[585] demanding subordination to the powers^a in power, especially the old traditional conservative ones, much less those who are now in power--or were then in power--the republican, democratic ^bones-- but anyhow, even there they subjected themselves. This is the negative-transcendental point of view which was almost inborn in every German^c at that time^d--except one group, namely the socialist group, which had the opposite point of view: the utopian-immanent point of view, the point of view that history^e IS the place to change the given reality, to change it under the criteria of the natural law^f, the justice^g, equality, and realizing this in history and not beyond history. In this,... an either revolutionary or more progressivistic socialism was in political power,^h while the churches and all those directly or indirectly influenced by them were looking above, towards the transcendent fulfillment. Now how could this situation be bridged? This was a question we had to face when we came out of the First World War.ⁱ This was the radical conflict which tore the whole nation^j to pieces--at least two parts in radical conflict with each other. It was the idea of religious socialism^k to overcome this situation. In doing so, we introduced a large amount of fundamental concepts^l which expressed the valuation of our situation. First of all we criticized the Lutheran^m solution that the world remains unchanged in the powerⁿ of the Devil.^o We accepted this as a universal truth^p, but we refused to accept it with respect to ANY SPECIAL demonic^q power. We said: OF COURSE there will be no utopian actualization of the kingdom of God^r in time^s and space. In this we were in the line of universally Christia^tn thinking. But we believed that it is possible,