Oral A.W. Thomas is President/Dean of the United Theological College of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, where he has been teaching since 2007 in the fields of Biblical Studies and Caribbean Theologies.

Oral Thomas has emerged as a leader in the second generation of Caribbean theologians who have sought to build on and extend the work done by the pioneers who laid the foundation by sketching the broad outlines of a theology of and from the Caribbean. Building on their work, Oral Thomas leads this generation to focus on theological themes and specific biblical books and texts. His formulation of a resistant reading strategy is fully articulated in his book Biblical Resistance Hermeneutics within a Caribbean Context published in 2010 and he has authored numerous journal articles. He contends that persons must read the Bible with a strategy to help them overcome the “disjuncture created between the religious life and the particularity of the sociality of existence.” As a lecturer in Caribbean Theology/Theologies and Biblical Hermeneutics at the UTCWI, he continuously urges his students at the undergraduate and graduate levels to read the Bible, proclaim the gospel through their Caribbean lens and embrace the gift of their social location.

Thomas is the author of Reimagining Caribbean Methodism for Contemporary Missions (Faith Works Press: Kingston, Jamaica, 2022); Contending Voices in Caribbean Theology, eds. Judith Sores & Oral Thomas, (Jugaro Publishers: Kingston, Jamaica, 2019) and Biblical Resistance Hermeneutics within a Caribbean Context (Equinox Publishing, England, U.K., 2010). His current scholarly projects include writing A Caribbean Resistance Theology and examining Black theological perspectives on reparations in the Caribbean/Caribbean diaspora.

Ordained in the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA), Thomas holds a Ph.D. Degree in Biblical Hermeneutics from Birmingham University, U.K.; a Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MTS) from Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri; Bachelor of Arts in Theology (BA Theology) from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica; and a Diploma in Ministerial Studies (Dip Min) from the United Theological of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

Note: Biographical information was updated as of the latest contribution. Author profiles may not reflect author's current employment or location.