In 1953, Ernst Käsemann (1906–1998), gave a famous lecture before the "Old Marburgers," his former colleagues at the University of Marburg, where he had studied under Bultmann. In this stronghold of support for Bultmann, Käsemann claimed "Bultmann's skepticism about what could be known about the historical Jesus had been too extreme". Bultmann had claimed that, since the gospel writers wrote theology, their writings could not be considered history, but Käsemann reasoned that one does not necessarily preclude the other. James M. Robinson named this the "New" quest in his 1959 essay "The New Quest for the Historical Jesus". This quest focused largely on the teachings of Jesus as interpreted by existentialist philosophy. Interest waned again by the 1970s.