Theological Journals between Professionalisation and Cooperation: Navigating the High-low Distinction between Editorial boards and Non-academic Contributors in Germany, 1828–1870

Theological journals were an important stage for negotiating the high-low distinction between academic and non-academic scholars. This chapter examines three German theological journals (1828–1870), focussing on the interactions between their editorial boards and non-academic scholars. The fates of these journals, the Theologische Studien und Kritiken, Deutsche Zeitschrift für christliche Wissenschaft und christliches Leben and the Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie give valuable insight into both the attempted professionalisation of academic theology and the impossibility of fully disentangling it from non-academic scholarship. The chapter argues that the involvement of non-academic contributors was integral to the journals’ inception plans. Over the years, some non-academic contributors, primarily those from the clergy or involved in education, played a prominent role in the journals’ content. This chapter seeks to assess the motivations of these authors through an analysis of their publications. It concludes with case studies from the editorial correspondence of the Theologische Studien und Kritiken to illustrate the tensions between maintaining academic standards and incorporating contributions from scholars outside academia.