MM Thomas - Life, Legacy and Theology
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THEOLOGY OF MADATHILPARAMPIL MA<strong>MM</strong>EN THOMAS<br />
HISTORY OF HINDU-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS<br />
AD 304 TO 1996<br />
Sita Ram Goel<br />
Voice of India, New Delhi<br />
“Readers of the dialogue between Swami Devan<strong>and</strong>a Saraswati <strong>and</strong> Fr. Bede Griffiths<br />
which has been summarised in this study (pp. 386-98) can see for themselves how<br />
confidently Fr. Bede invokes the names of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekan<strong>and</strong>a, Sri<br />
Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Mahatma G<strong>and</strong>hi <strong>and</strong> Ramalinga Swamigal <strong>and</strong> regards<br />
them as Hindu in religion while being Christian in spirit. Dr. M. M. <strong>Thomas</strong>, a noted<br />
theologian, goes much further in his thesis, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian<br />
Renaissance, first published in 1970 <strong>and</strong> republished in a second edition in 1976. It is<br />
supposed to be a rejoinder to Dr. Raymond Panikkar?s The Unknown Christ of Hinduism,<br />
an earlier theological exercise published in 1964. But while the title of Dr. Panikkar’s book<br />
had the merit of suggesting only a speculation, howsoever wild, the title of Dr. <strong>Thomas</strong>’<br />
book is a misrepresentation of the Hindu point of view, as he himself shows in course of<br />
presenting the views of Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Keshub Ch<strong>and</strong>er Sen, P. C. Mozoomdar,<br />
Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekan<strong>and</strong>a, Dr. Radhakrishnan <strong>and</strong> Mahatma G<strong>and</strong>hi. None<br />
of these Hindu thinkers ever admitted that the Jesus of history was the Christ of Christian<br />
theology, that is, the only son .of God <strong>and</strong> the sole saviour of mankind.”<br />
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