1945 marks the beginning of Soviet occupation in Eastern Germany. This was followed by the gradual implementation of a communist regime and its attendant atheist ideology in a region where over 80% of the population subscribed to protestantism. This thesis examines the policies of the SED towards the Protestant Church in Eastern Germany and attempts to define the various phases, motives, methods, and principles underlying that religious policy from 1945 to 1953. / The SED's atheist ideology alone fails to explain all the measures taken with regard to the Church. The religious policy of the SED depended in large part on the overall political situation, on developments during the Cold War and Soviet projects aimed at Germany. While the SED ultimately sought to eliminate the Church, it was nonetheless prepared to solicit its support through compromise, when necessary for the stability of the regime.

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This dissertation traces the social-theological history of a German-Lutheran two-kingdoms concept---an often ambiguous social-ethical theory used by German-Lutheran theologians to interpret their social world and to define the relational boundaries for the church's existence in society. This study consists of three parts, each of which represents a fundamental rupture in the German social order: / Part one examines the formation of a two-kingdoms doctrine in the modern world. The opening chapter (chapter two) establishes Martin's Luther's use of a two-kingdoms hermeneutic as way to challenge late-medieval Catholic Church authority and to empower ("sacralize") the social sphere. Chapter three surveys the work of German-Lutheran theologians who found in Luther's two-kingdoms concept a model that corresponded to the modern public-private social structure. The intersection of Luther's concept and modern social theory enabled theologians to understand the social, economic, and political changes taking place in Germany and, wittingly or unwittingly, to validate the status quo. / Part two analyzes various applications and critiques of the two-kingdoms doctrine in Germany from 1919 to 1945. Chapter four focuses on the efforts of Emanuel Hirsch, Paul Althaus, Paul Tillich, and Karl Barth to construct a theology that addressed the crises of modernity: the loss of national identity, the failure of post-Enlightemnent rationalism, and the collapse of traditional political structures. Chapter five examines the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who developed a critical two-kingdoms perspective to (re)define the ethical relationship between the "church for others" and the "world come of age." / Part three considers the reception of the two-kingdoms doctrine in the East German church (1949--1990). The objective of chapter six is to illustrate the various ways in which theologians in the German Democratic Republic nuanced a two-kingdoms concept to make sense of the church's missionary task in socialism. This chapter also demonstrates the links between Bonhoeffer's ethic of responsibility and an East German theological ethic of critical solidarity---a social-ethical theory articulated by pastors and theologians such as Bishop Albrecht Schonherr and Heino Falcke. / This study concludes with a brief discussion of the two-kingdoms doctrine's capacity to protect and to resist the status quo.

Zugl.: Bielefeld, Universiẗat, Examensarbeit, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

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