PROTEST ANTEN VEREIN is the name of a society in Germany the general object of which is to promote the union and the progress of the various established Protestant churches of the country in harmony with the advance of culture and on the basis of Christianity. It was founded at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1863 by a number of distinguished clergymen and laymen of liberal tendencies, representing the freer parties of the Lutheran and Reformed churches of the various German states, amongst whom were the statesmen Bluntschli and Von Bennigsen and the professors Rothe, Ewald, Schenkel, Hilgenfeld, and Hitzig. The more special objects of the association are the following :—the development of the churches on the basis of a representative parochial and synodal system of government in which the laity shall enjoy their full rights; the promotion of a federation of all the churches in one national church; resistance to all hierarchical tendencies both within and without the Protestant churches; the promotion of Christian toleration and mutual respect amongst the various confessions; the rousing and nurture of the Christian life and of all Christian works necessary for the moral strength and prosperity of the nation. These objects include opposition to the claims of Rome and to autocratic interference with the church on the part of either political or ecclesiastical authorities, efforts to induce the laity to claim and exercise their privileges as members of the church, the assertion of the right of the clergy, laity, and both lay and clerical professors to search for and proclaim freely the truth in independence of the creeds and the letter of Scripture. When the association was first formed the necessity for it was felt to be great. The separation between the Calvinistic and the ...Lutheran churches on the one hand, and between the churches of the various states on the other, even when the former separation had been bridged over by the Prussian Union; the entire absence of any satisfactory system of church government, the autocratic authority of either the monarch or his ministers, or of the clergy, being supreme; the increasing encroachments of the papal power upon the rights of the individual and the state; the growing estrangement of the educated classes from the church on the one hand, with the manifestation of either ignorance of the fact or a determination to meet it with bitter denunciation on the part of the orthodox clergy on the other, were regarded as urgent calls to action by the liberals. Membership in the association is open to all Germans who are Protestants and declare their willingness to cooperate in promoting its objects. To facilitate its operations, the general association is broken up into a few groups or societies confined to certain geographical areas. Every second year (at first every year) general meetings of the entire association are held at some convenient place. At first the governing committee had its permanent seat at Heidelberg, but in 1874 Berlin, as. the new capital of the empire, was chosen. The means used to promote the objects aimed at are mainly (1) the formation of local branch associations throughout the country, the duty of which is by lectures, meetings, and the distribution of suitable literature to make known and advocate its principles, and (2) the holding of great annual or biennial meetings of the whole association, at which its objects and principles are expounded and applied to the circumstances of the church at the moment. The “theses” accepted by the general meetings of the association as the result of the discussions on the papers read indicate the theological position of its members. The following may serve as illustrations :—
The creeds of the Protestant church shut the doors on the past only, hut open them for advance in the future; it is immoral and contrary to true Protestantism to require subscription to them. The limits of the freedom of teaching are not prescribed by the letter of Scripture, but a fundamental requirement of Protestantism is free inquiry in and about the Scriptures. The attempt to limit the freedom of theological inquiry and teaching in the universities is a violation of the vital principle of Protestantism. Only such conceptions of the person of Jesus can satisfy the religious necessities of this age as fully recognize the idea of his humanity and place in history. The higher reason only has unconditional authority, and the Bible must justify itself before its tribunal; we find the history of divine revelation and its fulfilment in the Bible alone, and reason bids us regard the Bible as the only authority and canon in matters-of religious belief.
The formation of the association at once provoked fierce and determined opposition on the part of the orthodox sections of the church, particularly in Berlin. Attempts more or less successful have been made from the first to exclude clergymen and professors identified with it from the pulpits and chairs of Berlin and elsewhere, though membership in it involves no legal disqualification for either. One of the objects of the association was to some extent obtained by the reorganization of the Prussian Church when Dr Falk was cultus minister, on the basis of parochial and synodal representation, which came into full operation in 1879. But the election for the general synod turned out very unfavourable to the liberal party, and the large orthodox majority endeavoured to use their power against the principles and the members of the association. The members of the association elected to the general synod were nine only, while the party of the decidedly orthodox numbered upwards of seventy. In 1882 the position of the association was rendered still more difficult by the agitation in Berlin of Dr Kalthoff and other members of it in favour of a “people’s church” on purely dissenting and extremely advanced theological principles. The turn of the political tide in the direction of conservatism in Berlin indicated by the retirement of the cultus minister Dr Falk increased the difficulties and the work of the association, far as Dr Falk was from sanctioning its theological principles. Moreover, it had sustained severe losses in its membership by death and other causes.
At the end of the twelfth year of its existence (1877) the association had 7500 members, its annual income was nearly £350, and it had distributed in the same year 10,000 copies of its publications. In 1880 the number of members had risen to 26,000, and of local associations to 80.
See Schenkel, Der Deutsche Protestantenverein und seine Bedeutung für die Gegenwart (Wiesbaden, 1868, 2d ed. 1871); Der Deutsche Protestantenverein in seinen Statuten und den Thesen seiner Hauptversammlungen, 1865-82 (Berlin, 1883), and the annual reports in the Allgemeine Kirchliche Kronit, 1865-82, and Theological Review, July 1869, pp. 289-96.
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