia (American Methodist) joined the Union Kanarese Seminary for the theological education of their Kannada pastors. The Kanarese Evangelical Mission too, which stepped into the work of the Basel Mission for about ten years during the world war sent its pastoral candidates to the Tumkur Seminary. All the German missionaries were sent back to Germany by the British government. Only few Swiss missionaries were left back. They with the help of the Methodist missionaries established “Kanarese Evangelical Mission” to carry out the work of the Basel Mission. The Basel Mission returned to India and reopened its Seminary in Mangalore on 15 th July 1929. It should be noted that the Union Kanarese Seminary at Tumkur rendered a great service to the Basel Mission Church up to 1929 and this should be considered as an important ecumenical endeavour.

During nineteen thirties two different courses were introduced, viz a two year course for training evangelists and a four year course for training pastors. Apart from providing the Church with evangelists and pastors, the Seminary rendered an important service by publishing literature and conducting special training courses for teachers of primary and secondary schools in the field of Christian Education.

In 1947 the Seminary was affiliated with Serampore College (University) for the L. Th. Diploma. In 1965 the Union Kanarese Seminary at Tumkur, which had been affiliated with the Serampore College for the L. Th. Diploma in 1950, was amalgamated with the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary to form the Karnataka Theological College, which was inaugurated on the 17 th June 1965 in Mangalore. Thus the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore now traces its origin to two different streams, namely, the Basel Evangelical Mission Theological Seminary, Mangalore and Union Kanarese Seminary, Tumkur. The College was upgraded to the Bachelor of Theology (B. Th.) level in 1970 and to the Bachelor of divinity (B.D.) level in 1976. Since then the College has been offering degree courses regularly, besides conducting non-formal theological training programmes for Church workers and lay people from time to time. The College celebrated its Post-centenary Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and BD in English medium is introduced as one of the programmes of the celebration. Thus the College has become bi-lingual, viz. Kannada and English medium, from 2023-24 academic year.

Today theological education at the Karnataka Theological College is carried out in the context of secular education. The Karnataka Christian Educational Society (KACES) was established in 1969 in order to continue part of the work of the Basel Mission, which left India, handing over the responsibility of the Churches and institutions established by them to Indian leaders. Since its inception, the primary responsibility of KACES was to run the Theological Seminary established in 1847 and it is clearly mentioned in the Memorandum of Association of KACES. KACES was established with a mandate to continue the work of the Basel Mission in letter and in spirit, especially in relation to the Seminary and the technical Institute. At present KACES runs several institutions and programmes alongside Karnataka Theological College, namely Hebich Technical Training Institute, Balmatta Institute of Printing Technology, Karnataka Institute of Commerce, Balmatta Centre for language studies, KACES ITI in Stichcraft, Fashion Designing, Balmatta Stichcraft Centre and Mögling Institute for German Language.

Karnataka Theological College trains pastors in Kannada medium for the three dioceses of the state of Karnataka belonging to Church of South India, the South India Regional Conference of Methodist Church in India and the Lutheran Church in Karnataka. The English medium section offers training to the candidates coming from other parts of our country. A rigorous academic program encompasses the study of Scripture, Christian Theology and Ethics, Religious Traditions, History of Christianity and Christian Ministry. Well-planned practical exposure in agrarian realities, evangelism, counselling, urban and rural development, social justice, gender and dalit issues, communication, mass-media and music prepares the students not only for preaching, teaching, nurturing and healing ministries of the church, but also equips them for meaningful interaction with neighbours of faith to forge partnerships in their common quest for the meaning of life. The Regulations and Syllabus of the Senate of Serampore College is strictly followed.

Hermann Mögling Memorial Chapel is a source of spiritual inspiration and enrichment by providing time and space to experience the sacred. The Department of Theological Studies by extension offers three specialized courses for the benefit of the laity. The Department of Women’s Studies (DOWS) gives emphasis to gender issues and gender justice in Church and society. The Karnataka Theological Literature Committee (KTLC) is instrumental in publishing theological literature in Kannada, especially theological text books. ‘Subodhavani’, a quarterly publication of KTLC contains exegetical sermon notes. The Karnataka Theological College Library is well equipped with more than 50,000 books in theology, Kannada literature and culture. The KTC Archives is a ‘treasure house’ of our cultural, historical, religious heritage. The Karnataka Theological Research Institute (KATHRI) is the research arm of the College. The College publishes through KATHRI KTC Journal, yearly journal of theology in English and Daivajnana Deevige a quarterly newsletter in Kannada. Sahodaya – the KTC Program Centre has is a forum where people of different religions and walks of life make a conscientious effort to ‘grow together’. The Rural Theological and Vocational Centre (RTVC) at Bailur, and Nakre helps the students to relate theology to rural life situations and to involve themselves in various activities of the centre on exposure to rural life. KTC Counselling centre provides the students opportunity to respond and find answers to the difficult life situations. Rev. Chinnappa Uttangi Hostel is a unique ‘home away from home’ where theological students live with the students belonging to different religions/faiths of all branches of study.