%0 Journal Article
%T The Communal Dimension of the Spirituality of the Contemporary Protestantism in Germany on the Example of the German Evangelical Church Day (GECD) – Western Pomerania Sources and Contexts
%A Grzywacz, Małgorzata
%J Studia Religiologica
%V 2007
%N Volume 40
%P 63-75

%@ 0137-2432
%D 2007
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-religiologica/article/wymiar-wspolnotowy-duchowosci-wspolczesnego-protestantyzmu-w-niemczech-na-przykladzie-niemieckiego-ewangelickiego-dnia-kosciola-dekt-zachodniopomorskie-zrodla-i-konteksty
%X 
	It would be difficult to imagine contemporary German-language Protestantism without cyclical meetings organized bi-annually within the so called German Evangelical Church Day (Evangelischer Kirchentag). Sometimes these meetings attract well over a million people and they offer to the participants a unique opportunity to get acquainted with and experience the inner variety and wealth of the Churches, associations and initiatives belonging to the evangelical denomination. Since the  year 1949, the above meetings took on an organized form and they belong to one of the most important ways of articulating the presence of Protestantism in the European culture. The inventor and spiritual father of these meetings was Reinold von Thadden-Trieglaff (1891–1976), an heir of a Pomeranian estate Trieglaff (Trzygłów). After World War II the family estate of the von Thadden family lay within the territory of the Polish state and it currently belongs to the joint German and Polish cultural legacy of the West-Pomeranian Province. Reinold von Thadden belonged to the leading representatives of German Protestantism in the 20th century. From the very beginning of his public activity, he became involved and assisted in various Church initiatives whose aim was to revive and strengthen the activity of the Evangelical laity, on both the central and local (Pomeranian) plane. The goal of von Thadden’s activity was, among others, a return to the sources of the Reformation and a new up-to-date interpretation of the principle of the universal ministry of all faithful, which has not been applied in practice. The historically-shaped model of the Pastors’ church which strengthened the position of the alliance between the lay and church authorities (the ruler as the summus episcopus), was sealed by the Old Prussian Church Union (1817) which introduced uniformity into the functioning of the parishes which were subordinated to the clergy and where parish councils enjoyed but minimal competence. It was only the territories subject to the intense expansion of the Pietist (XVIII c.) and community movements (XIX c.) that were able to retain their independence and sovereignty. Among these territories, there was among others Pomerania, whose eastern part (east of the Oder river – the so called Rear Pomerania) was inhabited by many noble families (among others von Kleist, von Zitzewitz, von Thadden), who were opposed to the religious policy of the Prussian kings and its theological consequences. A part of the Pomeranian church province, situated between Szczecin and Słupsk, extending to the Gdansk Pomerania in the north, was characterized by a high degree of church integrity and by traditional evangelical religiosity. In his initial attempts to stimulate the activity of the laity, von Thadden drew on the traditions of his family home as well as on the historical experiences of the entire region; it was a meeting held in Szczecin in the year 1932 that was to be the precursor of the later days of the Church. Its goal was to overcome the domination of the pastors, focus the devoted evangelicals on the idea of the renewal of individual and parish life. The main emphasis of this renewal was to be the message contained in the gospel. Yet, the above goals were attained only partially and the rapidly developing propaganda and the activity of the Nazis directed against the church circles, put a halt on further development of this initiative. However Reinold von Thadden’s public work did bring about his decisive protest against the policy of Hitler and the Nazis, whose aim was total subjugation and subsequently, complete elimination of Christianity from public life. One of the main creators of the Professing Church (Bekennende Kirche) which stood in opposition to the Nazi activities, was precisely Reinold von Thadden. His experiences dating back to the years 1933–1939 allowed him to participate actively in the post-war renewal of Germany, whose expression is the institution of the Church Day and its specific kind of spirituality – based on the Bible and the broadlyunderstood human needs.