wfn.org | WCC tribute to Harry de Lange

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

World Council of Churches
Press Release 01-34
For Immediate Use
1 October 2001

Harry de Lange (1919-2001)

The news of the death of Professor Dr Harry de Lange has been
received with great sadness in the World Council of Churches
(WCC). Dr de Lange died on Thursday, 27 September, at the age of
83 years, in his home country, the Netherlands.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser paid the following
tribute to Dr de Lange:

The World Council of Churches is greatly saddened by the news
that Dr Harry de Lange has passed away; in gratitude for his
outstanding contribution to the ecumenical movement, the Council
offers its sincere condolences to his family and to the churches
in the Netherlands, who have lost one of their ecumenical
pioneers.

Almost from its creation in 1948, Dr de Lange became involved in
the life and work of the WCC. He was one of a group of Dutch
academics that included Prof. J. Tinbergen and Dr C.L. Patijn,
and that quickly began contributing to WCC work in the field of
"Church and Society". Dr de Lange also served for many years as a
member of the board of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. 

When a formal WCC working committee on "Church and Society" was
established in 1954, Dr de Lange became an active member, and
retained this membership until his retirement. Through him, the
tradition of Dutch Christian social thinking was well represented
in WCC "Church and Society" programmes and projects over the next
three-plus decades.

Harry de Lange was among the influential minds at a 1966 Geneva
conference on "Church and Society", and later at a 1979 WCC
conference on "Faith, Science and the Future" that took place at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was
instrumental in setting up an advisory group on economic matters
that shaped WCC policies and strategies in this particular area
during the 1970s and 80s. It was his special concern to assure
active representation and participation of voices from the
southern hemisphere in WCC

meetings, and he was a strong supporter of the thinking of such
Christian leaders from the South as Prof. Sam Parmar and Dr M.M.
Thomas, both from India.

After his retirement, Harry de Lange concentrated on the issue
of justice in affluent Western societies. In 1995 with Prof. Bob
Goudzwaard, he published a widely acclaimed study entitled Beyond
Poverty and Affluence: Towards an Economy of Care. Translated
into several languages, this book had a lasting influence on
ecumenical social thought. 

The WCC is greatly indebted to Dr Harry de Lange for his immense
contribution to ecumenical social thought. He was a teacher, a
colleague and friend to several generations of ecumenical
co-workers. He was also a model for trying to articulate, and
live out, Christian responsibility in a period of rapid social
change and growing social and economic inequalities. Dr de Lange
will be remembered with gratitude and respect as one of those who
paved the way for the contemporary social witness of  the
churches. 

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 

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