| Frederick Sutermeister | |
| Birth Date: | 29 January 1873 |
| Birth Place: | Aarau, Switzerland |
| Occupation: | Pastor and writer |
| Movement: | Christian socialism |
| Notableworks: | Articles in the Neue Wege |
Frederick Sutermeister (29 January 1873 in Aarau - 16 July 1934) was a Swiss theologian and pastor.
Sutermeister spent his childhood at the Mariaberg Abbey (St. Gallen), before the family moved to Bern in 1880, where he attended high school (Gymnasium Kirchenfeld).[1] At the age of 16 he began to attend the Humanistisches Gymnasium Basel where he established friendship with Swiss theologian Albert Barth.[1] He then studied theology at the universities of Basel, Bern and Berlin, where he attended lectures of Bernhard Duhm, Adolf von Harnack and Friedrich Paulsen (among others).[1] After graduating, he worked as a tutor for the Quarles van Ufford family in the Netherlands.[1]
In 1899 he returned to Switzerland, began his sermon in Schlossrued and married Maria Hunziker (1875–1947) in 1901.[1] With his brothers Eugen and Paul, he published the Christian entertainment magazine Für's Heim. In 1910 he was appointed to a parish in Feuerthalen.[1] During these years, he regularly wrote articles for the Christian socialist magazine Neue Wege.[1] In 1921 he was appointed to a parish in Binningen, where he also worked for the Blue Cross and where he took over Wilhelm Denz′s poor relief.[1]
Sutermeister played viola and often played piano four hands with his son Heinrich Sutermeister (1910–1995);[2] his friendship with Walter Courvoisier contributed to his son's career.[3] His son Hans Martin (1907–1977) described him as a conflictive personality in his autobiographic novel Zwischen zwei Welten.[4]
