in maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate. Controversy The idea of confessionalism can generate considerable controversy. Some Christian denominations, particularly newer ones, focus more on the "experience" of Christianity than on its formal doctrines, and are accused by confessionalists of adopting a vague and unfocused form of religion. Anti-confessionalists, declaring that the confessionalist view of religion is too narrow and that people should be able to seek religion in their own way, generally argue that it is the spirit and values of religion that matter, rather than the particular rules. Confessionalists generally counter that the "spirit and values" of any given faith cannot be attained without first knowing truth as given in formal dogmas. See also Confessional state Caesaropapism Separation of church and state Elite religion Divine rule State religion References Cook, Martin L., The Open Circle: Confessional Method in Theology. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1991. xiv, 130 p. Darryl G. Hart, The Lost Soul of American Protestantism. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Margaret L. Anderson, Living Apart and Together in Germany, in: Helmut W. Smith (ed.): Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in Imperial Germany, Oxford 2001, p. 317-32. Olaf Blaschke, Das zweite konfessionelle Zeitalter als Parabel zwischen 1800 und 1970, in: zeitenblicke, 2006 (http://www.zeitenblicke.de/2006/1/Blaschke/index_html/fedoradocument_view). Olaf Blaschke (ed.), Konfessionen im Konflikt. Deutschland zwischen 1800 und 1970: ein zweites konfessionelles Zeitalter, Göttingen 2002. Callum G. Brown, The Death of Christian Britain. Understanding Secularization 1800-2000, London 2001. Manfred Kittel, Provinz zwischen Reich und Republik. Politische Mentalitäten in Deutschland und Frankreich 1918-1933/36, Munich 2000. Bodo Nischan, Lutherans and Calvinists in the Age of Confessionalism. Aldershot, U.K., and Brookfield, Vt., 1999. Lucian Hölscher, Konfessionspolitik in Deutschland zwischen Glaubensstreit und Koexistenz, in: Hölscher (ed.), Baupläne der sichtbaren Kirche. Sprachliche Konzepte religiöser Vergemeinschaftung in Europa, Göttingen 2007, p. 11-53. Christian belief and doctrine History of Protestantism Religion and politics Confessionalism