Puidoux Conferences
The Puidoux Conferences were a series of theological consultations held in Europe between 1955 and 1962 under the general theme, "The Lordship of Christ over Church and State." Scholars from the continental Lutheran and Reformed theological faculties and scholars from the °"historic peace churches" participated. The initiating meeting was held in the Swiss village of Puidoux, hence the name.
These conferences were an unanticipated byproduct of conversations initiated on behalf of the peace churches by the late M. R. Zigler (Church of the Brethren) with officials of the World Council of Churches (WCC), soon after that body's establishment in 1948. Those conversations eventuated in a document submitted to the WCC by the peace churches' committee and published under the title, "Peace is the Will of God." The Puidoux Conferences were triggered by discussion surrounding that document, though not related to the WCC. They developed rather as perhaps the first serious theological conversation since the Reformation era between the original Protestant traditions in Europe and the "radical Reformation".
Three major consultations were held (Iserlohn, 1957; Bievres, 1960; and Oud Poelgeest, 1962), with detailed recording of the procedures. These were supplemented by a number of smaller encounters. The Puidoux papers are important, both as way-station in the development of theological reflection on peace and war, and as the overture to a broadening dialogue that has fanned out in a variety of ways meanwhile. Mennonites played a key role in the Puidoux series, especially given their direct roots in the radical reformation of the 16th century. Donald F. Durnbaugh edited a volume of documents related to the conferences under the title, On Earth Peace. (Brethren Press, 1978).
| Author(s) | Paul Peachey |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1989 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Peachey, Paul. "Puidoux Conferences." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Puidoux_Conferences&oldid=77100.
APA style
Peachey, Paul. (1989). Puidoux Conferences. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Puidoux_Conferences&oldid=77100.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 738. All rights reserved.
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