- 11 March 2008, Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

) was a Swiss Reformed

Reformed churches

The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...

 theologian, author, and advocate of ecumenical dialogue among the world's Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 churches.

Vischer studied theology in Basel, 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 Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, and spent one semester at Oxford University. 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

Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....

.

Vischer's tenure 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...

 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

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

. 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

World Alliance of Reformed Churches

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches is a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin...

 from 1982 to 1989.

Vischer wrote numerous books, several of which have been published in English. He held a professorship in ecumenical theology at Lausanne 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. ISBN 0-8164-0283-3
• Intercession, 1980. ISBN 2-8254-0634-1
• Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ: Ecumenical Reflections on the Filioque Controversy, 1981. ISBN 0-281-03820-1
• Christian Worship in Reformed Churches Past and Present, 2003. ISBN 0-8028-0520-5
• Commemorating Witnesses and Martyrs of the Past: A Reformed Perspective, 2006. ISBN 2-8254-1482-4

External links

• Letter from WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, to Prof. Dr Lukas Vischer, on the occasion of his 80th birthday
• Letter from WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, to Prof. Dr Lukas Vischer, on the occasion of his death
• pictures Symposion 80th birthday November 24th 2006, Bern Switzerland
• Lukas Vischer: a tower of strength and a sharp theological mind