VIDYAJYOTI College of Theology (literally, ‘Light of Knowledge’), Delhi, India, is a premier institute of Theology run by the Jesuits of the South Asian Assistancy. It was established in 1879 in Asansol, West Bengal, as Saint Joseph’s Seminary. From 1889 to 1971 it developed in the mountains of Kurseong, near Darjeeling, where it was called Saint Mary’s College. From 1972 onwards it has flourished in the neighbourhood of the University of Delhi.

VIDYAJYOTI is universally acclaimed for its efforts to develop a contextual method of doing theology. As integral part of its curriculum, each student is assigned to a concrete social context and initiated into socio-cultural analysis of the Indian situation. This enables the student to get a more competent and comprehensive grasp of the issues that affect the lives of ordinary Indians. Theological reflection is thus closely related to the questions emerging from the context, thereby equipping each student to understand the Christian faith from within the Indian context and in dialogue with India’s many religions.

VIDYAJYOTI is made up of two Sanskrit nouns: vidya meaning ‘wisdom’ and jyoti meaning ‘light’. The compound alludes to Jesus Christ, whom the College believes to be ‘the Light of Wisdom’.

The motto of VIDYAJYOTI reads: bhantam anubhati meaning ‘reflecting the One who shines’. It consists of the central two words of a line from the Katha Upanishad, around the 3rd century BCE, tam eva bhantam anubhati sarvam (5.15), that refers to the Ultimate Mystery, of which it is said that “everything reflects the One who alone shines.”

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