Obituary Prof. Dr. Anne Jensen
Professor at the
Institute for Ecumenical Theology and Patristic Studies
at the Karl Franzens
University of Graz
1941-2008
We are mourning the loss of Anne Jensen, who died on 13 August 2008 following a long illness that she could no longer fight. Anne was a gifted gender researcher of the first generation who had a defining influence on the paths of many young people, in particular women, through her teaching and publications. For this we thank her from the bottom of our heart!
Anne Jensen was born in Hamburg on 4 July 1941, the daughter of a doctor and a Nobel Prize winner. She was not christened, because her parents thought she should choose her own ideological and religious orientation. Initially Anne was interested in the Protestant faith, but later became a member of the Catholic Church, which was to play a major role in her life. After six semesters studying German and drama in Heidelberg, she first entered the Benedictine Abbey of St Hildegard in 1964 but moved to a new French order two years later. In 1971 she began studying theology at the Dominican university in Toulouse and from the very beginning was fascinated by academic theology. In 1977 she left the order. She herself once said looking back that this phase of her life was “thirteen years of a women’s republic in practice.”
Her years in academic teaching were greatly influenced by Hans Küng. In 1977 she joined him in Tübingen as a graduate assistant, and then from 1980 to 1997 she was on the academic staff of his institute. H er Vietnamese foster daughter Thi Hong Tham Nguyen came to her during her time in Tübingen. In this period Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel and Bernadette Brooten influenced Anne Jensen to move towards feminist theology. In the 1980s Anne, Luise Schottroff, Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist, Elisabeth Gössmann and Evi Krobath became friends through their common interest in theological gender studies. Anne belongs to the founding generation of the ESWTR and first took part in a conference as early as 1986.
In 1984 she earned her doctorate with a thesis on issues of the theology of eastern churches: “Die Zukunft der Orthodoxie. Konzilspläne und Kirchenstrukturen.” In 1985 she took over part of the research project “Frau und Christentum” supported by the Volkswagen Foundation. In 1992 she completed her Habilitation [lecturer’s thesis] entitled “God’s Self-Confident Daughters” and was licensed to teach “ecumenical theology and theological gender studies.” These two qualifications reflect the two pillars of her academic research, which she was ultimately able to combine in an ideal way in teaching and research as professor of ecumenical theology, eastern orthodoxy and patrology in Graz. Her book “Frauen im frühen Christentum” came out in 2002 and was translated into French as “Femmes des premiers siècles chrétiens.” In the same year she and G. Larentzakis published their joint volume “Diakonat und Diakonie in frühchristlicher und ostkirchlicher Tradition.”
Before taking up the chair in Graz in the year 1997 she had spent several years teaching in different places – not only in Tübingen, but also in Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Bamberg, Berlin and Würzburg. She held two guest professorships of feminist theology – in the Faculty of Theology at the Humboldt University of Berlin in the winter semester 1995/1996 and in the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology at the University of Münster in the winter semester 1996/1997 – which enriched her teaching experience. On the other hand, more than two years of wrangling with the Vatican over issuing the nihil obstat severely tested Anne Jensen’s staying power. When Rome finally gave her the green light it appeared that her life would be peaceful and her dream fulfilled. But she was already marked by the early stages of her illness, which had a great effect on her years in Graz. Anne was resourceful, witty, intellectually stimulating and confident, if sober. At the same time she increasingly withdrew from contact with other people as her illness became more and more serious, and finally she died alone, no longer having the psychological strength for contact with others.
We are stunned and deeply dismayed by Anne’s far too early death . She had a defining influence on theological gender studies in the German-speaking area over the last two decades. At the end she knew very well what her limitations were, but still wanted to write another publication on Probas Cento after retiring one year from now. We will never be able to read this book. But we have the rich legacy of her writings, in which she continues to inspire intellectually. RIP.
Institute for Old Testament Studies, University of Graz
