Hans Küng

Hans Küng was born in 1928 in a small town near Lucerne, Switzerland. He is a theologian and philosopher with a rich body of written work and serves as the President of the Foundation for Global Ethics (Stiftung Weltethos). From 1960 until his retirement in 1996, he was a Professor of Ecumenical Theology and Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the University of Tübingen. He has been a visiting professor in New York, Basel, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Houston, Texas. From 1962 to 1965, he served as an official theological consultant (peritus) at the Second Vatican Council, convened under Pope John XXIII. Hans Küng collaborates as a scientific editor for academic journals and has authored numerous books, which have been translated into many different languages. He drafted the "Declaration Toward a Global Ethic" for the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993 and the InterAction Council's proposal for the "Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities" in 1997. In 2001, he was invited by the United Nations Secretary-General to join the Group of Eminent Persons, the writing team for the United Nations Manifesto "Bridging the Gap: Dialogue Among Civilizations." In 2007, he became a member of the committee of the Global Humanitarian Forum (Geneva), convened by Kofi Annan. He holds numerous awards and honorary distinctions from various universities.