An evangelical academy is a Protestant Christian conference center in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

which bridges church and world by offering thematic, open discussions on contemporary social, economic, political and scientific questions. The evangelical academy movement arose after the Second World War in response to the moral collapse of German society.

Helmut Thielicke Helmut Thielicke (; 4 December 1908 in Wuppertal – 5 March 1986 in Hamburg) was a German Protestant theologian and rector of the University of Hamburg from 1960 to 1978. Biography Thielicke grew up in Wuppertal, where he went to a humanistic ...

and Eberhard Müller worked out the practical framework in 1945. Loosely modeled on

Plato's academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic p ...

, the academies emphasized dialogue over didacticism. The first academy in Germany was founded in

Bad Boll Bad Boll is a municipality in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History In 1321, the County of Württemberg purchased title over Bad Boll and came to possess it ''de jure'', but it was ''de facto'' still controlled by a ...

in 1945. The movement spread quickly throughout Germany, although academies in East Germany experienced political discrimination. The academies supported nascent West German democracy by providing open, ideologically-neutral forums for conversations between opposing interest groups. The Christian dimension of the academies was made unobtrusive to encourage participation by alienated Christians. Since leaders found it difficult to offer quality conferences on every topic of contemporary societal interest, many specialized in the arts, sciences, or politics. While most academies developed official ties with the ecclesiastical structures in their states, relations between local churches and academies frequently remained distant. During the 1960s Some argued that the academies should not remain neutral with regard to social questions but should take the side of the oppressed. Others held that this proposed change violated the movement's open spirit. Evangelical academies continue to flourish in contemporary Germany.

References

Bibliography

* Hermann Boventer, ed., ''Evangelische und Katholische Akademien'' (Paderborn: Ferdinand, Schöningh, 1983) * Rulf Jürgen Treidel, ''Evangelische Akademien im Nachkriegsdeutschland'' (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2001)

External links

* {{Authority control Evangelical Church in Germany Christian organizations established in 1945 1945 establishments in Germany