Person:
Fred Kaan
Honorary Advisors
is probably best known as the writer of some of the finest contemporary progressive hymnody in English; something he began when he just couldn’t find the hymns he needed in the existing books. Social justice is central to them, and to his understanding of the gospel. Born in Holland, his adolescence coincided with the Nazi occupation of that country, and internationalism is another theme close to his heart. In a varied career he has worked in Geneva as General Secretary for the Alliance of Reformed Churches, in Plymouth and in Swindon. In the 1990s he was Secretary of the Churches’ Human Rights Forum. He now lives in busy retirement in the Lake District. His most recent collection of hymns and lyrical poems is titled The Only Earth We Know, and is published by Stainer and Bell.