The Relationship between Protestant Church and State in the 1980's German Democratic Republic

Research Project

Project/Area Number	05610028
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Religious studies
Research Institution	University of Tsukuba
Principal Investigator	TANAKA Junichi Institute of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Tsukuba assistant professor, 現代語・現代文化学系, 講師 (50143152)
Project Period (FY)	1993 – 1994
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1994)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000) Fiscal Year 1994: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1993: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Keywords	Church and State / Stasi / Church in Socialism / German Democratic Republic / Unity of Germany / German Protestantism / 現代ヨーロッパ宗教的状況 / Stasi / 世俗化現象 / Neu-Evangelisierung / Volkskirche
Research Abstract	In this study we investigated the follwoing points and got some usefull results. It would be sure to contribute to a basic study of this field. 1. The analysis of the historical relationship between Protestant Church (Landeskirche) and State in the East Germany showed that the ideological and theological struggle between them was especially how "church in socialism" should be defined. 2. We maked clear the unpainted face of the ex-East Germany where was a terrible society of informers. There was many cooperrators to the secret police inside of the Protestant Church, too. 3. As "the midwife of the social changes" the Protestant Church in the East Germany playd a great important role. However, it became known that since the spring 1992 the administration of the church had kept the actual and political contact with the National Security Service (the secret police), though its pouprse was only for the matters of the church and the humanity. 4. The Protestant Church in the East Germany was not only deeply concerned in the situation which produced the unified Germany, but had big influences on the situation which the unified Germany produced. One of them is the changing tendency of the German Protestantism in the unified Germany. We can say the unified Germany have just returnd to a strong protestant nation again. 5. Getting excited at the history of the struggle between Protestant Church and State inthe East Germany, in which each one for their own identity struggled, traditionally the very important problem of the relationship between church and state in the West again has appeared in the contemporary european world. Here includes also groping for an answer to both relationship in the postmodern world. (national, religious, political conflicts in the ex-Yugoslavia)