ABSTRACT
German Catholicism was galvanized during the Kulturkampf through a renewal of Catholic political influence and of theological reflection. The Kulturkampf consisted of a series of measures enacted between July 1871 and May 1873 and included the expulsion of the Jesuits from German territory, the dissolution of religious orders not dedicated to social care issues, and the “May Laws of 1873.” These measures effectively established state control of seminary training and the governmental approval of the appointment of the clergy. Bismarck’s political assault resulted in the emergence of the Catholic Center as an effective parliamentary party that could influence Reich policy in favor of the Papacy as well as serve as a rallying point for Polish, Hanoverian, and other anti-Prussian parliamentary forces. So crucial was the Catholic cultural dynamic stimulated by the Kulturkampf that Eduard Spranger has asserted that Catholicism as a cultural movement actually began to rival Protestantism as a vivifying cultural force. 1 In the wake of Bismarck’s restrictions on the church, Catholicism experienced a constellation of dynamic theological, social, and political impulses that converged and promised a profound spiritual and cultural renewal along several developmental lines. 2
