Aufklärung und Ökumene

In the age of the late Enlightenment there was an unprecedented ecumenical euphoria in Germany. Numerous Catholic and Protestant theologians and laymen tried to bring their religious denominations closer together by planning and carrying out, either as individuals or in groups, attempts at Catholic-Protestant reunions. These attempts at ecumenicalism, which up to now had remained unnoticed in research on church history, and which - unlike the official talks at the end of the 17th century- were largely made by private persons, are the subject of this work. Christopher Spehr studies the origins, the theological argumentation and the connections between the reunion activities. In addition, he examines the literary reactions of prominent Protestant theologians of the Enlightenment as well as Catholic critics of the Enlightenment and outlines their disapproval.