Barmen

Barmen Theological Declaration

During days May 29-31, 1934 , a remarkable gathering of Christian leaders occurred in Barmen, Germany. Those gathered there felt compelled to speak up against the growing tide to subsume the German Church to the political will of Nazism under Hitler's leadership. The ``German Christians" had attempted to provide Hitler's movement with a theological justification, speaking of a new Christ striving for expression in the German people's community and claiming that a people's state was a central tenet of true religion.

While others were napping after lunch, Karl Barth drafted what was to be known as the Theological Declaration of Barmen. Barth's words ring through the years and resonate deep within me as a California-Nevada United Methodist . Here is a sampling of his words:

``Try the spirits whether they are of God! Prove also the words of the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church to see whether they agree with the Holy Scriptures and with the Confessions of the Fathers. If you find that we are speaking contrary to Scripture, then do not listen to us! But if you find that we are taking our stand upon Scripture, then let no fear or temptation keep you from treading with us the path of faith and obedience to the Word of God, in order that God's people be of one mind upon earth and that we in faith experience what he himself has said, ``I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Therefore, ``Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

``…the theological basis, in which the German Evangelical Church is united, has been continually and systematically thwarted and rendered ineffective by alien principles, on the part of leaders and spokesmen of the ``German Christians" as well as on the part of the church administration. When these principles are held to be valid, then, according to all the Confessions in force among us, the Church ceases to be the church…"

``We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation."

``We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions."

``The Church's commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ's stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament."

``We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans."

The following year, Barth was forced to leave his post, his country, and his church. He never returned.

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