Jan Milíč Lochman (sometimes written as Jan Milič Lochman or Jan Milic Lochman; 3April 192221January 2004) was a Czech-Swiss Protestant theologian.

Life

Lochman came from a family with reformed tradition. He graduated from high school in Náchod in 1941. After the Czech part of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

was reopened in 1945, he studied theology and philosophy at the Comenius Protestant Theological Faculty (today's Protestant Theological Faculty of the Charles University) and received his doctorate in 1948. Afterwards he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

pastor of the

Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB; , ČCE) is the largest Czech Protestant church and the second-largest church in the Czech Republic after the Catholic Church. It was formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of th ...

. After a short time as a

Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

, he returned to the Comenius Faculty in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he habilitated and worked as a lecturer. From 1960 he taught there as a professor of philosophy and

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topics ...

. After a year at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Union Theological Seminary (New York City) Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Columbia Univers ...

he was appointed full professor of systematic theology in 1968 by the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

. In 1981 and 1982, he was rector of the University of Basel. From 1990 he was also able to give guest lectures at Czech and Slovak universities. He is professor emeritus from 1992. Lochman has worked on ecumenical bodies for decades, particularly at 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, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. From 1968 to 1975 he was a member of the WCC central committee and executive committee, and from 1975 to 1991 he was a member of the WCC commission for faith and church order. He also worked for 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 merged with the ...

: from 1970 to 1982 as chairman of the theological department. His basic work was in the field of systematic and ecumenical theology. Jan Milíč Lochman was one of the co-founders of the Christian Peace Conference. At their third session in 1960, he worked on the preparation of the 1st All-Christian Peace Assembly in Prague in 1961. There he headed the working group "

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

" together with the German federal Wolfgang Schweitzer and the Hungarian M. Pálfy.

Honors

*Honorary Doctor of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

(1973) *Honorary Doctor of the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

(1989) *Honorary Doctor of

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...

(1992) *Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 3rd Class Order (1998) *Numerous academic honors, especially international awards for his services to Jacob Burckhardt as a humanities scholar (1987)

Literature

* ''Das universale Gebet: Studien zum Vaterunser. Jan Milič Lochman gewidmet zum 70. Geburtstag von der Theologischen Fakultät Basel'' (= ''Theologische Zeitschrift.'' Jg. 48, H. 1). Reinhardt, Basel 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lochman, Jan Milic 1922 births 2004 deaths Systematic theologians 20th-century Protestant theologians 21st-century Protestant theologians Christian Peace Conference members Columbia University faculty Swiss Protestant theologians People of the World Council of Churches Czech theologians Czechoslovak emigrants to Switzerland Czech Protestant clergy Czech exiles People from Nové Město nad Metují