Because of his intense ecumenical work, Cullmann's Basel colleague Karl Barth joked with him that his tombstone would bear the inscription "advisor to three popes.
"[citation needed] Cullmann was born in Strasbourg (then in Germany) and studied classical philology and theology at the seminary there.
[3] Upon his death at 96, the World Council of Churches issued a special tribute to Cullmann to honour his ecumenical work.
[3] He stressed the objective reality of sacred history against the existentialist interpretation of Rudolf Bultmann, a fellow German theologian.
Cullmann suggested the analogy of D-Day and VE-Day to illustrate the relationship between Jesus' death and resurrection on the one hand, and his parousia on the other.