- Role models
- Friends
- Dialogue partners
- Dialogue with islamic Leaders
- Favorite places
- My life
- Lectures
- On the go
- Funny
- Fun about myself
- Snapshots
- For media use
Role models

My great grandfather Friedrich-Wilhelm Schirrmacher, who for more than 50 years was a history professor in Rostock and exceptionally gifted teacher, about whom I have published various items

Two sociologists of religion in conversation in Istanbul in April 2009: With me is perhaps the most important representative of my field of study, Prof. Peter Berger, from Boston University, Massachusetts, USA

A real model of involvement to help the poor, my longtime friend Colonel V. Doner ("The Samaritan Strategy"), pictured here in 2004 in one of our schools in Nicaragua

Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling, formerly the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has more than once risked his career and has been a leading thinker for me with respect to mediation between ethnic groups at odds with each other; pictured here at the 2009 Global Media Forum

Prof. Dr. Ralph Winter (1924-2009), Pasadena, California, USA, since 1979 my unforgettable mentor in missiology, cultural anthropology and alternative theological instruction
Friends

Thomas Schirrmacher meets with famous Christian songwriters Siegfried and Oliver Fietz © Martin Warnecke

Ralph Freund, Vice President of Republican Oversees Germany, who regular defends Trump in TV talkshows in Germany

Snapshot of the board table at the annual general meeting of the International Society of Human Rights (15/3/2009), middle: Edgar Lamm, right: Prof Menno Aden. Photo: Markus Scherf

A true Bavarian buddy, with whom I have much to lough. Martin Schweiger (Munic, Singapore), the most patent patent-attorney I know! (April 2009)

The longstanding manager of our charity 'Giving Hands', Horst-Jürgen Kreie, here unloding donations for our orphanage in Sambia

Friend of human rights and religious freedom, Prof. Dr. Alex Ojakur, Kampala, Uganda, here in Istanbul (April 2009)

The trio of deans of the Austrian branch of our Martin Bucer Theological Seminary (names under http://www.bucer.eu/oesterreich.html)

Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana from Sri Lanka, Director Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation of the World Council of Churches - here discussion the code of ethics for missions at the University of Oslo (19.6.2009)

Os Guiness (center) and myself during the launch of our Global Charter of Conscience in Dublin, Ireland.
Dialogue partners

Schirrmacher visited the President of the National Alliance (“La Asociación Nacional de Evangélicos de Bolivia”) Dr. Henry Nogales Peredo and other representatives of Bolivia in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia).

Schirrmacher visited in Santiago de Chile (Chile) the President of the National Alliance Obispo Emiliano Soto Valenzuela (“Mesa Ampliada”) and other representatives.

On July 19, 2023, Schirrmacher visited Pastor Louder Garavedián, the General Secretary of the Uruguay National Alliance in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay.

WEA Secretary General Bishop Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher (left) and FaithInvest CEO Martin Palmer after signing the collaboration agreement. © FaithInvest

From left to right: Reinhardt Schink (General Secretary of the German Evangelical Alliance), Daniela Städter (chief editor of IDEA), Ulrich Parzany (evangelist who succeeded Billy Graham in the German evangelistic rallies) and Thomas Schirrmacher © IDEA

Meeting with Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary General of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity

The Secretary General discusses Syria with the Syriac Archbishop Dionysius John Kawak © Schirrmacher

The WEA Secretary General and his team visited Daryl G. Kimball, CEO of the Arms Control Association in Washington
© Thomas Paul Schirrmacher

In conversation with John Moore, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Thomas Schirrmacher met with representatives of the Muslim World League to prepare a visit of the Secretary General of WEA to Saudi Arabia in May 2022. As both attended meetings in the Vatican, they met in aside room of the Apostolic Palace.

The Secretary General of WEA meets the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Churches, His Holiness Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul)

On the first day of the war against Ukraine, staff of the WEA in Bonn listens to Manuel Boehm of WEA’s Peace and Reconciliation Network (PRN)

The Secretary General of the WEA visits the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York © WEA

With the Chair of the Selection Committee of the Congress in Cape Town 2010, the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi

A nice photo from the Panel discussion organised by the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation at the Security Conference in Munich in February 2019, where I talked with the Syrian-Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II and the Chaldean-Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako, who both reported most evil developments for Christianity in Syria and Iraq.

