Douglas Van Steere (August 31, 1901 – February 6, 1995) was an American Quaker ecumenist.
Biography He served as a professor of philosophy at Haverford College from 1928 to 1964 and visiting professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1961 to 1962. Steere organized Quaker post-war relief work in Finland, Norway and Poland, was invited to participate as an ecumenical observer in the Second Vatican Council and co-founded the Ecumenical Institute of Spirituality. He authored, edited, translated and wrote introductions for many books on Quakerism, as well as other religions and philosophy.Douglas Steere biography from Pascal
Steere was an undergraduate at Michigan State University, received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1931, and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, receiving degrees from Oxford in 1927 and 1954. He corresponded often with Thomas Merton, a popular Trappist monk.Merton's Correspondence with: Douglas Van Steere
In 1987, he was awarded the Decoration of Knight 1st Class of the White Rose of Finland, in recognition of his post-war relief work in that country.
Bibliography Prayer and worship, 1938 On beginning from within, 1943 Doors into life, 1948 Purity of Heart, by Søren Kierkegaard, transl., 1938, 1948 Time to spare, 1949 On listening to another, 1955 Work and contemplation, 1957 Dimensions of prayer, 1962 Spiritual Counsel and Letters of Baron Friedrich von Hugel, Edited with an Introduction, 1964 God's irregular: Arthur Shearly Cripps: a Rhodesian epic 1973 Together in Solitude, 1982 Quaker Spirituality: Selected Writings, ed., preface by Elizabeth Gray Vining, 1983
References
Further reading "The Open Life" – William Penn Lecture 1937 by Douglas V. Steere Love at the Heart of Things: a biography of Douglas V. Steere, by E. Glenn Hinson. 1998