Jurjen Zeilstra - Visser t Hooft, 1900-1985: Living for the Unity of the Church

Visser t Hooft, 1900-1985

Living for the Unity of the Church

Jurjen A. Zeilstra

Amsterdam University Press

Originally published as Visser t Hooft. Een leven voor de oecumene Biografie 1900-1985 , by Jurjen Zeilstra, Skandalon, Middelburg 2018.

Translated by Henry Jansen with the assistance of Lucy Jansen-Hofland.

Permission for reproduction of the photographs: the Visser t Hooft family and the World Council Of Churches.

Cover illustration: Visser t Hooft behind his desk in his office, 17 Route de Malagnou, with a reproduction of the Isenheimer Altar by Matthias Grnewald behind him

Cover design: Cordesign, Leiden

Typesetting: Crius Group, Hulshout

ISBN 978 94 6372 683 2

e- ISBN 978 90 4855 187 3 (pdf)

e- ISBN 978 90 4855 188 0 (e-pub)

DOI 10.5117/9789463726832

NUR 686

Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0)

The author / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2020

Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).

Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher.

For Adrienne

Le chrtien sait trs bien que demain a nira pas mieux.

Mais il continue esprer.

Visser t Hooft, Message paroisse Chne-Bourg, 1973

The Christian knows very well that it wont be better tomorrow. But he continues to hope.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Figure 1Wim (Visser) t Hooft, ca. 1916

Figure 2Wims father: Hendrik Philip (Hans) (Visser) t Hooft, 1866-1930

Figure 3Wims mother: Jacoba Clasina (Visser) t Hooft-Lieftinck, 1874-1928

Figure 4Thalatta, house in the dunes, owned by Wims grandfather, W.A. t Hooft

Figure 5House where Visser t Hooft was born, called Zonnebloem, Koninginneweg 107, Haarlem

Figure 6The three t Hooft brothers (Frans, Hans, and Wim) with their father, ca. 1912

Figure 7Wim as a schoolboy

Figure 8On a bike trip from Breda to Brussels, November 1918; Wim is in the middle

Figure 9Henritte Philipine Jacoba (Jetty) Boddaert, 1899-1968, ca. 1922

Figure 10Wim and Jetty reading after they were engaged. Wim is holding a book called De moderne staatsidee of H. Krabbe (1915), but is looking at her.

Figure 11Wedding photo of Wim and Jetty, The Hague 16 September 1924

Figure 12Wim and Jetty on their honeymoon, 1924

Figure 13Wim in tennis clothes, Hans, Frans, and Jetty, ca. 1928

Figure 14During a student exchange in the 1920s

Figure 15Jetty with her daughter Anneke, ca. 1930

Figure 16Wim, Jetty, and their three children, Anneke, Hans, and Kees, ca. 1933

Figure 17Visser t Hooft and Pierre Maury as mountain climbers, Saas-Fee, 1934

Figure 18Participants of the international meeting of the YMCA in Canada, in the fall of 1925. Visser t Hooft is holding the Holland sign.

Figure 19The leaders of the WSCF, 1935, with, among others in the first row: Philippe Maury, Wim Visser t Hooft, Robert Mackie, Pierre Maury, and Suzanne de Ditrich

Figure 20Portrait: Jetty Visser t Hooft-Boddaert, ca. 1935

Figure 21The Visser t Hooft family home in the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, 11A Chemin des Crts de Champel, Geneva

Figure 22Organising committee of the World Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam, summer of 1939

Figure 23Portrait, ca. 1940

Figure 24Visser t Hooft addresses Engelandvaarders (travellers to England) stranded in Switzerland, at the Cossonay internment camp, probably 31 August 1942

Figure 25On the stairs in Geneva

Figure 26From 1945 until 1965 the offices of the World Council of Churches were located at17 Route de Malagnou, Geneva. Visser t Hoofts office was on the right above the entrance.

Figure 27Four successive secretaries of the WSCF: Robert Mackie, Wim Visser t Hooft, Henri-Louis Henriod, and John Mott, standing in front of the building that had just been acquired for the World Council, 17 Route de Malagnou, Geneva, 1946

Figure 28With his friend Marc Boegner, one of the first presidents of the World Council and president of the Fdration Protestante de France, in front of the Chteau de Bossey in Geneva during the conference celebrating 450 years of Calvin, 1959

Figure 29Leaders at the opening ceremony of the foundation meeting of the World Council of Churches in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, 22 August, 1948: S. Germanos, J.R. Mott, W.A. Visser t Hooft, E. Eidem, D.T. Niles, G.F. Fisher, and M. Boegner

Figure 30Foundation meeting of the World Council of Churches in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, 23 August 1948

Figure 31Visser t Hooft reports on the formation period 1938-1948, 23 August 1948

Figure 32Wim and Jetty, ca. 1950

Figure 33With his grandchildren Erica, Marcus, and Martina, ca. 1957

Figure 34At the doctoral defence of his son Hans, Leiden, 11 December 1957

Figure 35Wim Visser t Hooft, staff member Bob Bilheimer, and Eugene Carson Blake, who would succeed Visser t Hooft in 1966, ca. 1948

Figure 36Visser t Hooft, the president of Northwestern University in Evanston, and the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954

Figure 37Wim and Jetty at Niagara Falls, 1954

Figure 38Behind his desk in his office, 17 Route de Malagnou, with a reproduction of the Isenheimer Altar by Matthias Grnewald behind him

Figure 39Organisation chart of the World Council of Churches, ca. 1962 (derived from Geef ze de ruimte, E. de Vries (director), IKOR Television, 18 February 1962)

Figure 40Wim and Jetty on Patmos (Greece), travelling to the monastery by donkey, 1959

Figure 41Behind his desk in his new office, the Ecumenical Centre, 150 Route de Ferney

Figure 42Family home since the end of the 1950s, 13 Chemin des Voirons, Chne-Bougeries, Geneva; photo taken February 2015

Figure 43J. Zeilstra on the steps, 13 Chemin des Voirons, Chne-Bougeries, Geneva

Figure 44Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, visits the World Council assembly in New Delhi, 1961

Figure 45On the cover of Time, 1961

Figure 46With the secretary-general of the United Nations, U Thant, Ecumenical Centre, Geneva 1966

Figure 47At Hong Kong Airport, ca. 1965

Figure 48With the icon of St Oecumenius, bishop of Trikala (990 A.D.), ca. 1960

Figure 49With Patriarch Pimen (Sergey Miharlovich Izvekov, 1910-1990) of Moscow and of Russia, 1969

Figure 50Mixing with the leaders of the Romanian church, Geneva, ca. 1970

Figure 51With the Roman Catholic Cardinal Paul-mile Lger of Montreal, during the Faith and Order Conference of 1963

Figure 52With Cardinal Augustin Bea, president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, and Marc Boegner, president of the Fdration Protestante de France, Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, February 1965

Figure 53Visser t Hooft was an enthusiastic swimmer

Figure 54At the presentation of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Frankfurt, September, 1966

Figure 55During his retirement, ca. 1966

Figure 56Visser t Hooft family picture, 1967

Figure 57With Karl Barth, ca. 1966