Life
Schwager was born in Balterswil into a Swiss farming family as the second of seven children. After primary and secondary school he joined the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1955. Following Jesuit custom he studied philosophy (1957-1960 in Pullach near Munich, Germany) and theology (1963-1967 in Lyon-Fourvière, France), separated by educational work as a prefect in a Jesuit boarding school (1960-1963, "Stella Matutina" in Feldkrich, Austria).
Schwager was ordained a priest on 31 July 1966 and completed his formal education with a doctorate in theology (1967-1969 in Fribourg, Switzerland). During those years he also spent some time in Spain, the home country of the Jesuits’ Basque founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, on whom he wrote his thesis.
For seven years (1970–1977) Schwager was a member of the editors of the journal Orientierung in Zurich and travelled, giving speeches and presentations. In 1977 he became Professor of Dogmatic and Ecumenical Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Innsbruck, Austria. From 1985-1987, and again from 1999-2003, he was dean of that faculty. He was a co-founder of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion (1991), its first president (1991–1995) and an honorary member of its advisory board from 1999 until his unexpected death on 27 February 2004.
Read more about this topic: Raymund Schwager
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