Germany and the Confessional Divide

Religious Tensions and Political Culture, 1871-1989
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-80073-087-8
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, 438 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 664 g

From German unification in 1871 through the early 1960s, confessional tensions between Catholics and Protestants were a source of deep division in German society. Engaging this period of historic strife, Germany and the Confessional Divide focuses on three traumatic episodes: the Kulturkampf waged against the Catholic Church in the 1870s, the collapse of the Hohenzollern monarchy and state-supported Protestantism after World War I, and the Nazi persecution of the churches. It argues that memories of these traumatic experiences regularly reignited confessional tensions. Only as German society became increasingly secular did these memories fade and tensions ease.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ruff, Mark Edward

Großbölting, Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Christentum und Gesellschaft, Kirche und Politik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Mark Edward Ruff and Thomas Großbölting

Chapter 1. The Kulturkampf and Catholic Identity

Jeffrey T.  Zalar

Chapter 2. “Time to Close Ranks:” The Catholic “Kulturfront” during the Weimar Republic

Klaus Große Kracht

Chapter 3. The Revolution of 1918/1919: A Traumatic Experience for German Protestantism

Benedikt Brunner

Chapter 4. The Confessional Divide in Voting Behavior

Jürgen Falter

Chapter 5. The Fascist Origins of German Ecumenism

James Chappel

Chapter 6. Conversion as a Confessional Irritant: Examples from the Third Reich

Benjamin Ziemann

Chapter 7. Imperfect Interconfessionalism: Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Early Christian Democracy

Maria Mitchell

Chapter 8. Importing Controversy: The Martin Luther Film of 1953 and Confessional Tensions

Mark Edward Ruff

Chapter 9. In the Presence of Absence: Transformations of the Confessional Divide in West Germany after the Holocaust

Brandon Bloch

Chapter 10. A Tense Triangle: The Protestant Church, the Catholic Church, and the SED State

Claudia Lepp

Chapter 11. A Minority between Confession and Politics: Catholicism in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the GDR (1945–1990)

Christoph Kösters

Chapter 12. The Churches and Changes in Missionary Work. Biconfessionalism and Developmental Aid to the “Third World” since the 1960s

Florian Bock

Chapter 13. Deconfessionalization after 1945: Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Muslims as Actors within the Religious Sphere of the Federal Republic of Germany

Thomas Großbölting

Conclusion: Closing Reflections

Mark Edward Ruff and Thomas Großbölting

Über Autor(innen)

Ruff, Mark Edward
Mark Edward Ruff is Professor of History at Saint Louis University. He is the co-editor of three edited volumes on Christianity and Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries and the author of two monographs, including The Battle for the Catholic Past in Germany, 1945-1980 published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. He has received research fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) and the Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung.

Großbölting, Thomas
Thomas Großbölting is Director of the Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg and Professor for Contemporary History at the University of Hamburg. From 2009 to 2020 he was Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics,” University of Münster. His recent books include Wiedervereinigungsgesellschaft. Aufbruch und Entgrenzung in Germany since 1989/90 (2020), Was glaubten die Deutschen 1933-1945? (co-edited with Olaf Blaschke, 2020) and Losing Heaven. Religion in Germany since 1945 (2016).

Thomas Großbölting is Director of the Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg and Professor for Contemporary History at the University of Hamburg. From 2009 to 2020 he was Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics,” University of Münster. His recent books include Wiedervereinigungsgesellschaft. Aufbruch und Entgrenzung in Germany since 1989/90 (2020), Was glaubten die Deutschen 1933-1945? (co-edited with Olaf Blaschke, 2020) and Losing Heaven. Religion in Germany since 1945 (2016).