The essays contained in this book originated as lectures at an international conference held in
Princeton organized by Christine Helmer (Northwestern) and the editors of this book. This book
itself illuminates in a fresh way the formation cross-fertilization break-up and
re-organization of movements of theological renewal during the tumultuous years of the Weimar
Republic. Three Protestant movements in particular demand our attention: the dialectical
theology (Karl Barth Friedrich Gogarten Rudolf Bultmann) the Luther Renaissance which found
adherents amongst the students of Karl Holl (Hans Joachim Iwand Rudolf Herrmann and Emmanuel
Hirsch) and Lutheran confessional movement (Werner Elert and Paul Althaus). Attention is also
given to Bultmann's close conversation-partner Martin Heidegger. Rounding out the picture thus
drawn is Martin Buber representing the Jewish Renaissance that flourished briefly in the
Weimar years. The goal of this book is twofold: to trace the most significant developments that
occurred within and across these movements and most importantly to assess the uses made of
Luther's theology in all phases of these developments and in relation to dramatically different
sets of issues (ranging from the doctrines of revelation reconciliation and sin to theories of
the state). We find Luther at the heart of a number of debates. So important was he that the
divergences between and within the various movements can rightly be seen as a dispute over his
legacy. Most of the theologians and philosophers treated in this book were educated in the
pre-war years - and some at least of what they learned survived in a transfigured form the
impact of the collapse of the Wilhelminian Empire. That is especially clear in the impact of
the Jeiwsh philosopher of religion Hermann Cohen on K. Barth R. Bultmann and R. Hermann.
During the years of peace (prior to the stock market crash in 1929) divergences could be
accepted with some degree of equanimity by most of those engaged in renewal. To be sure
tensions already existed which could at any time have led to splits within the dialectical
theology most especially - but did not have to do so. The commentary of R. Bultmann on F.
Gogarten's Ich glaube an den dreieinigen Gott which is published for the first time in this
volume gives vivid expression to these latent tendencies. For the time being however a
spirit of cooperation and rigorous academic engagement prevailed. That changed with the onset
of the Great Depression. After the national election held on 14 September1930 (which saw the
National Socialists become the second largest party in the Reichstag the fortunes of all
movements were increasingly held hostage to the uses made of theology to devise theological
accounts of the state which stood in differing degrees of support or open resistance to
government policy. The result was a realignment of forces within church and theology
