A comparative study on the protests of 1968 at the faculties of protestant theology in Bochum, Hamburg, Heidelberg and Marburg

• Applicant: Dr. Tobias Sarx
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 228151847

The face of German universities changed radically within the years 1967-73. Students of theology combined the main demands of the1968-movement with religious and ecclesiastical topics; therefore the faculties of Protestant theology had to deal with the revolt and the call for reform in a specific way.There is a lack of studies about the course of events that took place at the faculties of Protestant theology in Germany during these turbulent years. The project will focus on four major places of Protestant theology: Heidelberg and Marburg have a long-lasting tradition over centuries, the faculties in Hamburg and Bochum have been established in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the expiry of the blocking period of archival material it is now possible to use sources for research that have never been examined so far. Secondly interviews are planned with people who studied or taught at the faculties during the period of 1967-73. Thirdly there is much printed material that has to be interpreted in the face of archival sources and the remembrance of former students and teachers.The results will be integrated in ongoing debates about the larger context of Protestant church life, theology and university reforms during the 1960s and 1970s.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants