The publication of the three volumes of the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India is a worthy model for the world Churches and an incomparable achievement and contribution of the Church in India, stated Oswald Cardinal Gracias in Guwahati, dedicating the work to the nation. The publication of the third and final volume is something of which the Encyclopedia team can be justly proud, but they should not rest on their oars but must continue their much needed work of service to the Church in India today, His Eminence went on to say. Telespore P. Cardinal Toppo dedicated the volumes to the world Christian community. The two Cardinals officially released the Encyclopedia by exchanging copies of the work, in the presence of Archbishops and Bishops from all over India and members of the CBCI Commissions. Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, Prof. George Menachery the Editor of the Encyclopedia, and Dr. George Plathottam the secretary of the CBCI Commission for Media also spoke on the occasion.

The Encyclopedia comprises the contributions of hundreds of well-known scholars from all over India and abroad. There are articles on almost every aspect of Christianity in India, dealing with all chronological, denominational, and geographical divisions. The more than thousand illustrations on art plates, half of them on full color art plates, in addition to the dozens of maps including a whole Christian and Linguistic atlas of India, and the graphs, tables, figures, and sketches go to make the work an exhaustive reference tool. Each major article is supported by bibliographies and inclusive endnotes, making the encyclopedia an indispensable reference work for seminaries, theological colleges, Universities, libraries of ecclesiastical establishments and headquarters and formation houses of religious congregations.

JUSTICE V.R. KRISHNA AIYER [FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE AND PRESIDENT, HISTORY ASSOCIATION] ON THIRD VOLUME OF ENCYCLOPEDIA:

The third volume of the book St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India is an extraordinary work with focus on Christianity but being Cyclopaedic has learned chapters on Hinduism and Islam. Truly it is a holistic work, an eclectic theological composite piece. The chapter on Hinduism illumines its ancient and geographical character and true source of its origin. Read on to learn the basic principles and you will learn that this Sanatana Dharma (moral values for all times)... Professor Menachery has done great service to all religions by weaving all of them into a new fabric in his epic voluminous trinity which if popularly read and discussed and read in libraries will surely be the beginning of Jesus and Sankara and Mohammed as the Founders of a New World Order of peace and stability of human rights and equality with a bias of equity. Gandhiji and Vivekananda did it in different ways. I deeply appreciate the wonderful work of Professor George Menachery. It is not narrowly Christian but broadly universal in thinking. Jesus was the greatest humanist revolutionary and died for a dynamic dialectical world order...