WORLD CHURCH LEADER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27038, 24 March 1949, Page 8

WORLD CHURCH LEADER

DR J. HUTCHISON COCKBURN VISIT TO DUNEDIN NEXT WEEK The Very Rev. Dr James Hutchison Cockburn, the distinguished church leader who is on a six weeks’ visit to New Zealand on behalf of the World Council of Churches, will arrive in Dunedin from Queenstown next Tuesday. He will address a public meeting at Knox Church in the evening and will leave Dunedin on the following day. A former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Cockburn is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. He was the director of the Christian Reconstruction in Europe Department from 1945 to 1948 and has stated that one of his main reasons for coming to New Zealand was to thank churches for their generous contributions to the reconstruction projects of European Churches over the last few years. Born in 1882 at Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Dr Cockburn was educated at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow University, where he gained his M.A., 8.D., and D.D. He' began his ministerial career in 1908. Fxom 1918 to 1945 he was minister of Dunblane Cathedral, Perthshire. During his distinguished career in both the Church of Scotland and the World Council of Churches he has won recognition in many overseas countries. In 1946 he was made an honorary professor of the University of Budapest. In 1948 he was made a D.Th. of Prague and he received the order of White Lion (third class) from the Czech Republic for his work on behalf of Czechoslovakia during the recent war. He received the degree of D.D. from the Yale University in the same year. During the First World War, Dr Cockburn served with the YMCA in France and as chaplain to the forces in Egypt and East Africa. He received the War and Victory medals. Church history is his special interest and he has contributed numerous articles to religious, historical and other journals. His hobby is fishing.