Klaus Thomas (* 31 January 1915 in Berlin; † 10 July 1992 in Malsburg-Marzell) was a German Protestant pastor, physician, and psychotherapist.
Klaus Thomas studied Protestant theology, philosophy, modern languages, psychology, psychotherapy, and medicine. During his studies, he was a member of the Arndt Berlin fraternity (in the Sonderhäuser Verband).[1] In 1940, he received his doctorate in philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin.[2] In 1947, he received his doctorate in medicine from the Faculty of Medicine at the Philipps University of Marburg under Ernst Kretschmer.[3] In 1964, he received his Doctor of Divinity (DD) in the USA, an honorary award for special theological services.
He worked as a student chaplain in Berlin and as a hospital chaplain in Marburg, later as a physician and psychotherapist in Berlin, as a senior teacher at the Schadow Gymnasium in Berlin, and as a lecturer at the Lessing University, at the Academy for Continuing Medical Education[4], and from 1956 until the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, at the Paulinum. Study and lecture tours have taken Klaus Thomas to over 100 countries.
He was also the regional chaplain of the Order of St. Luke for Germany, an international ecumenical working group of chaplains, physicians, psychologists, and lay people. The goal of the order is pastoral care for the sick through word and deed.[5] In the Berlin Association Register, this order has been operating since 1956 as the St. Luke Community (care for those weary of life) and, after the split of the Berlin Telephone Counseling Service, since 1961 as the St. Luke Order for Pastoral Care for the Sick and Care for Those Weary of Life – Circle of Friends
Klaus Thomas was the main disseminator of autogenic training according to Johannes Heinrich Schultz[10] and is considered his most important student.[11] Since 1972, he has directed the I. H. Schultz Institute for Psychotherapy, Autogenic Training and Hypnosis in Berlin, which he founded but which no longer exists today.