 "Kirchenrecht" was immediately recognized in Germany as an epoch-making work.It also stimulated a debate between Sohm and leading theologians and religion scholars which lasted more than twenty years and stimulated a rich polemical literature.Sohm was one of the committee of 22 members, comprising not only jurists but also representatives of financial interests and of the various ideological currents of the time, who compiled a second draft of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (German Civil Code) which was accepted by the Reichstag in 1896.