Katharina Kunter

'We Know Now': The Historiography of Protestant Churches in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989

Mikko Ketola

Cold War Church History Research at the University of Helsinki

Klaus Fitschen

Der westdeutsche Protestantismus und die gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen in den 1960er Jahren: Eine Bestandsaufnahme

Gerhard Lindemann

Die Geschichte der christlichen Kirchen in Dresden: 1945 bis 1990

Norbert Kmeť, Elena Klátiková

Research into non-Catholic Churches and Religious Communities in Slovakia after November 1989

Peter C.A. Morée

Between Solidarity and Emigration: The Case of Tomáš Bísek, Pastor of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren

Jiří Piškula

Das Verbot der Siebenten-Tags-Adventistenkirche: Ein Beispiel für Verfolgung der Freikirchen in der Tschechoslowakei

Cornelia von Ruthendorf-Przewoski

Reaktionen in den evangelischen Landeskirchen der DDR auf den 21. August 1968 in Prag

Aleš Pištora

La question socratique chez Jan Patočka

Adrienn Orosz

Die Geschichte der deutschsprachige reformierte Gemeinde in Ungarn

Pavel Šuba

Book review: Theo Verbeek, Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring 'the Will of God'

Author:

Katharina Kunter

Abstract:

The article deals with three major trends in historiography since 1989: The first is a broader public interest in the political engagement of the (Protestant) churches at the end of the communist period and their contributions to opposition and the transitions to democracy. The second is a wider public and internal clerical debate about the way Protestant churches in Eastern Europe went between opposition, conformity and loyalty to the regime and the part the Western Churches played in that game. Finally, since the early 1990s, international academic research projects in theology, history and sociology have started to build up a solid empirical basis and place the churches' actions and policy against a wider historical horizon.

Keywords:

Protestant Churches - Central and Eastern Europe - Historiography - Communism - Post-Communism - Transition.

Cite As:

Kunter, Katharina. “‘We Know Now’: The Historiography of Protestant Churches in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 278–93.

Author:

Mikko Ketola

Abstract:

The article is an overview of Cold War church history research, which church historians in the Church History Department of the Faculty of Theology in Helsinki have carried out over the past 15 years or so. The Department's Cold War church history has been first and foremost a history of the churches in the Eastern bloc during the period starting from the Second World War. Research has also been done on the relations and contacts between the churches on the opposing sides of the Iron Curtain. The third focus of Cold War church history has been the prevailing perceptions of communism and the Soviet Union among Finnish Lutherans. The author points out that there is still much to do in the field of Cold War church history. He also expresses his hope that in the future, Czech and Finnish church historians will find themselves involved in joint research projects.

Keywords:

Cold War - Church History - Finland - Central and Eastern Europe - European Integration - Role of Religion, Research projects.

Cite As:

Ketola, Mikko. “Cold War Church History Research at the University of Helsinki.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 294–303.

Author:

Klaus Fitschen

Abstract:

The article investigates changes in Western German Protestantism during the 1960s and into the 1970s. It points to the social changes going on at the time and discusses their influence on the churches. Alongside these external changes, there were also internal changes in the churches, some of which would be expressed especially in the 1970s in the themes of the Kirchentag. The article also considers relations between Western and Eastern German Churches, and the debate about the role of the church vis-à-vis society. Finally, the article also considers the conservative evangelical response to changes in church and society and wonders whether similar developments might be traced in other - for example, East German - churches.

Keywords:

German Churches - 1960s - 1970s - Internal Change - External Change - West-East German Relations - Liberal - Conservative.

Cite As:

Fitschen, Klaus. “Der Westdeutsche Protestantismus Und Die Gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen in Den 1960er Jahren: Eine Bestandsaufnahme.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 304–13.

Author:

Gerhard Lindemann

Abstract:

The article examines Church-State relations in the former East Germany. The author has chosen Dresden as a case study through which he investigates the development of the relations in the period of 1945-1989. He argues that a church historian has to take into account not only the archive materials on the theme, but has to understand them against the background of the social and cultural changes. Thus he interprets the persecutions in the 1950s, the decline in church attendance peaking in the 1960s and 1970s, and the churches' involvement as a political alternative in the 1980s.

Keywords:

Dresden - Christian Churches - Communism - 1945-1989 - Church-State Relations.

Cite As:

Lindemann, Gerhard. “Die Geschichte Der Christlichen Kirchen in Dresden: 1945 Bis 1990.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 314–30.

Author:

Norbert Kmeť, Elena Klátiková

Abstract:

After November 1989, the issues of Church and religion began to draw much of the researchers' attention in Slovakia. This topic began to reverberate in the media too. Of all non-Catholic Churches, most research has been done into the position of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession. Most academic works particularly analyse the Church-State relationship and survey restrictions on the Church activities and persecution of the clergy. Individual studies mainly follow the development of the given issue in a chronological order, which enables the authors to point out causal relationships. However, what is completely missing in Slovakia is comparative studies pertaining to non-Catholic Churches not only within Central Europe but also within the whole territory of former Czechoslovakia, since - despite the same legislation being in force in both territories - the situation in the Czech lands has always been different from that in Slovakia.

Keywords:

Slovakia - Communism - Historical Research - Non-Catholic Churches - Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession - Lutheran Church.

Cite As:

Kmeť, Norbert. “Research into Non-Catholic Churches and Religious Communities in Slovakia after November 1989.” Translated by Elena Klátiková. Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 331–43. 

Author:

Peter C.A. Morée

Abstract:

The Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren experienced a serious division in the second half of the 1970s and in the 1980s. The reason was a difference in understanding which position the church should take in relation to the communist regime. The church leadership developed a strategy to avoid an open conflict with the regime. A minority in the church took a more critical stance to the regime, as they saw it as an obligation for the church to speak up in matters of oppression and violations of human rights. Pastor Tomás Bísek, who signed Charta 77, got into conflict with the regime and with the church leadership as well. This article tells his story, which led from loss of his pastoral work to emigration.

Keywords:

Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren - Tomás Bísek - Charta 77 - Czechoslovakia - Church-State Relations - Communism.

Cite As:

Morée, Peter C A. “Between Solidarity and Emigration: The Case of Tomáš Bísek, Pastor of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 344–60.

Author:

Jiří Piškula

Abstract:

Dieser Beitrag folgt die Entwicklung des Verhältnisses zwischen den Staats- und Parteiämter und Siebenten-Tags Adventistenkirche in der Tschechoslowakei. Der Verfasser beginnt mit der Beschreibung der Lage in der Nachkriegszeit und schildert dann weiter die allmähliche Verschlechterung der Religionsfreiheit unter der kommunistischen Herrschaft, die mit dem administrativen Eingriff gegen die Siebenten-Tags Adventistenkirche endete. Der Vortrag hebt auch Zusammenhänge mit der Verfolgung anderer Freikirchen hervor und erwähnt die Folgen des Verbotes der Siebenten -Tags Adventistenkirche für andere kleinen Kirchen.

Keywords:

Seventh Day Adventists - Czechoslovakia - Communism - Persecution - Church-State Relations - Free Churches.

Cite As:

Piškula, Jiří. “Das Verbot Der Siebenten-Tags-Adventistenkirche: Ein Beispiel Für Verfolgung Der Freikirchen in Der Tschechoslowakei.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 361–69.

Author:

Cornelia von Ruthendorf-Przewoski

Abstract:

This article investigates the state of awareness of unity and tension between the ecclesial and political life as mediated by the representatives of the East German Protestant State Churches responding to the invasion on 21 August 1968 that ended the Prague Spring. The archive materials are interpreted in connection with the political situation in the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s, state responses to the Prague Spring, and also Church-State relations. A particular emphasis is given to how church representatives placed themselves in relation to the official political line, especially after the invasion, when they felt the need to communicate with churches in Czechoslovakia, and in particular with their representatives who found themselves in a similarly difficult position in which they managed or failed to negotiate their loyalties.

Keywords:

German Democratic Republic - Prague Spring - East German Protestant State Churches - August 21st 1968 - Church-State Relations under Communism.

Cite As:

Ruthendorf-Przewoski, Cornelia von. “Reaktionen in Den Evangelischen Landeskirchen Der DDR Auf Den 21. August 1968 in Prag.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 370–83.

Author:

Aleš Pištora

Abstract:

This short article commemorates the centenary of the birth and 30th anniversary of the death of the Czech philosopher Jan Patocka, co-founder of Charter 77. The author compares Patocka's philosophical search for foundations of moral and responsible human life to that of Socrates. He shows in which aspects Patocka developed the phenomenological heritage differently from Heidegger, and why, instead of an engagement in the new metaphysics, he preferred the philosophy of history and morality, broadly understood as that which reveals the transcendent dimension of human conscience, gives orientation to human life, and when needed, strength to protest against what is given.

Keywords:

Patočka - Heidegger - Socratic Philosophy - Philosophy of History - Foundations of Human Life - Transcendence - Moral Conscience - Responsibility.

Cite As:

Pištora, Aleš. “La Question Socratique Chez Jan Patočka.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 384–92.

Author:

Adrienn Orosz

Abstract:

Die deutschsprachige reformierte Gemeinde in der ungarischen Hauptstadt wurde im Jahre 1859 gegründet Es war der Plan eines eifrigen Laien, eines Ingenieurs der Staatsbahnen, Theodor Biberauer, eine deutschsprachige reformierte Gemeinde in Pest zu gründen. Seit den zwanziger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts war die reformierte Gemeinde der prosperierenden Mittelpunkt geistig-theologischen, aber auch gesellschaftlichen Lebens der Deutschsprachigen in Budapest. Nach 1945 begann für die Gemeinde die schwierigste Zeit. Am Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges erhielten das Kirchengebäude und die zwei Häuser schwere Bombentreffer. Zahlreiche Mitglieder verliessen aus politischen oder wirtschaftlichen Gründen mit ihren Familien das Land. Die Zwangsaussiedlung von mehr als 300.000 deutschstämmigen Ungarn tat ihr Übriges. Während der 45 Jahre dauernden totalitären kommunistischen Herrschaft pflegten sie weiterhin mit großem Engagement das deutschsprachige protestantische Gemeindeleben.

Keywords:

German-Speaking Minorities - Budapest - Protestant Church - Theodor Biberaeur - Mihály Bucsay - 19th and 20th Century Hungary.

Cite As:

Orosz, Adrienn. “Die Geschichte Der Deutschsprachige Reformierte Gemeinde in Ungarn.” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 393–99.

Author:

Pavel Šuba

Abstract:

Review of the book: VERBEEK, Theo. Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring 'the Will of God'. Aldershot ; Cornwall : Ashgate, 2003. ISBN: 9780754604938.

Cite As:

Šuba, Pavel. Book review: Theo Verbeek, “Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring ‘the Will of God.’” Communio Viatorum 49, no. 3 (December 31, 2007): 400–403.