With the influential Pakistani Senator Faisal Javed Khan: Hoping and praying that he does not only help Asia Bibi but all Christians in his country. (Photo: Bashy Quraishy)

In Abu Dhabi with the former Director General of the UNESCO, Mrs Irina Georgieva Bokova from Bulgaria, and Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the Prime Minister of the Vatican.

In discussion with the new majority leader in the German Federal Parlament (Deutscher Bundestag) after a debate in parliament on religious freedom. In the middle Uwe Heimowski, the Ambassador of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany to the Parlament and Government.

In Berlin with Armen Sargsyan, born 1953 in Erewan, professor of physics, Ambassador, Prime Minister of Armenia from November 1996 to mArch 1997 and since April 2018 for seven years President of the Republic of Armenia.

In discussion with Ilir Meta, since mid 2017 President of Albania, before President of the Parliament and Prime Minister of Albania.

The Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), lectured at Bonn Universities „BAPP“ (Institute for Practical Politics) on the need to strengthen the middle camp of the voters

Conversion with Germany’s federal minister of justice, Katarina Barley, during the Ahmadiyya Jalsa Salana in Karlsruhe

Pile of books for the Patriarch Matias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, with 40 million members the largest of the old-oriental churches. His full title is The Patriarch (Abuna) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, His Holiness Abune Mathias I, Sixth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum and Ichege of the See of Saint Taklehaimanot.

Dr. José Ramos-Horta, Friedensnobelpreisträger und Präsident von Timor-Leste 2007-2012 und Schirrmacher

With Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, Metroplit of Volokolamsk and Chair of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow

In discussion with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Vice President of the European Parliament, during the general assembly of ISHR in Bonn

In the German Parliamentary Society at the Deutsche Bundestag in discussion about peace and reconciliation with the Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, Simplice Mathieu Sarandji (Mitte), and his chief of cabinet Minister Maxime Balalou.

With Chancellor Angela Merkel at the evening of the opening of the „Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag“.

Thomas Schirrmacher and Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Filho at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

With Miloslav Kardinal Vlk, til 2010 Archbishop of Prague. He played a major role in the reconciliation between the Czech Republic and Germany

With archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who was chairman of the German Conference of Bishops until 2014, at the Seat of the archbishop in Munich

Left to rigth: Governor David Beasly, the Hungarian Minister Zoltán Balog, the Minister of the Interior of Bavaria

Left to right: Bishop July – Lutheran Church of Württemberg, Bishop Bedford-Strohm – Lutheran Church of Bavaria, Schirrmacher

With Lic. Caridad Diego Bello, Chief of the Office of Religious Concerns of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (with orange jacket) and two of her staff

In discussion with Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Catholic Archbishop of San Cristóbal de la Habana and President of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference

Bishops at a recent meeting of the Global Christian Forum in Cuba: second from right: the Catholic Archbishop of Havanna, second from left: the Syrian-Orthodox Archbishop of Mount Lebanon near Beirut

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. in Istanbul is the historic head of all Orthodox Churches (2010)

With the German Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäule and the Franz Josef Jung, the representative to the churches of Mrs Merkel’s party in the German federal parliament and former Minister of Defence

Thomas Schirrmacher with the presidents of the German and Austrian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Marx and Cardinal Schönborn, Munich and Vienna, in the hall of the synod building of the Vatican (2015)

The Rum-Orthodox Patriarch Johannes X. Yazigi is head of all orthodox Christians with Arabic liturgy

With the presiding bishop of the Protestant State Church Nikolaus Schneider and the Catholic archbishop Ludwig Schick in the German parliament

On the podium of the International Berlin Gathering with Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, former longterm President of the German parliament Deutscher Bundestag (2013)

Meeting the representatives of the Sikhs, the heads of the Sikh communities in three Asian countries (2011)

A rare meeting with both Presidents of the Parlaments of the two Sudans, one a Muslim, one a Christian.

