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Sayings About Pay

Ein Arbeiter ist seines Lohnes wert.
A worker is worth his wage. The sentence comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 7, in Luther’s translation.

Geld allein macht nicht glücklich.
Money alone does not make you happy.

Leistung muss sich lohnen.
Performance must pay. The verb sich lohnen, to be worth it, is built on Lohn, wage. In the FDP’s own polling for its 2009 campaign, it was the core message with the most support. The form Leistung muss sich wieder lohnen is often attributed to Helmut Kohl in 1982, but only secondary sources make this attribution.

Weber on the Word Beruf

The German word for occupation is Beruf, from berufen, to call. In 1904 and 1905, Max Weber published the essays that became Die protestantische Ethik und der „Geist“ des Kapitalismus, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism. He wrote that the word, like the English calling, carries a religious idea, a task set by God. In its modern sense, he wrote, it comes from the Bible translations. It appears to have been used first in Luther’s translation of the Book of Sirach.

At the end of the book, Weber drew his conclusion: Der Puritaner wollte Berufsmensch sein, – wir müssen es sein. The Puritan wanted to be a man of the calling. We have to be. He warned that for the last men of this development, a phrase might come true: Fachmenschen ohne Geist, Genußmenschen ohne Herz, specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart.

The Word for Sunday

Das Wort zum Sonntag, the Word for Sunday, runs every Saturday evening on Das Erste, usually after the late news. On 8 May 1954, the Protestant pastor Walter Dittmann from Hamburg spoke the first one. It is the second-oldest program on German television. In 1957 it moved to Sunday evening for a time and was given another name. In 1958 it returned to its old place on Saturday evening. By its 70th anniversary in 2024, more than 3,650 episodes had been broadcast.

Monday at Five

In 1982, people began to meet every Monday at 5 p.m. in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig for a Friedensgebet, a prayer for peace, as a protest against the arms race of the Cold War. Different groups prepared it each week. In 1989 the prayers became the starting point of the Monday demonstrations. On 9 October 1989, more than 70,000 people demonstrated peacefully in Leipzig against the East German regime. The prayer for peace still takes place every Monday, except during the summer break. Pünktlich um 17 Uhr beginnt es auch heute noch. It still begins punctually at 5 p.m.

Agreed in Fourteen Articles

From 27 September to 4 October 1529, Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and other reformers met at Marburg, at the invitation of Landgrave Philipp of Hesse. During the debate on the Lord’s Supper, Luther pulled back the tablecloth to show the words Das ist mein Leib, this is my body, which he had written in chalk on the table beforehand. The result was the Marburg Articles. In 14 articles the theologians recorded what they agreed on. The 15th article, on the Lord’s Supper, listed further points of agreement and then recorded in writing the one point on which they did not agree. They had not agreed dißer Zeit, at this time, whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine. Both sides still promised each other Christian love, so fer yedes gewiessen ymmer leyden kann, as far as each conscience can bear. Ten theologians signed it, Luther and Zwingli among them. The document is dated 3 October 1529.

Speak Well of Him

Luther’s Small Catechism of 1529 is still often used in confirmation classes. It explains the eighth commandment, Du sollst nicht falsch Zeugnis reden wider deinen Nächsten, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Wir sollen Gott fürchten und lieben, daß wir unsern Nächsten nicht belügen, verraten, verleumden oder seinen Ruf verderben, sondern sollen ihn entschuldigen, Gutes von ihm reden und alles zum besten kehren. We should fear and love God, so that we do not lie about our neighbor, betray him, slander him or ruin his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him and put the best construction on everything.

One After the Other

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul sets rules for speaking in the congregation. The Luther Bible renders them this way. Ihr könnt alle prophetisch reden, doch einer nach dem andern, damit alle lernen und alle ermahnt werden. You can all prophesy, but one after the other, so that all may learn and all be exhorted. If someone else who sits there receives a revelation, so schweige der Erste, the first should fall silent. The chapter ends: Lasst aber alles ehrbar und ordentlich zugehen. Let everything be done decently and in order.

The Seal of Confession

What a person tells a priest or pastor in confession or pastoral care is protected by German law, even against the state. Section 138 of the Criminal Code obliges everyone to report certain planned serious crimes. Section 139 makes an exception: Ein Geistlicher ist nicht verpflichtet anzuzeigen, was ihm in seiner Eigenschaft als Seelsorger anvertraut worden ist. “A clergyman is not obliged to report what was entrusted to him in his role as pastor.” Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, clergy may also refuse to testify about it in court.

The Cologne Declaration

In January 1989, 163 Catholic theologians signed the Kölner Erklärung, the Cologne Declaration. Its title was Wider die Entmündigung – für eine offene Katholizität, against being treated as minors, for an open catholicity. The signers criticized what they saw as the authoritarian style of the church leadership under Pope John Paul II. They asked that local churches have a stronger part in appointing bishops. One occasion was the appointment of Cardinal Joachim Meisner as Archbishop of Cologne. The signers said they wanted to contribute to a serious theological conversation. In all, more than 700 theologians worldwide supported it.

Subsidiarity

Subsidiarität, subsidiarity, means that what a smaller unit can do by itself should not be taken over by a larger one. A common short form is so niedrig wie möglich, so hoch wie nötig, as low as possible, as high as necessary. The classic formulation is in the papal encyclical Quadragesimo anno of 1931, which the Jesuit Oswald von Nell-Breuning and Gustav Gundlach drafted. The larger community may support the smaller one, but it darf sie aber niemals zerschlagen oder aufsaugen, may never smash or absorb it. Under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Germany takes part in building a European Union that is committed to the principle. German youth welfare law gives recognized independent providers priority over public ones.