Editorials

 


 

"We reject the false doctrine"

The Confessing Church organized the resistance 75 years ago

May 27, 2009

Sculpture for reminder of the Barmen Declaration

"The time is fulfilled for the German people of Hitler. It is because of Hitler that Christ, God the helper and redeemer, has become effective among us." Intoxicated by National Socialist propaganda, the Protestant "German Christian" church, in March 1934, described the "Führer" as the savior. Two months later, 75 years ago from May 29-31 in Barmen, the confessing church organized the resistance. As the evil specter of National Socialism loomed, representatives of the Lutheran, Reformed and United churches issued a joint theological declaration for the first time since the Reformation.

Hardly any other document has marked the history of the Protestant church in Germany since 1945 as has the Barmen Theological Declaration. Historians consider the declaration as a foundational document and the legitimization for the reconstruction of German Protestantism after the Second World War. The world has come to regard this central document of the kirchenkampf as a model for Christian freedom movements in repressive states.

In commemoration of this event, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) declared that the Barmen Declaration remained for politicians also a statement of principle on the separation of the mission of the church and the responsibilities of the state. A key message of the declaration, she said, was that a democratic state may not instrumentalize any sector of society for its own interests.

The National Socialists after the take-over encountered broad acceptance even within the Protestant church. With Hitler's support, the federation of "German Christians" in the summer of 1933 won the majority in most church administrations. Their demands included the proclamation of a "heroic Jesus figure as the foundation of a Christianity based on race," the removal of the Old Testament from the Bible, the exclusion of "non-Aryans" from the church, "protection of the German people from those who are unproductive or of inferior worth" and an oath of allegiance by pastors to Adolf Hitler.

To counter this "de-Christianization", "confessional congregations" and "confessional synods" were set up in all regional churches until the end of 1933. The first Reich-wide "Confessional synod of the German Protestant Church" was held in Barmen, attended by 139 synod members from 18 regional churches. After intense debates, the Barmen Theological Declaration was approved unanimously.

The six concisely phrased theses were essentially written by the Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968), who was a professor in Bonn.  Co-authors included the Lutherans Hans Asmussen from Hamburg and Thomas Breit from Munich. The first thesis categorically rejects National Socialist ideology: "Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death."

In opposition to the "German Christians" the third thesis states: "We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions." The limits of the National Socialist state are defined in the fifth thesis: "We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church's vocation as well."

In a statement concerning the legal situation, the confessional synod in Barmen held that the pro-Nazi Reich church had strayed from the gospel as its foundation and thus had forfeited its claim to legitimacy. It was the German Evangelical Church that constituted the rightful confessing church.  Hence, the schism, of which the founding of the Confessing Church in Barmen is considered the climax, was complete. In 1935 the Confessing Church split into two branches, one willing to cooperate and the other committed to radical opposition.

In retrospect, critics point out the shortcomings of the Barmen Declaration. For example, according to Präses Nikolaus Schneider from the Rhineland, the authors failed in not mentioning the discrimination against Jews that was being implemented in Germany in 1934 already. "As seen from the present, it would have been worthwhile had the confession of Jesus Christ as the one word of God included the fact that Jesus was a Jew," agreed EKD Council chairperson Bishop Wolfgang Huber.

According to church historians, the Evangelical Confessional Synod of Barmen had repercussions beyond its immediate time because it ushered in a process of self-criticism and new reflection among German Protestants. After 1945 the regional churches and church federations in both German states reconfirmed these decisions.  The Barmen confession of faith led to the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948 and contributed to the establishment of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE)




 


 

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