For more than fifty years—as a university professor of Protestant theology and religious education at Leibniz University Hannover from 1964 until his retirement in 1996—Ulrich Becker played a pivotal role in shaping the training of generations of religious education teachers and was actively involved in higher education policy as an educational reformer and dean.
His experiences as director of the Education Department of the World Council of Churches in Geneva from 1977 to 1985 gave rise to two main areas of scholarly focus: ecumenical learning within a global context and a special focus on the lives of children in the church and society.
Ulrich Becker left a profound mark in many areas—including as chair of the Comenius Executive Board, as a member of the EKD Synod, as a textbook author, as a founding member of the “Working Group on Intercultural Education and Developmental Pedagogy,” as a curriculum advisor to the Kenyan Council of Churches, and as a member of the faculty at the Theological Institute of Klaipeda University.
The Faculty of Humanities and the Institute of Theology owe a great deal to Ulrich Becker. We will honor his warm personality and his rich life’s work in our memories.