Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft
Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft (born September 20, 1900 in Haarlem , † July 4, 1985 in Geneva ) was a Dutch Reformed theologian. He was the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches .
Life
Visser 't Hooft, the son of a lawyer, studied Protestant theology at the University of Leiden from 1918 to 1923 . In 1924 he became secretary of the YMCA World Federation in Geneva and in 1925 he took part in the Stockholm World Conference of Churches . In 1928 he was in Leiden with a thesis on the theology of the Social Gospel in the USA Dr. theol. PhD. In 1931 he became general secretary of the Christian World Student Union . In 1938 he became general secretary of the provisional committee in Utrecht , which was supposed to bring about a merger of the Movement for Practical Christianity and the Movement for Faith and Order to form the World Council of Churches . When it was founded in Amsterdam in 1948 , Visser 't Hooft was elected Secretary General. He remained in this position until his retirement in 1966.
Theologically, Visser 't Hooft was strongly influenced by Karl Barth . The center of his ecumenical work was the dialogue between the churches, which must always answer to the social situation. With Barth he understood the task of theology as a critical self-reflection of the church.
During the time of National Socialism he supported the Confessing Church in Germany. In the spring of 1944 in Geneva, in the house of Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft, the representatives of resistance groups from nine European countries met several times in order to achieve a federative, united Europe as the only logical model after the National Socialist era .
He was also the head of an ecumenical delegation that received the newly founded EKD's confession of guilt in Stuttgart in October 1945 . He had suggested this explanation in advance. In his autobiography, he recalled how it came about:
“How should we achieve the resumption of full ecumenical relationships? The obstacles to a new community could only be removed if the German side found a clear word. Pierre Maury finally advised us to say to the Germans: 'We have come to ask you to help us, to help you.' When we arrived in the largely destroyed Stuttgart, we heard that a special service would be held in the Markuskirche that evening , with Bishop Wurm , Pastor Niemöller and Bishop Dibelius to speak. Niemöller preached on Jeremiah 14: 7–11: 'Oh Lord, our iniquities deserve it; but help for your name's sake! ' It was a powerful sermon. Niemöller said that it is not enough to blame the Nazis, the church must also confess its guilt. "
Awards
- In 1958 Visser 't Hooft was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1959 Officer of the Legion of Honor
- In 1966 he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (together with Augustin Bea ).
- 1967 honorary citizen of the city of Geneva
- 1975 Augustin Bea Prize
- 1982 Four Freedoms Award , in the religious freedom category
literature
- Willem A. Visser 't Hooft: The world was my church: autobiography . German Book Association, Stuttgart 1974
- Wolfdietrich von Kloeden : Visser 't Hooft, Willem Adolf. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 12, Bautz, Herzberg 1997, ISBN 3-88309-068-9 , Sp. 1512-1514.
- Jan Schubert: Willem Adolph Visser 't Hooft (1900–1985). Ecumenism and Europe, Göttingen 2017.
Web links
- Literature by and about Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft in the German Digital Library
- Willem A. Visser't Hooft in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
- Short biography on the WCC website
- Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft in the online exhibition Resistance !? Evangelical Christians under National Socialism .
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Visser 't Hooft, Willem Adolf |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Visser 't Hooft, Willem Adolph; Visser 't Hooft, Willem A. |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch Reformed theologian, ecumenical figure |
DATE OF BIRTH | 20th September 1900 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Haarlem |
DATE OF DEATH | 4th July 1985 |
Place of death | Geneva |