Research scholarships at the RFB
Opened in Wittenberg Castle in 2018, the Research Library for Reformation Studies is a study centre for the history and culture of the Reformation as well as its effects influence. Originating from the libraries of the Wittenberg Protestant Seminary for Preachers and the Luther House in Wittenberg, it has holdings of 230,000 volumes altogether, including historical holdings of about 100,000 titles with a focus on prints from the 16th and 17th centuries. Research on the history of the Reformation and the Church, on the history of early modern universities and education, on late medieval and early modern Latin and German literature, as well as on historical book and library studies has access to extensive sources and a wide field of secondary literature. There are also extensive collections of prints from the holdings of the preachers’ seminary. The Research Library for Reformation Studies is supported by the Luther Memorials Foundation in Saxony-Anhalt, the Wittenberg Protestant Seminary for Preachers, the Leucorea Foundation and the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt.
Supported by the EKD, the Research Library for Reformation Studies is awarding scholarships for 2026 to facilitate research stays in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. The scholarships are primarily aimed at doctoral students and postdocs in the qualification phase. However, applications from researchers after completion of the qualification phase are also possible. In principle, funding is only available for those projects for which working with the historical holdings of the Research Library in Wittenberg is necessary or especially expedient.
A scholarship includes the following funding:
- € 1,250 residence allowance per month,
- a separate and reserved workstation in the RFB reading room and the assistance of RFB staff in literature and source research,
- the possibility of setting up an individually compiled reference collection for the duration of your stay at the RFB.
In addition, help is available for finding suitable accommodation in Wittenberg.
Funding requirements are:
- a topic or methodological approach for which on-site work with the holdings of the RFB in Wittenberg is of central importance,
- a research topic on the late Middle Ages or the early modern period, which focuses on the Reformation in its historical and cultural references,
- the willingness to present the project in a publication by the Research Library for Reformation Studies or alternatively in the context of a colloquium or lecture event in Wittenberg, and
- obligation to stay in Wittenberg during the funding period.
The following application documents must be submitted:
- curriculum vitae,
- a short project outline of 1-2 DIN A 4 pages which makes clear that the project is related to the holdings of the RFB,
- a specialist assessment,
- for doctoral projects, a confirmation of supervision,
- copies of certificates,
- list of publications, if applicable.
Applications are accepted in German or English and must be submitted, bundled into a PDF file, to: sekretariat@rfb-wittenberg.de.
Further information on the Research Library for Reformation Studies and its holdings can be found on https://www.rfb-wittenberg.de.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the RFB secretariat at sekretariat@rfb-wittenberg.de or +49 34 91 50 69-200.
The application deadline for scholarships in 2026 is 6 January 2026.
You can download the English text of the call for applications here:
Researchers funded so far
2025
Jenny Smith, PhD student, University of California, Berkeley
Project: The effect of the Protestant Reformation on timekeeping in the 16th and 17th centuries. How did religious change affect the way that men and women marked the hours of the day or seasons of the year? Once the canonical hours and saints’ days of Catholicism vanished, how did Protestants organize the passage of time?
Gabriele Carlo Bellinzona, Hamburg
The mission theology of Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) and its effects on the Protestant enterprise for the spread of faith in the 18th century. An interdenominational comparison with the Catholic missionary system of the same period
Dr Aira Võsa, Tallinn (Estonia)
“Lutheran orthodox nobles as church leaders, promoters of education and writers in early modern Livonia”
2024
Dr Jürgen Beyer, Tartu (Estonia)
Matthias Knutzen (c. 1646 - after 1674). A contextual biography of Europe’s first avowed atheist
Jan Huber, Bonn
Jakob Strauß (c. 1480 - 1527/32). A “mind of his own” among the preachers and publicists of the early Reformation
Here he briefly introduces himself and his research at the RFB: “After graduating from high school in 2016, I studied Protestant theology at the Philipps University of Marburg and in the ‘Theological Study Year’ of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem until I took the master’s exams in the summer of 2022. In my master’s thesis, I dealt with the ‘Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Schenute’, a Coptic view of history in the seventh century. Since autumn 2022, I have been working on a dissertation project on the life and work of Jakob Strauß (c. 1480 to 1527/33) – supervised by Prof. Dr Martin Kessler (University of Bonn) and supported by the ‘Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’. Jakob Strauß was one of the most prolific Reformation pamphlet authors of the 1520s – and at the same time one of the most controversial theologians of the time. On the one hand, the Zurich ‘Proto-Anabaptists’ regarded him, along with Andreas Karlstadt and Thomas Müntzer, as a beacon of hope for an ‘alternative’ Reformation that deviated from the Wittenberg and Zurich paths. On the other hand, at the beginning of 1525, he worked as a visitator in the area around Eisenach in the sense of a reformation ordered by the authorities. He acted on behalf of Duke John of Saxony, whose expulsion order Thomas Müntzer could only escape by fleeing, but with which Andreas Karlstadt and some of his confidants had to comply in September 1524. During my two-month research stay at the Reformation History Research Library, I would like to research the impact of the life and work of Jakob Strauß. I intend to examine the copies of Strauß pamphlets available in Wittenberg for annotations by readers, for compilations with other prints, and for indications of provenance, in order to bring to light hitherto unknown reactions from different centuries. It would be particularly interesting to determine whether they concur with the accusation of influential voices of his time that Strauß contributed with his journalistic statements to the outbreak of the Peasants’ Revolt in Thuringia, or whether they – like some voices in contemporary research – draw theological lines from Strauss to the Zurich ‘Proto-Anabaptists’ and the central German Anabaptists. I also hope to gain new insights into the impact of the life and work of Jakob Strauß from finds in the extensive holdings of the historical libraries in Wittenberg Castle.”
