Religion, Law, and Democracy Selected Writings

Mirjam Künkler, Research Professor, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study,Tine Stein, Professor of Political Theory, University of Göttingen, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Professor Emeritus, University of Freiburg

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (1930-2019) was a Professor emeritus of Public Law at the University of Freiburg. He is one of the best-known and most influential German legal scholars in the post-war period. From 1983-1996 he served as Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. In the
1960s, Böckenförde was one of the founders of the journal Der Staat - Zeitschrift für Staatslehre, Öffentliches Recht und Verfassungsgeschichte. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party and served as a long-time legal advisor to it.

Mirjam Künkler is Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Collegium of Advanced Study.

ine Stein is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Göttingen.

Freedom in Religion, Freedom in the State: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde on Religion, Law, and Democracy, Mirjam Künkler
Part I: Catholic Church and Political Order
Böckenförde on the relation of the Catholic Church and Christians to democracy and authoritarianism, Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein
I. The Ethos of Modern Democracy and the Church [1957]
II. German Catholicism in 1933: A Critical Examination [1961]
III. Types of Christian Worldly Conduct during the Nazi-Regime [1965]
IV. Religious Freedom Between the Conflicting Demands of Church and State [1964-79]
Part II: State and Secularity
Böckenförde on the Secular State and Secular Law, Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein
V. The Rise of the State as a Process of Secularization [1967]
VI. The Fundamental Right of Freedom of Conscience [1969]
VII. Remarks on the Relation between State and Religion in Hegel [1982]
VIII. The Secularized State: Its Character, Justification, and Problems in the Twenty-First Century [2007]
Part III: On the Theology of Law and Political Theory
Böckenförde on the Relationship Between Theology, Law and Political Theory, Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein
IX. Political Theory and Political Theology: Comments on their reciprocal relationship [1981]
X. Reflections on a Theology of Modern Secular Law [1999]
XI. A Christian in the Office of Constitutional Judge [1999]
XII. On the Authority of Papal Encyclicals: the Example of Pronouncements on Religious Freedom [2005]
Part IV: Basic Norms and the Principle of Human Dignity
Böckenförde on the Right to Life, Human Dignity, and its Meta-positive Foundations, Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein
XIII. Abolition of § 218 of the Criminal Code? Reflections on the Current debate about the prohibition of abortion under German Criminal Law [1971]
XIV. Human Dignity as a Normative Principle: Fundamental Rights in the Bioethics Debate [2003]
XV. Will Human Dignity Remain Inviolable? [2004]
Part V: Böckenförde in Context
XVI. Biographical Interview with Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde [2011], Dieter Gosewinkel