Konrad Raiser (born 25 January 1938) is a former General Secretary of 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 ...

(WCC).

Biography

Born in Magdeburg, Germany on 25 January 1938, Raiser spent his childhood in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and Bad Godesberg. After graduating from high school in

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

in 1957, Raiser spent six months working in a steel mill in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, in a programme organised by his church, the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). His father Ludwig Raiser, a well-known professor of law, was for some years president of the national synod of the EKD. Raiser began studying theology in

in 1957, moving on to the theological school in Bethel, and later to the universities of Heidelberg and Zürich. He concluded his academic theological education in

in February 1963, was ordained in May 1964 and finished pastoral training in 1965.and started working with the World Council of Churches, first in the department for Faith and Order. He later became the Deputy General Secretary. Leaving the WCC in 1983, Raiser began to teach theology at Bochum University in Germany until he returned again to Geneva in 1992. In August 1992, the WCC Central Committee elected Raiser as general secretary for a five-year term. He assumed his responsibilities in January 1993, and in September 1996 was re-elected for a second five-year term which ran until the end of 2002. Noting the press of business facing the Council due to probable changes to be recommended by the Special Commission, and other items, the Central Committee, meeting in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

in 2001, extended his term by one year to December 2003. Raiser holds honorary doctorates from the Budapest Theological Academy (1992) and the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

(1996). He is the author of four books. His most recent is ''To Be the Church - Challenges and Hopes for a New Millennium'', published by the WCC in 1997. Before that he wrote ''Identität und Sozialität'' published in 1971, ''Ökumene im Übergang'', published in 1989 (of which an English translation, ''Ecumenism in Transition'', was published in 1991), and ''Wir stehen noch am Anfang - Ökumene in einer veränderten Welt'', published in 1994. Since 1970, he has written numerous articles and essays on theological and ecumenical subjects, including four entries in the ''Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement'' (WCC Publications, 1991), for which he was also a member of the editorial board. As general secretary of the WCC, he was editor of ''The Ecumenical Review''.

Family

In 1967, he married the daughter of the physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and niece of the future first president of unified

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Baron Richard von Weizsäcker, Dr. Elisabeth von Weizsäcker. The Raisers have four sons: Martin (b. 1967), Ulrich (b. 1970), Simon (b. 1974) and Christoph (b. 1978). Both Baron Richard von Weizsäcker (1964-1970 & 1979-1981) and his niece Dr. Elisabeth Raiser (2001–2003) were Presidents of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (German Evangelical Church Congress).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raiser, Konrad 1938 births Living people German Protestant clergy German expatriates in Switzerland People of the World Council of Churches Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany