Chairman, Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany | Hanover, Germany
Dr. Schneider has been the chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) since 2010.
After studying theology in Wuppertal, Gottingen, and Munster, Schneider served as a parish pastor, diaconal pastor, church district superintendent, and as head of personnel and Vice Praeses of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland. He was subsequently elected by the Rhineland Church Synod to be Praeses in 2003, a position which he held through his retirement in March of this year.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by the Church College Wuppertal/Bethel in 2011, and by the Karoli Gaspar of the Reformed Church in Hungary this past June. He also has received the Buber Rosenzweig Medal (2012) and the Leo Baeck Prize (2013).
Dr. Schneider was born on September 3, 1947.