Volume 11, Issue 1

Johann Salomo Semler's distinction between public and private religion has central significance for the theory of Christianity, particularly as this is conceived by Trutz Rendtorff. It serves the theory as a conceptual tool in order to be able to grasp the sociological problem of relating individual and society theologically and thus to describe modernity as a „chapter in the history of Christianity.“ Yet certain difficulties arise upon closer viewing. In Semler the distinction rests on the effort to set a free private religion apart from public religion. In this it is indebted to a pointedly critical interest and can thus not be enlisted in support of a constructive definition of the relationship between church and Christianity. As a result, it becomes difficult to claim that the theory of Christianity can be based upon the period of theological enlightenment. Instead, it is tempting to take up the critical starting impulse of Semler's distinction and interpret it as a figural reflection with which theology reflects its relation to its own subject matter. The distinction of public and private religion thus finally moves surprisingly close to a systems-theoretical version of the relationship between individual and society.

In July 1907 the Holy Office issued the decree „Lamentabili“, which has been regarded as the first important formulation of the antimodernism prevalent under Pope Pius X. This essay offers the first reconstruction of the internal history of „Lamentabili“ as a document, based on the archival material in the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The history behind Lamentabili goes back to the censuring of Loisy's main works in 1903. The long and difficult process of drafting and discussing the propositions of „Lamentabili“ reveals divergent opinions about Loisy and the entire „modernist“ problem within the Holy Office. Lamentabili bears traces of attenuation and compromise, and it seems probable that the necessity of drafting the papal Encylica „Pascendi“ against the errors of the „Modernists“ (issued in September 1907) sprang from the dissatisfaction of leading antimodernists with the formalized and tedious process of conducting discussions within the Roman Inquisition.

This paper is concerned to take a closer look at the relations between Paul Tillich and Fritz Medicus, his philosophical teacher in Halle. The center of attention is on their orientation within neo-Kantianism and the Fichte and Schelling renaissance. A collection of letters and other documents reflects their involvement in events of contemporary history, their respective literary works, and an ongoing friendship.

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, the „Evangelist of Racism“, had a major influence on German Emperor Wilhelm II, especially in forming his nationalistic and anti-Semitic views. The monarch and the author developed a mutual understanding and appreciation that lasted over 25 years. This article illuminates the circumstances of their initial acquaintance through the edition and analysis of two documents which were two hitherto unpublished documents: Chamberlain's diary for the dates 28.–31. 10. 1901 and a letter to his aunt Anne Guthrie of 11. 11. 1901. Both documents are compared to other known reports of this meeting. Chamberlain accepted Wilhelm's invitation to Germany where they met in Liebenberg in 1901 in a circle of select members of the German aristocracy. Their first contact is reconstructed here showing the extent to which Wilhelm's thoughts coincided with those of Chamberlain. The author concludes that the meeting with Chamberlain in 1901 was most decisive in the development of Wilhelm's own thinking and had serious consequences for the later course of historical events. In addition, this first meeting is particularly interesting because of the participation of Adolf Harnack who was at that time very close to the Emperor and also corresponded with Chamberlain. The differences in character and views between Chamberlain, Wilhelm and Harnack also surfaced during this memorable meeting.

This edition, which follows a paper on the relationship between Paul Tillich and Fritz Medicus, presents their till now largely unpublished correspondence. The letters are supplemented by other significant documents from the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and the university archives of Jena and Halle.

This article publishes the minutes of a conference held on February 26th, 1934 by prominent members of the German Lutheran churches. August Marahrens, Ernst Sommerlath, Werner Elert, Paul Fleisch, and others are discussing how to maintain the Lutheran position on conditions of the Third Reich and the Reichskirche.

Peter C. Hodgson, The Mystery beneath the Real. Theology in the Fiction of George Eliot, Minneapolis (Fortress Press) 2000, x + 244 pages, ISBN 0-8006-3436-5, $ 14.00 (paperback). (Paul E. Capetz) Albrecht Ritschl – Ferdinand Kattenbusch. Briefwechsel 1878–1889, hg. v. Joachim Weinhardt, Deutsche Hochschulschriften 1185, Dr. Hänsel-Hohenhausen, Egelsbach/Frankfurt a.M./München/New York 2000, VI + 111, ISBN 3-8267-1185-8, ∈ 29,00. (Michael Bauer) Martin Mencke, Erfahrung und Gewißheit des Glaubens. Das Gewißheitsproblem im theologischen Denken Martin Kählers, Forum Systematik, Bd. 6, Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln (Kohlhammer) 2001 (zugl. Tübingen, Univ. Diss., 1998), 297 Seiten, Kt., ISBN 3-17-016427-9, ∈ 35,30. (Henning Theißen) Renate Reschke (Hg.), Zeitenwende – Wertewende. Internationaler Kongreß der Nietzsche-Gesellschaft zum 100. Todestag Friedrich Nietzsches vom 24.–27. August 2000, Nietzscheforschung Sonderband 1, Berlin (Akademie Verlag) 2001, 376 S., ISBN 3-05-003619-2, geb., ∈ 74,80. (Andreas Kubik) Steffen Bruendel, Volksgemeinschaft oder Volksstaat. Die „Ideen von 1914“ und die Neuordnung Deutschlands im Ersten Weltkrieg, Berlin (Akademie Verlag) 2003, 403 Seiten, ISBN 3-05-003745-8, ∈ 49,80. (Ulrich Sieg)