Kong Hansi, also translated as “Hans Kung”, was born on March 19, 1928, and passed away on April 6, 2021. He was a Germanic person who obtained his Doctor of Theology degree in 1957. 

He was a well-known Swiss Catholic theologian, philosopher, and sinologist; a professor of fundamental theology in the Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Tubingen in Germany and director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research.

His works include Christianity and World Religions, Christianity and Chinese Religions, On Being a Christian, and so on.

He once put forward a famous statement “No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions”.

He had long served as a religious advisor and in recent years actively promoted global ethical thinking, advocated interreligious dialogue, and was the founder of the Global Ethic Foundation. 

He was also the drafter of Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration at the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago.

Since 1979, Hans Kung had visited China several times for lectures. 

He had been invited by the Institute of Christian Culture at the Renmin University of China to give lectures, and he referred to Chinese culture as “the most ancient and sophisticated culture”. 

He believed that “Chinese ethics are the cornerstone of world ethics, especially the Confucian ethics established by Confucius 2500 years ago, which emphasize the concepts of ‘Ren’ (benevolence) and ‘Shu’ (forgiveness). Among them, ‘Shu’ has become the golden rule of world ethics.”

In 1995, Hans Kung initiated the establishment of the “Global Ethic Foundation” and promoted the concept of global ethics to the world through a series of educational and publicity projects.

He has been committed to promoting world peace through dialogue between world religions.