Thomas Koonammakkal (Malayalam: കൂനമ്മാക്കൽ തോമാക്കത്തനാർ, romanized: Koonammakkal Thoma kathanar) is a Syro-Malabar Catholic priest and syriacist, scholar and church historian. He is an expert in Karshoni Malayalam and is the author of the most comprehensive Karshoni Malayalam introduction to date.^[1][2][3] He has also authored several critical articles on Early Christianity and on the works of Saint Ephrem.^[3] He holds a master's degree in Syriac studies and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He served as the professor of Syriac and Patrology in SEERI, Vadavathoor Saint Thomas Apostolic Seminary and Paurastya Vidyapitham.^[4][5] He is the founder of Beth Aprem Nazrani Dayara and is a strong advocate of traditionalism in the Syro-Malabar Church.^[6]

Selected publications

• The Theology of Divine Names in the Genuine Works of Ephrem (1991)
• Divine Names and Theological Language in Ephrem (in Studia Patristica, volume XXV, edited by Elizabeth A. Livingstone, Peeters Publishers, 1993)
• St. Ephrem and Greek Wisdom (in IV Symposium Syriacum 1992 edited by René Lavenant, Pontificio Instituto Orientale, 1994)
• Ephrem on the Name of Jesus (in Studia Patristica, volume XXXIII, edited by Elizabeth A. Livingstone, 1997)
• An Introduction to Malayalam Karshon (in The Harp, volume XV, 2002)
• Ephrem's Theology of Humour (in Studia Patristica, volume XLI, edited by Frances Margaret Young, Mark J. Edwards, Paul M. Parvis, 2006)
• Ephrem’s Ideas on Singleness (in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, volume 2, no. 1, 2010).
• Fr. Emmanuel Thelly (in The Harp (Volume 21): Festschrift: Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Thelly, 2011)
• Syro-Malabar History and Traditions (in Orientalia Christiana: Festschrift für Hubert Kaufhold zum 70. Geburtstag, edited by Peter Bruns, Heinz Otto Luthe, 2013)
• The Passover celebration of the Mar Thoma Nazranis and the origins of Christianity in India (in Parole de l'Orient (volume 41), 2015)
• The Church in the Churches: a Syriac ecclesiology (2018)
• Ephrem on the Icon of Nature (in Edessa in hellenistisch-römischer Zeit, 2009)
• Karshon: Malayalam in Syriac characters (in The Harp, volume XXX, 2016)
• Problem of latinization : no exit? (2017)
• Acts of Thomas re-examined in the light of the Song of Thomâ Ramban (in The Harp, volume XXXIII, 2018)
• Ephrem's philosophy of theological language (in Parole de l'Orient (volume 46), 2020)

References