From “confessional feelings” to ecumenical project? Catholic- Protestant mixed marriages in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1960s to 1980s

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Monika Wienfort
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 542476995

The history of Catholic-Protestant marriages has usually been seen from the perspective of theology and church law. Both churches long regarded “mixed marriages” as a potential risk to their future. The project intends to write a history of interfaith marriages “from below”, from the perspectives of married couples and families, and of pastors, priests and marriage counsellors employed by both churches (most of whom are women). The project will focus on social practices ranging from church weddings, to attending church service and receiving the sacraments, to bringing up children religiously. The starting-point is the idea that many couples from the 1960s onwards have tended to react to the difficulties associated with these practices through forms of what can be called “situational confessionality”, by choosing certain bits from each confession to create very individual ways of living their faith. In this sense, social practice anticipated the loosening of the rules by the churches. The project will take a historical view of the emotions, practices and semantics of interconfessional marriages by exploring the social actions of men and women, families, parishes and priests, and marriage counsellors. Insights into the semantics and emotional structure of confessional beliefs and the physical nature of rituals will be provided by couples comprising Catholic wife and Protestant husband, or vice versa, and by marriage counsellors. The gender perspective will highlight both the commitment of prominent female theologians like Uta Ranke-Heinemann and Dorothee Sölle, and the new roles of men as active fathers. The case study will focus on the Ruhrgebiet and on Northern Bavaria, but will also include other European countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands, France).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants