Lukas Vischer (23 November 1926,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Switzerland - 11 March 2008,

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

) was a Swiss Reformed theologian, author, and advocate of ecumenical dialogue among the world's Christian churches. Vischer studied theology in Basel,

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, and Strasbourg and spent one semester at

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. He was ordained in 1950, received a doctorate of theology in 1952, and, in 1953, he was appointed as Reformed minister in Herblingen, a small Swiss industrial town near

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

. Vischer's tenure with the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

began in 1961 with his appointment as research secretary on the council's Commission on Faith and Order. From 1962 to 1965, he was a WCC observer at the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. He was director of the Faith and Order Commission from 1966 to 1979, then director of the Protestant Office for Ecumenicism in Bern. He was moderator of the theological department of the

World Alliance of Reformed Churches The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) was a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin. Its headquarters was in Geneva, Switzerland. They are now merged ...

from 1982 to 1989. Vischer wrote numerous books, several of which have been published in English. He held a professorship in ecumenical theology at Berne and was a member of the European Christian Environmental Network. He married Barbara Schmidt in 1953 and they had four children.

Books

*''The Common Catechism: A Book of Christian Faith'', 1975. *''Intercession'', 1980. *''Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ: Ecumenical Reflections on the Filioque Controversy'', 1981. *''Christian Worship in Reformed Churches Past and Present'', 2003. *''Commemorating Witnesses and Martyrs of the Past: A Reformed Perspective'', 2006.

External links

Letter from WCC general secretary
Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, to Prof. Dr Lukas Vischer, on the occasion of his 80th birthday

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, to Prof. Dr Lukas Vischer, on the occasion of his death
pictures Symposion 80th birthday November 24th 2006, Bern SwitzerlandLukas Vischer: a tower of strength and a sharp theological mind
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vischer, Lukas People from Basel-Stadt Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians 1926 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians