Shepherds of the Empire: Germany's Conservative Protestant Leadership 1888-1919

by Mark R. Correll

Overview

The late nineteenth century was a time of rapid industrialization, mass politicization, and modern philosophy. The resulting political and cultural upheaval confronted the German Protestant church with deep questions of identity.

On the one side sat an educated academic guild whose explorations of history, philology, and emerging social scientific disciplines gave rise to serious questions about the Christian faith and its meaning for today.

On the other sat parish clergy faced with the complexities of daily life and leadership in common communities. For these parish clergy the pressure was great to support and bolster people not only in their life as Christians, but in their life as Germans.

Shepherds of the Empire engages timeless questions of identity and faith through the time-bound work of four key thinkers who attempted, and ultimately failed, to carve a middle way for the German parish clergy in that environment.

The volume focuses on the life and work of Adolf Stoecker (18351909), Martin Khler (18351912), Adolf Schlatter (18521938), and Christoph Blumhardt (18421919).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451472950
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Mark R. Correll serves as chair of the history, political economy, geography, and social studies department and teaches European history at Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan. He finished his dissertation at the University of Florida in 2006. His research interest is in modern Germany and especially its theology in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

1 Introduction 1

The Connection between the Theology of the Word of God and the Moral Leadership of the Church in Wilhelmine Germany

2 Christianity, Political Conservatism, and the Community of Believers 19

Adolf Stoecker and the Organization of the Believing Community

3 How to Honor the Bible 45

Martin Kähler's Theological Views of the Bible and Ethics

4 Receiving the Ancient Beliefs in the Modern Day 83

Adolf Schlatter's Life and Work

5 Views from the Kingdom of God 141

The Life and Preaching of Christoph Blumhardt

6 The Friends of Job 183

German Sermons, 1888-1914

7 Confident in Jesus' Victory 221

Germany's Protestant Clergy's Spiritual Guidance during the First World War

8 Conclusion 263

The Relics of the First Modern Believing Theology

Bibliography 269

Index 281