In discussion with the President of the Czech Supreme Court during a hearing for a new Czech family law in Prag

With the ambassador of Mali, the only Muslim country with full democracy and religious freedom, in front of Münster castle, with the ambassadors on the pin on my lapel (17.11.2009)

With Prof. Dr. Abdullah Saeed from the Maledives, Quran scholar, professor of Islam at Melbourne University, spearhead for religious freedom in the Islamic world, Istanbul (April 2009)

With Günther Nooke, Human Rights Ambassador of the German federal government, and director of the 'Deutsche Welle' (DW, German federal radio), after my speech at the Global Media Forum (official press photo of DW. Photo: DW/K. Danetzki)

Günther Nooke has an impressive balance in his commitment for human rights and religous freedom since 2006 (April 2009)

In discussion with Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, at the State University of Bamberg (Bavaria) (20/2/2009)
Dialogue with islamic Leaders
Favorite places

No place is more beautiful than on a ship crossing over to Istanbul - here with a view of the Topkapi Palace at the tip of Europe (March 2009)

There is no place I would rather find myself than in Istanbul in front of the Hagia Sophia at night (March 2009)

The little Dutch city of Kampen, which appears to practically only exist for its theological universities, is unforgettable
My life

Unforgettable: as a silent vigil, in 1994 I organized a gigantic initiative of burning candles one evening prior to the Bundestag vote on §218 on abortion

Sister Marianne and Sister Ludwine, both from the deaconess house in Lachen, led my brother Klaus and me to the Christian faith in the mid-1960s (the picture was taken during a visit in February 2009)

The first Rumanian students in my sociology of religion course at the public University of Oradea on December 2, 2006

After two dissertations about professors at the University of Bonn (Christlieb and Naumann), I finally received a doctorate at the age of 47 from the University of Bonn, with which I am so well acquainted

Gratulation by the representative of the UN High Commissioner to receiving the human rights price "Pro Fide Award" in Bangkok (2008)

My working place in the Sociological and Psychological Faculty of the University of the West, Timisoara

My first doctoral student receiving his doctorate in Geneva, Alfred Neufeld from Paraguay (front, with the document), myself directly behind him as a young professor (1995)

The IIRF fighting for religious freedom together with a Buddhist and a Muslim professor at the Global Media Forum, Bonn (2011)

Bonn, Jesuit Church, today bishops seat of the Old Catholic Church – I see it all day looking out of the window of my office

With the three deans of Martin Bucer Seminary Germany in the grotto of the Dome of the Rock, where the altar of the First and Second Jewish Temple stood – with permission of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (2012)

Archaelogy in Jerusalem: Checking the rubble of the temple mount with Professor Gabriel Barkay, head of the Temple Mount Sifting Project

With the former and present directors and presidents of the World Reformed Fellowship in São Paulo (2015)

Visit in the university pediatric clinic of Vilnius, Lativa, a project of Giving Hands (appr. 1985) Vienna: Against persecution of Christians Rally against persecution of Christians in front of St Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna during a OSCE-conference (2010)

Rally against persecution of Christians in front of St Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna during a OSCE-conference (2010)

Treasurer Hafen, General Secretary Zakhidov/Usbekistan and President Schirrmacher, the executive board of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights (2015)
Lectures

Guest lecture by Thomas Schirrmacher at St. Paul’s Theological College in Kuala Lumpur © BQ/Thomas Schirrmacher

Thomas Schirrmacher during his guest lecture at PTS College & Advanced Studies, Manila © BQ/Thomas Schirrmacher

Thomas Schirrmacher during his lecture at the Syrian Institute of the University of Salzburg © BQ/Warnecke

Thomas Schirrmacher during his ISHR lecture at the University of Freiburg (with audience) © BQ/Warnecke

In conversation after one of my lectures at a World Council of Churches meeting in Geneva on October 20, 2008

Lecture held at the meeting of the state board of the Protestant Task Force of the CDU party in NorthRhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf on March 25, 2009; in the middle is the chairman, Volkmar Klein, member of the federal parlament

Guest lecture on religious freedom in the main building of the State University of Freiburg in South Germany together with the International Society for Human Rights

Sermon on the right to life with represanataives of all Romanian churches in the cathedral in Timisoara, Romania (2012)

Guest lecture on human trafficking in the senate's chamber of the central building of the University of Cologne

Guest lecture on human trafficking in the senate's chamber of the central building of the University of Cologne Law professors

Guest lecture at the Lutheran Ecumenical Institute at the University of Strassbourg/France (August 2014)

Sermon in the Presbyterian Church in Seoul-Korea in front of an organ built by Klais, a world company from my home town Bonn

Large plenary against human trafficking at the “Kirchentag” in Hamburg, the largest Protestant gathering in Germany (2013)

Being interview against persecution at the “Kirchentag” in Stuttgart, the largest Protestant gathering in Germany (2015)

The German Chancellor Mrs Angela Merkel thanks me for my speech in the Berlin party headquarter oft he CDU (2010)

Lecture on Religious Extremism in the Middle East, Summit by Federal and State Security Institutions, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Wildbad Kreuth (2015)
On the go

Looking from Tiraspol, Transnistria to Moldova on the other side of the river Dniester. “Trans” the river is the Russian, Ukrainian, English, German version, the Transnistria people themselves do not see there country “trans”, on the other side of the Dniester, but this side of Dniester, thus “Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic”.

