Paul Gerhardt und der Berliner Kirchenstreit

Along with Martin Luther, Paul Gerhardt is regarded as the most important Protestant hymn writer. Gerhardt played a decisive role in the church conflict in Berlin, the denominational disputes between Lutheran and Reformed theologians and between Lutheran subjects and the electoral Brandenburg court in the second half of the 17th century, a court which was greatly influenced by the Reformed church. As an advocate of a strict Lutheran orthodoxy, he rejected all attempts by the authorities to end the conflicts between the denominations and to adopt mutual tolerance. Based in part on previously unknown or not yet evaluated sources, Johannes M. Ruschke gives a critical and comprehensive analysis of the conflict, its previous history, significance and effects from an historical and a theological perspective and provides an edition which contains Gerhardt's major reports.