Dr. Robert S. Bilheimer (September 28, 1917 – December 17, 2006) was an American Presbyterian theologian. In his 1947 book ''What Must the Church Do?'', he used the phrase "New Reformation" to refer to the ecumenical movement that resulted from the

1910 World Missionary Conference The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Prot ...

, and this usage became commonplace thereafter. He was one of the co-founders of the World Council of Churches (WCC). He later gave credit for the most of the founding of the organization to

laity In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

and young people. From 1955 to 1958, he co-chaired a WCC international commission to prepare a document addressing the threat of nuclear warfare during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. As a WCC delegate, he prepared the Cottesloe Consultation, which took place in December 1960 and saw the WCC meet with representatives from the eight main Christian denominations in South Africa in order to address the issue of apartheid. He served as Associate General Secretary and Director of the Division of Studies of the WCC, executive director of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, and Director of the International Affairs Program of the National Council of Churches. He wrote the 1984 book ''A Spirituality for the Long Haul: Biblical Risk and Moral Stand'', in which he provides a biblical basis for resisting oppression. He also wrote the 1989 book ''Breakthrough: The Emergence of the Ecumenical Tradition'', which was one of several books about ecumenism that were published by

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is a religious publishing house based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1911 by Dutch American William B. Eerdmans (November 4, 1882 – April 1966) and still independently owned with William's daughte ...

in the late 20th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilheimer, Robert S. 1917 births 2006 deaths People from Denver American Presbyterian missionaries 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians American Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Presbyterians 21st-century Presbyterians People of the World Council of Churches