The passing of Krister Stendahl, an eminent ecumenist

Krister Stendahl.
Photo: Harvard Divinity School

Krister Stendahl, eminent ecumenist, New Testament scholar, former bishop of Stockholm and dean of the Harvard Divinity School, died Tuesday in Boston at 86 years of age.

Best known in the wider ecumenical movement for his attempts to bring Christians together at the ecumenical table, he challenged them to see the beauty and value in other religious traditions. His contribution to Christian self-understanding amidst religious plurality, particularly with regard to Jewish-Christian relations has been exceptional, said “Shanta Premawardhana, director of the WCC Inter-religious dialogue program. “He coined the now famous term “holy envy” to describe the proper attitude of interreligious dialogue partners who see in the others’ faith a spiritual richness that is not available in one’s own.”

The WCC continues to be grateful for the leadership he offered to the Consultation on the Church and the Jewish People, a body that presented "Ecumenical Considerations on Christian Jewish Dialogue" to the governing bodies of the WCC in 1982.

At a time when the ecumenical movement was taking its initial and tentative steps towards its engagement in dialogue with people of other religions, and debates about the distinctions between evangelism, mission and interreligious dialogue were raging, with his usual wit and charm Stendahl reminded Christians that “we are called to be the salt of the earth and not to make the whole world salt mountains and to be the leaven in the bread and not to make the whole loaf into leaven lump!”

The Lutheran Bishop’s scholarship offered new ways of interpreting St. Paul’s writings that provided opportunities for ordination of women and new approaches to issues of human sexuality, while affirming the use of inclusive language.

Born April 21, 1921, in Stockholm, his faith grew out of extremely painful arthritis in his spine that started when he was 16 or 17. His pain informed his religious readings. Dr. Stendahl earned his doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden, writing his dissertation on the Dead Sea Scrolls. From 1954, he taught New Testament studies at Harvard serving as the Dean of Harvard Divinity School from 1968-79. As bishop of Stockholm in the 1980s he challenged the church to seriously consider the implications of its calling and hastened the process of ending state-sponsorship of the church of Sweden.

Krister Stendahl had contributed to the Seventh Assembly of the WCC in Canberra with his book Energy for Life: “Come Holy Spirit – Renew the Whole Creation”. Among his many other books and articles is the groundbreaking The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West. Last December Harvard Divinity School Bulletin published one of his most recent articles “Why I Love the Bible: beyond distinctions of intellect and spirit, an ever-transforming affair of the heart” in which he describes his life’s journey with the book he found most sacred.