History

Johann Andreas Cramer (1723-1788) was one of the most renowned theologians and preachers in the German-speaking world of his time. Brinja Bauer examines Cramer's life and work in the context of the theological Enlightenment and highlights his significance as a Lutheran theologian, poet, and cultural mediator of the eighteenth century.

Dominik Weyl explores Bonhoeffer's theological beginnings and describes his earliest developments and positionings. He shows how Bonhoeffer responds to the formative Protestant theologies of his time. Bonhoeffer's question concerning the concordance of human will and divine will attests his strong ethical orientation from the very beginning.

Tracing the public debates on church-state relations in the nineteenth century shows that this relationship was shaped both by a gradual departure from sovereign church rule and by the formation of Protestant ecclesial identity, thereby substantiating the viability of the definition of the relationship which is still valid today.

Hendrik Niether presents an academic and political biography of the theologian Otto Piper (1891-1982), focusing on his life and thought during the Weimar Republic. Using the constellation paradigm, he analyzes Piper's work and political engagement from the perspectives of intellectual and theological history.