Reconciling the Hearts: Barthold Georg Niebuhr on the German Catholicism

Abstract

The article presents a textual analysis of the letter of Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Prussian scientist and politician of the late 18th — first half of the 19th century, dedicated to the issue of German national church. Niebuhr is known primarily as one of the leading historians of his time. His name is mostly associated with the research on the history of Ancient Rome and other ancient states, as well as with the critical method which was a new word in German and European historiography. At the same time Niebuhr's intellectual talent allowed him to combine productively historical theory with political practice. Having served as Danish finance minister, then Prussian and Prussian ambassador in Rome for several years, Niebuhr created a significant corpus of political writings. However, they have attracted much less interest than his monographs and scientific articles on history and classical philology, until now. Nevertheless, as reviewing the real problems of politics from the practical point, Niebuhr's writings on political topics possess an undeniable merit. The fortieth year of Niebuhr's life was marked by the large-scale change of European borders, including territories ruled by Curia Romana. As Prussian ambassador in Rome Niebuhr was faced with a difficult task: diplomatically to bargain independence for German dioceses so that the process of forming a single national state was launched. In addition to the Roman Church, the solution to this issue was hampered by strained relations between catholics and protestants within Germany itself.