The Thought of the “Free Church” in the Writings of Protestant Jurists during the 19–20th Century

Abstract

This study presents the church movements and their legal consequences, which took place in the 19–20th century in Protestant churches, specifically the relationship of the Calvinist churches with the state and the questions surrounding their constitution. The goal of these movements was to reform the church itself; however, they were often more than just “home affairs”. The movements brought disruption and separation – with the words of Kováts J. István, Protestant jurist: “the formation of free churches” (1947) – in Scotland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Wales, and later brought the French Separation Law in 1905, as well as the Protestant Association first in Germany (1865) and later in Hungary (1871). As another result of the movements, new national laws were enacted regarding the legal status of churches and religious freedom. A common characteristic of the previously mentioned “free churches” was, that they struggled for their independence from their main church as well as from the state – including financial and personal matters – and that they did not want to form a new confession. This topic became unavoidable in the canonical and theological literature, as well as in the legislation of the period.