Religions

All his life Christoph Blumhardt distanced himself distinctly from denominationalism; for him solely the “Jesus-Religion”, as he put it, meaning the believer’s personal relationship with Jesus, was the centre. By this he did not mean that any dogmatism should be taken seriously, but that every human being and their needs should be taken seriously. For him the “Jesus-Religion” went along with the fight for a human right.

As a consequence he called religion a solely private matter:

“What does this mean ‘Religion is a private matter’? The answer is: My relationship with God is nobody’s concern; it is solely my own concern and I need not account for it to anyone. No one shall dare to interfere in it, the Church and the state shall not either. In a way it is a sanctum. When I come to God, it will be as it says in the Book of Revelations 2,17: I will be given a new name, ‘which is not known to anyone but to him who receives it’.”

Christoph Blumhardt is found to say pointedly:

“Religion is irrelevant; it is God who is relevant.” (30.08.1903)

For the life in the community of Bad Boll this way of seeing himself was essential:

“For the time being one’s religion is loved more than God. That is why people are never heard talking of a Jesus-Religion; oh no, people are Lutherans, Herrnhuters, Pietists, Methodists or others. – Here with us in Bad Boll there has also been a tendency towards it, towards a little closed community. It is a great pity we didn’t immediately suppress this with a vengeance at the time. And those who still think that a good deal should have been left as it used to be do not know the struggle of believing. However, there is one thing I am very grateful for: Here in Bad Boll we have always kept up the hope of life for mankind; throughout the hardest of times we have never failed to hold on to it.” (31.08.1903)