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The Christian Federalism of Germany

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The Political Theology of European Integration

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy ((PSRPP))

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Abstract

This final case chapter attributes the German federal approach to European integration in part to its inter-confessional history and constitution. Royce begins by surveying the spread of Lutheran theology in the German Empire, which led to a permanent division between a Catholic south and Lutheran north. He then analyzes the religious terms of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) with an emphasis on Samuel Pufendorf’s interpretation, and demonstrates that subsequent iterations of German constitutional law emphasized the preservation of inter-confessional peace. Third, Royce reveals how the politics of Christian Democratic Union have been constructed on this basis, discussing the Christian ecumenical Weltanschauung of Chancellor Adenauer and of the political party he created, as well as how its platform connects Christian theology with European integration in the new century.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Biographies include Roland Bainton, Here I Stand (Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950) and Rudolf Thiel, Luther (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1955).

  2. 2.

    The complete Martin Luther in English is that of Pelikan and Lehman (1955–1986).

  3. 3.

    Luther explains toward the end that only baptism and the Lord’s Supper should properly be considered sacraments, but his authorial intent is less to disestablish the others than to expose the papacy.

  4. 4.

    Named after John Huss, martyred at Constance in 1415, this pre-Protestant series of movements were demanding communion in both kinds, vernacular preaching, and diminution of the temporal power of the Church. See W.N. Schwarze, John Hus, The Martyr of Bohemia: A Study of the Dawn of Protestantism (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1915).

  5. 5.

    See for instance Friedrich Engels on The Peasant War in Germany (New York: International Publishers, [Der deutsche Bauernkrieg, 1870] 1926).

  6. 6.

    Tantum fide apprehenditur remissio peccatorum ac gratia. Et quia per fidem accipitur Spiritus Sanctus, jam corda renovantur et induunt novos affectus, ut parere bona opera possint.

  7. 7.

    For a more extensive discussion of this political history, see the classic G.R. Elton, Reformation Europe, 1517–1559 (New York: Harper & Row, 1963).

  8. 8.

    See especially Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, “Popes, Kings, and Endogenous Institutions: The Concordat of Worms and the Origins of Sovereignty,” International Studies Review 2 (2000): 93–118; and Steven D. Krasner, “Compromising Westphalia,” International Security 20, no. 3 (1995–1996): 115–151.

  9. 9.

    Adenauer, Konrad. Memoirs, 1945-53 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966).

  10. 10.

    Scholarly translations of the Westphalian treaties with critical commentary are available online at http://www.pax-westphalica.de/ipmipo/indexen.html. The project was created by Konrad Repgen of the University of Bonn.

  11. 11.

    Statutis antiquis nihil de novo admisceatur, quod catholicorum vel Augustanae confessioni addictorum conscientiam et causam pro cuiusque parte laedere eorumve ius imminuere possit.

  12. 12.

    Placuit porro, ut illi catholicorum subditi Augustanae confessioni addicti ut et catholici Augustanae confessionis statuum subditi…patienter tolerentur et conscientia libera domi devotioni suae sine inquisitione aut turbatione privatim vacare, in vicinia vero, ubi et quoties voluerint.

  13. 13.

    Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence ([1660] 2009) and The Whole Duty of Man, According to the Law of Nature ([1673] 2003) are spacious treatises of the natural law tradition, An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe ([1682] 2013) was intended for instruction, Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion in Reference to Civil Society ([1687] 2002) expresses his moderate anti-disestablishmentarianism, and The Divine Feudal Law ([1695] 2002), Pufendorf’s final work, furnishes a powerful polemic against Calvinist predestination. Taken as a whole, the range and quality of Pufendorf’s oeuvre, in the opinion of this author, outranks that of the much more famous John Locke.

  14. 14.

    The Diet itself had three houses, those of electors, princes, and free cities.

  15. 15.

    The electoral princes of the Holy Roman Empire were the Archbishops of Mentz, Trier, and Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, the Marquess of Brandenburg, and the Count Palatine.

  16. 16.

    Perhaps the most famous is the Residence of WĂĽrzburg.

  17. 17.

    Michael Rapport, Nineteenth Century Europe (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 189.

  18. 18.

    http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_ss33co.htm.

  19. 19.

    Die katholischen Kirchengemeinden, Kirchengemeindeverbände und Diözesanverbände, die Bischöflichen Stühle, Bistümer und Kapitel, die Orden und religiösen Genossenschaften sowie die unter Verwaltung kirchlicher Organe gestellen Anstalten, Stiftungen und Vermögensstücke der katholischen Kirche behalten bzw. Erlangen die Rechtsfähigkeit für den staatlichen Bereich nach den allgemeinen Vorschriften des staatlichen Rechtes, soweit sie solche bisher waren; den anderen können die gleichen Rechte nach Maßgabe des für alle geltenden Gesetzes gewährt werden.

  20. 20.

    Vor Gott und auf die heiligen Evangelien schwöre und verspreche ich, so wie es einem Bischof geziemt, dem Deutschen Reich…Ich schwöre und achten und vorn meinem Klerus achten zu lassen. In der deutschen Staatswesens werde ich in Ausübung der mir übertragenen geistlichen Amtes jeden Schaden zu verhüten trachten, der es bedrohen könnte.

  21. 21.

    See John Laffin, Jackboot: A History of the German Soldier, 1713–1945 (New York: Barnes & Noble), 1965.

  22. 22.

    In Germany, the title doctor (Doktor) is used to distinguish politicians, civil servants, and jurists of peculiar attainment, in addition to individuals who have completed a research Ph.D.

  23. 23.

    Recognizing that this mass migration would effectively end their affiliated regime, the Soviets put a stop to it by constructing the Berlin Wall in 1961.

  24. 24.

    His language was very similar upon receiving another doctorate from the University of Ottawa on the eighteenth. “I am happy,” Adenauer states, “to have thus become a member of your university which distinguishes itself by its spirit of cooperation and tolerance as well as by its Christian principles. These Christian principles are indeed the only basis for the salvation of mankind in its present crisis. Previously, you have given the degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws to my friends, President De Gasperi of Italy and former Foreign Minister Schuman of France” (174).

  25. 25.

    And completely in Bavaria, where the derivative Christian Social Union (Christlich- Soziale Union) remains the hegemonic political force. See Graham Ford, “Constructing a Regional Identity: The Christian Social Union and Bavaria’s Common Heritage, 1949–1962,” Contemporary European History 16 (2007): 277– 297.

  26. 26.

    As shall be described below, whereas the 2007 party manifesto of the Christian Democrats primarily concerns political theology, that of the Social Democrats is based on political economy.

  27. 27.

    FĂĽr uns ist der Mensch von Gott nach seinem Bilde geschaffen. Aus dem christlichen Bild vom Menschen folgt, dass wir uns zu seiner unantastbaren WĂĽrde bekennen.

  28. 28.

    Wir bekennen uns zur Präambel des Grundgesetzes und damit zu unserer Verantwortung vor Gott und den Menschen. Das Grundgesetz beruht auf Werten, die christlichen Ursprungs sind. Sie haben unser Land und unsere Gesellschaft grundlegend geprägt. Sie im Bewusstsein zu halten, zu bewahren und ihnen Geltung zu verschaffen, verstehen wir nicht nur als Aufgabe der christlichen Kirchen, sondern auch als eine vorrangige Aufgabe von Staat und Bürgern. Christliche Symbole müssen im öffentlichen Raum sichtbar bleiben. Sie sind ebenso zu schützen wie die christlich geprägten Sonn- und Feiertage.

  29. 29.

    Es ist die besondere Selbstverpflichtung der CDU, die christlich geprägten Wertgrundlagen unserer freiheitlichen Demokratie zu bewahren und zu stärken.

  30. 30.

    Die Schöpfung wurde uns nach christlichem Verständnis zur Gestaltung und Bewahrung anvertraut. Heute müssen wir feststellen: Die Schöpfung ist bedroht.

  31. 31.

    Die erste und wichtigste Gemeinschaft ist die Familie…In ihr reift der Mensch zur Persönlichkeit heran und entfaltet sich zur Freiheit in Verantwortung. Hier werden Werte gelebt, die sich aus dem christlichen Verständnis vom Menschen ergeben.

  32. 32.

    Das christliche Bild vom Menschen ist als Teil des gemeinsamen europäischen Erbes wesentlich für die europäische Identität. Es bleibt auch im Zeitalter der Globalisierung die Grundlage für die Gestaltung der gemeinsamen Zukunft in Europa.

  33. 33.

    Wir treten für einen Gottesbezug ein. An dem langfristigen Ziel, eine Verfassung für die Europäische Union zu schaffen, halten wir fest.

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Royce, M.R. (2017). The Christian Federalism of Germany. In: The Political Theology of European Integration. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53447-3_8

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