High church movement
The high church movement describes a theological and spiritual direction within the Protestant , especially the Lutheran, church. The roots of the evangelical high church movement lie in neo-Lutheranism of the 19th century, in Anglo-Catholicism , which particularly influenced the Swedish Church , and in the liturgical movement of the 20th century.
The term high church
The word high church came up in Germany in the first third of the 20th century. It is derived from the English term High Church , which there denotes an expression within Anglicanism (opposite: Low Church ).
High church spirituality refers in a single movement of faith to Jesus Christ and at the same time to the one, visible, sacramental and catholic , i.e. H. Church embracing all times and peoples, which is his body and his continuing presence. However, it does not equate this church with the Roman Catholic and / or Orthodox Church, but recognizes it in all denominations that shared the faith of the first five Christian centuries.
High Church worship services are in the Holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours marked by the liturgical forms of the old Lutheran and thus "Catholic" tradition. In particular, the every Sunday Lord's Supper is shaped by prayers, chants and robes as the Lord's Easter Supper with his church. Strict attention is paid to the distinction between the unconsecrated and the consecrated meals . The latter are either completely consumed or stored in a worthy way for communion.
The special characteristic of the high church movement in contrast to purely liturgical movements is the high esteem for the spiritual office conferred by apostolic succession .
The ecclesiastical office is understood in close proximity to the Roman Catholic understanding of priests and bishops . Some high church pastors and deacons seek priestly ordination by a bishop who is in apostolic succession .
Others see the "presbyterial" (that is, at times only passed on from priests to priests) ordination as a sufficient emergency order caused by the turmoil of the Reformation.
High church movement in Germany
The 95 theses Stimuli et clavi (= “spikes and nails”) , published in 1917 by the North German pastor Heinrich Hansen on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation , mark the beginning of the German Protestant high church movement . In 1918 the High Church Association was established , in which Friedrich Heiler quickly became a leader. The Berneuchen movement and the Alpirsbach Church Work were also involved in shaping the German high church movement . In the high church brotherhoods and communities that go back to the work of Helmut Echternach (e.g. St. Athanasius Brotherhood, St. Michael Community, St. Ansgar High Church Apostolate), the historical-critical interpretation of the Bible is rejected and the Lutheran creed is strong stressed. The latter is usually only found in German high-church circles in the Evangelical Lutheran Prayer Brotherhood and the Brethren Congregation in Braunschweig.
Brotherhoods such as
- the high church St. John's Brotherhood and Evangelical Franciscan Tertiaries belonging to the Augsburg Confessional Association ,
- the Evangelical Humiliate Order , since 2012 part of the High Church of St. John Brotherhood,
- the St. Athanasius Brotherhood ,
- the Evangelical Lutheran Prayer Society ,
- the High Church Apostolate of St. Ansgar ,
- the confessional brotherhood of St. Peter and Paul , headed by Peter Beyerhaus
- the Congregatio Canonicorum Sancti Augustini ,
- the St. James Brotherhood ( Federation for Evangelical-Catholic Unity ),
- the Brotherhood of Saint Francis and
- the Evangelical Michael Brotherhood .
The high church movement also includes communities, professing communities and evangelical communities such as B.
- the community Casteller Ring ,
- the priory of Sankt Wigberti ,
- the community of St. Michael in Cottbus,
- the Working Group on Church Renewal in the Evang.-Luth. Church in Bavaria ,
- the Ev.-Luth. Parish of the St. Ulrici Brothers in Braunschweig,
- the main church St. Trinitatis in Hamburg-Altona,
- the University Church of Marburg / Lahn,
- the main church St. Michaelis in Hamburg and
- the Protestant Rogate Monastery of St. Michael in Berlin.
Within German Protestantism, in which it forms a small minority in numbers, the high church movement occasionally enjoys respect and esteem, but is also often met with strict rejection or ridicule. The latter mainly focuses on the solemn, "catholic" forms. Serious theological criticism begins with the question of the extent to which a Catholic understanding of ministry and sacrament is compatible with the broad spectrum of Protestant ordination and communion practice.
Pioneer of the high church in Germany
- Heinrich Hansen
- Friedrich Heiler
- Helmut Echternach
- Walter Drobnitzky
- Hans Asmussen
- Max Lackmann
- Wilhelm Stahlin
- Karl Bernhard Ritter
literature
- Karl-Heinrich Bieritz : The high church movement in Germany and the organization of the mass service. Jena 1962 (Jena, dissertation Jan. 14, 1963).
- Karsten Bürgener: Blessings, Office and Last Supper. What the Bible says about it and what consequences it has for church action. 2nd thoroughly revised and expanded edition. Self-published, Bremen 1995.
- Karsten Bürgener: The episcopal confirmation. The sacrament of the end times. A Lutheran pastor makes a plea for Holy Confirmation. Self-published, Bremen 2006.
- W. Drobnitzky : High Church Movement. In: Kurt Galling (Hrsg.): The religion in past and present. Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies. (RGG). Volume 3: H - Kon. 3. Edition. Mohr Tuebingen 1959.
- Helmut Echternach : Blessing Church. 3rd expanded edition. Velmede, Hamburg 1968.
- Hans Hartog: Evangelical catholicity. Friedrich Heiler's path and vision. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1995, ISBN 3-7867-1836-9 .
- Theo Hauf, Ursula Kisker (Ed.): Seventy Years of High Church Movement (1918–1988). High church work. Where from? What for? Where? Anniversary print. High Church Association of Augsburg Confession, Bochum 1989 ( Eine Heilige Kirche. NF 3 ZDB -ID 518086-7 ).
- Friedrich Heiler: The sacramental need of the Protestant Church. Reinhardt, Munich 1932 ( Die Hochkirche Vol. 14, No. 4/5 = special issue, ZDB -ID 214363-x ).
- Friedrich Heiler (Hrsg.): Gospel and Hochkirchentum. Reinhardt, Munich 1932 ( Die Hochkirche Vol. 14, No. 10/11 = special issue).
- High Church Association of Augsburg Confession (ed.): Around the one church. Evangelical catholicity. Festschrift for Hans-Joachim Mund on his 70th birthday on November 25, 1984. Werk-Verlag Banaschewski, Munich-Graefelfing 1984.
- Peter Lüning: Revelation and Justification. A study of their relationship determination based on the Anglican / Roman Catholic dialogue. Bonifatius, Paderborn 1999, ISBN 3-89710-092-4 ( Denominational and Controversial Theological Studies 70), (At the same time: Münster (Westphalia), Univ., Diss., 1998).
- Leonard J. Swidler: The Ecumenical Vanguard: The History of the Una Sancta Movement , Duquesne university Press, 1966.
- Richard Walter: The Evangelical Humiliate Order , in: A Holy Church. Special issue of Evangelical Orders and Brotherhoods , ed. by Friedrich Heiler, Munich 1935, pp. 69–73.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See www.hochkirche.de
- ↑ Cf. Congregatio Augustini
- ↑ See also the following Liturgical Movements (as of May 10, 2015).