Christianity Commons^™

The Stuttgart Declaration Of 1945: A Casy Study Of Guilt, Forgiveness And Foreign Policy - Chapter 15 From "Trinity And Transformation: J. B. Torrance's Vision Of Worship, Mission, And Society", Roger Newell

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

J. B. Torrance was one of the few theologians of our era whose exposition of fundamental Christian theology spoke prophetically to the church’s social and political witness to the Gospel. This essay examines how Torrance’s analysis of forgiveness casts fresh light on the process whereby relations between the Protestant churches of Europe and America were restored in the chaotic aftermath of postwar Germany. The essay argues that the result of their meeting for reconciliation, the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, prepared the way for the Allies to set aside policies of collective punishment in favor of policies which supported reconciliation and …