Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter (also known as Bärbel von Wartenberg-Potter) (born 1943) is a German theologian. After serving as director over programs for women and children with the World Council of Churches, teaching theology in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, and serving a pastorate in Stuttgart, Wartenberg-Potter became the president of the . In 2001 she began a seven-year term as the third woman serving as a Bishop of a

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

in Germany.

Biography

Bärbel Wartenberg was born on 16 September 1943 in

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Landkreis Pirmasens ...

, Rhenish Palatinate, Germany. In 1963, she began her university education graduating in 1968 with a master's degree in German languages and literature and a teaching degree. Wartenberg passed her theological examination for the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Württemberg. Between 1970 and 1972, she participated in mission and development work with the Evangelical-Catholic Association. The experience with both her children dying young (7 months and 2 years old) from an

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

made her campaign the initiative „Kind im Krankenhaus“ (i.e. child in the hospital) between 1974 and 1976 in order to allow parents staying with their hospitalised children.Petra Ziegler
„Gemeindeblatt im Gespräch über 'Frommes Herz, aufrechter Gang: Eine Frau mischt sich ein' mit Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter“
(interview on 11 July 2014), in: ''Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt für Württemberg'', retrieved on 6 September 2016. Her first marriage broke down in grief and pain. Attaining her master's degree in Theology, in 1976, she became the director at the Centre for Development Education in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. She was ordained as a pastor in 1980 and served as a regional pastor in Württemberg for three years. Between 1983 and 1986 she was the director of the Programme for Women in Church and Society of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

(WCC) in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. During that time, in 1985, she married Philip Potter, a minister and theologian who was the Secretary General of the WCC. After her second marriage, and until 1990, Wartenberg-Potter taught at the

United Theological College of the West Indies The United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI) is an ecumenical seminary training male and female clergy in Kingston, Jamaica, for Anglican and Protestant denominations throughout the Caribbean. History The college was founded in 1966 ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. In 1991, she returned to Germany and served as a parish pastor in

- Botnang through 1996. In 1997, she became president of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany () (ACKD) in Frankfurt. In 2000, she was elected as a bishop of the Holstein-Lübeck diocese for the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Her election was the third of a woman in Germany to the position of Lutheran bishop and she was assigned to the

Lübeck Cathedral Lübeck Cathedral (, or colloquially ''Lübecker Dom'') is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany, and part of the Lübeck World Heritage Site. It was started in 1173 by Henry the Lion as a cathedral for the Bishop of Lübeck ...

. Wartenberg-Potter assumed the post in 2001 and retired in 2008. In 2009, she joined the Institute for Theological Zoology as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wartenberg-Potter, Barbel von 1943 births Living people German Lutheran theologians Women Lutheran bishops 21st-century German Protestant theologians Women Christian theologians 20th-century German women writers People from Pirmasens 20th-century German writers 21st-century German women writers 21st-century German writers 21st-century German Lutheran bishops