The current debate about a possible reform of the structures of German Protestantism has turned our attention back to the development of these structures after the Second World War. At that time, the maxim was the program ´Confession and Church Order´. Inherent in this program, developed in the course of the Kirchenkampf in Nazi Germany, was the fact that the order of the church was to be in accordance with its confession. However toa large extent the goal actually pursued. Was the preservation of the structure of the Landeskirchen, inherited from the time of the Landesherrliche Kirchenregiment, In the United Churches of Germany, this was the case from the beginning. In German Lutheranism, however, the founders of the United-Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) attempted to enforce the Lutheran confessions at the expense of the Landeskirchen. This article shows the extent to which they succeeded, the limits to their success and points out that, in the end, in German Lutheranism, too, the Landeskirchen largely remained the decisive factor. The current suggestion to abolish the VELKD would mean a complete victory for them.

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Personen: Wendenbourg, Dorothea

Schlagwörter: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland Protestantismus VELKD Kirchenstruktur Nachkriegszeit