Gabriele Carlo Bellinzona, Hamburg
The mission theology of Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) and its effects on the Protestant enterprise for the spread of faith in the 18th century. An interdenominational comparison with the Catholic missionary system of the same period
Presentation of the research work:
The mission theology of Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) and its effects on the Protestant enterprise for the spread of faith in the 18th century. An interdenominational comparison with the Catholic missionary system of the same period
“After studying Catholic theology and history at the University of Milan and research stays at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, I was successful in 2020 in the competitive application process for a position as a research assistant at the local DFG Research Training Group 2008 ‘Interconfessionality in the Early Modern Period’. Since then, I have been writing my dissertation on interdenominational relations with the other Christian denominations, especially the Roman Catholic denomination, within the framework of the Danish-English-Halle Mission in what is now the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (1706 –1845), namely at the former Danish trading post of Tranquebar. The German missionaries from Halle were among the first Europeans to play a major role in conveying information about India to Germany and much of Europe. In this context, the contribution of Dutch theologian Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) to the emergence of missionary efforts in Protestantism and their influence on the later undertakings of the Pietist-influenced missionaries to proclaim the faith in South India should also be taken into account. In my research project at the RFB, I want to look at the theological writings of the Reformed theologian, in which he outlined his mission theology. In the history of missions, they are regarded as the first attempt to develop a theology of mission and thus to apply it to Protestant thought and accordingly expand the Protestant thought developed up to that point.”
2023
Dr Hannes Amberger, University of Münster
Topic: Historical dynamics and social conflicts in the self-image of the early modern princely state
Dr Iveta Leitane, Latvijas Universitāte
Topic: Wittenberg as a source of inspiration for theological scholarship in Livonia and Courland
2022
Dr. Hannes Amberger, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Thema: Historische Dynamik und soziale Konflikte im Selbstverständnis des frühneuzeitlichen Fürstenstaats
Dr. Iveta Leitane, Latvijas Universitāte
Thema: Wittenberg als Impulsherd für die theologische Gelehrsamkeit in Livland und Kurland
2021
Magdalena Fricke, M. Ed., Gotha Research Centre / University of Osnabrück
Topic: Theory and practice of subversive textual strategies in the age of enlightenment using the example of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
PD Dr Andreas Stegmann, Humboldt University Berlin
Topic: The publication history of the Augsburg Confession from 1572 to 1930
Dr Philipp Pilhofer, Humboldt University Berlin
Topic: The instructional literature for theological studies at the beginning of the 17th century. An interdenominational comparison
2020
John Ashley Null, PhD, University of Oxford
Topic: Thomas Cranmer’s theological relations with the Wittenberg reformers
Adrian Grave, M. Ed., Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Topic: A stronghold of Orthodoxy? Theological teaching at the Leucorea in comparison with the Universities of Halle and Göttingen 1733-1813
Carolin Geib, M.A., University of Trier
Topic: The handwritten annotations of the silk embroiderer Hans Plock in his 1541 edition of the Luther Bible – a cultural and linguistic historical investigation
2019
Dipl.-Theol. Markus König, Humboldt University Berlin
Topic: Johannes Crell – the life, work and impact of a Socinian theologian
Drew Thomas, PhD, University of St. Andrews (UK)
Topic: Counterfeiting Luther: fraud in the reformation print trade
Drew Thomas’ article has now been published as open access and is available at: Drew B. Thomas, “Provenance and Deception: Tracking Counterfeit Luther Pamphlets in Wittenberg”, Reformation, 30:1 (2025), pp. 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574175.2025.2476612
Dr Saskia Limbach, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Topic: A bibliographical survey of academic broadsheets printed in Wittenberg, 1550-1600
Dr Johannes Elberskirch, University of Münster
Topic: Thomas Müntzer in the “old believers’” discourse – a Catholic-systematic perspective