Evangelical Association

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The Evangelical Association was a church party within the Evangelical Regional Church in Prussia , which existed (under changing names) from 1873 to 1933. It was initially shaped by mediation theology and was often referred to as the "(church) middle party".

The founding took place in connection with the reform of the church constitution carried out by the Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs Adalbert Falk in the 1870s. In 1873, Willibald Beyschlag, a professor of theology from Halle , founded the party in the province of Saxony in order to create a representation in the planned general synod for the position mediating between denominational neo-Lutheranism and church liberalism . With other provincial associations it joined together in 1877 to form the regional church evangelical association . Its goals were the promotion of the inner-Protestant union , the development of a presbyterial-synodal church constitution, the adherence to the early church and Reformation creeds , but with the preservation of Protestant freedom, and the support of the state in the culture war against the Roman Catholic Church. From 1876 onwards, its organ were the German Evangelical Papers (until 1908; then German Evangelical , published by Martin Schian from 1910 to 1920 ).

At the extraordinary general synod in 1875, the majority of the synods initially declared themselves supporters of the program formulated by Beyschlag. Under the leadership of Rudolf Kögel , however, the conservative wing separated and formed the party of the Friends of the Positive Union , which dominated until 1918. Although the Evangelical Association usually made up about a quarter of the members of the General Synod and felt that it was particularly supportive of the state, it was unable to gain any influence on the church government until 1888. It only gained greater importance under Wilhelm II . Her co-founder Hermann von der Goltz became spiritual vice-president of the Evangelical High Church Council in 1892 . Leading representatives were now mostly theologians influenced by Albrecht Ritschl , such as Julius Kaftan , Erich Haupt , Ferdinand Kattenbusch , Friedrich Loofs and Adolf Deißmann . The Berlin canon lawyer Wilhelm Kahl took over the chairmanship in 1891 and implemented a programmatic renewal in 1905. There were close ties to the Evangelical Union, also founded by Beyschlag in 1886, and to the Evangelical Social Congress .

In 1920 the party renamed itself the Evangelical People's Church Association and emphasized in its new program the creation of a free people's church based on the community principle . The Halle practical theologian Karl Eger became chairman . The program of 1928 was shaped by the canon lawyer Günther Holstein and his differentiated allocation of the Church of the Spirit and the Church of the Law . From 1932 onwards, tensions became apparent because some of the members leaned towards the National Socialist German Christians . After the seizure of power in 1933, the Evangelical Association was the first of the Prussian church parties to disband.

literature

  • The history of the Evangelical Church of the Union. A manual. Vol. 2, ed. by J. Joachim Rogge and Gerhard Ruhbach on behalf of the Evangelical Church of the Union; Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-374-01386-4 , esp. Pp. 239–243.
  • Eckhard Lessing : Between Confession and National Church. The theological path of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union (1922–1953) with special consideration of its synods, their groups and the theological reasons . Bielefeld 1992, pp. 68-102.
  • Eckhard Lessing: Evangelical Association . In: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart , 4th ed., Vol. 2. 1999, Col. 1728.