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In May 1934, concerned Christians from Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches in Germany met together in Barmen. The confessing church, as the group came to be known, opposed the increasing influence of National Socialism and issued a courageous call to resist Nazi dominance in the church. They called on their fellow Christians to "withstand in faith and unanimity the destruction of the … Evangelical Church in Germany." They warned of "German Christians" who dominated church government and subordinated Christian principles to National Socialism. "Fear God. Honor the emperor," they reminded their listeners, denying that the State "could become the single and totalitarian order of human life" or that the Church was merely "an organ of the State."[1]
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The Barmen declaration challenged the overarching authority of National Socialism and the quiescence of German Protestants. In any totalitarian regime, a comparable document would be a spirited defense of the church and its freedoms. In a German context, the Barmen declaration was particularly brave. Not only did it oppose the present government, it also opposed a long history of state direction of German Protestantism.
Johannes Wallmann's Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands seit der Reformation (Church History of Germany since the Reformation) delineates the confessing church's anomalous relationship to the state. Although this is a survey text, the leitmotiv of church-state relations is inescapable. From the early days of Martin Luther's career as a reformer to the administration of the "church in socialism," secular authorities steered the Protestant church in Germany. Whatever their political hue, German governments greatly influenced Protestant churches.
Wallmann's book exemplifies a common German genre that is relatively unknown in the Anglo-American publishing world. It is what Germans call a Handbuch, literally a handbook. Handbooks introduce a subject at a fairly high level. Like other handbooks, Wallmann's is not gripping, but it is very informative, and despite his initial designs to write for a lay audience, his book has been adopted by students. A reviewer even noted that a Protestant theologian could hardly successfully prepare for exams without recourse to Wallmann. [2]
For those who are not reading (or cherry-picking) Wallmann's handbook in the hopes of passing their exams, a different picture emerges. If the general reader avoids becoming bogged down in details of individual theologians, he or she can see the broad scope of German church history, or at least church history when it is defined as the actions and thoughts of great theologians, pastors, and rulers. Wallmann's narrative demonstrates that for almost five hundred years the state actively protected certain confessions, rejected others, administered and supervised the church, provided for church discipline, and supplied moneys for the church. Even theological debates played themselves out against the backdrop of state support since theological faculties were (and are) located at state-run universities and princes could (and did) purge their theological faculties of dissenting opinions. Wallmann's focus on theology may well overstate the importance of state direction. But even in cases where reform movements worked counter the establishment—e.g., Pietism—the state played a decisive role in accepting or rejecting the reforms.
State support for Protestantism made it possible for the new faith to flourish, preventing Protestant reforms from becoming just one more heresy. From May 1521 to March 1522, Luther hid at the elector of Saxony's fortress, the Wartburg, and translated the New Testament and outlined sermon topics for evangelical pastors. In 1525 Luther eventually turned to the princes to suppress the Peasants' Rebellion, which in his mind misapplied the evangelical message to social questions. From 1526 to 1530, the elector of Saxony held a visitation of churches and schools to determine whether his subjects knew the doctrinal foundation of their faith. The results so distressed Luther that he wrote his Small Catechism, a compendium of Christian knowledge, and charged the elector to assume the role of bishop (spiritual head) in his territory. Luther was not alone in relying on state support. City councils in Zurich, Strasbourg, Basel, and Ulm decided to adopt Reformed forms of religion.
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