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

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

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, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

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. She sometimes also appeared on coins from the imperial period, such as Galba's "Freedom ...

, 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 wi ...

. 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; ) is a global Communion (religion), communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of L ...

. He chaired the Church of Norway National Council from 1970 to 1978 and the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations from 1986 to 1990, and had

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

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 ...

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 (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

" and "the most central

layman In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — 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 Norwegian post-

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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