Coming at a time of enormous transformations in the one-time Communist bloc, this volume provides a much-needed perspective on the significance of church-state relations in the renaissance of civil society in the region. The essays collected here accentuate the peculiarly political character of Protestantism within Communist systems. With few identifiable leaders, a multiplicity of denominations, and a tendency away from hierarchical structures, the Protestant churches presents a remarkably diverse pattern of church-state relations. Consequently, the longtime coexistence of Protestantism and Communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union affords numerous examples of political accommodation and theological adaption that both reflect and foreshadow the dramatic changes of the 1990s.
Based on extensive field research, including interviews with notable figures in the Protestant churches in the region, the essays in this volume address broad topics such as the church's involvment in environmentalism, pacifism, and other dissident movements, as well as issues particular to Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, (1949-1989), Hungary, Yugoslavia (1945-1991), Bulgaria, and Romania. The final volume in the three-volume work "Christianity Under Stress," Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia will prove invaluable to anyone hoping to understand not only the workings of religion under Communism, but the historical and contemporary interactions of church and state in general.
Contributors. Paul Bock, Lawrence Klippenstein, Paul Mojzes, Earl A. Pope, Joseph Pungur, Sabrina Petra Ramet, Walter Sawatsky, N. Gerald Shenk, Gerd Stricker, Sape A. Zylstra
Show moreComing at a time of enormous transformations in the one-time Communist bloc, this volume provides a much-needed perspective on the significance of church-state relations in the renaissance of civil society in the region. The essays collected here accentuate the peculiarly political character of Protestantism within Communist systems. With few identifiable leaders, a multiplicity of denominations, and a tendency away from hierarchical structures, the Protestant churches presents a remarkably diverse pattern of church-state relations. Consequently, the longtime coexistence of Protestantism and Communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union affords numerous examples of political accommodation and theological adaption that both reflect and foreshadow the dramatic changes of the 1990s.
Based on extensive field research, including interviews with notable figures in the Protestant churches in the region, the essays in this volume address broad topics such as the church's involvment in environmentalism, pacifism, and other dissident movements, as well as issues particular to Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, (1949-1989), Hungary, Yugoslavia (1945-1991), Bulgaria, and Romania. The final volume in the three-volume work "Christianity Under Stress," Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia will prove invaluable to anyone hoping to understand not only the workings of religion under Communism, but the historical and contemporary interactions of church and state in general.
Contributors. Paul Bock, Lawrence Klippenstein, Paul Mojzes, Earl A. Pope, Joseph Pungur, Sabrina Petra Ramet, Walter Sawatsky, N. Gerald Shenk, Gerd Stricker, Sape A. Zylstra
Show morePreface ix
Protestantism and Communism: Patterns of Interaction in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union / Sabrina Petra Ramet 1
Protestantism: Theology and Politics / Sape A. Zylstra 11
Protestantism in East Germany, 1949-1989: A Summing Up / Sabrina
Petra Ramet 40
Protestantism in Czechoslovakia and Poland / Paul Bock 73
Protestantism in Hungary: The Communist Era / Joseph Pungar 107
Protestantism in Romania / Earl A. Pope 157
Protestantism in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia Since 1945 / Paul Mojzes
and N. Gerald Shenk 209
Protestantism in the USSR / Walter Sawatsky 237
Conscientious Objectors in Eastern Europe: The Quest for Free
Choice and Alternative Service / Lawrence Klippenstein 276
The new Church-State Configuration in Eastern Europe / Sabrina
Petra Ramet 310
Afterword / Gerd Stricker 330
Notes 353
Index 409
Contributors 439
Sabrina P. Ramet is Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author and editor of numerous books, including Nihil Obstat (Duke University Press).
"[A] comprehensive and nuanced examination of a geographically and
denominationally complex situation whose complexity is intensified
by Protestantism's individualist emphasis."
--Samuel J. Nesdoly, "Canadian Slavonic Papers"
"Ramet has performed a wonderful service in finding authors to
represent the diverse cultural landscapes in such a comprehensive
fashion. They supply a fine historical record of the workings of
religion during the communist era, and they suggest the diversity
in patterns of religious behavior and church-state interaction that
will likely reassert themselves in the future."
--Leonard J. Biallas," Journal of Ecumenical Studies"
"The high-quality articles in the volume make an important resource
for those interested in the history of the GDR and of the German
diaspora in Eastern Europe."
--Serhii Plokhy," German Politics and Society"
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