The Barmen Declaration

The Barmen Declaration was produced at the Barmen-Wuppertal synod of May 29–31, 1934, where representatives of German Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestant traditions converged to establish a common theological basis for resistance to the regime's co-optation of the Reichskirche. The document's principal author was Karl Barth, the Swiss Reformed theologian then teaching at Bonn; Bonhoeffer was not the lead drafter but participated in the theological work that produced it and considered it foundational to his subsequent career. The six articles each pair a positive theological affirmation with a specific rejection of a "false doctrine" the signatories identified in the Reichskirche's accommodation. The central claim of the first article — that Jesus Christ is the one Word of God, not one word among others — set up the categorical refusal the regime could not tolerate. The document became the founding text of the Confessing Church.