Disciplines
• German Studies
• Russian Studies
Religion and history: The histories
of Germany and Russia have long been intertwined
with religion. Both have borne witness to
religious schisms, such as the Protestant
Reformation, started in Germany in 1517, by
Martin Luther and his "Ninety Five Theses"
criticizing Catholic practice; and the "Great
Schism," or Catholic-Eastern Orthodox
split, of 1054, over disputes of papal authority.
The Schism divided the Christian Church into
the Roman Catholic Church in the West, headed
by the Pope of Rome, and the Eastern Orthodox
Church, led by four eastern patriarchs. The
Russian Orthodox Church, which traces its
apostolic succession through the Patriarch
of Constantinople, became independent from
Constantinople in 1448. In contemporary times,
the fall of the Berlin Wall dividing East
and West Germany, Germany's reunification,
and the collapse of the Soviet Union have
impacted religion in these countries, as well
as altered their roles in world affairs. Now
that travel is more open in these countries,
there are increased opportunities for business,
tourism and social service that can utilize
German and Russian languages.
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.
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