133-682: Religion in Germany (2022 estimate) The religion of Protestantism ( German : Protestantismus ), a form of Christianity , was founded within Germany in the 16th-century Reformation . It was formed as a new direction from some Roman Catholic principles. It was led initially by Martin Luther and later by John Calvin . The Protestant Reformation began with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Augustinian friar Martin Luther in 1517. The key element of this religious upheaval
266-417: A Lutheran . The son of a ribbon weaver, Fichte was born into a pious family that had lived in the region for generations. Christian Fichte (1737–1812), Johann Gottlieb's father, married on Maria Dorothea Fichte, nee Schurich (1739–1813) somewhat above his class. It has been suggested that a certain impatience which Fichte himself displayed throughout his life was an inheritance from his mother . He received
399-636: A "state within a state" that could "undermine" the German nation. However, attached to the letter is a footnote in which Fichte provides an impassioned plea for permitting Jews to practice their religion without hindrance. Furthermore, the final act of Fichte's academic career was to resign as rector of the University of Berlin in protest when his colleagues refused to punish the harassment of Jewish students. While recent scholarship has sought to dissociate Fichte's writings on nationalism with their adoption by
532-672: A Christian to come to God through Christ without human mediation. He also maintained that this principle recognizes Christ as prophet , priest, and king and that his priesthood is shared with his people. Protestants who adhere to the Nicene Creed believe in three persons ( God the Father , God the Son , and the God the Holy Spirit ) as one God. Movements that emerged around the time of
665-546: A Letter to Fichte (1809) about his book on Machiavelli. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire , when German southern principalities resigned as member states and became part of a French protectorship, Fichte delivered the famous Addresses to the German Nation ( Reden an die deutsche Nation , 1807-1808), which attempted to define the German Nation and guided the uprising against Napoleon. He became
798-610: A Protestant movement, the Inner mission , that sought a rebirth of the Church in Germany but also a greater emphasis on gaining support for social welfare and relief programs among Protestants. Throughout the 19th century Protestant churches in Germany were reactionary and politically conservative . Protestant theologians rejected the tenets of the French Revolution , seeing instead an increase in nationalism . This nationalism,
931-668: A brief work from 1810, The Science of Knowledge in its General Outline ( Die Wissenschaftslehre, in ihrem allgemeinen Umrisse dargestellt ; also translated as Outline of the Doctrine of Knowledge ). His son published some of these thirty years after his death. Most only became public in the last decades of the twentieth century, in his collected works. This included reworked versions of the Doctrine of Science ( Wissenschaftslehre , 1810–1813), The Science of Rights ( Das System der Rechtslehre , 1812), and The Science of Ethics as Based on
1064-412: A calling or summons ( Aufforderung ) by other free individual(s) — called to limit its own freedom out of respect for the freedom of the others. The same condition applies to the others in development. Mutual recognition ( gegenseitig anerkennen ) of rational individuals is a condition necessary for the individual I. The argument for intersubjectivity is central to the conception of selfhood developed in
1197-486: A certain industry become the property of the class that deals with it". Fichte believed that "active citizenship, civic freedom and even property rights should be withheld from women, whose calling was to subject themselves utterly to the authority of their fathers and husbands." Fichte gave a wide range of public and private lectures in Berlin in the last decade of his life. These form some of his best-known work, and are
1330-652: A certain part of Protestantism rather than to Protestantism as a whole. The English word traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States . Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran , preferring the term evangelical , which was derived from euangelion , a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. " gospel ". The followers of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other theologians linked to
1463-592: A clear separation from the Imperial Diet and the right to autonomy. In February 1531, prominent Protestant Princes formed the League of Schmalkalden , endorsed by Luther, with the intent to defend the rights of princes and the religion. The league became central to the spread of Protestantism by using its political sway in Germany, helping the restoration of the Lutheran Duke of Wurttemberg in 1534, enabling
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#17327727883911596-455: A devoted defender of liberty of thought and action and an advocate of political changes. In December of the same year, he received an invitation to fill the position of extraordinary professor of philosophy at the University of Jena. He accepted and began his lectures in May 1794. With extraordinary zeal, he expounded his system of " transcendental idealism ". His success was immediate. He excelled as
1729-400: A feeling, then as a sensation, next as an intuition of a thing, and finally as a summons of another person. The Anstoss thus provides the essential impetus that first posits in motion the entire complex train of activities that finally result in our conscious experience both of ourselves and others as empirical individuals and of the world around us. Although Anstoss plays a similar role as
1862-715: A forerunner to its own nationalist ideology. As with Nietzsche , the association of Fichte with the Nazi regime came to color readings of Fichte in the post-war period. This reading of Fichte was often bolstered through reference to an unpublished letter from 1793, Contributions to the Correction of the Public's Judgment concerning the French Revolution , in which Fichte expressed anti-Semitic sentiments, such as arguing against extending civil rights to Jews and calling them
1995-567: A handful of Protestant denominational families; Adventists , Anabaptists , Anglicans/Episcopalians , Baptists , Calvinist/Reformed , Lutherans , Methodists , Moravians , Plymouth Brethren , Presbyterians , and Quakers . Nondenominational , charismatic and independent churches are also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism. These various movements, collectively labeled "popular Protestantism" by scholars such as Peter L. Berger , have been called one of
2128-470: A lecturer due to the earnestness and force of his personality. These lectures were later published under the title The Vocation of the Scholar ( Einige Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des Gelehrten ). He gave himself up to intense production, and a succession of works soon appeared. Fichte was dismissed from the University of Jena in 1799 for atheism . He had been accused of this in 1798 after publishing
