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The Department of Protestant Theology at Philipps-Universität Marburg continues the awakening of the Reformation in contemporary religious and cultural interpretation. The first Protestant school of theology, along with the university itself, was founded in Marburg by Philipp Landgrave of Hesse in 1527. Since 1880, Marburg has been considered a locus of modern theology (Adolf Harnack, Wilhelm Hermann, Friedrich Niebergall). These impulses were taken up and transformed into dialectical theology (Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann).

Later, theology at Marburg developed three different focuses: The connection between New Testament scholarship and hermeneutics (Rudolf Bultmann, Hans von Soden, Ernst Fuchs); the establishment of history of religion within theology (Rudolf Otto, Friedrich Heiler); the accentuation of social ethics within systematic theology (Georg Wünsch, Dietrich von Oppen).

Since the 1970s, the Department of Protestant Theology has emphasized the social and cultural orientation of theology and, in continuation of its history, has developed a liberal theological profile. An interdisciplinary orientation as well as ecumenical, aesthetic and feminist questions all contribute to its current image.