Speakers Announced for World Council Fourth Assembly
Diocesan Press Service. December 5, 1967 [60-5]
A Nobel prize-winner, an authority on world economic development, an ecumenical pioneer, and a distinguished Swedish theologian are among the speakers announced for the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches to be held in Uppsala, Sweden, July 4 - 20, 1968.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, will give the sermon at the opening service of worship, July 4. Among those who will speak during the 16 days of the Assembly are Dr. Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson), British economist who was recently named a member of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace; Dr. Willem A. Visser't Hooft, retired general secretary of the World Council; and Prof. Krister Stendhal, professor at Harvard Divinity School.
The principal address on the Assembly theme, "Behold, I make all things new" will be delivered by Professor Savvis Agourides of Salonica, Greece, a leading Greek Orthodox theologian.
Some 2,250 Christian leaders from throughout the world will be present for the opening service, including 800 delegates from 232 member churches of the World Council, plus observers, fraternal delegates, advisers and special guests.
Others addressing the gathering will include M. M. Thomas, director of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society in Bangalore, India; Father Paul Verghese, principal of the Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary at Kottayam, Kerala, India; Prof. Hendrikus Berkhof, Dutch theologian; and Dr. Theodore A. Gill, former president of San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, Calif.