Confessing Church

Home > ... > Philosophy and Religion > Christianity > Protestant Denominations > ...

Essential reading Compare
side-by-side The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Confessing Church

Confessing Church Ger. Bekennende Kirche, German Protestant movement. It was founded in 1933 by Martin Niemoeller as the Pastors' Emergency League and was systematically opposed to the Nazi-sponsored German Christian Church. The immediate occasion for the opposition was the attempt by the Nazis soon after their rise to power to purge the German Evangelical Church of converted Jews and to make the church subservient to the state. At the Synod of Barmen (May, 1934) the Confessing Church set up an administration and proclaimed itself the true Protestant Church in Germany. After the arrest of many of its ministers the church was forced underground. Eventually the more moderate Lutheran Council replaced it as the most effective opponent to the Nazi regime. After the war Niemoeller and his followers continued as a separate group within the German Evangelical Church. The group is governed by representatives from each territorial church (the Council of Brethren) and its doctrines are based on the Barmen declaration and the Reformation creeds.

Bibliography: See A. C. Cochrane, The Church's Confession under Hitler (1962).

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-ConfessiCh" title="Facts and information about Confessing Church">Confessing Church</a>

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Confessing Church." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 17 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Confessing Church." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 17, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-ConfessiCh.html

"Confessing Church." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 17, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-ConfessiCh.html

Learn more about citation styles

Confessing Church

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Confessing Church or Bekennende Kirche. The Protestant church in Germany organized in opposition to the official Nazi church organizations and policies. (see KIRCHENKAMPF).

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O101-ConfessingChurch" title="Facts and information about Confessing Church">Confessing Church</a>

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

JOHN BOWKER. "Confessing Church." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 17 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Confessing Church." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (November 17, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ConfessingChurch.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Confessing Church." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved November 17, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ConfessingChurch.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses

Rate these entries|See all related entries

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Confessing church's sins of the past.(Brief Article) Magazine article from: National Catholic Reporter; 3/17/2000
	Confessing church. (Deaths).(Gerhard Ebeling)(Brief Article)(Obituary) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 11/14/2001
	A confessing church.(Century marks) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 11/2/2004

Facts and information from other sites

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

	Confessing church's sins of the past.(Brief Article) Magazine article from: National Catholic Reporter; 3/17/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...Catholics in the name of the church is an exercise in truth, said...Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past...committed by members of the church. Etchegaray said the pope...Ratzinger told reporters, "Confessing the sins of others does not...
	Confessing church. (Deaths).(Gerhard Ebeling)(Brief Article)(Obituary) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 11/14/2001; 519 words ; ...theologian Gerhard Ebeling, who was a member of the Confessing Church during the Nazi period, died at age 89 on September...Bonhoeffer's urging, he interrupted his service in the Confessing Church to complete a doctorate in theology at the University...
	A confessing church.(Century marks) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 11/2/2004; 395 words ; A CONFESSING CHURCH: A group of mostly seminary professors, concerned about what they...faith reminiscent of the Barmen Declaration in Nazi Germany. Titled "Confessing Christ in a World of Violence," the five points maintain that Jesus...
	The Episcopal Church and the `confessing movement'. Newspaper article from: The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service); 12/22/2003; 700+ words ; ...traditionalists in the Episcopal Church have launched a movement of "confessing churches" called the Network...potentially schismatic. Confessing movements are nothing...mainline Protestant churches. The United Church of Christ, the United...Methodists have their own ...
	Chinese law expert, U.S. group say church killings defendants tortured into confessing News Wire article from: AP Worldstream; 2/28/2006; ; 537 words ; ...rival group were tortured into confessing in a crackdown on unofficial...China's many unregistered church groups, China Aid said in...accused had been tortured into confessing. He cited the defendants...the Three Ranks of Servants church and the Eastern Lightning...only in state-monitored ...
	'Confessing' statement termed divisive. (document called the Confessional Movement is evaluated by the United Methodist Church) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 4/3/1996; 700+ words ; ...within the United Methodist Church is being challenged as divisive...critique of the earlier "Confessing Movement" statement was released...The latter is what the confessing caucus is up to." Tex Sample...Scripture" and is "incapable of confessing with one voice the orthodox...
	Queen's man in Australia caught up in child abuse scandal; (1)Former Archbishop and highest ranked official accused of turning blind eye to sex crimes (2)Church schoolmaster Kevin Guy raped and abused 20 girls before killing himself on the day he was due to face court - he left a note confessing to his crimes. Newspaper article from: The Evening Standard (London, England); 2/20/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...claims that he covered up abuse in the church and discouraged an alleged sex abuse victim...he appointed a clergyman friend to the church's own sex abuse committee - despite...allegations, has since left the Anglican church. _Another abuse victim alleged that...
	Confessing Christ: A quest for renewal in contemporary Christianity Magazine article from: Interpretation; 4/1/1997; ; 700+ words ; ...canonical heritage of the church universal. ONE OF...whole. The term "confessing movement" has a recent...capitulation of the churches in Germany to the culture...limit the idea of "confessing the faith" to that...The history of the church is peppered with moments...content and shape of a ...
	United Methodists form Confessing Movement. Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 6/7/1995; 700+ words ; ...explorations presented to the church by women and people...United Methodist local churches, seminaries, boards...the United Methodist Church, but rather [the Confessing Movement's] claim...members detailed their church's longtime mission...would be placed on churches like their own ...
	Transcending Barmen: confessing in word and deed. (Barmen Declaration, Barmen, Germany)(includes related information on the Barmen Declaration) (Cover Story) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 5/11/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...so intent on keeping their church free from political pressure...and we judge the Confessing Church as much for what it did not...Declaration did not prevent Confessing pastors from fighting in Hitler...including many who were in the Confessing Church--believe that had...