Hermann Sasse - What is the State?

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AgLiving06
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Saw this today and if you didn't know what year it was written, you'd assume it was written about the present day.


What Is the State?
1932
Translated by Matthew C. Harrison

How can it be explained that the question of the nature and the orders of human life in society today occupies the center of general interest, and indeed not only in scholarly study and teaching, but just as much in the realm of practical discussion and in the every day lives of men? How is it that this question moves men today with an immense passion and that the answers, which are given, divide and gather people? What human society is and should be, how the orders of life in society come to be and what shall result from them; these are questions men have thought about since there has been thought regarding the world and life. Since the days of the ancient world, philosophy has answered these questions. And Christianity of all confessions has repeatedly sought to give its answer. But the question today is a different one than in earlier centuries. It has ceased to be merely a question of scholarly inquiry and worldview. It has become a question of life itself in the literal sense of the word, that is, a question that has to do with life and death. The very existence of those who answer it depends on the answer. This explains why the answers which are given, indeed, are set forth in the form of scientifically based theories modern man never proceeds without science, and even if it is a science he does not understand, but admires all the more [because he does not understand it] but these theories actually bear the character of confessions of faith. Therefore theoretically [like science], neither can they be refuted. The Marxist theory has been refuted with rivers of printer's ink in Germany and with rivers of blood in Russia. But for those who believe in it, it is irrefutable. It is similar with other great social doctrines, with the democratic and with the conservative theories of society, or with the new social doctrines of the Twentieth Century such Fascism and National Socialism. In all these systems a "doctrine" is dealt with, which is something other than scientific theory, even if they use its form. A doctrine is presented, which is the expression of a conviction. An enlightening truth is formulated and conveyed. It must be believed and of course also can readily be "scientifically proven." The classic example of such a confessionally formulated doctrine is "The Communist Manifesto," which even in its structure (dogmatics, ethics, and condemnation of heretics), reminds one of a genuine confession of faith. In this sense all the great doctrines are to be understood which seek to answer the questions of human society, and around which millions gather, like they once gathered around religious confessions.

How is this development to be explained? Why have the great social doctrines become that which was once the religious doctrines? The reason is this: they seek to answer a real question of life. The social life of the European people and culture has been shaken. Society is in the grasp of a process of disintegration. One should not deceive himself about the seriousness of the situation. The tottering of society, the destruction of all forms of society have always existed in history. But that which peoples of the present experience, is something different. Through all the changes of viewpoints and relationships, within western humanity there has been agreement regarding certain norms, and all life in society has rested upon their unbreakable validity. They were so self-evident that they were scarcely questioned or reasonably defended. Men of earlier times were no better than today, and there has always been injustice [Unrecht]. There had not always been unity regarding what was just and unjust. But at least people thought in the categories of "right" and "wrong." Today this is no longer self-evident. This crisis of all ethics, and not merely of a particular ethical system, can clarify the deep process of dissolution, which we are experiencing. And its extent becomes clear when one considers that this tottering is passing over the entire earth, through all races and in every corner of the globe. There have always been great upheavals, collapses, and demises in history. But they were limited to one portion of humanity. Today the old orders of Asiatic cultures are collapsing. The ancient forms of life of primitive cultures of the world, which have endured for thousands of years, are drawn into the crisis of the west. This is a revolution, which must really be called a global revolution. How one judges this process with respect to its individual ramifications, where one sees its causes whether in intellectual-spiritual or technical-economic developments or in both whether one gives up the hope that it has to do with a necessary illness, which will lead to better, healthier relationships, or whether one fears that it is a sickness unto death: these questions may be argued. But no one doubts that human society is ill, that life in society is no longer in order and is threatening to come unhinged. Because everyone senses this the question of human society has literally became a question of life, a question of life and death. That's why it moves humanity with such intensity.

The great question of society and its orders is now also directed to the church. The Christian church asserts that it knows something of the nature of society, which no sociology, no philosophy of itself, can understand. It proclaims to the world the message of one who is the Redeemer of men and peoples [Vlker] and who, in a society beset by dissolution, is able to produce a new, genuine society among men. Thus it is only natural that many men of our era pose the question to Christianity: What do you mean by that? What is society seen from the vantage of the Christian faith? How does society happen? How can that which is ill be healed, that which is destroyed rebuilt? But at the present time Christianity is responding with the most diverse and contradictory answers. And this is a deep crisis of the church in the present and one of the reasons her voice is in large measure no longer heard or taken seriously. And this applies not only to Christianity in general, whose various confessions have entirely different concepts regarding the question of life in society here is one of the deepest reasons for the existence of the ecumenical movement it is also true of the individual churches. What completely contradictory views can be heard in our churches, when the question is posed about what the church should be and do in the present crisis of social life. Some assert the church can do nothing other than preach judgment upon all human being and doing, and preach the incomprehensible grace of the forgiveness of sins. Others offer the most breathtaking plans for a reconstruction of the world from the spirit of the Gospel. Is it any wonder under these circumstances that many of our contemporaries are of the conviction that the message of the church is certainly no longer a message for our times? That they deny the right of the church to be heard at all in the greatest and most decisive questions of life? Certainly there are other reasons for this rejection. But this uncertainty is a significant reason that one scarcely enters into discussion with the church. And it is at the same time the reason that the great secular social doctrines are penetrating the church, and are obtaining there a higher, even religious sanctity. And in the name of Christendom, which they assert they are representing and explaining, they emphatically demand to be heard, as in our time is happening with religious socialism and religious nationalism.

Under these circumstances it is a difficult, but important task to reflect on what the church has to say regarding the great questions of societal life today. A great part of the theological work of the present is dedicated to this task. And one may say that ever-widening circles are participating in this work. In the following pages the attempt will be made, from the vantage of theology, to say something about the teaching of the Evangelical Church regarding the state. We limit ourselves intentionally to this individual question, which is only a snippet from the great question of the orders of human life in society. It is impossible, in the space of this document to sufficiently develop the doctrine of the church, which is its necessary correlate. The limited space available also forbids a discussion of the rich theological literature regarding our question. Within these limits may the following thoughts be understood as an attempt to demonstrate the significance of the Evangelical doctrine on a burning question of the present, namely the great problem of human society and its orders.
swimmerbabe11
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Two Kingdom theology I'd probably why you find that many Lutherans tend to be on the libertarian side.

I trust that the government will almost always abuse our power, that the world hates Christianity and Christian behavior, so the more power that the government is given to interfere in our lives and our churches, the more difficult it will be to live as a Christian.
swimmerbabe11
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