Nationalism and the Making of Modern Protestant Theology

Beschreibung

Over the course of the nineteenth century, German Protestants loyally supported the emerging German nation. Johan Smits demonstrates how new and established institutional networks made this connection possible and how religious and theological ideas helped to shape national thought.
Johan Smits answers the question of how professors of theology as a central Protestant elite related to rising nationalism both on an institutional and on an ideological level. The author first focuses on the institutional dimension of nation building. This landscape and its constitutive actors and institutions are mapped by means of methods from social network analysis. Protestant associations and theological journals contributed to the genesis of networks which, indifferent to state borders, connected theologians to each other and to other Protestant elites. Bodies of church administration and theological faculties remained embedded in individual states. The author then addresses the ideological dimension of nationalist discourse in academic theology. The sub-discipline of theological ethics, which was a central part of nineteenth century theology, offered an ideal context for reflection on the position of the nation in a Christian worldview. The presupposed German people and the aspired-to German nation played an important role in the historiography of religion and theology. The case of writing the history of rationalist and supernaturalist theology shows that nationalist stereotypes helped to downplay the role of other nations and peoples and to shape the (religious) identity of the German nation. The relatively young discipline of practical theology contributed to including liberal and nationalist ideas and obtained a crucial position in reflection on the practices of religion and church.

Autor*in

Johan Smits
Geboren 1993; 2025 Promotion an der Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Religionslehrer am Van Lodensteincollege, Amersfoort, NL.

Themen in »Nationalism and the Making of Modern Protestant Theology«

19th century church history German nationalism historiography nation building nationalism practical theology Protestant theology rationalism religious identity social network analysis supernaturalism theological ethics theological faculties theological networks

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