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Dietrich Werner (born 1956) is a protestant theologian, ordained pastor and scholar of ecumenical theology and ethics from Germany, living in Berlin.

Biography Born and raised in Oldenburg in Lower Saxony (1956) he graduated in high school in 1975 and worked as conscientious objector in church youth work and religious education in 1975-1976. He began studying protestant theology in Göttingen 1976 and continued his studies in Tübingen, Edinburgh and Bethel/Bielefeld in 1983. He joined the Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies in Bossey Ecumenical Institute in 1983 and after completion spend half a year as intern at Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. From 1984 to 1988 he worked as a local parish pastor in the Protestant Lutheran Church in Oldenburg. From 1989 to 1993 he served as a junior lecturer at the Ecumenical Institute of Ruhr University of Bochum in Westphalia. In 1991 he invited to join the assembly of World Council of Churches in Canberra. In 1993 he completed a theological dissertation on “Mission in Context. The ecumenical debate on mission in the World Council of Churches until 1991” (summa cum laude) under the supervision of Prof. Konrad Raiser, who became General Secretary of World Council of Churches in 1992. From 1993 to 2000 Dietrich Werner taught at the Missionsacademy at the University of Hamburg as Director of Studies and as a Lecturer at the Theological Faculty of Hamburg. In 1999 he served as a visiting professor at the United Theological College in Bangalore, India. From 2000 to 2007 he worked as an Executive staff for theology and ecumenical education at Northelbian Centre for World Mission (NMZ) at Hamburg and at Christian Jensen Kolleg in Breklum, performing seminars for adult education and ecumenical formation and publishing on issues related to mission history, ecumenical movement, ethics, interfaith dialogue and theological education. From 2007 onwards he was invited to serve as a Director of the Ecumenical Theological Education Program (ETE) of the World Council of Churches in Geneva which is the global program to support associations of theological schools, theological faculties and research programs in countries of the global South. He was part of the preparatory team for the assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea in 2013 and the architect and director of the first Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) which was held there with 150 advanced students of theology as an ecumenical leadership training program in collaboration with the National Council of Churches in South Korea (NCCK) and Graduate School of Theology at Hanshin University, Seoul. From 2007 onwards he worked in Berlin with the protestant development organization Bread for the World, where he was senior theological advisor and head of the unity of theology, conceptual issues and ecumenical research. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary theological degree by the Senate of Serampore College, the umbrella organization of 54 theological colleges in India https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-staff-member-dietrich-werner-receives-honorary-doctorate) . In this year he also was invited to serve as Honorary Professor for Intercultural Theology at the University of Applied Science for Intercultural Theology in Hermannsburg in Lower Saxony ( https://www.fh-hermannsburg.de/die_fit/mitarbeitende/lehrende/dietrich-werner). Since 2021 he is also senior research scholar at the research unit on religious communities and sustainable development at Humboldt University in Berlin ( https://kunstgeschichte-und-digitalitaet.hu-berlin.de/de/rcsd/team/rev-prof-dr-dr-h-c-dietrich-werner) . In spring 2023 he retired and lives with his wife Rev. Dr. Donata Dörfel and three adult children in Berlin.

Membership in committees and organizations

Dietrich Werner is member of the German association of missiologists (DGMW) as well as member of the International Association of Mission Studies (IAMS). He has served for two periods in the national EKD commission in sustainable development (“Entwicklungs-Kammer”) as well as in the EKD national commission on ecumenism and ecumenical relations. He was member of the regional synod of Nordelbische Kirche in Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein as well as a member of the theological committee of this regional Lutheran church. He also is a member of the working committee of the regional church in Berlin Brandenburg on intercultural opening and international worship life in Berlin – Brandenburg (EKBO churches).

Publications and weblinks Dietrich Werner published widely in the area of ecumenism, missiology, ethics, theological education ( https://www.ocms.ac.uk/free-book-resources/).

A major series of International Handbooks on Ecumenism, Theological Education and Intercultural Theologies includes:

-	Dietrich Werner et al (ed.), Handbook of Theological Education in World Christianity, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2010

-	Dietrich Werner, Training to be ministers in Asia. Contextualizing Theological Education in Multi-Faith Contexts, PTCA Series No 3, Kolkatta, 2012 (325 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al), African Handbook on Theological Education, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2013 (1250 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al), Asian Handbook on Theological Education and Ecumenism, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2013 (800 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al), Ecumenical Visions for the 21st Century. An Anthology for Theological Education, WCC, Geneva 2013, 450 pages (plus 300 pages CD-ROM)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al), Orthodox Handbook for Teaching Ecumenism, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2014, (962 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al); Anthology of African Christianity, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2016 (ca. 1295 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al): International Handbook on Ecumenical Diaconia, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2021, (850 pages)

-	Dietrich Werner (et al): International Handbook on Creation Care and Eco-Diaconia, Regnum Books International, Oxford 2022, (916 pages)

References:

https://www.ekd.de/Kammer-fur-nachhaltige-Entwicklung-14786.htm

https://www.brot-fuer-die-welt.de/ueber-uns/personen/dietrich-werner/

https://mission-einewelt.de/protestantische-weltverantwortung/

https://www.abendblatt.de/region/norddeutschland/article106930414/Kirche-vertagt-die-Bischofsfrage.html

EKD-Studie Wandeln und Gestalten. Missionarische Chancen und Aufgaben der evangelischen Kirche in ländlichen Räumen, in: www.ekd.de/ekd_de/ds_doc/ekd_text_87_wandeln_und_gestalten.pdf

EKD-Studie Nutztier und Eigennutz. Tierwohl, Ernährungsethik und Nachhaltigkeit aus evangelischer Sicht, in: https://agu.ekd.de/fileadmin/user_upload/agu/PDF/ekd_texte_133_2019_Nutztier_und_Mitgesch%C3%B6pf.pdf

Auf dem Weg zu einem nachhaltigen und gerechten Finanzsystem. Eine evangelische Orientierung für Reformschritte zur sozial-ökologischen Transformation der Finanzwirtschaft, in: https://www.ekd.de/orientierung-nachhaltiges-und-gerechtes-finanzsystem-65989.htm