MM Thomas - Life, Legacy and Theology

THEOLOGY OF MADATHILPARAMPIL MAMMEN THOMAS
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Cor. 5:9).” 118 The
Incarnation of God as a human person in relationship with other human persons
becomes “the spiritual basis of the dignity and rights of human beings as persons in
society.” 119 It is, the revelation of the truth that the universe itself is personal in
nature. Human beings have inalienable rights only in the light of God’s relation with
them as persons, as manifested in the incarnation. The Gospel has been a
message of dignity and hope for the outcaste and the poor wherever a living church
has communicated the gospel of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. 120
Challenging the thoughts of Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda, Thomas
emphasised the importance of the historical Jesus. Vivekananda had spoken of the
uncertainty of a religion and a human salvation which depended upon a historical
person: “If there is one blow to the historicity of that life…the whole building tumbles
down, never to regain its lost status.” 121 Stressing the Hindu precedence on relating
salvation to ‘principles’, Vivekananda argued:
It is in vain if we try to gather together all the peoples of the world
around a single personality. It is difficult to make them gather together
around eternal and universal principles. If it ever becomes possible to
bring the largest portion of humanity to one way of thinking in regard to
religion, mark you, it must always be through principles and not through
persons. 122
While not discounting the reality of Jesus’ historicity, Vivekananda questions
whether this historicity holds any theological significance for a spiritual faith. 123
Gandhi had argued that proof or otherwise of Jesus’ life would not diminish the
validity of the Sermon on the Mount. 124 Thomas quotes Gandhi, who wrote: “it
would be poor comfort to the world, if it had to depend upon a historical God who died
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