2261-591: A less critical reading of the Bible developed in the United States—leading to a " fundamentalist " reading of Scripture. Christian fundamentalists read the Bible as the "inerrant, infallible " Word of God, as do the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches, but interpret it in a literalist fashion without using the historical-critical method . Methodists and Anglicans differ from Lutherans and
2394-591: A less promising position with the family of an innkeeper in Zürich . He lived in Zürich for the next two years (1788–1790), where he met his future wife, Johanna Rahn, and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi . He also became, in 1793, a member of the Freemasonry lodge "Modestia cum Libertate", with which Johann Wolfgang Goethe was also connected. In the spring of 1790, he became engaged to Johanna. Fichte began to study
2527-783: A philosophical statement of his property theory, a historical analysis of European economic relations, and a political proposal for reforming them. In 1805, he was appointed to a professorship at the University of Erlangen . The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, in which Napoleon defeated the Prussian army, drove him to Königsberg for a time, but he returned to Berlin in 1807 and continued his literary activity. Fichte wrote On Machiavelli, as an Author, and Passages from His Writings in June 1807. (" Über Machiavell, als Schriftsteller, und Stellen aus seinen Schriften " ). Karl Clausewitz wrote
2660-472: A priest with possessions, such as a pope, was in such grave sin), may have translated the Bible into vernacular English , and preached anticlerical and biblically centred reforms. His rejection of a real divine presence in the elements of the Eucharist foreshadowed Huldrych Zwingli's similar ideas in the 16th century. Wycliffe's admirers came to be known as " Lollards ". Beginning in the first decade of
2793-409: A professor at the new University of Berlin , founded in 1810. By the votes of his colleagues Fichte was unanimously elected its rector in the succeeding year. But, once more, his temperament led to friction, and he resigned in 1812. The campaign against Napoleon began, and the hospitals at Berlin were soon full of patients. Fichte's wife devoted herself to nursing and caught a virulent fever. Just as she
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#17327727883912926-676: A reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers. The term, however, derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical . In the 16th century , Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark–Norway , Sweden , Finland , Livonia , and Iceland . Calvinist churches spread in Germany, Hungary ,
3059-523: A restructuring of the Protestant Church in the light of the early church, the dissolution of monastic communities, establishment of Protestant universities, the regular inspection of Parishes and the conversion of nuns and monks. The Thirty Years' War , which took place from 1618 to 1648, stunted the theological development of Protestantism in Germany due to the severe reduction in population it triggered, with estimates suggesting as much as 90% of
3192-782: A revolt erupted. Hussites defeated five continuous crusades proclaimed against them by the Pope . Later theological disputes caused a split within the Hussite movement. Utraquists maintained that both the bread and the wine should be administered to the people during the Eucharist. Another major faction were the Taborites , who opposed the Utraquists in the Battle of Lipany during the Hussite Wars . There were two separate parties among
3325-490: A rudimentary education from his father. He showed remarkable ability from an early age, and it was owing to his reputation among the villagers that he gained the opportunity for a better education than he otherwise would have received. The story runs that the Freiherr von Miltitz, a country landowner, arrived too late to hear the local pastor preach. He was, however, informed that a lad in the neighborhood would be able to repeat
3458-621: A series of speeches in French-occupied Berlin, Addresses to the German Nation . In 1810, the new University of Berlin was established, designed along ideas put forward by Wilhelm von Humboldt . Fichte was made its rector and also the first Chair of Philosophy. This was in part because of educational themes in the Addresses , and in part because of his earlier work at Jena University. Fichte lectured on further versions of his Wissenschaftslehre . Of these, he only published
3591-766: A student of law to discipline the city of Geneva . His Ordinances of 1541 involved a collaboration of Church affairs with the city council and consistory to bring morality to all areas of life. After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them as Calvinist missionaries. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's death in 1563. Johann Gottlieb Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte ( / ˈ f ɪ k t ə / ; German: [ˈjoːhan ˈɡɔtliːp ˈfɪçtə] ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814)
3724-455: A supporter of Revolutionary France, Fichte became disenchanted by 1804 as Napoleon's armies advanced through Europe, occupying German territories, stripping them of their raw materials and subjugating them to foreign rule. He came to believe Germany would be responsible for carrying the virtues of the French Revolution into the future. Disappointed in the French, he turned to the German nation as
3857-474: A tutorship in Warsaw in the house of a Polish nobleman. The situation, however, quickly proved disagreeable and he was released. He then got a chance to see Kant at Königsberg . After a disappointing interview on 4 July of the same year, he shut himself in his lodgings and threw all his energies into the composition of an essay which would attract Kant's attention and interest. This essay, completed in five weeks,
3990-413: Is Jovinian , who lived in the fourth century AD. He attacked monasticism , ascetism and believed that a saved believer can never be overcome by Satan. In the 9th century, the theologian Gottschalk of Orbais was condemned for heresy by the Catholic Church. Gottschalk believed that the salvation of Jesus was limited and that his redemption was only for the elect. The theology of Gottschalk anticipated
4123-509: Is a social phenomenon. For Fichte, a necessary condition of every subject's self-awareness is the existence of other rational subjects. These others call or summon ( fordern auf ) the subject or self out of its unconsciousness and into an awareness of itself as a free individual. Fichte proceeds from the general principle that the I ( das Ich ) must posit itself as an individual in order to posit ( setzen ) itself at all, and that in order to posit itself as an individual, it must recognize itself to
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4256-416: Is an action and the product of the same I, as a "fact and/or act" ( Thathandlung ; Modern German : Tathandlung ), a unity that is presupposed by and contained within every fact and every act of empirical consciousness, although it never appears as such. The I can posit itself only as limited. It cannot even posit its own limitations, in the sense of producing or creating these limits. The finite I cannot be
4389-417: Is an endless war of all against all ... And this war is becoming more fierce, unjust, more dangerous in its consequences, the more the world's population grows, the more acquisitions the trading state makes, the more production and art (industry) develops and, together with thus, the number of circulating goods increases, and with them the needs become more and more diversified." The only means that could save
4522-421: Is associated with the names of Novalis , August Wilhelm Schlegel , Friedrich Schlegel , and Nietzsche . The spirit of the institution was semi-monastic and, while the education was excellent, it is doubtful whether there was enough social life and contact with the world for Fichte. In 1780, Fichte began study at the University of Jena 's Lutheran theology seminary. He was transferred a year later to study at
4655-751: Is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and ecclesiology , not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy . Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church , in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East , and the Ancient Church of
4788-490: Is itself God. We require no other God, nor can we grasp any other" ("On the Ground of Our Belief in a Divine World-Governance"). Fichte's intemperate "Appeal to the Public" ("Appellation an das Publikum", 1799) provoked F. H. Jacobi to publish an open letter in which he equated philosophy in general and Fichte's transcendental philosophy in particular with nihilism . Since all the German states except Prussia had joined in
4921-423: Is something that the I simply has to discover at the same time that it discovers its own freedom, and indeed, is a condition for the latter. Dieter Henrich (1966) proposed that Fichte was able to move beyond a "reflective theory of consciousness". According to Fichte, the self must already have some prior acquaintance with itself, independent of the act of reflection ("no object comes to consciousness except under
5054-865: Is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran, Calvinist, and United (Lutheran and Reformed) Protestant traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them. Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area , such as the Protestant Church in Germany . Thus, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, while the German evangelikal , refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism . The English word evangelical usually refers to evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore to
5187-447: Is the guiding principle of the work of Luther and the later reformers. Because sola scriptura placed the Bible as the only source of teaching, sola fide epitomizes the main thrust of the teaching the reformers wanted to get back to, namely the direct, close, personal connection between Christ and the believer, hence the reformers' contention that their work was Christocentric. The other solas, as statements, emerged later, but
5320-467: Is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone." Lutheran and Reformed Christians differ from Methodists in their understanding of this doctrine. The universal priesthood of believers implies the right and duty of the Christian laity not only to read the Bible in
5453-511: Is to come about but is unable to explain the actual occurrence of Anstoss . There are limits to what can be expected from an a priori deduction of experience, and this, for Fichte, equally applies to Kant's transcendental philosophy. According to Fichte, transcendental philosophy can explain that the world must have space, time, and causality, but it can never explain why objects have the particular sensible properties they happen to have or why I am this determinate individual rather than another. This
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5586-536: The Foundations of the Science of Knowledge ( Grundlage der gesamten [ sic ] Wissenschaftslehre , 1794/1795). According to Fichte, consciousness of the self depends upon resistance or a check by something that is not self, yet is not immediately ascribable to a particular sensory perception. In his later 1796–99 lectures (his Nova methodo ), Fichte incorporated this into his revised presentation of
5719-705: The Catholic Church . On 31 October 1517, known as All Hallows' Eve , Martin Luther allegedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses , also known as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg , Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the selling of indulgences . The theses debated and criticized many aspects of
5852-656: The German Democratic Republic (GDR). As a result of concerted state intrusions against Protestantism, the church became a place to organise opposition against the Soviet rule of the region. This opposition increased citizens' church involvement; however, the end of the German Democratic Republic led to a demographic decline in the Protestant church as the role of political activism was lost. In terms of political affiliations throughout
5985-547: The Holy Spirit and personal closeness to God. The belief that believers are justified , or pardoned for sin, solely on condition of faith in Christ rather than a combination of faith and good works . For Protestants, good works are a necessary consequence rather than cause of justification. However, while justification is by faith alone, there is the position that faith is not nuda fides . John Calvin explained that "it
6118-502: The Leipzig University . Fichte seems to have supported himself during this period of poverty and struggle. Without the financial support by von Miltitz, Fichte had to end his studies without completing his degree. From 1784 to 1788, Fichte precariously supported himself as tutor for various Saxon families. In early 1788, he returned to Leipzig in the hope of finding a better employment, but eventually he had to settle for
6251-576: The Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier . The term protestant , though initially purely political in nature, later acquired a broader sense, referring to a member of any Western church which subscribed to the main Protestant principles. A Protestant is an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them. During
6384-531: The Nazi Party gained power, it actively destroyed the institutional structures of the Protestant church itself. After the fall of Nazi power post-1945, the wider church conducted a de-Nazification effort. At the conclusion of World War II , leading church clergy issued the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt , which acknowledged the inadequacy of church opposition to Nazism and their culpability in
6517-663: The Netherlands , Scotland , Switzerland , France , Poland , and Lithuania by Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox . The political separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII began Anglicanism , bringing England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer Thomas Cranmer , whose work forged Anglican doctrine and identity. Protestantism
6650-521: The Protestant Reformation and summarize the reformers' basic differences in theological beliefs in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone", "only", or "single". The use of the phrases as summaries of teaching emerged over time during the Reformation, based on the overarching Lutheran and Reformed principle of sola scriptura (by scripture alone). This idea contains
6783-464: The Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two evangelical groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed . The word also pertains in the same way to some other mainline groups, for example Evangelical Methodist . As time passed by, the word evangelical was dropped. Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in
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#17327727883916916-943: The Unitas Fratrum —"Unity of the Brethren"—which was renewed under the leadership of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf in Herrnhut , Saxony , in 1722 after its almost total destruction in the Thirty Years' War and the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") . Today, it is usually referred to in English as the Moravian Church and in German as the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine . In the 15th century, three German theologians anticipated
7049-442: The printing press to spread their ideas. The printing press enabled the dispersion of Protestant literature throughout greater Germany. In order to curb this dispersion, the 16th-century Council of Trent compiled an Index of Prohibited Books in 1559, which included the works of Protestant theologians and those who desired reform within the Church. This act reduced the ability for Protestant material to spread throughout Germany. One of
7182-611: The thing in itself does in Kantian philosophy, unlike Kant, Fichte's Anstoss is not something foreign to the I. Instead, it denotes the original encounter of the I with its own finitude. Rather than claim that the not-I ( das Nicht-Ich ) is the cause or ground of the Anstoss , Fichte argues that not-I is posited by the I in order to explain to itself the Anstoss in order to become conscious of Anstoss . The Wissenschaftslehre demonstrates that Anstoss must occur if self-consciousness
7315-410: The vernacular , but also to take part in the government and all the public affairs of the Church. It is opposed to the hierarchical system which puts the essence and authority of the Church in an exclusive priesthood, and which makes ordained priests the necessary mediators between God and the people. It is distinguished from the concept of the priesthood of all believers, which did not grant individuals
7448-402: The 15th century, Jan Hus —a Catholic priest, Czech reformist and professor—influenced by John Wycliffe's writings, founded the Hussite movement. He strongly advocated his reformist Bohemian religious denomination. He was excommunicated and burned at the stake in Constance , Bishopric of Constance , in 1415 by secular authorities for unrepentant and persistent heresy. After his execution,
7581-427: The 17th century, where the castles built along Germany's Middle Rhine were inhabited by Protestant archbishops, joined only by nobles and princes. In the later centuries, separate church buildings were constructed along the Rhine region, due to controversial marriage laws that mandated Protestants and Catholics marry separately. The spreading of Protestant architecture was slower in other parts of Germany, however, such as
7714-411: The Bible as the highest source of authority for the church. The early churches of the Reformation believed in a critical, yet serious, reading of scripture and holding the Bible as a source of authority higher than that of church tradition . The many abuses that had occurred in the Western Church before the Protestant Reformation led the Reformers to reject much of its tradition. In the early 20th century,
7847-489: The Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to persecution. Despite that, the movement continues to exist to this day in Italy, as a part of the wider Reformed tradition . In the 1370s, Oxford theologian and priest John Wycliffe —later dubbed the "Morning Star of Reformation"—started his activity as an English reformer. He rejected papal authority over secular power (in that any person in mortal sin lost their authority and should be resisted:
7980-419: The Church and the papacy, including the practice of purgatory , particular judgment , and the authority of the pope. Luther would later write works against the Catholic devotion to Virgin Mary , the intercession of and devotion to the saints, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication , the role of secular rulers in religious matters,
8113-405: The East , which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the " one true church "—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic Lutheranism, hold to this position). Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of church membership , while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of
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#17327727883918246-438: The GDR in the 1980s, the Church maintained Protestant theological faculties in six of the state universities in Berlin (Halle, Leipzig, Jena, Greifswald, and Rostock) funded by the Communist budget. The Protestant leadership protested the insertion of a "materialist view" on school students' writing and the alteration of textbooks to include Communist ideology. In the years after the Reformation, Luther and his followers utilised
8379-414: The German Democratic Republic era, members of the Protestant Church ranged from far-left Stalinists to anti-communist conservatives . The initial effect of the Protestant revolution in Germany was to facilitate the entry of entrepreneurship with the decline of feudalism . The Lutheran literature dispersed throughout Germany after the Reformation called for the elimination of clerical tax exemptions and
8512-474: The German Student Christian movement, whose active participation involved church adherents from other nations. Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone , the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace , the priesthood of all believers , and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae summarize
8645-429: The German nation, according to Fichte, was to "found an empire of spirit and reason, and to annihilate completely the crude physical force that rules of the world." Like Herder's German nationalism, Fichte's was cultural, and grounded in aesthetic, literary, and moral principles. The nationalism propounded by Fichte in the Addresses would be used over a century later by the Nazi Party in Germany, which saw in Fichte
8778-410: The German population was lost and barbary was common. In the early 1500s, the Holy Roman Empire led by Charles V treated German Protestantism as a competitor to its geo-political power, issuing a decree in 1524 banning the recitation of its Lutheran works. This prompted riots across Germany and in 1529 a formal protestation was issued by a body of Protestant leaders and Princes, claiming the need for
8911-424: The Hussites: moderate and radical movements. Other smaller regional Hussite branches in Bohemia included Adamites , Orebites , Orphans , and Praguers. The Hussite Wars concluded with the victory of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund , his Catholic allies and moderate Hussites and the defeat of the radical Hussites. Tensions arose as the Thirty Years' War reached Bohemia in 1620. Both moderate and radical Hussitism
9044-567: The Jews and Their Lies ), to reaffirm the anti-Jewish prejudice escalating in Germany. During one 1927 Protestant Church Congress in Konigsberg , Paul Althaus gave a famous keynote address deriding the Überfremdung ('foreign invasion') of the arts, fashion and finance industries, reflecting the anti-Semitism of many church leaders. There were actions taken by some church members to fight against Nazism, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who rescued multiple Jews in Operation 7 . The Confessing Church in particular maintained objections to merging of
9177-421: The Nazi Party, the association continues to blight his legacy, although Fichte, as if to exclude all ground of doubt, clearly and distinctly prohibits, in his reworked version of The Science of Ethics as Based on the Science of Knowledge (see § Final period in Berlin ) genocide and other crimes against humanity: Fichte's 1800 economic treatise The Closed Commercial State had a profound influence on
9310-410: The Protestant Church and Nazi state, resulting in some being sent to concentration camps . Several leading church figures, however, published substantial anti-Semitic publications, such as the Thuringian bishop Martin Sasse [ de ; es ; no ] who distributed thirty-seven thousand copies of Martin Luther über die Juden: Weg mit ihnen! ( Martin Luther on the Jews: Away with Them! ). As
9443-455: The Protestant Reformation, but are not a part of Protestantism (e.g. Unitarianism ), reject the Trinity . This often serves as a reason for exclusion of the Unitarian Universalism , Oneness Pentecostalism , and other movements from Protestantism by various observers. Unitarianism continues to have a presence mainly in Transylvania , England, and the United States. The Five solae are five Latin phrases (or slogans) that emerged during
9576-418: The Protestant reformation. Ratramnus also defended the theology of Gottschalk and denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; his writings also influenced the later Protestant reformation. Claudius of Turin in the 9th century also held Protestant ideas, such as faith alone and rejection of the supremacy of Peter. In the late 1130s, Arnold of Brescia , an Italian canon regular became one of
9709-407: The Reformation and put heavy stress of holiness and piety, Starting in 1475, an Italian Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was calling for a Christian renewal. Later on, Martin Luther himself read some of the friar's writings and praised him as a martyr and forerunner whose ideas on faith and grace anticipated Luther's own doctrine of justification by faith alone. Some of Hus' followers founded
9842-545: The Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics. People who were involved in the religious movement used the word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ). For further details, see the section below. Gradually, protestant became a general term, meaning any adherent of the Reformation in the German-speaking area. It was ultimately somewhat taken up by Lutherans, even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or evangelical as
9975-651: The Reformed on this doctrine as they teach prima scriptura , which holds that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the Bible ( Protestant canon ). "Biblical Christianity" focused on a deep study of the Bible is characteristic of most Protestants as opposed to "Church Christianity", focused on performing rituals and good works, represented by Catholic and Orthodox traditions. However, Quakers , Pentecostalists and Spiritual Christians emphasize
10108-719: The Science of Knowledge ( Das System der Sittenlehre nach den Principien der Wissenschaftslehre , 1812; 1st ed. 1798). The new standard edition of Fichte's works in German, which supersedes all previous editions, is the Gesamtausgabe ("Collected Works" or "Complete Edition", commonly abbreviated as GA ), prepared by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences: Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften , 42 volumes, edited by Reinhard Lauth [ de ] , Hans Gliwitzky, Erich Fuchs and Peter Schneider, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1962–2012. It
10241-568: The Wittenberg workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger . The Protestant movement brought a new variation of figural sculptures, portraits, artwork and illustrations to the interiors of German churches. Martin Luther's early reforms included an emphasis on the value music provides as an aid to worship. New branches of Protestantism, however, such as Calvinism , reduced
10374-399: The assertion of self-identity; that is, consciousness presupposes self-consciousness. Such immediate self-identity cannot be understood as a psychological fact, or an act or accident of some previously existing substance or being. It is an action of the I, but one that is identical with the very existence of this same I. In Fichte's technical terminology, the original unity of self-consciousness
10507-403: The basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism. Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation , a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies . The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as
10640-576: The basis of a revived German-speaking scholarly interest in his work. The lectures include two works from 1806. In The Characteristics of the Present Age ( Die Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters ), Fichte outlines his theory of different historical and cultural epochs. His mystic work The Way Towards the Blessed Life ( Die Anweisung zum seligen Leben oder auch die Religionslehre ) gave his fullest thoughts on religion. In 1807-1808 he gave
10773-524: The body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. They disagreed with one another concerning the presence of Christ and his body and blood in Holy Communion. Protestants reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy , and have variant views on the number of sacraments , the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist , and matters of ecclesiastical polity and apostolic succession . Many of
10906-659: The church as a body works), they had a different understanding of the process in which truths in scripture were applied to life of believers, compared to the Catholics' idea that certain people within the church, or ideas that were old enough, had a special status in giving understanding of the text. The second main principle, sola fide (by faith alone), states that faith in Christ is sufficient alone for eternal salvation and justification. Though argued from scripture, and hence logically consequent to sola scriptura , this
11039-468: The church, moving to replace the festival of Christmas with celebrations of the birthday of Joseph Stalin , along with the jailing of more than 70 Evangelical pastors and lay workers from January 1953. One popular Protestant pastor, Siegfried Schmutzler , was imprisoned for five years after a show trial , charged with "agitation to boycott the republic". Censorship against Protestantism was also employed, with several West German church periodicals banned by
11172-511: The city of Cologne where its first Protestant church was constructed in 1857. Large Protestant places of worship were commissioned across Germany, such as the Garrison Church in the city of Ulm built in 1910 which could hold 2,000 congregants. In the early 1920s, architects such as Gottfried Böhm and Otto Bartning were involved in changing Protestant architecture towards modern constructions. An example of this new form of architecture
11305-405: The condition that I am aware of myself, the conscious subject"). This idea is what Henrich called Fichte's original insight . Between December 1807 and March 1808, Fichte gave a series of lectures concerning the "German nation" and its culture and language, projecting the kind of national education he hoped would raise it from the humiliation of its defeat at the hands of the French. Having been
11438-411: The contemporary world's most dynamic religious movements. As of 2024 , Protestantism has a total of approximately 625 million followers. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities , who issued a protest (or dissent) against the edict of the Diet of Speyer (1529) , were the first individuals to be called Protestants. The edict reversed concessions made to
11571-556: The cry against Fichte, he was forced to go to Berlin. There he associated himself with Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel , Schleiermacher , Schelling , and Tieck . In April 1800, through the introduction of Hungarian writer Ignaz Aurelius Fessler , he was initiated into Freemasonry in the Lodge Pythagoras of the Blazing Star, where he was elected minor warden. At first Fichte was a warm admirer of Fessler, and
11704-766: The debate around bioethics and stem cell research. The Protestant leadership in Germany is divided on the issue of stem cell research; however, those opposing liberalising laws have characterised it as a threat to the sanctity of human life. Within the German Democratic Republic, the Federation of Evangelical Churches, formed in June 1969 and lasting until April 1991, was where questions of morality were determined. The Protestant church has influenced German architecture. Among adherents to Protestantism in Germany were engineers, craftsmen and architects, enabling Lutheran constructions. The earliest Protestant constructions were in
11837-469: The economic privileges granted to religious institutions. Through the 16th century, however, the Protestant movement brought with it wealthy and influential Lutheran princes who formed a new social class. When the Reformation occurred, the art industry was declining in Germany; however, it provided a new inspiration for graphic arts, sculptures and paintings. Protestant churches displayed medieval images, along with uniquely Lutheran artistic traditions, such as
11970-464: The economic theories of German Romanticism. In it, Fichte argues the need for the strictest, purely guild-like regulation of industry. The "exemplary rational state" ( Vernunftstaat ), Fichte argues, should not allow any of its "subjects" to engage in this or that production, failing to pass the preliminary test, not certifying government agents in their professional skills and agility. According to Vladimir Mikhailovich Shulyatikov , "this kind of demand
12103-409: The effort to think without preconceptions and prejudices. Fichte did not endorse Kant's argument for the existence of "things in themselves", the supra-sensible reality beyond direct human perception. Fichte saw the rigorous and systematic separation of " things in themselves " and things "as they appear to us" ( phenomena ) as an invitation to skepticism . Rather than invite skepticism, Fichte made
12236-477: The essay "Ueber [ sic ] den Grund unsers [ sic ] Glaubens an eine göttliche Weltregierung" ("On the Ground of Our Belief in a Divine World-Governance"), written in response to Friedrich Karl Forberg 's essay "Development of the Concept of Religion", in his Philosophical Journal . For Fichte, God should be conceived primarily in moral terms: "The living and efficaciously acting moral order
12369-632: The establishment of Protestantism in the region. Conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire, resolved by the 1548 Council of Trent , maintained a lack of concessions to the German Protestants, and country-wide riots ensured it was not accepted. The official separation of Protestantism and the state in Germany came with the adoption of the Weimar Constitution in 1919. In the 19th century, Johann Hinrich Wichern pioneered
12502-589: The excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Bern reformer William Farel , Calvin was asked to use the organizational skill he had gathered as
12635-614: The first theologians to attempt to reform the Catholic Church. After his death, his teachings on apostolic poverty gained currency among Arnoldists , and later more widely among Waldensians and the Spiritual Franciscans , though no written word of his has survived the official condemnation. In the early 1170s, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians. He advocated an interpretation of the Gospel that led to conflicts with
12768-409: The foundations of his system, where the summons takes its place alongside original feeling, which takes the place of the earlier Anstoss (see below) as a limit on the absolute freedom and a condition for the positing of the I. The I posits this situation for itself. To posit does not mean to 'create' the objects of consciousness. The principle in question simply states that the essence of an I lies in
12901-486: The four main doctrines on the Bible: that its teaching is needed for salvation (necessity); that all the doctrine necessary for salvation comes from the Bible alone (sufficiency); that everything taught in the Bible is correct (inerrancy); and that, by the Holy Spirit overcoming sin, believers may read and understand truth from the Bible itself, though understanding is difficult, so the means used to guide individual believers to
13034-409: The government, including the official Lutheran Church organ Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchenzeitung . Official government orders, such as the 15 February 1956 Fechner Decree, banned religious instruction before school. In terms of political involvement, Protestant Church leaders also pushed for the introduction of the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev , including glasnost and perestroika policies in
13167-501: The ground of its own passivity. Instead, for Fichte, if the I is to posit itself, it must simply discover itself to be limited, a discovery that Fichte characterizes as an "impulse," "repulse," or "resistance" ( Anstoss ; Modern German: Anstoß ) to the free practical activity of the I. Such an original limitation of the I is, however, a limit for the I only insofar as the I posits it as a limit. The I does this, according to Fichte's analysis, by positing its own limitation, first, as only
13300-445: The incident; after considerable external pressure he dissociated himself from Fichte. In his statement, he inscribed, "May God protect us from our friends. From our enemies, we can try to protect ourselves." In October 1793, Fichte was married in Zürich , where he remained the rest of the year. Stirred by the events and principles of the French Revolution , he wrote and anonymously published two pamphlets which led to him to be seen as
13433-414: The individual ideas that were taken up by various reformers had historical pre-cursors; however, calling them proto-reformers is controversial, as often their theology also had components that are not associated with later Protestants, or that were asserted by some Protestants but denied by others, or that were only superficially similar. One of the earliest persons to be praised as a Protestant forerunner
13566-454: The instrument of fulfilling it. These lectures, entitled the Addresses to the German Nation , coincided with a period of reform in the Prussian government under the chancellorship of Baron vom Stein . The Addresses display Fichte's interest during that period in language and culture as vehicles of human spiritual development. Fichte built upon earlier ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder and attempted to unite them with his approach. The aim of
13699-530: The masses such that they were able to read the Bible, as well as strengths in mathematics and literacy. Lutheran Church teachings on the standards for the education of students were published in 1529, emphasising the study of grammar, definitions and the Latin language. To achieve literacy across Germany, every child was forced to memorise the church's catechism. At the Marburg Colloquy of October 1529, it
13832-554: The middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists . The German word reformatorisch , which roughly translates to English as "reformational" or "reforming", is used as an alternative for evangelisch in German, and is different from English reformed ( German : reformiert ), which refers to churches shaped by ideas of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other Reformed theologians. Derived from
13965-526: The modern world, which would destroy evil at the root, is, according to Fichte, to split the "world state" (the global market ) into separate self-sufficient bodies. Each such body, each "closed trading state" will be able to regulate its internal economic relations. It will be able to both extract and process everything that is needed to meet the needs of its citizens. It will carry out the ideal organization of production. Fichte argued for government regulation of industrial growth, writing "Only by limitation does
14098-444: The only acceptable names for individuals who professed faith in Christ. French and Swiss Protestants instead preferred the word reformed ( French : réformé ), which became a popular, neutral, and alternative name for Calvinists. The word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ), which refers to the gospel , was widely used for those involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517. Evangelical
14231-425: The pioneers of Protestant literature was Phillip Melanchthon, who organised and consolidated the Lutheran movement in Germany in the early 16th century. His work Loci communes began the publication of Protestant dogmatics . He worked extensively to reform the German education system, local schooling and national universities. The Protestant church has influenced changes in wider culture in Germany, contributing to
14364-459: The public to be a new work by Kant. When Kant cleared the confusion and openly praised the work and author, Fichte's reputation skyrocketed. In a letter to Karl Reinhold , Jens Baggeson wrote that it was "...the most shocking and astonishing news... [since] nobody but Kant could have written this book. This amazing news of a third sun in the philosophical heavens has set me into such confusion". Kant waited seven years to make public statement about
14497-454: The radical suggestion that we should throw out the notion of a world-in-itself and accept that consciousness does not have a grounding. In fact, Fichte achieved fame for originating the argument that consciousness is not grounded in anything outside of itself. The phenomenal world as such, arises from consciousness, the activity of the I, and moral awareness. In Foundations of Natural Right (1797), Fichte argued that self-consciousness
14630-692: The reformation: Wessel Gansfort , Johann Ruchat von Wesel , and Johannes von Goch . They held ideas such as predestination , sola scriptura , and the church invisible , and denied the Roman Catholic view on justification and the authority of the Pope, also questioning monasticism . Wessel Gansfort also denied transubstantiation and anticipated the Lutheran view of justification by faith alone. Electors of Saxony Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to reform
14763-568: The regime's power. With an increase in Protestant church pacifism after the end of Nazism, the German Protestant Church Assembly was formed as a forum to discuss the direction of the church. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel has been a regular attendant. In the initial years of communist rule , despite pressure on pastors to endorse the new form of government, the Protestant church insisted on remaining impartial. The Communist Party, however, grew hostile to
14896-452: The relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and the sacraments. The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg . Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious pamphlets flooded much of Europe. Following
15029-410: The right to interpret the Bible apart from the Christian community at large because universal priesthood opened the door to such a possibility. There are scholars who cite that this doctrine tends to subsume all distinctions in the church under a single spiritual entity. Calvin referred to the universal priesthood as an expression of the relation between the believer and his God, including the freedom of
15162-648: The rite of communion to German Protestantism and promoted Protestant unity, ensuring the anti-Baptist sect re-joined the wider church. John Calvin , whose writings formulated the Calvinist movement, emphasised the importance of Old Testament Law. Luther called upon the assistance of German princes to further the Protestant movement, namely Phillip of Hesse who convened the Marburg Colloquy where key Protestant theologians agreed on theological questions relevant to Germany. The Marburg Colloquy reforms included
15295-465: The role of liturgical music and the expression of faith through the development of music. In the immediate post-Reformation and subsequent decades, the Lutheran principle of sola scriptura prompted followers of the religion to promote the Bible , and the act of reading. The early Lutheran church documents promoted reading and the importance of education. Early reformers emphasised the value of literacy of
15428-482: The sermon almost verbatim . As a result, the baron took Fichte into his protection and paid for his tuition. Fichte was placed in the family of Pastor Krebel at Niederau near Meissen , and there received a thorough grounding in the classics . From this time onward, Fichte saw little of his parents. In October 1774, he attended the celebrated foundation-school at Pforta near Naumburg . Freiherr von Miltitz continued to support him, but died in 1774. The Pforta school
15561-510: The thinking they represent was also part of the early Reformation. The Protestant movement began to diverge into several distinct branches in the mid-to-late 16th century. One of the central points of divergence was controversy over the Eucharist . Early Protestants rejected the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation , which teaches that the bread and wine used in the sacrificial rite of the Mass lose their natural substance by being transformed into
15694-466: The title Philosophy of Freemasonry: Letters to Konstant ( Philosophie der Maurerei. Briefe an Konstant ), where "Konstant" referred to a fictitious non-Mason. In November 1800, Fichte published The Closed Commercial State: A Philosophical Sketch as an Appendix to the Doctrine of Right and an Example of a Future Politics ( Der geschlossene Handelsstaat. Ein philosophischer Entwurf als Anhang zur Rechtslehre und Probe einer künftig zu liefernden Politik ),
15827-515: The true teaching is often mutual discussion within the church (clarity). The necessity and inerrancy were well-established ideas, garnering little criticism, though they later came under debate from outside during the Enlightenment . The most contentious idea at the time though was the notion that anyone could simply pick up the Bible and learn enough to gain salvation. Though the reformers were concerned with ecclesiology (the doctrine of how
15960-472: The word "Reformation", the term emerged around the same time as Evangelical (1517) and Protestant (1529). Many experts have proposed criteria to determine whether a Christian denomination should be considered part of Protestantism. A common consensus approved by most of them is that if a Christian denomination is to be considered Protestant, it must acknowledge the following three fundamental principles of Protestantism. The belief, emphasized by Luther, in
16093-468: The works of Kant in the summer of 1790. This occurred initially because one of Fichte's students wanted to know about Kant's writings. They had a lasting effect on his life and thought. However, while Fichte was studying Kantian philosophy, the Rahn family suffered financial reverses. His impending marriage had to be postponed. From Zürich, Fichte returned to Leipzig in May 1790. In early 1791, he obtained
16226-404: Was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism , which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant . Recently, philosophers and scholars have begun to appreciate Fichte as an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights into the nature of self-consciousness or self-awareness . Fichte
16359-665: Was a break from Roman Catholicism 's emphasis on tradition, favouring a focus on the Bible . The lasting effects of Luther's Protestant movement within Germany was to question its existing power structures, imploring lay nobles for church reformation, critiquing the Roman mass, sacraments and seeking to reaffirm the importance of faith in good works. His subsequent excommunication from the Church ensured Germany had an ideological divide between Protestant sects and other Christian denominations. Another prominent reformer, Martin Bucer , introduced
16492-467: Was also the originator of thesis–antithesis–synthesis , an idea that is often erroneously attributed to Hegel . Like Descartes and Kant before him, Fichte was motivated by the problem of subjectivity and consciousness . Fichte also wrote works of political philosophy ; he has a reputation as one of the fathers of German nationalism . Fichte was born in Rammenau , Upper Lusatia , and baptized
16625-844: Was combined with piety , evidenced by the notable addresses of Johann Gottlieb Fichte 's "Address to the German Nations" and Ernst Moritz Arndt 's writings against Napoleon Bonaparte . During the Third Reich , over three-fifths of the population were Protestant and were divided among the Confessing Church , German Christians and those unaffiliated to either. In the early 20th century, anti-Semitic writings of Martin Luther were used by some Protestant pastors and Nazi leaders to bolster their political movement. Protestant pastors, bishops and theologians utilised Luther's writings, such as Von den Juden and ihren Lügen ( On
16758-561: Was decided by Martin Luther , Phillip of Hesse , John Calvin , Phillip Melanchthon and other prominent German Protestant reformers, that a Protestant university should be formed. This became the University of Marburg , the oldest Protestant university in the world. By the 19th century, German universities were recognised as leading the Western world, with Protestant theology globally influenced by Friedrich Schleiermacher , Ernst Troeltsch , Julius Wellhausen and Adolf von Harnack . Within
16891-526: Was disposed to aid him in his proposed Masonic reform. But later he became Fessler's bitter opponent. Their controversy attracted much attention among Freemasons. Fichte presented two lectures on the philosophy of Masonry during the same period as part of his work on the development of various higher degrees for the lodge in Berlin. Johann Karl Christian Fischer, a high official of the Grand Orient , published those lectures in 1802/03 in two volumes under
17024-616: Was grounded in a rebellion against the German Catholic church, emphasizing the primacy of the Bible, the abolition of the Catholic ritualistic mass and a rejection of clerical celibacy. The 19th century saw movements within German Protestantism involving practical devotion and spiritual energy. The 20th century saw the creation of new Protestant organisations, such as the Evangelical Alliance, YMCA, and
17157-470: Was increasingly persecuted by Catholics and Holy Roman Emperor's armies. In the 14th century, a German mysticist group called the Gottesfreunde criticized the Catholic church and its corruption. Many of their leaders were executed for attacking the Catholic church and they believed that God's judgement would soon come upon the church. The Gottesfreunde were a democratic lay movement and forerunner of
17290-433: Was recovering, he became sick with typhus and died in 1814 at the age of 51. His son, Immanuel Hermann Fichte (18 July 1796 – 8 August 1879), also made contributions to philosophy . Fichte's critics argued that his mimicry of Kant's difficult style produced works that were barely intelligible. On the other hand, Fichte acknowledged the difficulty, but argued that his works were clear and transparent to those who made
17423-467: Was the Versuch einer Critik [ sic ] aller Offenbarung [ sic ] ( Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation , 1792). In this book, according to Dieter Henrich , Fichte investigated the connections between divine revelation and Kant's critical philosophy . The first edition was published without Kant's or Fichte's knowledge and without Fichte's name or signed preface. It was thus believed by
17556-805: Was the Protestant Church of the Resurrection [ de ] built in the city of Essen in 1929 by Bartning. The Protestant church published five regional papers throughout the GDR, including Die Kirche [ de ] (Berlin, circulation 42,500; also in a Greifswald edition), Der Sonntag [ de ] (Dresden, circulation 40,000), Mecklenburgische Kirchenzeitung [ de ] (Mecklenburg, circulation 15,000), Glaube und Heimat [ de ] (Jena, circulation 35,000), and Potsdamer Kirche (Potsdam, circulation 15,000). The reformation itself
17689-490: Was typical of Mittelstund , the German petty middle class , the class of artisans , hoping by creating artificial barriers to stop the victorious march of big capital and thus save themselves from inevitable death. The same demand was imposed on the state, as is evident from Fichte's treatise, by the German "factory" ( Fabrike ), more precisely, the manufacture of the early 19th century". Fichte opposed free trade and unrestrained capitalist industrial growth, stating: "There
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