Fromm und politisch

By Sebastian Tripp

Book Description

In the turbulent decades of the 1970s and 1980s, German Protestant churches faced a profound moral challenge that would reshape their understanding of faith and political engagement. Sebastian Tripp examines how the apartheid crisis in South Africa became a catalyst for transformation within German evangelical communities, forcing believers to confront fundamental questions about Christian responsibility in an unjust world.

At the heart of this spiritual awakening stood the Evangelical Women's Work movement, which launched Germany's most significant anti-apartheid campaign in 1978 by calling for boycotts of "fruits of apartheid." This grassroots initiative spread from individual congregations to regional churches and ultimately to the highest levels of the Evangelical Church in Germany, creating unprecedented unity around a moral imperative.

Tripp reveals how this confrontation with South African racism triggered a broader evolution in German Protestant spirituality. As traditional forms of church life began losing relevance in an increasingly globalized world, the anti-apartheid movement offered believers new ways to express their faith through social action. The struggle against distant injustice became a mirror for examining local Christian identity and practice.

This scholarly exploration demonstrates how political engagement can deepen rather than diminish spiritual life, showing readers how moral crises often serve as unexpected doorways to renewed faith and transformed understanding of what it means to live as a Christian in the modern world.