Apologetics and ‘Weltanschauung’ in Germany Since the Nineteenth Century

This essay outlines the development of the apologetic question in Germany since the early nineteenth century. It shows how the associated public debates were shaped by the concept of ‘Weltanschauung’ and staged in the form of a struggle over competing comprehensive world-views. After World War I, and in the course of political developments in Germany, a non-ideological apologetic discourse between academic theology, religion and the sciences seemed virtually impossible and theologically dubious. The essay argues that this setting explains why all theological schools of German Protestant theology, for different theological reasons, remained sceptical about participating in dialogues between science and religion.