Niklaus Peter, born in 1956, studied theology in Basel, Berlin and Princeton (USA). He was a senior assistant lecturer at the University of Basel, a university pastor in Bern from 1995 to 2000 and then director of the “Theologischer Verlag Zürich”, a publishing house for theological texts, until 2004. For the next seventeeen years, he was pastor at Zurich’s Fraumünster church and in 2016 became dean of the parish chapter of the city of Zurich. In addition to his work as a pastor and counsellor, Niklaus Peter has authored numerous articles and books, was a freelance journalist for the Swiss NZZ newspaper and a columnist for “Das Magazin”. Niklaus Peter remains involved in volunteer work with the Karl Barth Foundation, the Nietzsche House Sils Foundation and the Swiss Reformation Foundation. Niklaus Peter was awarded the STAB Annual Prize in 2019 and the University of Basel Alumni Prize in 2023.

Since 2018, he has been responsible for the theological content of the introductory workshops of the J. S. Bach Foundation’s cantata series, which he presents together with Rudolf Lutz.