P. Solomon Raj

P. Solomon Raj (21 February 1921[2] - 28 December 2019) was a pastor of Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society headquartered in Guntur with major contribution to theological research and arts.

[4] Old Testament scholar Victor Premasagar wrote about Raj as a pastor, professor of communications, creative artist, sculptor, poet and a theological writer.

Gudrun Löwner of the United Theological College, Bangalore has devoted a section in The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia[8], Still alive and creative is the Lutheran theologian and artist, Solomon Raj who uses batik and woodcuts, which use cheap materials that are readily available.

The artist's favourite story is John 4, where he shows the liberative message of Jesus taking water from an untouchable woman, something which is still distant reality in South Indian villages, where the Dalits are not allowed to take water from the wells of others since they are considered 'polluting'.Raj underwent initial studies between 1940 and 1945[4] at the AELC-Andhra Christian College, Guntur and became a teacher.

P. Solomon Raj of the AELC who had rich experience in radio evangelism also served in the programme of Suvartha Vani.

[4] He was Artist-in-Residence in United States of America, Great Britain, Canada, Japan and Philippines (Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, Manila).

[4] Solomon Raj[21] is a gifted artist particularly in Batiks where he specialised in Biblical themes while drawing on Indian cultural symbols.

This makes him a rare bird among Indian Christians, but the combination of artist and missiologist is still more rare.By critical spirits among the visitors of his exhibitions, the batiks of Solomon Raj are often regarded as nice and harmless.

[1]...one could hardly overlook his (Solomon Raj's) presence, which was visible in the form of a good number of his artistic works in some of our offices and corridors.