Walter J. Hollenweger: an (auto)biographical account of his ecumenical legacy

ABSTRACT

Walter Hollenweger had a profound impact on a variety of theological disciplines that was nurtured by his personal story. This essay accounts for his ecumenical legacy beginning with the Pentecostal Church in Switzerland to the World Council of Churches in Geneva through an autobiographical account by one of his former students. The essay traces Hollenweger’s early career followed by personal reflections and insights that take Hollenweger’s ecumenical legacy from Birmingham to Geneva to Romania and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Walter Hollenwerger
• ecumenism
• missiology
• World Council of Churches
• Pentecostalism
• Orthodoxy churches

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Robra, “The World Council of Churches and Pentecostals,” 161–74; Staples, “Ecumenical theology and Pentecostalism,” 261–71.

2 See van der Laan, “Walter J. Hollenweger,” 5–15; Ustorf, “The Magpies Gotta Know,” 27–32; Lartey and Mulrain, “Hollenweger as Professor of Mission,” 33–40; Conway, “Helping the Ecumenical Movement to Move on,” 273–78; Jongeneel et al., Pentecost, Mission and Ecumenism; Price, Theology out of Place.

3 Hollenweger, Pentecostalism, 322.

4 See Hollenweger, “Towards a Church Renewed and United in the Spirit,” 21–8.

5 Hollenweger writes that when the document ‘Church for Others’ to which he contributed was presented to the Uppsala Assembly the delegates from Germany, Scandinavia, and England contested the draft resolution or Section II as a starting point for narrative Theology. See Hollenweger, Umgang mit Mythen: Interkulturelle Theologie 2, 35, cf. van der Laan, “Walter J. Hollenweger,” 9.

6 Cf. Ustorf, “The Magpies Gotta Know,” 31.

7 The Church for Others and the Church for the World.

8 See Hollenweger, “Roman Catholics and Pentecostals in Dialogue,” 135–53.

9 Hollenweger, “The Pentecostal movement and the World Council of Churches,” 310–20; idem, “Locusts and Wild Honey: The Charismatic Renewal and the Ecumenical Movement,” 90–1.

10 See Hollenweger, “The Ecumenical Significance of Oral Christianity,” 259–65.

11 See Sauca, “Cinstirea sfintelor icoane,” 56–62; idem, “Duminica – sabatul crestinilor,” 48–60; idem, “Taina Sfantului Botez de-a lungul vremii (I),” 285–307; idem, “Taina Sfantului Botez de-a lungul vremii (II),” 428–42; idem, “Consideratii ortodoxe asupra miscarii harismatice actuale,” 400–16; idem, “Glossolalia in the Early Church and Its Interpretations during Centuries,” 480–95.

12 Hollenweger, “Ecumenical Theology and the Elusiveness of Doctrine,” 157–8.

13 World Council of Churches, Orthodoxy and Cultures.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ioan Sauca

Ioan Sauca is General Secretary of the World Council of Churches and Director of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.