Konrad Raiser
Encyclopedia
Konrad Raiser is a former General Secretary of the World Council of Churches
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

 (WCC).

Born in Magdeburg, Germany on 25 January 1938, Konrad Raiser studied spent his childhood in Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...

, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 and Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg is a municipal district of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 till 1990 , the majority of foreign embassies to Germany were located in Bad Godesberg...

. After graduating from high school in Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 in 1957, Raiser spent six months working in a steel mill in Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....

, in a programme organised by his church, the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

His father, a well-known professor of law, was for some years president of the national synod of the EKD. Raiser began studying theology in Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 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 Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 in February 1963, was ordained in May 1964 and finished pastoral training in 1965.and started working with the World Council of Churches
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

, 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
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

 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
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...

 (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.

In 1967, he married the sister of the future first president of unified Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Baron Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker , known as Richard von Weizsäcker, is a German politician . He served as Governing Mayor of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984, and as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1984 to 1994...

, Dr. Elisabeth von Weizsäcker. The Raisers have four sons: Martin (b. 1967), Ulrich (b. 1970), Simon (b. 1974) and Christoph (b. 1978). Interestingly, both Baron Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard von Weizsäcker
Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker , known as Richard von Weizsäcker, is a German politician . He served as Governing Mayor of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984, and as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1984 to 1994...

 (1964-1970 & 1979-1981) and Dr. Elisabeth Raiser (2001–2003) were Presidents of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
The Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag is a movement of lay members of the Evangelical Church in Germany...

(German Evangelical Church Congress).
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