Sebastian Kappen was a well-known thinker, writer and social activist who has made substantial contribution towards evolving perspectives on culture and development. He has inspired many in the field of social action in South India. 
Sebastian Kappen (1924-1993) doctored in 1961 from the Gregorian University, Rome, with a thesis on “Praxis and religious alienation according to the economic and philosophical manuscripts of Karl Marx”. His subsequent studies have been geared to the requirements of transformative social action in India. This led him to an investigation into the liberative and humanizing potential of the original teaching of the historical Jesus as well as of Indian religious traditions, particularly the tradition of dissent represented by the Buddha and medieval Bhakti movement. He has written and lectured extensively on the cultural prerequisites for the radical restructuring of Indian Society

His works in English and Malayalam include “From Faith to Revolution”, “Jesus and freedom”, “Marxian Atheism”, “Liberation Theology and Marxism”, “An Introduction to the Philosophy of Marx”, “Prophesy and Counter Culture”, “The Future of Socialism and Socialism of the Future”, “Understanding Communalism”, “Tradition Modernity and Counterculture”, and “Hindutva and Indian Religious Traditions”.

Sebastian Kappen highlighted the need to harness the resources of religion and culture to the task of social transformation. His bold and original path of rethinking , his breaking of conceptual taboos and his rejection of inherited schemata make him an indispensable guide for those grappling with the question of the role of religion and culture in social transformation.

Kappen was engaged in a study of communalism and the post-modernism debate, when mother earth called him back on the 30th November 1993.

Since then we have been organising memorial lectures on topics which were of concern to him and relevant for our times.

1994 – Dr. M.M. Thomas on “The Search for Alternatives”
1998 – Dr. Shoba Raghuram on “Rethinking Development”
1999 – Dr. Romila Thapar on “Historical interpretations and the Secularising of Indian Society”
2000 – Dr. U. R Ananthamurthy on “Indian Culture an End of the Century View”
2001 – Dr. Rustom Bharucha on “Enigmas of Time”
2002 – Dr. Ninan Koshy on “The New Millenium and the Anti Millenial Projects”
2003 – Dr. Vandana Shiva on “Living Democracies”
2004 – Dr. KN Panikkar on “Cultural Pasts and National Identity”
2007 – Dr. Ramachandra Guha on “The Beauty of Compromise”
2008 – Dr. Ilina Sen on “Human Rights and Human Wrongs”