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German and Lutherans: The German language as we know it today exists because of the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. Luther, a German monk, began the Reformation when he published his criticisms of the Catholic Church. One of his beliefs was that Christians should be able to have direct access to the Bible, without relying on the intercession or interpretation of a priest. In the 1520s, condemned by the Holy Roman emperor and in hiding, Luther began translating the scriptures into German. In 11 weeks, he produced the first draft of the German New Testament. He intended the Bible to be read by the common man, but the language that existed at the time in the German states – known as Middle German – was made up of a variety of languages, such as High German in the south and Low German in the north, each with an array of dialects based on location and class. Most books were written in Latin; the German that was written was a form very unlike what was spoken.
Luther chose to translate everyday German into a written form that would be understandable to German speakers from any dialect. He incorporated court language used in Saxony with idioms of everyday speech. The Testament, published in 1522, sold very well, even at a time when most people could not read. The translation created a new written German, now known as modern German, which is the standard written and spoken form of German today. It also contributed to increasing levels of literacy in the German states.
Original languages: Fluency in German and Russian allows people to read the works of major philosophers, authors and poets in their original languages. Many of these thinkers have had evocative positions on religions and their beliefs. Examples include:
Karl Marx: German social philosopher Karl Marx (1818-83) was the son of a Jewish lawyer who converted to Protestantism. He and Friedrich Engels wrote “The Communist Manifesto (1848), which appealed to science and reason as the basis for reform, rather than the rights of man. His best-known work, “Das Kapital,” offered a critical analysis of capitalism. Marx’s ideas had a major influence on workers’ movements, with further impetus added by the victory of the Marxist Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution. Marxian ideas have impacted many parts of the world. Marx famously wrote in 1843: “Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Friedrich Nietzsche: German-born philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) produced critiques of religion, morality, philosophy and contemporary society based on the life-affirming and life-denying qualities of various attitudes and beliefs. The son of a Lutheran pastor, Nietzsche studied theology but lost his faith in the mid-1860s. His best-known book, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra, A Book for All and None” (1883 – 1885), a philosophical work of fiction, imitated the style of the New Testament and the Platonic dialogues. Nietzsche offered interpretation of Western literary and philosophical traditions through the character of Zarathustra (a reference to the historic figure behind Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion born in what is now Iran).
One of Nietzsche’s most contentious works, “The Antichrist, Curse on Christianity” (1888), attacked the morals of Christianity and expressed disgust over how Christianity’s “slave-morality” corrupted values in ancient Rome. Though he gave some respect to Jesus and some Christian elements, Nietzsche proposed an “Anti-Christian” morality that included reframing the perspective of all values. In “The Gay Science,” he ranked one’s life as the sole consideration when evaluating how one should act (contrasting with the Christian view of an afterlife which emphasizes later reward). The book is best known for Nietzsche’s statement: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”
Wolfgang von Goethe: Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a German poet, novelist, dramatist, humanist, scientist, theorist and painter, disliked the Christian Church, categorizing it as being full of “mistakes and violence.” He described himself as a “decided non-Christian,” studied the Koran and did not deny being a Muslim. His best-known work, “Faust,” tells the story of Faust, a scholar who yearns to comprehend not just all knowledge, but all experience. He makes a pact with a spirit named Mephistopheles that provides for the loss of Faust’s soul if Mephistopheles provides him with an experience he enjoys. Temptations include a young girl, Margaret, whom Faust seduces and abandons, indirectly causing her death and that of their child. Faust also has a love affair with Helen of Troy and fathers a son with her. Later, he reclaims lands from the sea that he intends to turn into a paradise on earth, his legacy to humankind. Happy with this vision, Faust is caught in a moment of satisfaction that Mephistopheles claims as his victory. At the last moment, however, God’s angels save Faust and take his soul to heaven where he is reunited with Margaret and appointed as teacher of the blessed.
“Faust” became the “Ur-myth” (a myth so ancient and all-encompassing that it becomes an irreducible part of human experience) of many figures in the 19th century. The facet of its plot of selling one’s soul to the devil for power over the physical world took on increased literary importance; and became a view of the victory of technology and industrialism at human expense.
Immanuel Kant: German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) grew up in a Pietist household, a Lutheran reform movement that stressed intense religious devotion, a literal reading of the Bible and personal humility. Kant asserted that reason and philosophy are “in reality directed to those three problems only (God, Soul, Freedom),” meaning that no one can really know if there is a God and an afterlife. But no one can really know that there is not a God and an afterlife either. Kant believed that for the sake of society and morality, people can be justified in believing in them, even though they can never know for sure whether they are real.
He believed that happiness is tied to morality, and for this reason, people should choose to believe in God, because the idea of God can’t be separated from happiness-morality as the “ideal of the supreme good.” Kant’s efforts to root religion in morality had a significant impact on Protestant theology in Europe, especially what is called “liberal theology” or “liberal Protestantism,” which stressed the moral content of Christianity, particularly for social reform. Some Catholic thinkers were interested in his philosophy, but an Italian translation of his “Critique of Pure Reason,” was placed on the Roman Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books in 1827.
