The German Evangelical Churches and the Struggle for the Schools in the Weimar Republic

Bibliographic Data

ID3841569
AuthorsFrank J Gordon (University of Colorado Boulder, corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume49
Issue1
Pages47-61
Publication date1980-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChurch History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3164639
OpenAlexW2049931928
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

It is a well-known fact that the German Evangelical churches did not hold the Weimar Republic in the highest esteem. This lack of church affection for the republic cannot be wholly explained with reference only to the monarchist, authoritarian intellectual and theological heritage of the German churches. Research in the Evangelical newspaper press and in official church proceedings and proclamations reveals that the republic's treatment of issues of vital concern to the churches played a crucial role in shaping church political opinion.1Among the most important of these issues was the question of religious instruction in the schools. German children had always received such instruction as a regular part of their elementary school curriculum. Also, the overwhelming majority of school children before 1918 had attended confessional schools; that is, Protestant children attended Protestant schools, Catholics went to Catholic schools, and Jews to Jewish schools. Only three states, Baden, Hesse, and Nassau, had systematically established interconfessional or "simultaneous" schools (Simultanschulen).2

Authoritarianism · Confessional · Curriculum · Democracy · German · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sociology · The Republic · Theology · Weimar Republic · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious Education and Schools · Religious studies

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