The Aryan Jesus

The Aryan Jesus PDF Author: Susannah Heschel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691148058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book

Book Description
Was Jesus a Nazi? During the Third Reich, German Protestant theologians, motivated by racism and tapping into traditional Christian anti-Semitism, redefined Jesus as an Aryan and Christianity as a religion at war with Judaism. In 1939, these theologians established the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life. In The Aryan Jesus, Susannah Heschel shows that during the Third Reich, the Institute became the most important propaganda organ of German Protestantism, exerting a widespread influence and producing a nazified Christianity that placed anti-Semitism at its theological center. Based on years of archival research, The Aryan Jesus examines the membership and activities of this controversial theological organization. With headquarters in Eisenach, the Institute sponsored propaganda conferences throughout the Nazi Reich and published books defaming Judaism, including a dejudaized version of the New Testament and a catechism proclaiming Jesus as the savior of the Aryans. Institute members--professors of theology, bishops, and pastors--viewed their efforts as a vital support for Hitler's war against the Jews. Heschel looks in particular at Walter Grundmann, the Institute's director and a professor of the New Testament at the University of Jena. Grundmann and his colleagues formed a community of like-minded Nazi Christians who remained active and continued to support each other in Germany's postwar years. The Aryan Jesus raises vital questions about Christianity's recent past and the ambivalent place of Judaism in Christian thought.

The Aryan Jesus

The Aryan Jesus PDF Author: Susannah Heschel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691148058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book

Book Description
Was Jesus a Nazi? During the Third Reich, German Protestant theologians, motivated by racism and tapping into traditional Christian anti-Semitism, redefined Jesus as an Aryan and Christianity as a religion at war with Judaism. In 1939, these theologians established the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life. In The Aryan Jesus, Susannah Heschel shows that during the Third Reich, the Institute became the most important propaganda organ of German Protestantism, exerting a widespread influence and producing a nazified Christianity that placed anti-Semitism at its theological center. Based on years of archival research, The Aryan Jesus examines the membership and activities of this controversial theological organization. With headquarters in Eisenach, the Institute sponsored propaganda conferences throughout the Nazi Reich and published books defaming Judaism, including a dejudaized version of the New Testament and a catechism proclaiming Jesus as the savior of the Aryans. Institute members--professors of theology, bishops, and pastors--viewed their efforts as a vital support for Hitler's war against the Jews. Heschel looks in particular at Walter Grundmann, the Institute's director and a professor of the New Testament at the University of Jena. Grundmann and his colleagues formed a community of like-minded Nazi Christians who remained active and continued to support each other in Germany's postwar years. The Aryan Jesus raises vital questions about Christianity's recent past and the ambivalent place of Judaism in Christian thought.

The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences PDF Author: Anthony J. Sciolino
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1938908627
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book

Book Description
In this study, author Anthony J. Sciolino, himself a Catholic, cuts into the heart of why the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole failed to stop the Holocaust. He demonstrates that Nazism's racial anti-Semitism was rooted in Christian anti-Judaism. While tens of thousands of Christians risked their lives to save Jews, many more including some members of the hierarchy aided Hitler's campaign with their silence or their participation. Sciolino's research and interpretation provide an analysis of Christian doctrine and church history to help answer the question of what went wrong. He suggests that Christian tradition and teaching systematically excluded Jews from the circle of Christian concern and thus led to the tragedy of the Holocaust. From the origins of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and the controversial position of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Church's current endeavors to hold itself accountable for their role, The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences offers an examination of one of history's most disturbing issues.

Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews

Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews PDF Author: Sweeney, Jon M.
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608338177
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Get Book

Book Description
"Christian and Jewish scholars respond to the role of Gospel texts (particularly Lenten readings) in fostering anti-semitism"--

After the Evil

After the Evil PDF Author: Richard Harries
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191532398
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book

Book Description
The evil of the holocaust demands a radical rethink of the traditional Christian understanding of Judaism. This does not mean jettisoning Christianity's deepest convictions in order to make it conform to Judaism. Rather, Richard Harries develops the work of recent Jewish scholarship to discern resonances between central Christian and Jewish beliefs. This thought-provoking book offers fresh approaches to contentious and sensitive issues. A key chapter on the nature of forgiveness is sympathetic to the Jewish charge that Christians talk much too easily about forgiveness. Another chapter on suffering in Judaism and Christianity rejects the usual stereotypes and argues for important common ground, for example in the idea that God suffers in the suffering of his people. There are also chapters on the state of Israel and the place of Jerusalem in Christian and Jewish thought. Richard Harries argues that the basic covenant is not with either Judaism or Christianity but with humanity. These, like other religions, are different, distinctive voices in response to God's primal affirmation of human life, which for Christians is achieved and given in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the light of this the author maintains - controversially - that Christians should not be trying to convert Jews to Christianity. Rather Jews and Christians should stand together and build on the great amount they have in common to work together for a better world.

