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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
After the Christian faith had adjusted itself to the present world … the expectation of a complete world-renewal could only be introduced into Christianity from outside through the pressure of intolerable conditions.
(Ernst Troeltsch)The historical survey of theologies of the state in the second chapter argued for the contemporary relevance of several themes: the separate though related functions under divine providence of church and state; the promotion of the common good by both ecclesial and civil bodies; the necessary interaction of the church with the institutions of civil society; the derivation of political authority from God and its necessary acknowledgement by the consent of those living under its jurisdiction; the dignity of political office; and the recurring injunction to seek the welfare of the city and to offer it critical support. In what follows, I shall explore the reception of these themes in two of the most significant twentieth-century texts in the field – the Barmen Declaration and Gaudium et Spes.
BARMEN IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Barmen Declaration is the most significant political document in twentieth-century Protestant theology. Composed largely by Karl Barth and two Lutheran pastors, Hans Asmussen and Thomas Breit, it was adopted in May 1934 by 138 delegates (including only one woman) from twenty-five state and provincial churches in Germany who attended a synod at the Reformed Church of Barmen-Gemarke.
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