Per Voksø (23 June 1923 – 28 December 2002) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and Christian leader. He was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

as the son of Julius Peder Voksø (1888–1937) and Gudrun Larssen (1891–1972). He took commerce school in 1941 and

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

in 1944. In 1945 he started as a journalist in Bergen's Christian newspaper, '' Dagen''. He participated at the foundation congress of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

in 1948. In the same year he married shipmaster's daughter Doris Paulsen. They got four children together. He was hired as subeditor of ''Vår Kirke'' in 1954, and '' Morgenposten'' in 1957. In late 1966 he was promoted to editor-in-chief. He succeeded Asbjørn Engen. However, shortly after the newspaper was bought by industrialist Sverre Munck. The previous owner was

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the Late Republic, featured on coins supporting the populares faction, and later those of the assassins of ...

, a semi-secret libertarian organization. Voksø ran afoul with the new owner, and resigned after only three months in the editor's chair. He was succeeded by acting editor Gunnar Kristiansen. Until his retirement in 1986, Voksø worked as editor of publishing in Det Beste, the Norwegian version of the

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his w ...

. Voksø chaired YMCA Norway from 1955 to 1964 and was a member of the executive committee of the international YMCA from 1955 to 1961 and 1968 to 1974. In the World Council of Churches he was a member of the central committee and executive committee from 1983 to 1991. He was also active in the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

. He chaired the

Church of Norway National Council Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

from 1970 to 1978 and the

Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

from 1986 to 1990, and had

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The wo ...

concerns. In 1998 he received the Norwegian Ecumenical Prize. He was also a board member of the

Church City Mission Church City Mission (Norwegian: ''Kirkens Bymisjon'') is a diaconal foundation in Norway doing social work within alcohol care, elderly care, child welfare, mental health care and among prostitutes - as well as religious activities with pastoral car ...

and Norwegian Church Aid, and chaired the latter organization from 1980 to 1986. All in all, he has been called "one of the most influential leaders within the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. ...

" and "the most central

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperso ...

in Norwegian post- war church life". In 1992 he was decorated as Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. He died in December 2002 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vokso, Per 1923 births 2002 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian Lutherans Journalists from Bergen YMCA leaders 20th-century Lutherans