Habermas lived in Gummersbach, near the city of Cologne until his graduation from gymnasium. Jürgen was raised in a Protestant religious family because his grandfather was in charge of the seminary, or religious school, in Gummersbach, Germany. Jürgen Habermas went to the universities of Göttingen (1949/50), Zürich (1950/51), and Bonn (1951/54). He earned a doctorate (PhD). from Bonn in 1954 with his work "" (The absolute and history: on the contradiction in Schelling's thought). 