Episcopal Press and News

German Evangelicals Raise Storm over Woman Bishop

Episcopal News Service. June 26, 1992 [92150I]

Evangelicals in Germany have voiced sharp opposition to the election of the first woman Lutheran bishop, 47-year-old Maria Jepsen, who will soon succeed Peter Krusche as bishop of Hamburg. According to the Evangelical Alliance news agency of Germany, 70 to 80 pastors in northern Germany are considering early retirement rather than serving under a woman bishop. Prominent evangelicals characterized Jepsen's election as "one of the worst spiritual catastrophes," surpassing even Nazi ideology in spiritual damage to the church. Christoph Morgner, the leader of Germany's largest evangelical movement, warned that the ordination of a woman bishop could jeopardize moves toward Christian unity. He pointed out that both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, which comprise 1.2 billion of the world's 1.7 billion Christians, oppose women's ordination. In responding to her critics, Jepsen said that evangelicals are an indispensable part of the Protestant church even though their view on women is "a remnant from the Middle Ages."