The Holocaust and the Christian World

The Holocaust and the Christian World PDF Author: Carol Rittner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780809153640
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
In the wake of Mel Gibson's blockbuster movie The Passion of Christ, Christians have taken a hard look at their faith and the anti-Semitic interpretations of past generations. Guided by Christ's selfless love, Christians from Catholics to Pentecostals often express the desire to understand the roots of their faith and, by extension, the Jewish experience. Particularly troubling for many is the Christian role in the Holocaust, the attempt by the Nazis to exterminate European Jewry from 193345. In this gripping book, Christian and Jewish scholars present essays that detail the world's descent into the madness of anti-Semitism. Exploring the harmful effects of scholarly treatments of Scripture (minimizing or mythologizing the Jewish character of the Old Testament), Darwinian views of "the races," and Hitler's ghastly plans for the "Final Solution" (with widespread Christian silence), these essays give a brilliant overview while adding thoughtful detail. Includes timelines, resource lists, and Church statements regarding the Holocaust, the book is also packed with many archival photographs. Published in partnership with Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem.

Another Reformation

Another Reformation PDF Author: Peter Ochs
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1441232036
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book

Book Description
How does Christianity relate to contemporary Judaism? In this book a respected Jewish theologian learns a lesson from recent Christian theology: God's love of Christ and the church does not replace his love of Israel and the Jews. Ochs engages leading postliberal Christian thinkers George Lindbeck, Robert Jenson, Stanley Hauerwas, John Howard Yoder, Daniel Hardy, and David Ford, who argue this point in their work. He analyzes recent thinking in Christology and pneumatology and offers a detailed study of the movement of recent postliberal Christian theology in the US and UK. Ochs's realization that some Christian thinkers retain a place for the people of Israel opens up the possibility of new understanding and deepens the Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Christianity and the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry

Christianity and the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry PDF Author: Mosheh Y. Hertsel
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814735037
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book

Book Description
The role of the Christian church in Hungary during the Nazis' campaign of Jewish mass extermination has been largely forgotten, or repressed. This documentation and analysis of the church's lack of compassion-- and active persecution--of Hungary's Jews during this period begins with the arrival of Jews in Hungary at the end of the 17th century and traces the history of the Jewish community there. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust

Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust PDF Author: Kevin P. Spicer
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253116740
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book

Book Description
Thirteen essays exploring the role of antisemitism in the political and intellectual life of Europe. In recent years, the mask of tolerant, secular, multicultural Europe has been shattered by new forms of antisemitic crime. Though many of the perpetrators do not profess Christianity, antisemitism has flourished in Christian Europe. In this book, thirteen scholars of European history, Jewish studies, and Christian theology examine antisemitism’s insidious role in Europe’s intellectual and political life. The essays reveal that annihilative antisemitic thought was not limited to Germany, but could be found in the theology and liturgical practice of most of Europe’s Christian churches. They dismantle the claim of a distinction between Christian anti-Judaism and neo-pagan antisemitism and show that, at the heart of Christianity, hatred for Jews overwhelmingly formed the milieu of twentieth-century Europe. “This volume’s inclusion of essays on several different Christian traditions, as well as the Jewish perspective on Christian antisemitism make it especially valuable for understanding varieties of Christian antisemitism and ultimately, the practice and consequences of exclusionary thinking in general. In bringing a range of theological and historical perspectives to bear on the question of Christian and Nazi antisemitism, the book broadens our view on the question, and is of great value to historians and theologians alike.” —Maria Mazzenga, Catholic University of America, H-Catholic, February 2009 “Sheds light on and offers steps to overcome the locked-in conflict between Jews and Christians along the antisemitic path from Calvary to Auschwitz and beyond.” —Zev Garber, Los Angeles Valley College and American Jewish University, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1 Fall 2008

Rose's Journey

Rose's Journey PDF Author: Myrna Grant
Publisher: Hope Publishing House
ISBN: 9781932717228
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Get Book

Book Description


God and Humanity in Auschwitz

God and Humanity in Auschwitz PDF Author: Donald Dietrich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351517236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Get Book

Book Description
God and Humanity in Auschwitz synthesizes the findings of research developed over the last thirty years on the rise of anti-Semitism in our civilization. Donald J. Dietrich sees the Holocaust as a case study of how prejudice has been theologically enculturated. He suggests how it may be controlled by reducing aggressive energy before it becomes overwhelming. Dietrich studies the recent responses of Christian theologians to the Holocaust and the Jewish theological response to questions concerning God's covenant with Israel, which were provoked by Auschwitz. Social science has dealt with the psychosocial dynamics that have supported genocide and helps explain how ordinary persons can produce extraordinary evil. Dietrich shows how this research, combined with theological analyses, can help reconfigure theology itself. Such an approach may serve to help dissolve anti-Semitism, to aid in constructing such positive values as respect for human dignity, and to point the way to restricting future outbreaks of genocide. God and Humanity in Auschwitz surveys which religious factors created a climate that permitted the Holocaust. It also illuminates what social science has to tell us about developing a strategy that, when institutionally implemented, can channel our energies away from sanctioned murder toward a more compassionate society. The book has proven to be an essential resource for theologians, sociologists, historians, and political theorists.