A Comparative Study of Prussian and Anglican Church-State Reform in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Th e first half of the nineteenth century was an exciting time to be a Protestant if, to be sure, one were well born—or at the least, well educated—and male. Secular change had not yet eroded the clerical profession's ability to attract good minds and new ideas, and theolo gians said that they were unafraid of the new cultural claims of the nineteenth century, welcoming with an easy confidence the fruitful tension1 between science and theology and between con flicting theological schools. One of the ways in which it was exciting to be a Protestant was an ongoing and vigorous debate over the connection between church and state. That there must be some connection was assumed, but of what sort and with what division of authority remained unclear. Just as governmental and theological changes brought by the Reforma tion had forced a readjustment in ecclesiastical governance, so too in the nineteenth century changes in ideas about the nature of government and the function of the state churches brought changes in the constitutions of those churches. Although this essay will consider developments in England and Prussia only, what hap pened in those two countries is so similar that ecclesiastical changes occurring in England and Prussia may turn out to be a part of a broader, European movement. Although such a broad view here is premature, a preliminary conclusion that emerges from this study is that in ecclesiastical organization—as in theology2—one may have reached the point where the national literature is well enough