Professor Dr. Markus Iff of the Theologische Hochschule Ewersbach has successfully completed his habilitation — the highest academic qualification in the German university system — at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal. Professor Dr. Michaela Geiger, rector of the institution now known as the Hochschule für Kirche und Diakonie, signed the certificate conferring the venia legendi (license to teach) and the title of Privatdozent upon Dr. Iff, marking a significant milestone for theological scholarship within the Federation of Free Evangelical Congregations (Bund FeG).
The habilitation represents the culmination of decades of academic and pastoral service. Dr. Iff's thesis, described by his supervisors as "an outline of Free Church ecclesiology in ecumenical responsibility," examines the relationship between free church identity and the broader ecumenical movement — a subject of enduring importance for the global free evangelical family. His specialist lecture explored religious experience in dialogue with the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey and Pentecostal theology, reflecting the breadth of his theological engagement.
Dr. Iff has served the Bund FeG since the 1990s, first as a pastor in Dautphe and Düsseldorf, then as lecturer and later professor at the Theologische Hochschule Ewersbach — the FeG's own theological seminary in Dietzhölztal, Hessen. He earned his doctorate at the University of Jena in 2009 and was awarded the Neviandt-Preis in 2023 for his contributions to Free Evangelical theological research. Henrik Otto, Präses of the Bund FeG, called him "an accomplished and esteemed theologian" whose research "reflects our interest in other churches and Christians" — an apt summary of a scholar whose life's work bridges the free church tradition and the wider Christian world.
(Originally published in German. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden / Christsein Heute — feg.de/markus-iff-habilitation
