Prof. Dr. Ute Gause is a member of the Independent Regional Commission for Reconciliation (URAK West), which was established in 2025 in the context of the ForuM research and has since been using its professional expertise to address cases of sexualized violence within the church and its social welfare organizations at both the individual and structural levels. The commission is composed of experts from various disciplines, representatives of the regional church and the regional welfare organization, as well as survivors, whose interests serve as the primary reference point for the commission’s work.

Survivors can contact the commission at any time: aufarbeiten@urak-west.de

The case study “God Told Him to Make Me His Wife” by Prof. Dr. Ute Gause is the result of thorough archival research and individual interviews with those affected and people in their social circles. Using the specific case of a pastor who, over the course of decades, maintained abusive relationships with (mostly significantly younger) women, the study provides a striking and illustrative example of the lifelong consequences of abuse for the victims—as well as the structural problems within the Church and social welfare organizations that enable or facilitate this abuse in the first place.

The book is available from Pinguin Verlag for €24 and is available in German only.

On October 23, 2023, Prof. Dr. Ute Gause presented the findings of the abuse study commissioned by the Baden Regional Synod to the synod. However, by examining individual cases of sexual abuse, the study focuses on the structural level and highlights the connection between charismatic clergy, a patriarchal theology, and the systematic nature of sexualized violence. 

The full presentation can be read here.
 

In the summer semester of 2026, students can enroll in the advanced seminar “Sexualized Violence in Theology, Diaconal Ministry, and the Church,” taught by Dr. Elis Eichener and Prof. Dr. Ute Gause.

This will raise awareness among the new generation of theologians about this important issue—one that is fundamental to the future of the church—and integrate prevention strategies into the theological training of aspiring pastors and teachers from the very beginning.

The ForuM study, if nothing else, has made it clear to the public that sexualized violence is a problem not only in the Catholic Church but also in the Protestant Church. Since then, further studies have been published, and academic discourse is increasingly focusing on the question of which theological, diaconal, and ecclesiastical logics—and in what specific ways—enable, facilitate, or conceal sexualized violence. For although sexualized violence occurs in a wide variety of institutions—from schools to sports clubs to church congregations—it adapts to the respective contexts and can exploit their specific characteristics.
In this seminar, we would like to reflect—from the perspectives of church history and practical theology—on which specifically Protestant risk factors, perpetrator strategies, ways of thinking, and forms of community contribute to the initiation, perpetration, and concealment of sexualized violence. To this end, we will examine models of power theory, investigate historical contexts, evaluate current case studies, and analyze selected accounts and interviews with survivors. On this basis, we will discuss, among other things, the implications for the transformation of theology, social ministry, and the church.

After years of interdisciplinary and ecumenical research, the 21-volume series “Women and the Bible” has been completed—heartfelt thanks to all the researchers and supporters who helped close this regrettable, yet not coincidental, gap in theological research.

Prof. Dr. Ute Gause also contributed with the volume “Confessional Cultures and Gender in the ‘Long’ 18th Century,” which was produced in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Marina Caffiero (Sapienza University of Rome):

During the “long” 18th century—beginning at the end of the Thirty Years’ War and ending with the dawn of the French Revolution—confessional cultures emerged that cannot be adequately captured by periodizations such as the Baroque, Pietism, Orthodoxy, and the Enlightenment. However, in terms of its religious character, this period is marked by a focus on the individual and a striving to find individual, subjective, emotional, and affective approaches to faith. Across all denominational traditions, forms of religious engagement emerged that found written expression beyond the institutionalized church, monastery, university, and school. Women are involved in these religious and theological formation processes in a variety of ways through their own publications and networks of correspondence. Furthermore, the question arises regarding constructions of gender—namely, to what extent, and whether at all, a gender-specific habitus becomes discernible.
The introduction characterizes the disparate developments regarding the perception of and “agency” among women, as well as their enormous literary productivity in the 18th century, whose individual appropriations of the Bible came to an end with the emergence of a “rational religion.” As examples, the text presents prominent figures from across Europe whose efforts toward education and emancipation (Benito J. Feijo in Spain; Jewish female teachers in Trieste), normative literature for women and men and its implications, theological writings and their reception (including Regina Catharina von Greiffenberg in Austria and later in Germany, and Madame Guyon, whose French Bible commentaries were translated into German). Moving beyond the assumption that gender is a given and that people simply conform to gender roles, these individual studies show how women engaged in theological work in the 18th century advanced, supported, and independently shaped their engagement with their religion. Biblical interpretation played a key role, not only by offering female role models but also by focusing on the faith revealed through meditation, thereby providing an opportunity for individual appropriation beyond gender boundaries.

This important contribution to the study of the history of deaconesses, with a particular focus on the women’s self-understanding, can be ordered here in German only.

From the 19th century through the mid-20th century, deaconesses performed central diaconal functions in congregations and hospitals and are an indispensable part of church history. The Westphalian Deaconess Institute in Bielefeld, founded in 1869 and later renamed Sarepta, was at times the largest deaconess institute in Germany. Very little research has been conducted on the specific living and working conditions of the sisters, their motivations, and their convictions. Drawing on archival material, Ute Gause examines the life stories of three women: that of Sarepta’s first director, Emilie Heuser (1822–1898); a woman from the “revived” Siegerland region, Anna Siebel (1874–1975), who worked for over 40 years as a parish sister in the Ruhr region; and finally, the life story of Liese Hoefer (1920–2009), a psychologist with a Ph.D., who, as a critical deaconess, embodies Sarepta’s drive for reform. Through these exemplary women, a vivid picture emerges of an institution that was significantly shaped and sustained by them.

In the first volume of the series “Historical-Theological Gender Studies,” Prof. Dr. Ute Gause sheds light on the fascinating history of the deaconesses, a Protestant women’s community that has almost entirely disappeared from public consciousness and scholarly interest. In “History and Memory of a Protestant Women’s Community,” the history of the deaconesses comes to life vividly through oral history, interviews, and thorough archival research:

Deaconesses and diaconal sisters belong to a group of women who, with their traditional attire—the white bonnet and long dark dress—were still a common sight in public during the first half of the 20th century. The studies document and analyze their life stories, which were collected as part of an oral history project. Interdisciplinary contributions contextualize the sisters’ narratives within the fields of nursing science, the history of diaconal work, theology, religious education, and social history. Key topics include the relationship between profession and religion, the changes in the “women’s profession” of nursing during the 20th century, and the history of the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Motherhouse during the Nazi era. The result is a vivid initial exploration of a Protestant women’s profession that has since become almost unknown—a topic of interest not only to scholars.

In her seminal work *Church History and Gender Studies: An Introduction from a Protestant Perspective*, Prof. Dr. Ute Gause provides an important overview of the methodology and fundamental theoretical approaches to inquiry and research in church history from a gender perspective. She adopts a compensatory approach that exposes previous church historiography as incomplete and flawed, while placing the underrepresented history of women and gender at the center as a necessary corrective:

How can the category of gender enrich church historical research and be integrated into an overarching perspective on church history? In this study, conceived as a textbook, Ute Gause brings together the approaches of contemporary church historiography and feminist-theological historical research for gender-focused church historical research and, with the help of cultural studies approaches, highlights new methods and perspectives for such research.