Kathleen Mary Amelia Bliss

Nationality

United Kingdom

Date of Birth

1908

Date of Death

1989

Political
Preference

Kathleen Bliss was an English ecumenist, writer, theologian and historian. Born in Fulham, England, Bliss graduated from Girton College, Cambridge in theology and history and was heavily involved in the Cambridge Student Christian Movement. She was a missionary in India from 1932 to 1939 and assistant editor and then editor of the prestigious Christian Newsletter, J.H. Oldham’s publication to inform the British public about theological and political developments. Bliss also worked for the British Council of Churches from from 1945 to 1959 and she was an active participant at the Amsterdam Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948. She was the personal assistant and sparring partner of J.H. Oldham, and as such of great influence on his Christian social thinking that would dominate the debates at the Amsterdam Assembly and its aftermath. Bliss was elected to the Central Committee and Executive Committee of the WCC in 1954. From 1958 to 1966, she was secretary of the Board of Education of the Church of England and lectured at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Sussex.

Bliss was an Anglican ecumenist and her writings dealt with a variety of issues, such as the relationship between faith and laity, and the status of women in churches. She believed that Christianity encouraged active participation in the world through work and politics, rather than a spiritual retreat from world affairs, and pointed to obstacles to the Christian faith in modern times that needed to be assessed and addressed. She is considered to be highly influential on women theologians and ecumenist thought in general.