About Carl Anders Skriver

Carl Anders Skriver was a true pioneer in the field of Christian vegetarianism. He was the first modern scholar to argue, on historical grounds, that vegetarianism was at the heart of the message of Jesus -- not just something which Christians should tolerate, but part of the gospel message itself.

Skriver was born in Hamburg, Germany, on December 8, 1903. At the age of 17, he became a vegetarian for ethical reasons and remained a vegetarian for the rest of his life. From 1923 until 1930 he studied Law, Philosophy, Theology, and Indian Studies in Hamburg, Marburg, and Tübingen. He received his doctorate for a thesis entitled "The Idea of Creation in Vedic Literature." (This thesis was written in German, not in Sanskrit, as is erroneously stated elsewhere, though the thesis relied on translations and knowledge of the Sanskrit). In 1933 he married Hildegard von Brockdorff; they had three children. From 1933 until 1958 he was minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. An opponent of Hitler, he was arrested in 1943. During and after the war Skriver wrote numerous articles, gave countless lectures, and published a number of books (all in German), up until his death on March 24, 1983.

His lifelong concern was the inner reform of the Christian religion. His extensive studies of the New Testament and early Christianity led him to many unusual discoveries which revolutionized previously accepted Christian teachings. From 1947 through 1951 he organized yearly summer schools in Ockholm (northern Germany) for Christian vegetarians. In 1952 he founded the "Order of the Nazoraeans," an interdenominational and international movement, to which everyone who shares the same beliefs, ideas, and lifestyle belongs. Quarterly newsletters are still regularly published in German. For thirty years he led yearly summer schools for the Nazoraeans and friends; since 1977, these have taken place at their center, the "Lindenhof," near Tuttlingen in southern Germany. Skriver was a Vice-President of the International Vegetarian Union and a life member of the British Vegan Society.

A number of Christian beliefs will be shaken at the foundations by this and by further books. Many believers as well as seekers will find unexpected confirmations of truth -- confirmations which they did not dare to dream of.