Theological and religio-sociological implications in Protestant GDR Historiography: G. Besier, K. Nowak, E. Neubert and D. Pollack

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Theological and religio-sociological implications in Protestant GDR Historiography: G. Besier, K. Nowak, E. Neubert and D. PollackThe research project aims at analyzing theological and religio-sociological implications in Protestant GDR historiography. It contributes to a current examination of GDR-historiography and commemorative culture since 1989/1990 that expounds the problems of a historic-political and discursive genesis of normative standards. More than 400 publications by Gerhard Besier, Kurt Nowak, Ehrhart Neubert and Detlef Pollack represent the most important source of reference. These four authors have shaped the discourse about East German Church and Christianity through their continuous activity and different scholarly conceptions within this field of study. An initial point of the research project is the observation that debates about Church in the GDR have been determined by theological and religio-sociological assumptions. Those assumptions originate from scholarly debates about the struggle between Church and State during the Third Reich and its theological basis, Christianity concepts in regard to Barth and Bonhoeffer, and various religio-sociological accesses of the 1980s. Starting from there, the project aims at pointing out the link between patterns of historiography and normative theological judgment. Historically and systematically, it will lead to a review of the analysis of a segment of contemporary history that has been shaped by different intentions. This historical analysis is paradigmatic as regards the struggle for Protestant identity between ecclesiology and ethics. The research project is based on the assumption that scholarly analysis is always led by a pre-intended awareness. Therefore, the emergence and modification of theoretical concepts always depend on social settings that constantly change. Key focus is the discourse about Protestantism and the Peaceful Revolution, Church and secret service, as well as Church and socialism. Interviews with the protagonists Besier, Pollack and Neubert will complement the analysis of written sources.