MM

growing awareness of rapid social changes in these countries, made him aware that
his
‘negative theology’ was not sufficient.
a
theology was needed that could give guidance to ‘nation building’. His radical
A
position was also challenged by his new colleagues. For instance, Philippe
theological
wrote to him:
Maury
must confess that I am very puzzled and disturbed by that dichotomy you establish
“I
political and theological realms. … In the same way, I should refuse to make
between
distinction between the theology of Justice and a theology of Grace. There is no
any
to the wider reality of Asia and engagement in ecumenical conversations,
Exposure
Thomas to rethink his theology.
urged
years later, in 1952, in an address to the WCSF central committee, he confessed:
Five
was a time when I thought that the New Age of Christ was so much beyond
“There
that it could be experienced in politics only as forgiveness and not as power, that
history
philosophy could be only a philosophy of sinful necessities where the Cross was
political
only as forgiveness to the politician, and not as qualifying politics, political
relevant
techniques and institutions as such.”
parties,
he continued wondering: “Cannot forgiveness be realized as power in the structures
And
the collective and institutional life of man in society?”(13)
of
question has guided him for the many years to come. Is the power of God’s grace
This
redeeming and giving direction to the social, economic and political struggles for
also
and peace? He had discovered that his early understanding of God’s self-giving
justice
revealed through the ‘transcendent satyagrahi’, was not realistic enough to cope
love,
the deadly forces in society. He also learned that a too strong separation between
with
order of grace and the order of law, would not help to root the struggle for justice in
the
reality of divine grace. In other words,a sound theological interpretation of the
the
for justice and peace needed a deeper reflection on, as he phrased it, the
struggle
between salvation and humanisation. This would be a theology which provides a
relation
ground for prophetic witness, but at the same time helps Christians to take up the
firm
for participation in society. In other words, he arrived at what I called in my
responsibility
a theology of prophetic participation.(14)
research
In these publications, he further elaborated and applied a theological
(1975).
which is still very relevant and useful, especially for the ecumenical
methodology
justice but the justice of the Grace of Jesus Christ.”(12)
Salvation and humanisation
and Humanisation’ is the title under which Thomas published his Carey
‘Salvation
Lectures of 1970 in Bangalore. In fact, the title captures his entire theological
Memorial
in the first half of the 1970s. It includes his well-known studies onThe
work
Acknowledged Christ of the Renaissance(1970), Indian The Secular Ideologies of India
and the Secular Meaning of (1976), and his Christ Man and the Universe of Faiths
pilgrimage of justice and peace, as we will see later.