Laura Henrich, MDiv ’23, is a student in Beeson Divinity School’s first cohort of its PhD in Theology for the Church program. This summer, she had the opportunity to spend four weeks at the Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies (WCRS) in Wittenberg, Germany, the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation. She was one of 10 students selected for the prestigious Wittenberg Student Fellows program, studying alongside peers from Duke, Yale, Cambridge and Baylor.

The WCRS Summer Fellows Program is hosted and directed by Reformation historian Andreas Stegmann. The program has three goals: to ensure its fellows accurately understand what the Protestant Reformers taught, to promote excellent Reformation scholarship and to cultivate a strong community of scholars in the field.

Much of Henrich’s time in the program was primary source study guided by various guest scholars. The focus of the center’s studies this summer was on the relationships and influences between the European continent and England as the Lutheran and Reformed traditions emerged during the Reformation. The fellows traveled to significant Reformation-era sites such as Emden, Nuremberg and Strasbourg.

“To see the way the exegesis plays out both theologically and pastorally in local situations gave me more appreciation of Luther, in particular his insistence on the need for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” Henrich said.

This opportunity provided breadth of exposure and opened threads of conversation Henrich said she was previously unaware of, putting her in touch with primary sources for her doctoral research, which centers on Scripture and the Reformation.

 

This story was first published in the fall 2025 issue of Samford. You can read the issue online.