Stendahl, Krister

Krister Stendahl, (Protestant) one of the pioneers in the theory and practice of Jewish-Christian dialogue, received his Theol. doc. from the University of Uppsala in 1954 and shortly thereafter assumed the first of several positions at the Harvard Divinity School, where he was Dean and John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity from 1968-79. In 1975 Stendahl became Moderator of the World Council of Churches' Consultation on the Church and the Jewish People, a position he held until 1985. In 1984 he was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm and, after a 5-year term, retired to Cambridge, Massachusetts. A prolific author, he is a foremost authority on St. Paul (e.g., Paul Among Jews and Gentiles - and Other Essays). His most recent volume is Final Account: Paul's Letter to the Romans (Fortress, 1995). He died at age 86 on April 15, 2008, in Boston. See the obituary by Franklin Sherman.