The Church between accommodation and refusal: The significance of the Lutheran doctrine of the ‘two kingdoms’ for the Churches of the German democratic republic

Abstract

When the unity of Germany broke down in the cold war between the two power blocs, it also became impossible to maintain the unity of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), thus producing a more or less unique situation in the ecumenical movement: two separately organised church structures in two 'antagonistic' social systems came into existence, which nonetheless shared a common history, were inspired by a common tradition and remained very similar to one another in their institutional character. Despite all the changes in society the Landeskirchen (regional churches) retained the form given to them by the Augsburg treaty of 1555 and by the decision of the deputation of German states of 1803, as well as their administrative hierarchy, their Volkskirche (folk church) background and, above all, their theological traditions. The Protestant churches in the Soviet Zone of Occupation later the German Democratic Republic also therefore took part in the fierce dispute over the doctrine of the 'Two Kingdoms' which had fallen into disrepute after the unfortunate Counsel of Ansbach in 1934. At that time notable Lutherans such as Wemer Elert and Paul Althaus had spoken out against the Second Thesis of the Barmen Theological Declaration. This thesis stated: 'We repudiate the false teaching that there are areas of our life in which we belong not to Jesus Christ but to another Lord.' The Elert and Althaus view was: 'As Christians, expressing thanks to God, we respect every state structure and authority even when they are a distortion ... and therefore, as believing Christians, we thank God our Lord that he has given the Fiihrer to our people in their need as a pious and faithful ruler (Luther),. The tension between the doctrine of the 'Two Kingdoms' and the doctrine of the sovereignty of Christ has been a theological issue ever since, and the Leuenberg Agreement (no. 39) even cites it as a doctrinal difference between the Lutheran and Reformed churches. In this comparison the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms always comes off worse because it appears to be an 'accommodating' ideology rather than a 'confessing' Christianity.