German Lutherans.—The reorganization of the German Em pire aimed at the separation of Church and state. Since an immediate complete separation would be disastrous to the churches and not to the best interest of the state, the churches were guaran teed diminishing state support, with the ultimate purpose of divorcing them entirely from the state governments. By this arrangement the churches have, in part, the character of voluntary associations and, in part, that of state controlled institutions. Two problems have presented especial difficulties. The one is the problem of aim and purpose. Is the Church to continue, under new forms of administration, to be the one recognized institution of religion for that state (Volkskirche), or is it to be an institu tion for the promulgation of a single doctrinal type of Christianity (Bekenntniskirche) ? The second problem concerns the relation of the Church to the state schools. No fully satisfactory solution of either problem has been reached as yet, though the idea of the Volkskirche seems, for the present, to have the stronger follow ing, and the general trend is toward a separation of the Church from the schools. The acute economic depression of affected most disastrously those elements of the laity from which the greatest measure of church support was to be expected, and it subjected the clergy to severe privations. All the activities of the churches were impaired, and the great voluntary associations for Christian work—the societies for foreign and inner missions—were practically paralyzed. Substantial financial support was furnished during this crisis by Lutherans of foreign countries, especially of America, and with the beginning of economic recovery the nor mal church activities were, by 1926, gradually being resumed.
The endeavour of the more extreme Nazis to control and "Paganize" religion has led to a sharp conflict between the totalitarian state and the Confessional Churches in Germany. On August 24, 1936, an outspoken manifesto against official "in sults" was read from pulpits with the question "whether the Christian faith is to retain its right to exist or not." The pastors demanded an end to parades that interfere with public worship and to the ban on religious meetings in buildings other than churches.
Central European Countries.—The formation of the new national states of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Yugo slavia and Hungary has been followed by a new organization of the Lutheran churches in those countries. The same tendencies
that were operative in Germany have shown themselves in these lands. The churches have tended to organize with a large measure of self-support and self-government. Where entire independence of the state has not been feasible it has been apparent as the ultimate aim. An episcopal form of spiritual oversight has also been introduced into most of these churches.
Russia and Rumania.—In 1924 the Lutherans of Russia were permitted for the first time in their history, to organize as a Russian Church with a synod and two bishops. In Rumania, on the other hand, the disestablishment of the Transylvanian Lu theran Church has caused severe, if temporary, hardships.
On questions of doctrine the same divergences continue to exist. The more conservative element has been organized since 1868 in the General Lutheran Conference (Allgemeine evange lisch-lutherische Konferenz), an international society for the main tenance of confessional Lutheran teaching. In 1922 the confer ence united with the American National Lutheran Council in the calling of the First Lutheran World Convention, held at Eisenach, Germany, in Aug. 1923. The members of the conven tion came from 20 different countries, including the United States and Canada, and effected a new international organization, with an executive committee of six members, charged especially to secure co-operation among the Lutherans of the world in works of mercy, foreign missions and care for migratory Lutherans, and "in cases of emergency to speak for the whole Lutheran Church." The Lutheran Alliance is a society of ultra-conserva tive Lutherans, the members of which are drawn chiefly from the free churches of Germany.