Introduction

Willem Adolf Visser’t Hooft (1900-1985) was one of the founders of the World Council of Churches and was the first general secretary of the organisation from 1948 to 1966. The World Council was one of the most important manifestations of the ecumenical movement in the twentieth century, which aimed at and still aims at the unity of worldwide Christianity in the modern period. Someone whose active life was so interwoven with such an influential organisation had to have had wider impact – in this case not only on the institution of the World Council of Churches but also on the ecumenical movement in general. This gives us the basic idea behind this historical study, which is completely devoted to the life of Visser’t Hooft, a life that, for the most part, was dedicated to serving the cause of church unity. This is by no means an overstatement: he lived his life for the unity of the church.