World's First Woman Lutheran Bishop Elected in Germany
Episcopal News Service. April 24, 1992 [92096]
The Rev. Maria Jepsen, a 47-year-old German theologian and provost in the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, was elected the world's first woman Lutheran bishop on April 4. Following her election as bishop of Hamburg, Jepsen said that she hoped her election would bring about "a new community between men and women."
The Diocese of Hamburg has 208 congregations, with a total of 940,000 members served by 334 pastors in six church districts. Jepsen, who is married to a pastor, replaces the current bishop, Peter Krusche, who will retire on July 31.
In an April 7 letter to Jepsen, Lutheran World Federation President Gottfried Brakemeier said that her election was a cause for great joy and "further proof that we are on the way to making the equality of women and men holding church office a reality." Lutherans have a particularly strong commitment to this goal, he said.
Jepsen's election follows the 1980 election of the first woman as a bishop in any church -- United Methodist Bishop Marjorie Matthews, and the election of Barbara Harris in 1988 as the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion.