Misassessing German Evangelicalism

https://www.evangelical-times.org/articles/evangelicalism-in-germany-a-stocktaking/

This represents a flawed analysis and sadly it also reveals some of the flawed thinking at the helm of German Evangelicalism. The entire assessment is in terms of Christendom. One would think that the lessons of that flawed paradigm would have been learned by now, but apparently not. 

 

I am curious as to the state of thinking within Plymouth Brethren congregations in Germany. Last I knew and based on my interactions (many years ago) this kind of Constantinian-Christendom thinking was not on the table. I hope that's still the case. Clearly in terms of the larger Evangelical movement, this is not so. American style Dominionism and the influence of the Lausanne Movement looms large and hovers in the background of this 'stock-taking' - even if the authors aren't necessarily conscious of it.

Eager to blame communism for the decline of German Christianity, the article ignores not only the legacies of theological liberalism and statist Christianity but more poignantly the role of Christianity within the Third Reich - and indeed the cultural fallout from the Nazi era and World War II.

The authors seem unable or perhaps unwilling to elaborate on the reasons behind the current state of the Church in Germany or the fundamental problems that are still at work within it. With reference to the 'liberal turning away' there are deep cultural problems within Germany, some of them a result of the Nazi era. For example society as a whole has adopted rather liberal if not libertine attitudes with regard to morality and other issues - never wanting to sound like or be compared to the oppressive ethos of the Third Reich.

Conversely there are other problems with German society in the realm of conformity. The state fears subcultures, Muslim, Christian or otherwise and thus German Christianity has struggled with the pilgrim identity and sense of antithesis, indeed the counter-cultural ethos we are called to in the New Testament. The persecution of homeschoolers was undoubtedly decried by many Germany Christians but it's clear that most of them (it would seem) agreed with the state and were quick to conform to its mandates. I found it noteworthy that the assessment chose to ignore this issue.

Further, while a decline in membership may be viewed as a negative in terms of a Sacral-Christendom model which relies upon an outward veneer of Christianity, in terms of the New Testament the view is quite different. A Biblical assessment would argue that the decline in membership of an apostate organisation (or false Church) is not a negative in terms of the Kingdom. Rather it's a positive as the false gospel alternative (as it were) is removed from the scene. We already have the rivalry of the world to contend with. The presence of a False Church (built on a false foundation) only makes our task that much more difficult.

The intellectuals of Christendom seem to find satisfaction in church buildings and attendees even if the buildings promote false gospels and soul-damning heresies. That's better to them than fewer churches. This is worldly thinking at best.

As far as Calvinistic Baptists go, it's no surprise that their numbers are negligible. There's no heritage or history of their movement in that context. There were (and are) of course German Reformed, but there are no connections to Baptistic theology - that has only been found in other contexts, such as the Brethren and the Anabaptists.

I got the sense that the whole point of the article was to sound some kind of warning against resurgent socialism-communism. If that was the purpose then I wish the author would have been more straightforward about it, rather than confuse the issue. It is problematic though as one considers the rise of the AfD and other Right-wing parties - especially in the German context. Virulent anti-communists all, there's always the danger that generic or generalised anti-communism can be appropriated by Far Right and Neo-Fascist groups or that they will have the power to seduce well meaning (if somewhat misled) Christians into their ranks as we're seeing in the United States.

As far as the split over Covid, it's lamentable but we see the same forces at work within the American Church. Poor leadership and a failure to re-frame the questions in Biblical terms as opposed to the framing provided by the culture have only added to the confusion and it has led to the issue being highly politicised. It's tragic that it's splitting churches but again I blame the leaders for failing to shepherd the flock, apply doctrine, and follow through on New Testament ethics. It shouldn't surprise us that this will lead the faithful to a place that does not resonate with any of the political camps. But as people have brought cultural values and Enlightenment norms into the Church (via compromised and politicised leaders and often rank worldliness), the divisions persist.

Overall I am not unsympathetic to the author's desire for Biblically sound churches. I don't happen to believe the Calvinistic Baptist road is the path to Biblical fidelity but it is certainly preferable to some of the alternatives. Rather than focus on tradition and fictitious dreams of a Christian Germany that never really was - I would hope the lessons of history would be learned and deep thinking engaged in regarding what the New Testament teaches. The fruits of this reflection provide quite a bit of insight with regard to just what has happened over the course of post-Reformation Church history and I would strenuously argue result in conclusions quite different than what we see here.