The Arch of Constantine at the Via Triumphales in Rom. 315 consecrated, 21 m high and 25.7 m wide.
The Arch of Constantine at the Via Triumphales in Rom. 315 consecrated, 21 m high and 25.7 m wide.

The keystone, i.e. the vaulted centerpiece of the middle, fifth arch of the narthex (nave) of the third huge abbey church of Cluny, France, completed in 1230, called “Cluny III”, long the largest church in the world. It shows the pasha lamb with the cross with a Latin inscription surrounding the central figure, translated: “Here I am formed like a small lamb, in heaven I am great”. The original is now in the Ochier Museum, Jean de Bourbon Palace, Saône-et-Loire in Cluny.
The keystone, i.e. the vaulted centerpiece of the middle, fifth arch of the narthex (nave) of the third huge abbey church of Cluny, France, completed in 1230, called “Cluny III”, long the largest church in the world. It shows the pasha lamb with the cross with a Latin inscription surrounding the central figure, translated: “Here I am formed like a small lamb, in heaven I am great”. The original is now in the Ochier Museum, Jean de Bourbon Palace, Saône-et-Loire in Cluny.

Speech to 40.000 participants of the Ahmadiyya Jalsa Salana in Karlsruhe, the yearly meeting of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Germany, before the lecture of their spiritual leader, Kalif Mirza Masrur Ahmad

Commemorating the martyrs of 1915 together with the Syrian-Orthodox Patriarch at the memorial in Cloister Warburg (2015)

This organ in Seoul, Korea, has been built by the Klais-company from my home town Bonn, here after a lecture to Korean professors of theology (2012)

Launch of the ‘Global Charter of Conscience’ in Dublin, Ireland, far right on the table: Os Guiness (2013)

Tel-Dan-Stele of the 8th/9th century with inscription “House of David” discovered 1993 in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2012)

Speech given at the Religious Freedom Concert by the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest’s Opera House, here shaking hands with the President (2013)

With oriental bishops on the VIP tribune of the German Federal Parliament during the debate on remembering of the Armenian genocide 100 years ago (2015)

In the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem with official permission of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

Panel discussion on religious freedom, CDU/CSU-fraction in the German Parliament, from left to right: Tanja Samrotzki, Archbishop Bashar Warda, Iraq, Archbishop Ludwig Schick, Bishop Ulrich Fischer, Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt, Prof. Thomas Schirrmacher, source: https://www.cducsu.de/veranstaltungen/menschenrecht-religionsfreiheit-wie-schuetzen-wir-verfolgte-christen-teil-1/galerie/bildergalerie-zum-c-kongress

With delegates of the Copts of six European countries in the EU parliament - right of the flag the chair of the human rights committee
Funny

Best protection possible: Under the blessing of African bishops, pastors and friends at the Global Christian Forum in Bogota, Columbia. In the middle the new secretary of the GCF, Casely Essamuah from Ghana, with his wife.

Christians that think there are more holy than others should move to the “Oberes Gerechtigkeitsgässchen” (Upper Justice Alleys) at Bern Cathedral

Photo of the official photographer of the Federal Minister for Human Development minutes before a hearing on religious freedom (2014)

The Claw! Lecture, Summit by Federal and State Security Institutions, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Wildbad Kreuth (2015)

With faculty and students of Martin Bucer Seminary in Caesarea Maritima in Israel – on top of me our archaeologist Alexander Schick

Laughing with the presidents of the German and Austrian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Marx and Cardinal Schönborn, Munich and Vienna, in the hall of the synod building of the Vatican (2015)

This is the result of the wrong perspective of a photographer: With the ambassador of Italy in Albania in the Italian Embassy

