wfn.org | WCC - Dr Marga Buhrig (1915 - 2002)

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-02-08
For Immediate Use
15 February 2002

Dr Marga Buhrig  (1915 - 2002)

The World Council of Churches (WCC) mourns the passing of Dr
Marga Buhrig, who died in Binningen, Switzerland, during the
night of 12 February, aged 86.  

 From 1983 till 1991, Marga Buhrig was one of three women among
Convocation held in Seoul, Korea, in 1990.  
group for the WCC's World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the
the WCC's eight presidents.  As moderator of the preparatory
Integrity of Creation, she played an active role in planning the

Born in Berlin, Marga Buhrig grew up in Switzerland.  She
studied German language and literature and history before going
on to study theology.  Marga Buhrig was one of the founders of
the Swiss Protestant Women's Federation and of the "Women for
Peace" movement.  From 1959 to 1981, she worked at the Protestant
conference and study centre at Boldern, becoming its director in
1971.  From 1976 till 1982, she was also president of the
Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe. 

A few years ago, when she was already over 80 years old, Marga
Buhrig spoke at a public gathering of what she called her two
"living streams": "the women's movement in its different phases"
and the "the firm foundation and liberating movement of divine
love, even in a world full of cruelty and destruction, the vision
of a human community following the example of Jesus Christ".  

She said then: "I have always wished to belong to movements and
groups that will continue when I am gone, almost as if I wanted
to prove that all that I have tried to do along with others has
not been in vain.  I believe this wish has been fulfilled."  

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr
Konrad Raiser, paid the following tribute to Dr Marga Buhrig:

"It is with sadness, but also with a deep sense of gratitude,
that the World Council of Churches bids farewell to Dr Marga
Buhrig, who died aged 86.  Marga Buhrig had close links with
the World Council of Churches and the ecumenical movement ever
since she attended the WCC's second assembly in Evanston in 1954
as a guest.  She was appointed to the staff of the Evangelical
Academy in Boldern in 1959, becoming its director from 1971-1981.
 In this capacity and through her involvement in the Ecumenical
Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe, of which
she was president from 1976-82, she played a decisive part in
shaping numerous ecumenical developments in Switzerland and in
Europe.  Her commitment, marked by great independence, was first
and foremost to the women's movement and the active pursuit of
justice and peace.  The assembly of the World Council of Churches
in Vancouver (1983) elected Marga Buhrig as one of its eight
presidents; then, for the first time, the WCC's highest
representative body had three women members.  In the period from
1988-90, she was also moderator of the preparatory group for the
WCC's World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of
Creation in Seoul, and in February of 1990 she served as
co-president of that conference.  

No list of official functions and honorary positions, however
complete, can convey the extraordinary force that radiated from
Marga Buhrig. Human relations were all-important to her; she
lived for and with other people, especially women.  Institutions
and structures were not really for her; even at an advanced age,
her life was in constant movement.  She described the basic tenet
of her life as being "to love life passionately and to seek
justice passionately". This passion, which enabled her to
disregard many conventions and prejudices, was a liberating and
encouraging gift that she passed on to several generations of
women.  With her autobiography published in 1987 under the title
"Spat habe ich gelernt, gerne Frau zu sein" (I learned late to
like being a woman), she gave countless women far beyond church
and ecumenical circles the courage to live their lives
confidently as women.  From very early on, she was thus one of
the pioneers of feminist theology and women's search for new ways
for women to live in the church.    

Her life-long commitment to the work of ecumenical formation
with lay-people fuelled her passion for justice and peace.  Her
basic view of life as human relationships made her deeply
distrustful of power structures in church and society.  As one of
the founders of the "Women for Peace" movement in Switzerland,
she drew criticism from politically influential circles in her
own country.  She firmly believed that, with their own experience
of life, women have a unique contribution to make to conflict
resolution that has not yet been fully appreciated. The conciliar
process for justice, peace and the integrity of creation was the
last great cause in her eventful life.  In face of much
opposition, she threw herself into defending this great
ecumenical vision which, for her, was intimately linked to the
biblical vision of the kingdom of God.  

Marga Buhrig never sought a public leadership role.  At first
she was even ready to refuse her election as a president of the
World Council.  It went against the grain for her to be part of
any structures exercising power and authority over others.  But
it was precisely because of this essentially independent and
generous attitude, accompanied by a deep spirituality, and the
willingness to share power and open the way for equal
opportunities and participation for all, including those on the
edges, that she has left such a deep mark in the lives of so many
people - women and men - for whom her life will continue to be a
source of inspiration.  Those who were her companions on the
ecumenical journey will remember her with gratitude.  

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer,
Tel.:  (+41.22) 791.61.53   Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland