This panel explores the relationship between nationalism and Christian confessional identities in post-World War II Germany and in Ukraine's current war with Russia. These two case studies will offer an opportunity to investigate varieties of church-state relations within Protestantism and Orthodoxy, as well as the imperatives of violence and peacemaking that might foster or hinder ecumenical dialogue.
The history of the Protestant Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD), a federation of regional Lutheran, Reformed, and United denominations, provides a counterpoint to the recent resurgence of Christian nationalism across the U.S. and Europe. Following widespread Protestant support for the Nazi dictatorship, the EKD became a locus for post-1945 movements to restrain state power and pursue reconciliation with Germany’s wartime enemies. My presentation argues that initiatives toward ecumenical dialogue during the years around 1960, both among Protestants across the Iron Curtain and between Protestants and Jews in West Germany, became key drivers of this transformation. Rather than a simple story of deradicalization, however, I propose that ecumenism and Christian nationalism remained entangled. Even as postwar ecumenical initiatives challenged exclusionary doctrines of national salvation, they reinscribed a longstanding tenet of German Protestant nationalism: the conviction that the Protestant confession served as the source of Germans' shared political values.
The war waged by Russia against Ukraine has profoundly reshaped the country’s religious landscape, intensifying interconfessional and state-church relations. This research examines the ongoing process of delegitimizing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) affiliated with Russia and the broader decolonization of Ukraine’s religious sphere. While state measures to limit Moscow-linked religious influence are seen as essential for national security, they have also raised concerns about religious freedoms. The mass transition of parishes to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) reflects both spiritual and political motivations. Additionally, the growing role of the OCU in military chaplaincy underscores its expanding societal influence. Internationally, the Russian Orthodox Church faces isolation, further shifting Orthodox dynamics. This study explores the tensions between national security, religious autonomy, and international norms, analyzing how the war is reshaping Ukraine’s confessional identity while raising complex questions about faith, politics, and decolonization.