Alexis Khomiakov: Russian religious poet and theologian Alexis Khomiakov (1804-1860) wrote that “All Protestants are crypto-papists,” meaning that all Western Christians and Western culture itself are intrinsically Catholic, based on the many centuries that Catholicism has been ingrained in Western culture. Khomiakov, who was Russian Orthodox, claimed the West failed to solve human spiritual problems because it stressed competition at the expense of cooperation: “Rome kept unity at the expense of freedom, while Protestants had freedom but lost unity.” He considered both capitalism and socialism to be offspring of Western decadence, and believed that secular and selfish man, denying a divine creator, could not establish a satisfactory social and political order. Khomiakov’s works profoundly influenced the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian lay philosophers, such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s (1821-1881) novels explored religious and philosophical themes such as the nature of God and purpose of evil. They also explored human psychology and the political, social and spiritual states of the Russia of his time. Best known for his novels, “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoevsky’s fiction included themes of existentialism, spiritual torment and religious awakening. Many of his characters arrive at Christianity through a conversion experience, thought to be similar to that Dostoevsky experienced while in prison, which deepened his Russian Orthodox faith.
Leo Tolstoy: Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), best known for his novels, “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina,” examined war, religion, feminism, and other topics through the characters of his novels. At midlife, Tolstoy determined that he could not go on living without knowing the meaning of life. After exploring a variety of areas, he found his answer in the teachings of Jesus, which in his interpretation have strong Buddhist overtones. He related his conclusions in “My Religion, The Kingdom of God is Within You” and “The Gospels in Brief.”
His teaching stripped Christianity of its tradition and mysticism, rejected personal immortality, rejected the authority of the Church and condemned the State, which he felt sanctioned violence and corruption. Some classified its rejection of compulsion as Christian anarchism. The Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated Tolstoy in 1901. Tolstoy’s teaching concentrated only on the moral teaching of the Gospels; his ideas on nonviolent resistance influenced 20th-century figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
By the numbers: Both Germany and Russia are coping with relatively recent changes in access to religion and religious expression, as well as diversity in religion. The Russian Orthodox Church was long backed by the state in Tsarist Russia; under the Bolsheviks there was separation of church and state, which led to a decline in the church; the secular Communist government persecuted religion; and declaration of glasnost (“openness”) and the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 meant religious freedom, revealing the continued adherence of a large section of the population to a variety of faiths. The Russian Orthodox Church is again becoming a major element of Russian culture.
Though figures are inconsistent, some statistics say 75 percent of Russians profess adherence to Russian Orthodox Christianity, and about 19 percent professing adherence to Islam, with smaller percentages of non-Orthodox Christians and Jews. Most Muslims in Russia are the indigenous people of lands seized over centuries by the expanding Russian empire. Germany is 34 percent Protestant, 34 percent Roman Catholic, 3.7 percent Muslim and 28.3 percent unaffiliated or other. East Germany experienced suppression of religion under Communism from 1949 to 1990. Work migration in the 1960s and waves of political refugees since the 1970s have brought many Muslims to Germany, making Islam the third most-practiced religion.
Issues today: Both countries have long histories of established Christianity in various forms as the dominant religion. A rise in profile of Muslims is causing them to address existing belief systems about the role of religion in public life. Recent events have led to concerns over radical Islam and affiliation with terrorism, as well as how to best integrate Muslims who seek freedom to practice their faith and live as responsible citizens. Researchers today could study how freedom or lack of freedom to worship impacts how people practice and which faith they practice. They can also study how the socio-economics or political climate of a country impact development of religions and how those religions are practiced. They can examine whether oppression of religion changes its practice or trajectory when freedom to worship is gained.
Researchers can also look at the changing religious demographics of Europe – now considered one of the least-religious continents and most secular societies as a whole – and how the influx of “new” religions affects the status quo. When studying freedom of religion, researchers can look at how freedom to worship is defined, and whether it is possible to have “too much” freedom of religion as well as too little. Knowledge of German and Russian means being able to consume media and other forms of discourse in the native languages of the nations studied to gain deeper understanding and nuance of political, cultural or religious climate and issues.
Religion in Eastern Europe
Religion in Communist Dominated Areas
AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) Review
Modern Judaism
Jewish Quarterly Review
American Academy of Religion Syllabi Search
Nietzsche on Religion
Dr. Tim Murphy
University of Alabama
Modernity Faith and Crisis: 20th century German-Jewish Identity and Thought
Yotam Hotam
University of Wisconsin
Religion in Russia
Rev. Joseph Loya
Villanova University
History and Sociology of Religion in Russia
Harley Wagler
North American Christian Foreign Language Association
- See a full list of professional associations and resources here.