The Protestant Problem And Church–State Relations In Old Regime France

Abstract

This chapter surveys the origins and course of the Prussian Protestant mode of understanding church–state relations in Germany until the outbreak of World War One, and here it needs to be kept in mind that the severest political consequences of the Protestant Reformation were experienced in the Holy Roman Empire, due to the revolt against the papacy initiated by Martin Luther. The theological reasons for Luther's disaffection from Rome and the church–state doctrine that resulted from it, had profound long-term consequences for German—and indeed world—history, as shall become evident. Finally, what is historically remarkable is the rise of so-called national Protestantism and the identification of the nation with the will of almighty God, the conviction that God had chosen the German nation to be his instrument in the history of salvation.. Keywords:church–state relations; Germany; Martin Luther; national Protestantism; Protestant Reformation