Swiss-born US theologian and religious freedom campaigner Bert Beverly Beach has died. He died at the age of 94 on 14 in Silver Spring (Maryland/USA). The Adventist pastor is considered an important 20th century Adventist theologian and, for decades, was the face of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to other faith communities and civil society organizations.
Born in Switzerland in 1928, Beach graduated from high school in Bern. He began his church career as an educator in Italy and served in the UK and the US. He served as executive secretary of the Adventist Church leaderships in Western Europe and West Africa. From 1965 until the 1990s, he was Seventh-day Adventist liaison and advisor to the World Council of Churches in Geneva. From 1970 to 2003, he served as secretary of the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions (CS/CWCs), an interfaith body uniting two billion Christians around the world. During this time, Beach served 15 years as director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) and most recently as director of Interchurch Relations for the Adventist World Church leadership. Under his aegis, the Adventist Church has held high-level theological dialogues and consultations with the Lutheran World Federation, the Salvation Army and other Christian world communions. He enjoyed great prestige in international ecumenical circles.
Observer at the Second Vatican Council
Bert Beach was just 34 years old when he was commissioned by the church magazine "Adventist Review" to observe and report on the work of the Second Vatican Council. Beach, in his own words, "knew next to nothing about Catholics" at the time. After his death, Gary M. Ross wrote: "An astute observer of the Vatican, he showed other church members how to view Catholicism with both respect and a certain amount of reserve."
Books and awards
Dr. Beach has published numerous books and articles in several languages, including "Vatican II-Bridging the Abyss" (1968), "Ecumenism-Boon or Bane? " (1974), "Bright Candle of Courage" (1989), "Rotating the World with Rotary" (1991), "101 Questions Adventists Ask" (2000), "Ambassador for Liberty" (2015). Dr. Beach has received several honorary awards, including a special resolution of the Maryland State Senate (1984) for his contribution to religious freedom. He was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International (1984) and was awarded a Th.D. honoris causa by the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, Poland.
Voices on the ministry of Bert Beach
Norwegian Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist World Church leadership from 1999 to 2010, expressed his appreciation for Beach's life and ministry thus: "Bert Beach, more than any other leader in our church, showed us how important it is to communicate with people whose religious beliefs and values are different from ours - important for us to understand them and for us to be understood."
Commenting on the death of Bert Beach, Reinder Bruinsma, retired Adventist Church leader from the Netherlands, who, like Beach, was also executive secretary of the Adventist Church in Western Europe (Trans-European Division - TED), said, "Beach was a great leader and known inside and outside the church for his leadership, his scholarship and the way he represented the Adventist Church worldwide in all kinds of bodies.... Bert leaves a void."
"He championed religious liberty with a zeal rarely seen, and that liberty was for all people - not just Adventists," Gary M. Ross, Adventist liaison to the US Congress from 1980 to 1995, said of Bert Beach's death.
"If we are recognised today by most Christian leaders as a mainstream Christian church, it is the result of [Beach's] persistent and excellent relationships with other Christian leaders," said Dr. John Graz in 2005, former director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the World Church leadership.
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