As James Bond on the Swiss mountain Schilthorn, where the film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” was filmed Thomas James Bond (2013)

Thomas in a sickle shape during a speech given at the Religious Freedom Concert by the Romanian Parliament in Bukarest’s Opera House (2013)

During an archaeological excursion in Tel Dan, Israel, I show our students, where the golden calf was standing

The small boys and girls in us: The Religious Liberty Commission of World Evangelical Alliance meeting in our office in Bonn (2011)

The police chief of the State of Hamburg presents me the cap of a police captain after a lecture on human trafficking to his officers (2013)

Wrong way around: With Dean Carsten Friedrich and students in front of the lecture hall of Martin Bucer Seminary in Chemnitz (2009)

Help needed! My deputy repairing my shirt at the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, Korea (2013)

After a busy day of organizing sleeping at the National Prayer Breakfast in the German Parlament (June 2015)

(from left) Volker Lauder, majority leader in the German Federal Parlament, Erika Steinbach, than chair of the human rights committee of the same, Thomas Schirrmacher, Prelate Karl Jüsten

After a guest lecture in Austria, the Austrian thank me with this T-shirt. No hau is how you pronounce "know how", but in German means "You will not be beaten" (2010)

Loriot: During the large Loriot exhibition. Loriot was the best known German cabaretist and always did sit on this seat in the same position.

This how the famous Japanese caricaturist Tomokazu Tabata sees me. He is winner of several prices of the International Society for Caricature Artists (www.caricature.org)

The marathon meetings of the General Assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance in Pattaya, Thailand takes its toll (October 29, 2008)

Taken in front of our hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, USA outside of Washington, D.C. (September 2007)
Fun about myself

Is this a comparison of the size of bishops’ crosses? With Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York © Timothy Goropevsek

How should this become a group photo? - With the President of the All-African Parliament in Rabatt, Morocco, June 2023

PRO makes fun of me on April Fools’ Day 2021: Thomas Schirrmacher receives his own RTL show: In the future, the theologian Thomas Schirrmacher will have his own program on the TV station RTL. The popular sociologist of religion, who is friends with Pope Francis, will appear weekly on the program “Alarm for Schirrmacher” from May onwards. In addition, prominent guests will appear in “Alarm for Schirrmacher”. For the episodes that are planned in Rome, Pope Franziskus has been asked by RTL as an accompanying person, who will comment on the program from a side seat and pass the balls to show master Schirrmacher. The broadcaster has not yet revealed any details.

Best protection possible: Under the blessing of African bishops, pastors and friends at the Global Christian Forum in Bogota, Columbia. In the middle the new secretary of the GCF, Casely Essamuah from Ghana, with his wife.

Photo of the official photographer of the Federal Minister for Human Development minutes before a hearing on religious freedom (2014)

The Claw! Lecture, Summit by Federal and State Security Institutions, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Wildbad Kreuth (2015)

With faculty and students of Martin Bucer Seminary in Caesarea Maritima in Israel – on top of me our archaeologist Alexander Schick

Laughing with the presidents of the German and Austrian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Marx and Cardinal Schönborn, Munich and Vienna, in the hall of the synod building of the Vatican (2015)

As James Bond on the Swiss mountain Schilthorn, where the film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” was filmed Thomas James Bond (2013)

Thomas in a sickle shape during a speech given at the Religious Freedom Concert by the Romanian Parliament in Bukarest’s Opera House (2013)

During an archaeological excursion in Tel Dan, Israel, I show our students, where the golden calf was standing

The police chief of the State of Hamburg presents me the cap of a police captain after a lecture on human trafficking to his officers (2013)

Wrong way around: With Dean Carsten Friedrich and students in front of the lecture hall of Martin Bucer Seminary in Chemnitz (2009)
Snapshots

William Franklin Graham III, President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and of Samaritan’s Purse

Godfrey Yogarajah from Sri Lanka, very old friend and co-leader of WEA with me, here waiting in the office of the foreign minister of Brazil

The “Federal Washing Machine” (Berlin vernacular), which means the Federal Chancellery in Berlin (2015) Foto: Markus Pletz Fotografie // Stiftung für Grundwerte und Völkerverständigung | Büro Berlin:Pariser Platz 6a | 10117 Berlin. Alle Nutzungsrechte © Stiftung für Grundwerte und Völkerverständigung / Markus Pletz Fotografie