Muller-Fahrenholz, Geiko 1940-

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Muller-Fahrenholz, Geiko 1940-

PERSONAL:

Born 1940, in Germany. Education: Attended universities in Germany; attended the Yale Divinity School.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Germany.

CAREER:

Ordained Lutheran pastor and writer. Pastor in Oxford, England, 1960s; World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission, study secretary, 1974-79; Protestant Academy of Bad Segeberg and Hamburg, Germany, director, 1979-88; U.N. Peace University and the National University of Heredia, Costa Rica, lecturer, 1988-94; independent researcher and writer, 1994—; World Council of Churches International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, coordinator, 2006—.

WRITINGS:

Heilsgeschichte zwischen Ideologie und Prophetie: Profile, und Kritik heilsgeschichtlicher Theorien in der ökumenischen Bewegung zwischen 1948 und 1968, Herder (Freiburg, Germany), 1974.

Accra 1974: Sitzung D. Komm. F. Glauben U. Kirchenverfassung: Berichte, Reden, Dokumente, foreword by Lukas Vischer, Evang. Missionsverlag (Stuttgart, Germany), 1975.

Einheit in Der Welt von Heute: Die Studienarbeit der Kommission für Glauben und Kirchenverfassung des Okumenischen Rates der Kirchen zum Thema Einheit der Kirchen, Einheit der Menschheit, Lembeck (Frankfurt on Main, Germany), 1978.

Partners in Life: The Handicapped and the Church, World Council of Churches (Geneva, Switzerland), 1979.

Bangalore 1978: Sitzung D. Komm. Für Glauben U. Kirchenverfassung: Berichte, Reden, Dokumente, Lembeck (Frankfurt on Main, Germany), 1979.

(Editor) —und Wehret Ihnen Nicht!: Ein Ökumenisches Plädoyer für die Zulassung von Kindern zum Abendmahl, Lembeck (Frankfurt on Main, Germany), 1981, translated as —and Do Not Hinder Them: An Ecumenical Plea for the Admission of Children to the Eucharist, World Council of Churches (Geneva, Switzerland), 1982.

(With others) Christentum in Lateinamerika: 500 Jahre Seit der Entdeckung Amerikas, Verlag F. Pustet (Regensburg, Germany), 1992.

(With Francisco Esquivel and Rodolfo Piza Rocafort) Existe Una Alternativa a Los Programas De Ajuste Estructural?, Cátedra "Víctor Sanabria" de la Escuela Ecuménica de Ciencias de la Religión y la Escuela de Economía (Heredia, Costa Rica), 1992.

Erwecke Die Welt: Unser Glaube an Gottes Geist in dieser Bedrohten Zeit, C. Kaiser (Gütersloh, Germany), 1993.

God's Spirit: Transforming a World in Crisis, Continuum (New York, NY), 1995.

Vergebung Macht Frei: Vorschläge für eine Theologie der Versöhnung, O. Lembeck (Frankfurt on Main, Germany), 1996, translated as The Art of Forgiveness: Theological Reflections on Healing and Reconciliation, WCC Publications (Geneva, Switzerland), 1997.

The Kingdom and the Power: The Theology of Jürgen Moltmann, SCM Press (London, England), 2000.

America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Geiko Muller-Fahrenholz is an ordained Lutheran pastor born to a farming family in north Germany in 1940. Educated in German universities, Muller-Fahrenholz was awarded a scholarship from the World Council of Churches to pursue his studies at the Yale Divinity School. After his ordination, he went to Oxford to preach to the German-speaking Lutheran population there. Returning to Germany to work with the World Council of Churches in 1974, he then moved on to the Protestant Academy of Bad Segeberg and Hamburg, where he assumed the directorship for a ten-year period. After again leaving the country to lecture at universities in Costa Rica, he returned to Germany in 1994 to work as an independent researcher and write books.

One of his more acclaimed books, God's Spirit: Transforming a World in Crisis, was published in 1995. Muller-Fahrenholz makes a plea to the international Christian community to heal the world's problems through faith and understanding. By following his advice in the book and using Christian principles, Muller-Fahrenholz believes that cynical attitudes, narrow-minded fundamentalism, and violence can be cured. Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, jointly reviewing the book in Spirituality & Practice, called his arguments "cogent," adding that the book "speaks forcefully to the tremendous revisionary work which must be done" to help our world. Writing in Theological Studies, Nancy A. Dallavalle commented that Muller-Fahrenholz "is most persuasive as an engaged observer of the problem, moving in short, impressionistic chapters to an analysis of the situation as a cycle of cynicism, fundamentalism, and violentism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 2006, Ray Olson, review of America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion, p. 6.

Currents in Theology and Mission, June 1, 2003, Mark Mattes, review of The Kingdom and the Power: The Theology of Jürgen Moltmann, p. 223.

National Catholic Reporter, May 30, 1997, Michael J. Farrell, review of The Art of Forgiveness: Theological Reflections on Healing and Reconciliation, p. 10.

Reference & Research Book News, May 1, 2007, review of America's Battle for God.

Theological Studies, December 1, 1996, Nancy A. Dallavalle, review of God's Spirit: Transforming a World in Crisis, p. 779.