THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
its entire course has been marked by opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. In 1896 a petition
was presented to the Reichstag oppos- Activity and ing the abrogation of the law regard- Results, ing the Jesuits; in 1886, at Wiesbaden
an attack was made on contemporary efforts to separate the Church completely from State control, and it was held that the sanctioning of ecclesiastical laws should still remain the prerogative of the State. The right of the State to have the chief direction of the schools was also emphasized in 1869, and obligatory civil marriage was demanded in 1865, any confirmation of such marriage by the Church being condemned by the union as illegal in 1875. The principle of the union of all the Protestant Churches has always been maintained, the final aim being the organization of a German national Church which shall in no way exclude the preservation of the individuality of the provincial churches.
The sole periodical expressly designated as published under the auspices of the Protestant Union is the monthly Protestantische Flugbldtter, founded 1866 at Elberfeld, now appearing at Schoneberg- Berlin. A Jahrbuch was issued for four years (Elberfeld, 1869-72); and the society also published the Xew Testament portion of a Protestantenbibel (ed. P W. Schmidt and F von Holtzendorf, Leipsic, 1872), while the Palatine branch sent forth an Andachtsbuch (Neustadt, 1870). A number of minor periodicals are also maintained. Other agencies for the propagation of the interests of the association, such as traveling lecturers, have also been employed; and in 1899 a
fund was established for clergy deposed for heterodoxy.
The Protestant Union has been violently assailed both by individual pastors and by conferences of clergymen. The Prussian Supreme Church Council declared against it in 1865 and again in 1871, and clergymen who represented its principles were excluded from church offices, dismissed, or threatened with dismissal; and the members of the union were excluded from the district synods of Hanover. At the same time, though many of the members of the union have been destructive in tendency, the constructive spirit has often been manifested, as in the refusal, in 1882, to sanction the establishment of a " People's Church," and in the protests against the religious indifference and hostility of German liberalism. The union has at least partially aided in the introduction of synodal and presbyterial organization in several of the national churches of the German states and in securing equal rights for Lutherans and Reformed, and has succeeded in reviving religious interest and trust in many formerly estranged both from faith and from the Church.
(Paul Mehlhorn.)
Bibliography: Sources are Der allgemeine deutsche Protestantenverein in seinen Statuten, . Ansprachen, Thesen und Resolutionen seiner Hauplversammltmgen, Berlin, 1889; and the V ' erhandlungen of the " Protestantentage " issued separately either at Elberfeld, Berlin, or Leipsic. Consult further: D. Schenkel, Der deuische Protestantenverein und seine Bedeutung, 2d ed.. Wiesbaden, 1871; D. Schmidt, Der Protestantenvereininzehn Briefenf&r und wider, Giitersloh, 1873 (adverse); J. E. Websky, Das positive Christentum des Protestantenvereins, Berlin, 1882; W. Honig, Die Arbeit des deutschen Protestantenvereins, So. 1888; idem, Der deutsche Protestantenverein, Bremen, 1904.
I. II.
m.
Name.
External Development and Present Status.
Territorial Conquests (§ 1).
Concept of Toleration (§ 2).
Later Protestantism (§3).
Numbers and Distribution (I 4).
The Fundamental Principles of -Protestantism as Conceived by Luther.
Norms of Faith (§1).
Private Judgment (§ 2).
Justification by Faith (§ 3).
PROTESTANTISM.
New Ethical and Legal Standards (§4).
Church and Sacraments (§ 5). IV. The Lutheran Church.
Luther and Melanchthon (§ 1).
The Churoh a School (§ 2).
Melanchthon's System (§ 3).
Lutheranism and Scholarship (§ 4).
Church and State (§5).
Lutheran Orthodoxy (§6). V. The Reformed Church.
Character and Foundation (§1).
Theory and Use of the Bible (§ 2).
Legalism and Otherworldliness (§3).
Theocracy and Church Freedom (§4).
Lord's Supper and Liturgy (} 5). VI. Internal Development of Protestantism since the Enlightenment.
Pietism and the Enlightenment (§ 1).
The Passing of Orthodoxy (§ 2).
Kant and Schleiermacher (5 3).
The Nineteenth Century (5 4).
Relation to the State (§ 5). VII. The Church of England.
In history Protestantism involves a far wider group of phenomena than the larger or smaller ecclesiastical organizations sprung from the Reformation (q.v.). At the same time, it must primarily be considered as an ecclesiastical, or at least as a religious, movement ; and it can maintain its existence only as a concept and presentation of Christianity, even though the Reformation was closely connected with the general conditions of the age, the Renaissance, and the political and social conditions of Europe, especially of Germany. Protestantism took its rise in the wish to regenerate Roman Catholicism on the pattern of the primitive Church, or, as its protagonists said, " according to the Gospel." In the present article the cultural elements connected with Protestantism must be excluded; only an outline of the system as a phenomenon of
Christianity can here be attempted. Its development, however, has been far from uniform; various types of religious bodies have represented it in history, and still constitute highly significant forms of its existence. Even as thus limited, the subject is one of peculiar difficulty, and almost every point which must be touched upon is still a matter of controversy.
I. Name: The name " Protestant " originated from the " protestation " in which the leading German princes friendly to the Reformation united with fourteen cities of Germany on Apr. 25, 1529, against the decree of the Roman majority of the second Diet of Speyer (see Speyer, Diets or). It was a designation quite colorless from the religious point of view, and was first used as a political epithet by the opponents of those who signed the