1918-1919 : le débat sur la réorganisation des Églises protestantes en Allemagne — séparation de l’Église (des Églises) et de l’État ?

Abstract

Since 1526, the relationship between German protestantism and authority has been strongly determined by the existence of the "Landesherrliches Kirchenregiment" (Church-Ruler regime) linked to the territorial State. Its sudden disappearance in 1918 as a consequence of the collapse of the monarchies plunged the Protestant churches into a serious identity crisis. This analysis concentrates on the case of Prussia where the subservience of the Evangelical Church to the State authorities had made it into a bastion of conservatism. Politically and theologically liberal protestants wanted to use the 1918 crisis to free the Church from its political subservience and to introduce more democracy into its internal structures. A majority of them also agreed with the conservatives in re-affirming their attachment to a "Volkskirche" (broadly-based Church) in the Lutheran tradition and to a policy of cooperation between State and ecclesiastical authorities. In 1919, the Weimar Constitution granted the Churches political and administrative independence and recognised their status as public institutions.