Dr M. D. Thomas

Dr M. D. Thomas (01 June 1953, Kerala) is an active promoter of interfaith relations, communal harmony and peace. He has been deeply committed to this mission for the last over forty years, as a scholar, speaker, writer, religious leader and social advocate. ‘Making the society better’ is his esteemed motto of life and he has been ardently pursuing it through language, literature, poetry, music, religion, ethics and social interaction, on a lifetime basis.

He holds Ph.D. in Hindi Literature on ‘Kabeer and Christian Philosophy’ from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He has done Pradhma, Madhyama and Bachelor of Music (seven years) in Hindustani Classical Music from Indira Kala Music University, Khairagarh. He holds also Bachelor of Theology in Christianity and Comparative Religion from Urban University, Rome.

His area of expertise covers a wide range of disciplines and themes, like religion, religions and harmony among religions, Kabeer, Christianity, education, cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, inter-faith dynamics and applied spirituality. He engages profusely with constitutional values, social ethics, inclusive society, composite culture, human rights, national integration, social harmony and social concerns, too.

He has lectured at over 100 universities and colleges in India and overseas and has conducted one-day seminars for school teachers of diverse communities in some 35 cities of the country. He has also addressed nearly 300 research conferences and 1,200 multi-faith and civil programmes.  He has delivered some 60 keynote lectures in conferences, over 50 special lectures and some 250 regular lectures at Christian institutes and seminaries, as well.

Further, he has also been an Examiner of doctoral (Ph.D.) students and Visiting Professor at several universities. He is professionally competent in English and Hindi, has speaking skills in Urdu and a taste and flair for languages in general. Including above 50 views and interviews to TV channels, he has the credit of having had nearly 2,000 appearances on public platforms.

He has four books published by now. Kabeer aur Eesaayee Chintan (a multi-disciplinary and novel work) and Moolya Bible Ke (a poetic and interfaith edition of the Bible on its universal values) are two of his award-winning books, from Hindi Academy, Delhi, and Indian Catholic Press Association, respectively. His third and fourth book are Desh Ek, Ek Hein Hum Sab (125 poems on ‘communal harmony and national integration’ by over 100 Hindi poets) and Fellowship of Religions (a mini-encyclopedia of religions, with a collection of articles on the diverse areas of all religions), respectively.

He has contributed over 350 articles on diverse themes in Hindi and English to books, journals, news papers and websites in India and overseas. Samanvay Dhaara and Moolya Bible Ke are two of his music albums on ‘multi-faith values’ and ‘values of the Bible’, in that order. In addition, he is recipient of 20 awards and certificates of honour for his personal accomplishments and outstanding contribution to language, literature, education, culture, journalism, interfaith relations, communal harmony, social service, etc.

He engages profusely with a wide range of people in all communities (Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, etc) and walks of life. He interacts with them towards shared thinking, interactive learning, harmonious living and social wellbeing. Widely travelled across all the states in India and some 30 countries abroad, he is well-experienced in the above areas, at local, regional, national and international levels. 

He was Founder Director of ‘Institute of Religion and Culture’ at Ujjain for five years and later became National Director of ‘Commission for Religious Harmony’ at Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), New Delhi, for nine years. He was also Editor of the half-yearly multi-faith journal ‘Fellowship’ with a circulation capacity of 10,000 copies then.

Presently, he is Founder Director of ‘Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies’ (IHPS), New Delhi, and is devoted to spreading the ideal of ‘inclusive thinking and harmonious living’, among persons, institutions and forums of diverse communities and affiliations, through lectures, articles, views, messages and video messages, along with conferences, publications and social interaction.   

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’ (p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’(p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’  (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).